Small casual expedition in NH - unique color phase of Red-Backed sal, UNGODLY unidentified Insects (Many pics)

[Linus]

Last weekend my gf and I stayed at a cabin in NH for a mini-vacation, and as usual I ended up dragging her (she doesn't mind THAT much, and likes hunting sals) into the woods with me. The other creatures just happened to find us

Of note was a red-backed salamander whose color I've never seen before:

He is entirely light red. No slate color on the sides, or belly. I'm aware of the red/slate phases, but I've still never seen one this light red coloration covering it's entire body. I've been finding these guys my whole life and I've never seen one like this. Very cool.

Here is one we found with "normal" coloration back home in Massachusetts for contrast:

Garter Snake:

Moving on to the ungodly unidentified insects:

WHAT IS THAT?

WHAT IS THAT?

Day 1 we saw about 20 of these White Admiral butterflies, and gave them some sugar water.

They disappeared day 2 due to rain, and day 3 there were about 35 of them. Not sure why they were all grouped together in a flutter, if you know please tell!

Gf was not impressed by those two.

That's all for now!

 

[Kaysie]

I've heard of erythristic (?) individuals, but I've never seen one. Good find!

The 'puddle parties' of butterflies are usually a breeding thing, and as the summer gets later, it's because there's less water available, so they congregate on what there is.

 

[Azhael]

Nice P.cinereus! Lovely little aberrant

I have no idea what species the moth is, but i´d say it´s in the Sphingidae family.
The second insect is the adult form of a stonefly (Plecoptera).

Beautiful garter too, i´m a big fan of those snakes, amazing colors and fascinating behaviour!

 

[Linus]

Thanks Kaysie and Azhael!

Forgot to add this guy:

And no I didn't keep him, even though I wanted to. ;]

 

[Kaysie]

That reminds me of a time I went out in the woods in early March. I wasn't actively herping (I was actually doing forest management surveys for fox squirrel habitat), but the herps sure found me: when I got back to my nice, warm, sweaty backpack, a garter snake had crawled inside and made himself a home. I felt terrible for kicking him out into the chilly air.

 

[Linus]

That reminds me of a time I went out in the woods in early March. I wasn't actively herping (I was actually doing forest management surveys for fox squirrel habitat), but the herps sure found me: when I got back to my nice, warm, sweaty backpack, a garter snake had crawled inside and made himself a home. I felt terrible for kicking him out into the chilly air.

Hahaa that is awesome, I love garters.

 

[Bandida]

Ive seen the purply/green moth a few weeks ago up at sandbanks-Consecon/Picton area-Wellers Bay. Ive never seen them till then. Pretty eh?

 

[Neotenic_Jaymes]

That reminds me of a time I went out in the woods in early March. I wasn't actively herping (I was actually doing forest management surveys for fox squirrel habitat), but the herps sure found me: when I got back to my nice, warm, sweaty backpack, a garter snake had crawled inside and made himself a home. I felt terrible for kicking him out into the chilly air.

I remember you telling this story!

 

[Linus]

Went back to this same location over the weekend and made an interesting discovery; all the redback sals here are almost entirely red. I thought the one we found on the last expedition was a fluke however we've found about a dozen redbacks and their entire body was bright bright red! On a few individuals we saw black tail-tips, but other than that it looks like a very interesting population we've stumbled upon. Also found D. Fuscus for the first time thanks to my girlfriend. What pretty amphibians.

That is all!