A little bit from northern California

[josh]

I took a little bit of a trip to California with our very own John Claire and snapped a couple quick shots. Figured I would share

I flipped a rock to find a courting pair of ensatina e. oregonensis

John found this big male taricha torosa all by his lonesome in a quite small creek.

I went walking up a very nice creek and found some very nice taricha rivularis doing their thing.

Poor girl!!!

This guy got my finger a bit confused with a female and decided to try and get down with my finger!! Silly newt!

A nice uroctonus mordax scorpion. She was gravid and a bit grumpy.

Flipped out a couple of these guys!

We found a colony of cobra lilies (darlingtonia californica) in a roadside ditch

In and amongst the cobra lilies were LOTS of pinguicula macroceras. A wonderful little carnivorous plant.

All in all, we found, I believe, 16 species of salamander. Unfortunately, I didnt take too many pictures

 

[Niels D]

What's that animal with the blue tail? Pretty pretty!

 

[methodik]

I've always liked T. rivularis, thanks for sharing

 

[otolith]

Neils -

The blue tailed lizard is a Skilton's Skink (often called blue-tailed skink here too) Plestiodon skiltonianus skiltonianus. They are fairly common and quite beautiful!

 

[Azhael]

Thanks for sharing, man, but i wish the pictures were a bit larger xD I really wanted a closer look at the Darlingtonia!!
Great interspecies mating ball, by the way. Male amphibians are like drunks...if it moves it´s fair game, nevermind if your consort for the nigth has a giant nail instead of a head.

I´m guessing John took gazillions of pictures, right? Right???

 

[Niels D]

Neils -

The blue tailed lizard is a Skilton's Skink (often called blue-tailed skink here too) Plestiodon skiltonianus skiltonianus. They are fairly common and quite beautiful!

Beautiful indeed! Thanks!

 

[John]

John did take a gazillion photos. Somewhere around 1000 actually. Josh found the majority of the salamanders though. I wish I had his energy and agility. He can climb near-vertical surfaces in his sleep. Since Josh started this, I suppose I had better start putting up some pictures. Stay tuned.

 

[micstarz]

Those T. rivularis pics are nice! We don't have much in the way of caudates other than P. hongkongensis here in Hong Kong...

 

[josh]

Hahahaha!!!! I figured you would be tempted to post some pictures John! Everyone will be very amazed at your photos!!! They are wonderful!!

Can't wait for our next herping trip

 

[josh]

Thanks for sharing, man, but i wish the pictures were a bit larger xD I really wanted a closer look at the Darlingtonia!!
Great interspecies mating ball, by the way. Male amphibians are like drunks...if it moves it´s fair game, nevermind if your consort for the nigth has a giant nail instead of a head.

I´m guessing John took gazillions of pictures, right? Right???

this is for you azhael

 

[Molch]

wow. Those cobra lilies are spectacular. Like something you might expect to find in the jungles of Borneo, not in California!
I also enjoyed the rivularis pile-up. It reminds me of American football. Piles of bodies.

 

[Azhael]

Thank you!!
It´s a trully spectacular plant, possibly my favourite species in the family.
Thanx again, i apreciate the gesture

 

[josh]

Hope this works.

A video of taricha rivularis is the wild

https://fbcdn-video-a.akamaihd.net/..._=1335991328_5a71ab9adc5454d6bd4f6a62c6c1492d

A forest scorpion, uroctonus mordax.

https://fbcdn-video-a.akamaihd.net/..._=1335991328_2e698d1679c06e10f19c0ffc9e926bcb

Plethodon elongatus posing for john.

https://fbcdn-video-a.akamaihd.net/..._=1335991328_481f523fc827f31dd2b71674a0fa964a

Ensatina e. oregonensis pair under a rock.

https://fbcdn-video-a.akamaihd.net/..._=1335991328_d31601ba9569f99c825d542453328c27

The first video was out of focus so here is another one in focus. You can see the coloration much better in this one.

https://fbcdn-video-a.akamaihd.net/..._=1335991328_267327ce48855138865088f0fa2f4c5e

Enjoy