andyoconnor83
New member
- Joined
- Jul 30, 2007
- Messages
- 16
- Reaction score
- 2
- Points
- 0
- Location
- Bothell, Washington
- Country
- United States
The trip started and ended with a Dunn's salamander, I actually got sick of hearing that name at one point, since it was hailing and we were looking for Dicamps, but with 5 species of salamander, 2 species of frog, 2 species of snake, and one lizard, it was a good trip overall. I even managed 2 lifers!
I am going to keep the narrative short to make this process faster.
Dunn's salamander Plethodon dunni
pretty big one
yeah, that's hail...
Cascade torrent salamander Rhyacotriton cascadae
Group shot
Western redback Plethodon vehiculum I call him stumpy
Oregon ensatina Ensatina eschscholtzii oregonensis
and my lifer sallie, Larch mountain salamander Plethodon larselli
en situ after a quick flip by Josh
and a habitat shot. this is best for the torrent salamanders but all 5 species we found can be found near this type of stuff...
On the way to our final destination, we flipped a single piece of tin on the side of the road and found more than a half dozen adult Southern alligator lizards Elgaria multicarinata
pretty much all of them were around this size
The main reason for the trip was Spotted frog egg mass surveys. The Oregon spotted frog Rana pretiosa is a state endangered species in Washington. The ratio of females to egg masses is 1:1 so if you accurately survey an area, you can get a fairly good idea of how the population is doing.
I saw a lot of this
this shot shows the difference between an egg mass that is only a couple hours old (on the right) and an egg mass that is 24-48 hours old (left). you can see how much they expand
My survey team was lucky to see over 20 male frogs around the egg masses too. They were my second lifer. They are an attractive frog.
Here is one doing a common Ranid defensive pose
and one doing a release call
[/url]
Another interesting note about this species is the location of their eyes is so that they have nearly 360 degrees of vision, and when viewed at a 45 degree angle, unlike most other frogs, you can still see the opposite pupil
I really liked this shot
There were plenty of pacific tree frogs Pseudacris regilla to be seen as well.
So a posed one in a funny spot
and here is an attractive female in some reeds
and lastly, the coolest stuff of the trip for me, was some dens of two species of garter snake, Thamnophis ordinoides and Thamnophis sirtalis fitchi
northwestern garter
Valley garter
MORE valley garters
EVEN MORE
and Josh's grab (each shot of us was what we could grab in a minute or less)
How many do you see?
SCATTER!
[/url]
And a cool find for this area was a mating pile, as females are not normally seen at the dens with the males...
the results of their labor (sperm plug)
5 salamanders (1 lifer)+
2 frogs (1 lifer)+
1 lizard+
2 snakes =
A pretty fun weekend
I am going to keep the narrative short to make this process faster.
Dunn's salamander Plethodon dunni
pretty big one
yeah, that's hail...
Cascade torrent salamander Rhyacotriton cascadae
Group shot
Western redback Plethodon vehiculum I call him stumpy
Oregon ensatina Ensatina eschscholtzii oregonensis
and my lifer sallie, Larch mountain salamander Plethodon larselli
en situ after a quick flip by Josh
and a habitat shot. this is best for the torrent salamanders but all 5 species we found can be found near this type of stuff...
On the way to our final destination, we flipped a single piece of tin on the side of the road and found more than a half dozen adult Southern alligator lizards Elgaria multicarinata
pretty much all of them were around this size
The main reason for the trip was Spotted frog egg mass surveys. The Oregon spotted frog Rana pretiosa is a state endangered species in Washington. The ratio of females to egg masses is 1:1 so if you accurately survey an area, you can get a fairly good idea of how the population is doing.
I saw a lot of this
this shot shows the difference between an egg mass that is only a couple hours old (on the right) and an egg mass that is 24-48 hours old (left). you can see how much they expand
My survey team was lucky to see over 20 male frogs around the egg masses too. They were my second lifer. They are an attractive frog.
Here is one doing a common Ranid defensive pose
and one doing a release call
[/url]Another interesting note about this species is the location of their eyes is so that they have nearly 360 degrees of vision, and when viewed at a 45 degree angle, unlike most other frogs, you can still see the opposite pupil
I really liked this shot
There were plenty of pacific tree frogs Pseudacris regilla to be seen as well.
So a posed one in a funny spot
and here is an attractive female in some reeds
and lastly, the coolest stuff of the trip for me, was some dens of two species of garter snake, Thamnophis ordinoides and Thamnophis sirtalis fitchi
northwestern garter
Valley garter
MORE valley garters
EVEN MORE
and Josh's grab (each shot of us was what we could grab in a minute or less)
How many do you see?
SCATTER!
[/url]And a cool find for this area was a mating pile, as females are not normally seen at the dens with the males...
the results of their labor (sperm plug)
5 salamanders (1 lifer)+
2 frogs (1 lifer)+
1 lizard+
2 snakes =
A pretty fun weekend
