Field Herp Forum

Found 3 species in the pond tonight- Northwestern salamander, long-toed and red-legged frog.

Northwestern Salamander by Corey Raimond, on Flickr

-Corey

After heavy rains and found nothing near Seattle. Makes sense considering the deep freeze the weeks before. I suspect a migration won't start until next week or the week after.

Anyone else go out looking yet?

-Corey

I have seen milk snakes into late October in southern WI. I am of the same sentiment as "knight crawler" I did a snake survey of the "southwest savanna" region in SW WI and milk snakes were by far the most common snake I encountered. I would find them at literally every roadcut in May, and to a less...

Very cool. I went ahead and added some images. I right clicked the pictures and chose "copy image address" then pasted into this posed between the "img" brackets that come up when you click "img" above the post. Take care, -Corey http://www.naherp.com/vouchers/263801-343908.jpg http://www.naherp.com...

I agree with the Graptemys. Could be false, Ouachita or some other species from the SE that I am not proficient in IDing.

Very nice with the whipsnake!

-Corey

Very nice!

If you found a ribbon snake in Wisconsin, you are doing quite well for yourself. Both species are endangered and incredibly uncommon in the state. I have not seen either in the state.

-Corey

Follow up: I tried both the reverse lens and the 90mm and extension tubes. I seem to get much better results with the extension tubes. Here are some pics I took with the extension tubes: https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1701/25000358963_e9a0661e7a_c.jpg Phantom Midge Larva by Corey Raimond , on Flickr...

Chris, Thanks for the detailed response. I think 1.75-2.5 magnification range is what I am looking for. My estimate of 2-4 may have been a bit overkill, especially with the DOF and working distance tradeoffs. But I would like something where smaller flies, beetles and miniscule flowers (nearly) fill...

Thank you very much bgorum, this is exactly the kind of input I was hoping for. My plan as of now (subject to change) is to try the reverse thing while accumulating funds for a 180mm macro and the 5x Canon lens. Just because there is so little downside if it doesn't work.

-Corey

Thank everyone on here for the advice I got some gear and and happier with the photos I am getting in low light. Here is one I took earlier this month. https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1485/24827784545_ba42b07c32_c.jpg Long-toed Salamander Courtship Ritual by Corey Raimond , on Flickr Now I would like...

I live ~15 minutes north of Seattle and there are a few productive ponds near my house. I have seen red-legged frog, pacific treefrog, northwestern salamander, long-toed salamander and last night I saw a rough-skinned newt. The treefrogs have already laid some eggs I have yet to see eggs of the othe...

Wow that is quite interesting! I also went out looking today, not nearly as exciting but I found ~10 long-toed salamanders in the pond ready to breed near Seattle, no frogs calling yet.

-Corey

Thanks for the thoughtful responses, this really helps!

I had read that having the ISO up is a big no; but I hadn't noticed more blurriness when I turned it to 600/800.


-Corey

Thanks for the advice bgorum. I had heard tripods will make a difference but I didn't realize it was that drastic. I will have to do some research and invest in one. Yes the majority of time the subjects are not moving. Yeah my camera doesn't have a mirror, but most everything else should still appl...

Hi everyone, I am used to taking photos in bright (or at least some) light. I moved to Seattle area and September-April 90% of the time it is complete overcast and often under dense evergreen trees which makes it even worse. I am also somewhat new to adjusting the manual settings, in the past I woul...

Riding the coattails here but I am planning on going to the same general area around Christmas. I have yet to visit California or see most of the amphibians in that occur in the area. Let me know if anyone would like to meet up or has advice on best places to camp etc.



-Corey

Pacific giants are incredibly common around the Portland area. They and Dunn's salamanders occupy almost every stream I've searched in the region. The salamander in the OP's post looks like a Cope's giant to me. In the Seattle metro area I've found many Thamnophis ordinoides , and a couple of Litho...

I found some larval Pacific Giant Salamanders yesterday within 1 mile of the Seattle city limit. I find it very interesting that so many amphibians can survive in the area. I have also seen red-legged frogs, pacific chorus frogs, long-toed salamanders, ensatina and northwestern salamanders in the vi...

Nice photos! One of the birds is a horned lark, I'm not sure what the other one is. So dry, must have been hard to find herps.

It sounds like I will be relatively free this summer and would go to any of the places mentioned. Did any dates get established?

-Corey

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7284/16282034127_cb695f3353_b.jpg Ambystoma macrodactylum columbianum by aposematic herpetologist , on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7293/16282032527_9190f23988_b.jpg Ambystoma macrodactylum columbianum by aposematic herpetologist , on Flickr I think this shou...

