Spongiform
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I've been herping day and night on my mom's 40 acre farm up in the mountains in south-eastern ohio. There are dozens of seeps, small creeps, vernal ponds and some year round ponds. I'm finding alot of stuff I've never seen before or in quantities that surprised me.
I found a rather bunch (70+) salamanders in the general area of a small seep (30 yards on either side). Mostly under rocks/logs though I found a couple in some damp moss up in some tree roots on the side of a hill. Lots of redbacks with some that were more orange then red.
I found a couple bright yellow ones that I initially thought was a yellow color variation but on a closer inspection I think it's a two-lined salamander. There's a ton of newts around here. I was doing some fishing in the fish pond and newts kept attacking my fishing lure.
I found a short (3 inches or so) black salamander that I initially thought were either a northern slimy or a leadback color variation (lots of redbacks around) but after closer inspection and cross referencing range maps / descriptions I'm fairly confident it's a ravine salamander. (found in a ravine nontheless) I saw 30+ of them in the general vicinity and one or two others on or around the farm. But most of them were within 30-40 yards of each other.
I've found (what I THINK) are mountain chorous frogs, a pickerel frog, a wood frog, 2 young green frogs and an amazing amount of american toads. (80+ last night) One spot, I counted 37 within 5 feet of me with more hopping around in the near vicinity + they have several breeding spots going on at once. As I was counting, they were hoping over my feet and one even latched onto my hand as I was trying to pick up a chorous frog. I'm pretty sure he thought my hand was a female, had to shake him off.
So here's my first round of pictures (I've got more pics to sort and got another week of herping to go here, and it's starting to get rainy :^D )
So, enjoy the pics and please confirm/deny the species for me -I'm going by my peterson field guide range maps/pics/descriptions.
Ravine Salamander?
Plethodon richmondi
I'm pretty sure it's not a slimy salamander, I've seen them in the wild before and while pretty similiar, the ones that I have seen get alot longer (seen some 6-7 inches) and the white spots are bigger, brighter and more contrasting. Also, they're called slimy for a reason and these guys were not abnormally slimy.
Two Lined?
Eurycea bislineata or cirrigera - the range map for both meets right about at this location. I'm not even sure what coastal grooves are or how to count them :^D
Redback
Pickerel Frog
Wood Frog
This particular chorous frog is lacking most of the classic double stripe down his back - but the rest of the features are dead on. Some other individuals I found have the more classic features. I was going to try to hatch some eggs in our tanks (clear glass aquatic plant vases in the windows) but it appears I caught a bunch of males and not a single female!
Particularly reddish hued toad. Noisy too.
Thats all for now, I'll have more pics/stories in a day or two.
I found a rather bunch (70+) salamanders in the general area of a small seep (30 yards on either side). Mostly under rocks/logs though I found a couple in some damp moss up in some tree roots on the side of a hill. Lots of redbacks with some that were more orange then red.
I found a couple bright yellow ones that I initially thought was a yellow color variation but on a closer inspection I think it's a two-lined salamander. There's a ton of newts around here. I was doing some fishing in the fish pond and newts kept attacking my fishing lure.
I found a short (3 inches or so) black salamander that I initially thought were either a northern slimy or a leadback color variation (lots of redbacks around) but after closer inspection and cross referencing range maps / descriptions I'm fairly confident it's a ravine salamander. (found in a ravine nontheless) I saw 30+ of them in the general vicinity and one or two others on or around the farm. But most of them were within 30-40 yards of each other.
I've found (what I THINK) are mountain chorous frogs, a pickerel frog, a wood frog, 2 young green frogs and an amazing amount of american toads. (80+ last night) One spot, I counted 37 within 5 feet of me with more hopping around in the near vicinity + they have several breeding spots going on at once. As I was counting, they were hoping over my feet and one even latched onto my hand as I was trying to pick up a chorous frog. I'm pretty sure he thought my hand was a female, had to shake him off.
So here's my first round of pictures (I've got more pics to sort and got another week of herping to go here, and it's starting to get rainy :^D )
So, enjoy the pics and please confirm/deny the species for me -I'm going by my peterson field guide range maps/pics/descriptions.
Ravine Salamander?
Plethodon richmondi
I'm pretty sure it's not a slimy salamander, I've seen them in the wild before and while pretty similiar, the ones that I have seen get alot longer (seen some 6-7 inches) and the white spots are bigger, brighter and more contrasting. Also, they're called slimy for a reason and these guys were not abnormally slimy.
Two Lined?
Eurycea bislineata or cirrigera - the range map for both meets right about at this location. I'm not even sure what coastal grooves are or how to count them :^D
Redback
Pickerel Frog
Wood Frog
This particular chorous frog is lacking most of the classic double stripe down his back - but the rest of the features are dead on. Some other individuals I found have the more classic features. I was going to try to hatch some eggs in our tanks (clear glass aquatic plant vases in the windows) but it appears I caught a bunch of males and not a single female!
Particularly reddish hued toad. Noisy too.
Thats all for now, I'll have more pics/stories in a day or two.
