Epic Blue Ridge Trip (long, photo heavy)

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Aneides Aeneus
Posts: 47
Joined: November 15th, 2014, 8:54 am
Location: Lexington, KY

Epic Blue Ridge Trip (long, photo heavy)

Post by Aneides Aeneus »

Hey guys,

I recently got back from a week-long herping trip through the blue ridge of Virginia and North Carolina, taken with my parents, a non-herping friend, and Kevin Hucheson (a fellow herper). The opportunity to take this trip came because I competed in the PACE national academic team competiton in Reston, VA. Here is pretty much everything we found:

Before the main part of the trip began, on our way from Lexington, KY to Reston, we decided to stop for a couple hours in Monongahela National Forest in West Virginia, to look for cheat mountain and wehrle's salamanders. The spot we chose was a nice spruce forest at about 3700 feet in elevation:

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All along the road, there were little springs feeding into trickles of water, which ran beside the road. Along these trickles we found quite a few mountain dusky salamanders:

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And 5 spring salamanders:

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In the woods surrounding the road, we found 4 northern slimy salamanders:

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A couple redback salamanders:

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And one of our target species, the wehrle's salamander. We ended up finding several:

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While I was competing in the competition, the others went herping for a day in northern Virginia. They ended up finding some pretty cool stuff - milk, garter, rat, worm, and ringneck snakes, as well as broadhead skinks.

Once the competition was over, we spent the evening in the piedmont region, finding musk, painted, and snapping turtles. Unfortunately I have no photos - I did not want to risk soaking my camera.

The next day we headed back up into the mountains. In the morning we herped in some deciduous forests, finding about 200 redback salamanders, a couple of white-spotted slimy salamanders, and two northern two-lined salamanders, a fair distance from water:

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We also found this copperhead coiled up next to a large rock in a clearing:

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Next we headed to a high elevation meadow, hoping to find a couple of very interesting snake species. My dad quickly found our first goal, the red-bellied snake:

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We ended up finding 6 in total.

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We soon found a nice rocky area. Under the first rock Kevin flipped there, he found our main target species, and perhaps my favorite snake of the trip. We ended up finding four in total:

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Smooth green snake - what a cool species!

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After that, we drove quite a ways to get to our next spot, the home of the Shenandoah salamander. This species lives only on talus slopes at high elevation, along an 8 mile stretch of the Blue Ridge. In this area, there had just been a hard rain, which made conditions much better for salamanders. We were able to find two of our target:

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Shenandoah Salamander habitat:

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With the little time we had left, we herped in a small stream. Here, we found some of the wierdest-looking northern dusky salamanders I have seen:

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The next day, we made our way down the Blue Ridge of Virginia, stopping at a few spots along the way. Our first stop was a dry rocky area where we hoped to find some snakes. We quickly found several ringneck and garter snakes, and one large milk snake which escaped. Eventually, Kevin spotted this very cryptic timber rattlesnake, coiled up inside a blueberry bush:

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This was a very exciting find for us - we have not seen very many timber rattlesnakes in the wild.

Later we stopped briefly at humpback rocks to enjoy the view:

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Our next spot is home to another plethodontid with a very small distribution. Unfortunately, the area we searched was much drier that we expected, and did not seem like great salamander habitat. However, we did manage to find one juvenile of our target - the big levels salamander:

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We also happened upon another beautiful timber rattlesnake, crossing the trail (spotted again by Kevin):

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Due to poor planning on my part, we had very little time to herp at our next spot. Luckily, this spot was a very moist, high elevation forest, and our target species was quite plentiful.

Peaks of the otter salamander:

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Here, I also found the only southern two-lined salamander of the trip, again a fair distance from water:

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Also found at this spot were redback and white-spotted slimy salamanders.

We spent the next day in an area of northern North Carolina we have visited several times, lying at the foot of the Blue Ridge. On the way there we rescued this box turtle from the middle of the road:

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In the morning, we hiked up to the top of a rocky knob. On the way, I spotted this large rat snake, the highlight of our day:

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We also saw a few five-lined skinks, and many fence lizards:

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It got very hot that afternoon, so we decided to hang out in a thin creek valley, where we found several reasonably common species.

Worm snake:

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Pickerel frog:

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Water snake:

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Also found were northern dusky, seal, and black-bellied salamanders, but I did not take the time to get good photos.

We spent the next day on a beautiful mountain in northwestern North Carolina, home to several cool salamanders. Our first spot was a very jagged, exposed ridgeline, with spruce-fir forests all along it.

Rufous-sided towhee perched on a spruce tree:

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Now on to the salamanders. Northern graycheek salamanders are very common on this mountain:

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Interestingly, the salamander we found the most of at this site was a species we normally regard as rare - the weller's salamander:

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We ended up finding 48 of these guys!

