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Pacific Giants, Ensatinas, Newts and more California Salamanders

AdvythAF

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*I will be posting more pictures soon.

This weekend for the perfect salamander time. Not only is it the Taricha breeding season, it is also raining here in the Bay Area. It had rained the previous night, and it was misting this morning. The ground was WET and muddy. I went to some great redwood forest area in search of newts, but I found more than I could imagine!

Here is the full species list:
• 2 Dicamptodon ensatus

• MANY Taricha torosa and Taricha granulosa (I don't know the exact count I saw, because they were hundreds in the breeding ponds, but I caught 5. (4 adults, and one a juvenile)

• 40+ California Slender salamanders, Batrachoseps attenuatus (They were under everything, so I didn't do an exact count)

• 6 Ensatina eschscholtzii xanthoptica -
Yellow-eyed Ensatina (4 small adults, 2 tiny juveniles)

*The pictures are attached below.

I found the Ensatinas under large, flat, redwood logs on the forest floor. The slenders were under every rock and log I flipped over, in fact one log has 5 under it. There was a HUGE wood pile, which turned up one pacific giant, and many slenders. I found the other pacific giant under a large log. In the ponds and streams, I found newts (male and female) of the Taricha genus. They were also crawling over the floor (we had to make sure we didn't step on them).

Overall, this is the most successful herping trip of the season. I have never seen or caught Dicamptodon before, so this was a real treat :D I hear they are pretty rare.

I highly suggest any California herpers to go herping soon. The rains are rare! :happy:

I have a few questions. One of the pacific giants had a flesh wound on its leg, and I was tempted to take it home and let it heal, but I let it go. Is what I did okay?
 

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AdvythAF

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Here are some more pictures.
 

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otolith

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Love the Dicamptodon pictures, used to find ensatus a lot when I lived in Marin. I never get used to how large they are, truly impressive animals.
 

AdvythAF

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They were pretty close to the stream. I found both in a separate wood piles, but not more than 20 meters to the stream. It was also raining outside, so the ground was wet.
 
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