North Georgia

[slowfoot]

I recently got back from a three day backpacking trip in Northern Georgia (almost in Tennessee) and I thought I'd share a few of the photos I took. I'm not very good with identifying Eastern species, so I'm not going to ID anything. I'll just post them up and let the experts guess My traveling companions were a botanist, an entomologist, and a dog, so they weren't much help with the herps.

Anyway, it was a really nice trip. The trail actually starts on the top of a ridge, then drops down slowly to the river valley. Multiple small side streams feed into the river along the way until it becomes a respectable size. I think we crossed the river about 25 times - some of the crossings were a little hairy with a heavy pack.



Some salamanders from the first day. Sorry for the blurry and poor quality pics - I blame the camera and the photographer:

 

[slowfoot]

Both nights, we camped right by the river. I got to go salamander hunting while everyone else helped set up the tent. These guys were found a little bit above the river's edge, on the valley slopes:



Some shots of the river near camp:



Salamanders from day two and three:



On the night of day two, it rained from about 4pm until two in the morning. We put on our headlamps and went out looking for critters. Unfortunately, my camera is extra non-waterproof so I had to leave it behind, but our camp was crawling with salamanders - it was hard to just walk without stepping on them. I caught one of the largest slimy salamanders I've ever seen. Not such a good night for making dinner, but a great night for herping.

 

[slowfoot]

Then we had to leave Some shots of the forest after a night of rain:



And yours truly, looking lovely after two days of rain and mud:



Thanks for looking! Take a shot at ID'ing those guys.

 

[oregon newt]

Nice finds. Sounds like an awesome trip. I'm probably no expert, but it looks like you found alot of duskies. I won't even try to identify the specific species.

 

[Jennewt]

Looks like a great trip! The second photo on Day 2 is a slimy salamander (probably P. glutinosus).

 

[John]

Yes, looks like a bunch of Desmognathus. Third last photo looks like a Hemidactylium scutatum. And you have a Slimy in there, as Jen pointed out. It's possible one or more of those "Desmognathus" is a Gyrinophilus porphyriticus.

 

[John]

And by the way, thanks for sharing!

 

[Kaysie]

Sal 4 looks like it could be a pygmy sal.

 

[slowfoot]

Thanks for the guesses on the ID's. The only one I'm sure about is P. glutinosus. My husband also found a large, completely black salamander... or so he says I didn't get a good look at it, but I was wondering what it could possibly be. My guide book is not giving me anything that fits.

 

[marco]

Very nice pictures, looks like a good trip.

Would I be right in guessing that those salamanders breathe through their skin? Looks like an exesivley humid/damp place.

 

[Kaysie]

The black sal could've been a dozen different things. Unspotted Ambystoma maculatum, blackbellied sal, lightly pigmented slimy.

Marco, yes, the vast majority of salamanders in this region are lungless.