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Northern pygmy salamanders proved to be our least common salamander at this spot - we found 11:

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In situ weller's and pygmy salamanders, together under a log not much bigger than my fist:

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Blue ridge dusky salamanders are usually extremely common at this site, but on this visit they were not:

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Next we went down to lower elevations to look for the yonahlossee salamander. We followed a dirt road thorugh the forest until we found a nice rocky hillside. There, under large rocks somewhat embedded in the ground, we found plethodon yonahlossee:

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On the same hillside, we also found white-spotted slimy, northern graycheek, redback, and blue ridge dusky salamanders.

The next day, we met with a green salamander researcher in the Blue Ridge Escarpment region, a friend of Kevin. He took us to several great spots for herps - you know who you are, thanks so much for your help! Anyway, here is what we saw:

Green salamander guarding eggs:

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Water snake:

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Copperhead:

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Ringneck snake:

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Wood frog:

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Also seen but not photographed were white-spotted slimy salamanders and a blue ridge graycheek salamander (a new species for me, I wouldv'e photographed it, but it escaped).

Next, we went to a moist deciduous forest in a low, swampy area to look for salamanders. Among our finds were two young adult marbled salamanders, the only ambystomids of the trip:

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A couple of spotted dusky salamanders were found under logs in wet areas:

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as were two blue ridge red salamanders:

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Three-lined salamanders were the most common salamander here:

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Oh, and I finally decided to photograph a white-spotted slimy salamander:

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The next day, we went to my favorite place on earth, the spruce-fir forests of the Great Smoky Mountains. Unfortunately, this unique landscape has been suffering greatly from the spruce woolly adelgid, which has killed many of the spruce trees:

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The first area we searched in had been hit especially hard by the adelgid. There are very few mature trees left here, and the vegitation now consists of bushes and young deciduous trees. However, some salamanders can still be found here, in the many small springs that emerge from the hillside:

Unidentified dusky salamander (it had a round tail, so we believe it to be either an imitator or an ocoee salamander):

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Santeetlah dusky salamander:

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Blue ridge two-lined salamander:

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A definite imitator salamander:

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There were also several garter snakes taking advantage of the sun exposure here, despite the high elevation (6000 ft or so):

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The next area we searched was a large, relatively intact stand of spruce-fir forest:

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Here we found red-cheeked salamanders to be plentiful. Unfortunately, my photos weren't great:

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We found quite a few of one of my favorite salamanders - the southern pygmy salamander:

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Thet can be quite variable:

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A particularly bright individual:

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Pygmy salamander habitat:

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You may notice the small, bark-like strips of wood in the photo above (also the substrate of the third pygmy salamander photo) - these are great for pygmy salamanders! Within the frame of the photo above, we found 4 pygmys, and we found 3 more within a couple feet, because of a decaying spruce tree nearby that had dropped many of these flat, bark-like wood shards. Nearly all of the pygmy salamanders we saw were found under these wood strips.

My mom found this beautiful blue ridge spring salamander under a log:

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Next we drove to an area south of the Great Smokies, to look for Cheoah Bald salamanders. Unfortunately, the area was very dry for some reason. Along a one mile stretch of trail, where on a past visit we found several cheoah bald and appalachian woodland salamanders, we were only able to find a single juvenile appalachian woodland salamander:

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Along that trail, on a past visit (in 2013), there was a large, gushing spring, where we found black-bellied and spotted dusky salamanders. On this visit, there was no water at all, only some wet gravel and leaf litter, where we found a single juvenile ocoee salamander. Does anyone have an idea of why the area could be so dry?

Our next spot was a valley at low elevation, where we hoped to find seepage salamanders. Although no seepage salamanders were found, we did find a few more common salamanders.

A more normal-looking juvenile appalachian woodland salamander:

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An ocoee salamander:

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The next day was our last day. We spent the morning herping in some larger streams, hoping for hellbenders, junaluska salamanders, and shovel-nosed salamanders, before heading back to Kentucky.

We found a rarely-used dirt road running along a large stream. In puddles along the road, we found a few newts:

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We found yet another juvenile appalachian woodland salamander in the woods:

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We did manage to find one of our targets, a shovel-nosed salamander:

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The shovel-nosed salamander, compared with one of several black-bellied salamanders found nearby:

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We also found this recent metamorph eurycea. We aren't sure if it is a blue ridge two-lined salamander or a junaluska salamander, any ideas?

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And that's it for the trip. All in all, this may have been the best herping trip I've ever been on!

