WV Trip Part 1

[blckkeys]

This past weekend two friends and myself took a trip to West Virginia. It turned out to be a great herping trip. The weather was wonderful, 70-75 in the day and 45-50 at night, and we had isolated thundershowers one day. Here are some pictures of a few species we found.

Eastern Newt Eft

We also found several adults, but it was raining at the time. While my Pentax K10D has weather sealing, I did not want to test it out. We found two efts, the pictures are just one. They where out wandering after the rains. The newts were in a man made pond.


We found numerous norther springs as well as larvae and newly morphed springs.
Northern Spring Salamander


We also found numberouse slimy salamanders.
Slimy Salamander


We also found 4 Green salamanders. I was pretty excited to see these, as I have never seen them before and they are state endangered in Ohio.
Green Salamander


We also saw various dusky salamanders, redbacks, an spotted sal. larvae, a wood frog, spring frog, smooth green snake, and redbellied snake.

Part 2 still to come.

 

[louise]

Lovely pics. Looks like you had a great time!

 

[John]

Pat, again you dazzle us. Beautiful photos - makes me wish I could go to WV .

 

[blckkeys]

Thanks! Yeah it was loads of fun. My buddies and I are thinking about making it an annual trip.

 

[John]

Are you going to enter our Calendar Competition? There's a month and a half left and you have some winners in there I think. The prize is a year (or 18 months - I can't remember) of donor status.

 

[rust]

I'm here to tell you that I've seen quite a few greens at quite a few different locailties, but that green on the left is REALLY green! Nice pics.

 

[blckkeys]

Thanks,

Yeah they were pretty. First time seeing them as well. So I was excited.

 

[KevinS]

Very nice-I've been herping WV for over a decade and I still haven't been lucky enough to find any green salamanders. What part of the state were you in? I was thinking that "slimy salamander" on the right looks like Plethodon kentucki, the Cumberland Plateau Salamander. I'm guessing you were in the mountains though and as I recall P. cylindraceus and wehrlei replace them there. Of course it could be a glutinosus regardless of where it was found, it just has a few characteristics of kentucki that got me wondering.