Hi everyone,

I am on the border of Kenmore and Kirkland.

Interesting stories about the graciles. I found 2 that day flipping logs.

Thanks for the replies, looking forward to seeing some new herps this spring!



-Corey

Hi everyone, I just moved out to the Seattle area from Wisconsin because my girlfriend got a job out here. I literally know less than 5 people here so I thought I would see if anyone was interested in meeting up sometime to look for salamanders or a weekend trip when it gets a bit warmer. I am a 29 ...

IMO the best way to get more records is to talk to private landowners.

-Corey

djzander7, Sorry for the late reply, but I feel like I need to add to this. I am glad that even though you are not a snake person are interested in helping these animals. Though I have to strongly advise against moving them for several reasons. Three that come to mind immediately are: 1) Most reloca...

Very cool. Nice job with the lined snake I didn't realize they weren't known from the state.

-Corey

was told this thing was wild caught by a family when camping. every rat i have seen in the wild had a narrow head. not broad. like i said, i'll get pics as soon as i can. -ben Does this person realize that it is illegal to collect black rat snakes (which this is) from Wisconsin? See http://dnr.wi.g...

Very cool, congrats on the find.

-Corey

ferarium.

-Corey

These can be tough. I would call it a plains. It does not at all look like a northern to me, so for me it is between southern and plains. I have actually seen a few southerns with the broken inset ridge near the back legs (in the Ozarks where there were not supposed to be plains anywhere near.) But ...

That's what they look like before they get all nasty and mud/algae covered

-Corey

Very nice photos, they are all so bright and clear. Out of curiosity what camera do you use and do you brighten the images/add more light somehow?

-Corey

Is it normal to observe both color phases in the same animal? I'm assuming you mean population of animals? It is normal to see different color phases like that within a population. The ones with the stripe down the back are yet another color phase. I don't see them as often as other color phases th...

Nice finds and solid photos! Thanks for sharing.

-Corey

They look like spotted salamander to me.

-Corey

Hi, I visited St. John here are photos of what I saw https://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/sets/72157625829840686/ I didn't see any snakes, but did see the virgin islands amphisbaena. Crested anoles are everywhere. If you look closely you can find Sphaerodactylus in leaf litter. You should be a...

Nice! I had read something about horned lizards in Kansas not coming out until May, I was thinking it was untrue, but now I know it must be untrue.

-Corey

Cool salamanders! Thanks for sharing.

-Corey

Most likely dark-sided/long-tailed salamanders and cave salamanders if you know where to look. Probably a few Ambystomas (tiger, small mouth, marbled larvae) if you seine/dipnet ponds. Other than that, probably not too much.

-Corey

Thanks for the info Tim. That is pretty much what I was thinking, I will have to wait and see about the weather before I decide.

Thanks,

-Corey

Hi, I was referring to the Cimarron river. Particularly Cimarron National grassland in Kansas and the adjacent Comanche National Grassland in Colorado. In reading books it says that some of the herps don't come out until May. It seems really hard for me to believe especially when I see a decent numb...

Hi all, I was thinking about going to Cimarron area during the last week of March but was wondering if anyone could tell me what kind of chances I would have for finding herps (I especially want to see a horned lizard), plants flowering, prairie dogs etc during that time. I would do later but I conf...

Wow, so they were definitely out then, thanks for the info. I heard a spring peeper calling from the forest (not from a pond) on Sunday (Dec 2.)

-Corey

With it being a high of 65 and rainy on Monday Dec 3, I did a quick drive by of a few ponds near Madison. I didn't see anything. Anyone else go out looking?

-Corey

Nice finds

That bat resembles rafinesque's big-eared bat. Not sure if anything else has ears that big.

Also the picture before the bat looks like a wormsnake, but it might just because of the angle the photo was taken. Hard to tell from the picture.
-Corey

Thanks for the comments, nice to see some interest in mussels! Andy, that spot sounds like a gem. I hope all these species can persist with zebra mussels. I was lucky enough to find a few snuffbox myself this year. http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8163/7669884338_1f03504baa.jpg Federally Endangered Snu...

Thanks for the comments.

-Corey

Hello everyone, I have been spending a lot more time in the past year in the rivers, surveying for various aquatic organisms, primarily freshwater mussels. Many people don’t know this but eastern US is the global hotspot for mussel diversity. To Illustrate this point, Europe has 12 species of freshw...