Trip totals (* = lifer):

10 wehrle's salamanders*
3 appalachian woodland salamanders
9 northern slimy salamanders
18 white-spotted slimy salamanders
6 yonahlossee salamanders
110 northern graycheek salamanders
1 blue ridge graycheek salamander*
50 red-cheeked salamanders
221 redback salamanders
2 shenandoah salamanders*
1 big levels salamander*
6 peaks of the otter salamanders*
48 weller's salamanders
12 northern pygmy salamanders
19 southern pygmy salamanders
21 alleghany mountain dusky salamanders
40 blue ridge dusky salamanders
7 ocoee salamanders
8 imitator salamanders
37 unidentified imitator or ocoee salamanders
8 santeetlah dusky salamanders
13 northern dusky salamanders
2 spotted dusky salamanders
7 seal salamanders
26 black-bellied salamanders
1 shovel-nosed salamander
3 green salamanders
6 spring salamanders
2 red salamanders
2 northern two-lined salamanders
1 southern two-lined salamander
1 blue ridge two-lined salamander
5 three-lined salamanders
1 unidentified eurycea
2 marbled salamanders
5 red-spotted newts (2 were efts)

3 american toad
4 pickerel frogs
11 green frogs
1 wood frog

14 fence lizards
4 broadhead skinks
9 five-lined skinks

2 water snakes
23 garter snakes
3 milk snakes
4 smooth green snakes
6 red-bellied snakes
25 ringneck snakes
3 worm snakes
2 rat snakes
4 copperheads
2 timber rattlesnakes

2 snapping turtles
1 musk turtle
1 painted turtle
4 box turtles

Happy herping everyone!

-Ananth.
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Noah M
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Re: Epic Blue Ridge Trip (long, photo heavy)

Post by Noah M »

WOW :thumb:

Was there anything you didn't find?

And just for my own curiosity, what percentage of salamanders found do you think were NOT under logs, rocks or debris?
Ecto Hunter
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Re: Epic Blue Ridge Trip (long, photo heavy)

Post by Ecto Hunter »

Awesome report and a great diversity! The Peaks of Otter salamander is high on my must-see list.
NACairns
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Joined: December 30th, 2013, 7:27 am

Re: Epic Blue Ridge Trip (long, photo heavy)

Post by NACairns »

Great post, you really cleaned up on salamanders. I can never see enough pictures of P. yonahlossee.
Thanks for sharing,
Nick
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Rich in Reptiles
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Re: Epic Blue Ridge Trip (long, photo heavy)

Post by Rich in Reptiles »

WOW!! Sounds like you had quite the trip! Nice job :D
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BillMcGighan
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Re: Epic Blue Ridge Trip (long, photo heavy)

Post by BillMcGighan »

Gosh, Ananth, we've been away a few days and we come back to this, your post.


Very Excellent.


You and all the other younger folks here give me great hope that we old folks can fade away graciously, and there will be the exuberance of youth to carry on appreciating the natural world!




PS
Congrats on even competing in the PACE national academic team competiton in Reston, VA
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Berkeley Boone
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Re: Epic Blue Ridge Trip (long, photo heavy)

Post by Berkeley Boone »

Wowza! Now that is a cornucopia of caudates! It looks like you had a good time.

And I agree with Bill, congrats on competing in the PACE event.
--Berkeley
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Jeroen Speybroeck
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Re: Epic Blue Ridge Trip (long, photo heavy)

Post by Jeroen Speybroeck »

Fantastic! Hoping to find some of it next month...
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Kyle from Carolina
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Re: Epic Blue Ridge Trip (long, photo heavy)

Post by Kyle from Carolina »

Epic was a good description. I'll be doing something similar next year and I'll be happy to have half as much success as you. Was that green sal in NC or Tenn?
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Aneides Aeneus
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Joined: November 15th, 2014, 8:54 am
Location: Lexington, KY

Re: Epic Blue Ridge Trip (long, photo heavy)

Post by Aneides Aeneus »

Thanks for the comments everyone, and sorry I could not reply earlier (I have had very limited internet access lately). The PACE competition was certainly a unique opportunity for me, as was the trip it's self, of course.

Captain jack - I'd say less than 2 percent of the salamanders we found were not under cover. Pretty much the only ones I can think of were the green salamanders and about half the wehrle's salamanders (in crevices), 2 ocoee salamanders (among leaf litter), one crazy slimy salamander (found sitting in partial sunlight on a rock during 80+ degree temperatures), a hatchling Shenandoah salamander (found among lichen on a boulder, immediately after a heavy rain), several black-bellied salamanders (in the splash zone of a waterfall), and a couple newts (in a road rut puddle).

Ecto hunter - The peaks of the otter salamanders were quite common, so if you can get out to the area where they occur, you should not have trouble finding them.

NACairns - Yonahlossee salamanders are certainly a lot of fun to find. We found our first in Virginia several years ago, and since then we have only been able to find juveniles, until this trip. It was great to see the really large ones.

Kyle - Our green salamanders were from NC, from the blue ridge escarpment population.

And thanks to everyone else for the compliments. For those of you going to the area in the future, good luck! You will enjoy the beautiful landscape no matter how many herps you find.

-Ananth
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kevin h
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Re: Epic Blue Ridge Trip (long, photo heavy)

Post by kevin h »

I could not agree more with Ananth, and he did a great job summarizing our odyssey. I had a great time and it was by far the most productive herping trip I've ever been on! Anybody else that decides to do that trip I will ensure that you'll have a wonderful time too. :D
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walk-about
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Re: Epic Blue Ridge Trip (long, photo heavy)

Post by walk-about »

Very impressive numbers and pictures of such incredible little herps. Thanks for posting!

Dave
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