My first post of Caudate appreciate in case anyone missed it.
http://www.fieldherpforum.com/forum/vie ... 11&t=21067
Towards the end of December we got some more rains that brought out more salamanders around my area.
The night started off with a mole salamander down the road from my house.
Mole salamander. by Joshua W. Young, on Flickr
Since I was targeting tigers again, and not seeing them in the area close to my house, I went to an area closer to the Florida/Georgia state line that I suspected them of being at since it was more naturally appropriate habitat and I knew of a few vernal pools along the road that I suspected as being breeding pools. I wasn't wrong. I ended up finding another female crossing the road just before one of the vernal pools.
Tiger salamander. by Joshua W. Young, on Flickr
A short video of her strolling across the road.
I also managed to find my first southeastern slimy salamander I've seen in my county on the way home.
Southeastern slimy salamander. by Joshua W. Young, on Flickr
Southeastern slimy salamander. by Joshua W. Young, on Flickr
Two nights later I did a pass on the same road I got the last female on my way home from a trip to the ANF/Torreya. I managed a male tiger sitting in the opposite lane.
Tiger salamander. by JoshuaW. Young, on Flickr
Tiger salamander. by Joshua W. Young, on Flickr
The next night I went out to shine vernal pools in hopes of seeing mating tigers, but didn't have any luck, so I chased ornate chorus frogs afterwords.
Ornate chorus frog. by Joshua W. Young, on Flickr
Ornate chorus frog. by Joshua W. Young, on Flickr
Ornate chorus frog. by Joshua W. Young, on Flickr
Spring peepers were also out.
Spring peeper. by Joshua W. Young, on Flickr
As well as were southern chorus frogs.
Southern chorus frog. by Joshua W. Young, on Flickr
Christmas night, Daniel Thompson and Noah Fields picked me up from my house and we made our way down to ENP to spend a week down there. We were accompanied by our mutual friend Nick Lauten, as well as Ian Deery and his friend Chuck.
I didn't take many photos but we had a great showing of herps, we found all the hots, several different invasive lizards, and really managed most of the trips targets except a brooks king.
Got to witness two diamondbacks copulating.
20141226_174358 by Joshua W. Young, on Flickr
One of the same diamondbacks the next day.
Eastern diamondback rattlesnake. by Joshua W. Young, on Flickr
A male veiled chameleon we found with the help of Ruben Ramirez.
Veiled chameleon. by Joshua W. Young, on Flickr
A tegu Noah and Chuck found while the rest of us were goofing off taking photos of the chameleons and knight anoles from the night before.
Tegu. by Joshua W. Young, on Flickr
Finally got to see a diamondback after dark, as well as finally find one on Research Road.
1419753415164 by Joshua W. Young, on Flickr
Also finally managed to see a burm inside the park. Before that night I had never seen any sign of a burm from inside the park.
Burmese python. by Joshua W. Young, on Flickr
Burmese python. by Joshua W. Young, on Flickr
Also managed to see my first eastern mud in the vicinity of the park.
20141229_200025 by Joshua W. Young, on Flickr
Even managed to see my first pygmy from the park as well, just feet away from our campsite at Flamingo, crossing at the latest I've also ever seen a pygmy active, after midnight.
20141230_001527 by Joshua W. Young, on Flickr
20141230_001559 by Joshua W. Young, on Flickr
We we all home in time for New Years eve, and since I missed my ride back down to Florida to do more herping with another group of friends, I went out after a rain after a couple days being back for salamanders.
Only managed several dwarf salamanders crossing the road in front of a vernal pool.
Dwarf salamander. by Joshua W. Young, on Flickr
Dwarf salamander. by Joshua W. Young, on Flickr
Couple of days after that we had temps drop to 20 degrees over night, and the next day we never got over 35 degrees. I decided to flip the AC behind my house just for fun, and was surprised to flip a large gray rat snake under the first piece of tin I flipped. Air temp was at 30 degrees, which made it the coldest temp I've ever found a snake.
20150108_112143 by Joshua W. Young, on Flickr
20150108_112641 by Joshua W. Young, on Flickr
We did have rain come in the morning before last at around 4 am and I did go out hoping for tigers, I did manage to find a DOR tiger, that had just been hit by the only other car on the road all morning, and I also managed to find a live mole and a DOR marbled just over into Jefferson County, FL.
Hopefully in one of the next rains we get I'll see another tiger, but I am eagerly awaiting March/April so it starts warming up so I can start back to chasing some of the snakes I wanted to see in 2014. Thanks for looking.
More Caudate appreciation and a trip to ENP.
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Re: More Caudate appreciation and a trip to ENP.
Great stuff - Tigers are really a wonderful species. Looks like you killed it in ENP.
Re: More Caudate appreciation and a trip to ENP.
Nice Pics, Thanks for Sharing