Montana giants, or how I spent 28 hours of the Labour Day weekend.

[FrogEyes]

28 hours you ask? Yes...my “long” weekend is only two days, and the first of those I stayed home. I left Calgary city limits a bit after 1am September 4, 2011, for the ~10 hour drive to Dicamptodon habitat in the Bitterroot Mountains of Idaho and Montana. All my herping in this thread was achieved with less than four hours in the field, and the rest spent driving or doing non-herping activities. Driving and travel accounted for 20-23 hours.

Morning mists on the Kootenai River, Lincoln County MT.

Bull Lake, Lincoln County MT.

Sunrise over the Cabinet Mountains, near the Bull River, Lincoln County MT.

I don't know if this phenomenon has a name, but I'll call it a “fogbow”. Same locale as above.

 

[FrogEyes]

The primary goal of this trip - my first Montana specimens of Idaho giant salamander, Dicamptodon aterrimus. Bitterroot Mountains, Mineral County MT. This is less specific information than has been published, and is something of a no-brainer if you look at range maps. Only twelve creeks have been confirmed for this species in Montana, but this state hasn't been well-surveyed for this species and it may occur more or less throughout the MT Bitterroots.

The tiny creek in which the first specimen was found.

Specimen two and its habitat less then 50 feet away in the larger adjoining creek.

 

[FrogEyes]

Male Rocky Mountain tailed frog, Ascaphus montanus, found with salamander number three in the main creek.

The main creek.

Tailed frog tadpole [barely visible just left of center], found near salamander four.

An oddly bold little bird which flew out from beneath a bank, and then flew back under it. Kreist Creek, Bonner County ID.

 

[FrogEyes]

Wandering garter, Thamnophis elegans vagrans, found beneath a rock in Kreist Creek, Bonner County ID. No sign of tadpoles or tailed frogs, but odds are that this snake was hunting those plus sculpins and salmonid fishes.

A tree squirrel along Kreist Creek.

 

[FrogEyes]

Roadside habitat of Couer D'Alene salamanders, “Plethodon” idahoensis, near Cranbrook BC.

First salamander, just before dusk.

 

[FrogEyes]

And another.

A YoY hatchling, about one inch total length.

Another adult - after dusk they quickly become more obvious prowling rock surfaces or the base of the cliff.

Another one, doing the “Aneides” thing before disappearing into the depths of the crevice. Not a great image unfortunately.

And another.

 

[FrogEyes]

A large orb-weaver spider. Haven't made sure of the ID yet.

And lots more salamanders...grand total 25-26, almost all adults. Four disappeared into crevices, but one may have come out again. Thus the uncertainty of the count. About a half dozen were likely subadults and only one was a hatchling. From here, it's about four hours to home. Seven with naps.

 

[Otterwoman]

What a beautiful area, and pictures, what a great time!!

 

[rethgar]

I am very jealous! That looks beautiful. What sort of survey mehtodology are you following or is it just a casual transect kind of thing?

 

[Niels D]

Beautifull pictures!

 

[Azhael]

All hail the Evil Squirrel of Doom!
Wonderful pictures, thanks for sharing. I specially enjoyed the mossy walls, that´s a sight that always makes me happy.

 

[Linus]

Great post, thanks for sharing the awesome pictures! I'm jelly.

 

[FrogEyes]

I am very jealous! That looks beautiful. What sort of survey mehtodology are you following or is it just a casual transect kind of thing?

The methodology I use is something I like to call "I think I'll look...HERE!"

If you're familiar with the animals and within their likely range, it works fairly well.

 

[JessKB]

Great pictures!

 

[rethgar]

The methodology I use is something I like to call "I think I'll look...HERE!"

If you're familiar with the animals and within their likely range, it works fairly well.

Aha I see. Seems to work great judging by the photos :happy:

 

[JonathanH]

Very cool! I'd love to make it up into that area to see those two salis someday.

 

[John]

Superb account and the landscape photos are particularly beautiful. Well done!

 

[sde]

I know this is a really old post but.....Those photos are great! And the color on the P. idahoensis is beautiful as well. That's a species I hope to find some day if I ever get over there. And the D. aterrimus and A. montanus are also very cool. A. truei is one of my favorite species, so its always nice to see this species as well, hopefully I will find it some time...if I ever get over there....

Anyway, thanks for sharing! -Seth

 

[eizaak]

When you located the Idaho giant were you right around St Regis MT?

 

[FrogEyes]

In the general area, but I had no luck immediately upstream of St Regis. If I recall, the sites I looked at there weren't great habitat.