Ensatina salamander courtship night

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SurfinHerp
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Ensatina salamander courtship night

Post by SurfinHerp »

Hey there 'mander fans,


Last night turned out to be courtship night for ensatinas in San Diego County!

Between 9 PM and midnight I found a total of 13 ensatinas, including three different pairs. Chrispherp was also out herping (mostly different roads) and found about a dozen ensatinas as well.


Here are some of the photos I took...


Large-blotched pair
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The male is in front (on the left) and the female was rubbing her chin above his vent.


This smaller male was only a few feet away from the pair above
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Pair of Montereys courting
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Smaller Monterey found very nearby
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Another pair of Montereys, as found in the middle of the road
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Same pair posed on the shoulder, out of harm's way
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More large-blotchies...

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Overall, it was the most interesting night of herping I've had in a while.

Hope you enjoyed the pics!

Jeff
Jimi
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Re: Ensatina salamander courtship night

Post by Jimi »

I bet. Very cool, thanks for that.

Congrats on a little rain too! Hoping you get some more.

Cheers,
Jimi
daniel
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Re: Ensatina salamander courtship night

Post by daniel »

Wow Jeff, congratulations on a great outing. What an awesome observation!
RobertH
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Re: Ensatina salamander courtship night

Post by RobertH »

That IS pretty cool, especially if you found the pairs while road cruising. Or did I misunderstand you and you were walking/flipping when you found them?

Robert
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mattg
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Re: Ensatina salamander courtship night

Post by mattg »

awesome observations jeff ! :thumb: :thumb: I also manged to cruise two ensatina within a yard or so of each other and it seemed like one was in pursuit, but i quickly moved them off the busy road. so i did not really observe courtship.
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Phillodactylus
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Re: Ensatina salamander courtship night

Post by Phillodactylus »

I'm so glad someone was able to get some nice observations in with this last storm. Thanks for sharing these, Jeff!
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SurfinHerp
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Re: Ensatina salamander courtship night

Post by SurfinHerp »

Thanks guys 8-)

Robert - I found two of the pairs primarily due to luck. Twice I pulled over after spotting a smallish ensatina on the pavement, then lost track of where it went. So I scanned the roadside and spotted a pair courting in the leaves. Both times I was also able to locate the first one. It seemed as though perhaps the smaller males were hoping to get some attention from the females, but were passed over in favor of the larger males. So I guess the lesson is, if you find an ensatina on the road, you ought to also search the roadside nearby and look for more.
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Fundad
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Re: Ensatina salamander courtship night

Post by Fundad »

Great Observations.. :thumb:

Nice Work :beer:
Fundad
RobertH
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Re: Ensatina salamander courtship night

Post by RobertH »

Wow, that's good to know. It seems to indicate that if and when there are Ensatina (and maybe other salamanders?) on the road, the immediate area is thick with them. After all, open roads aren't exactly their preferred habitat and they will not be found in the same numbers there as in the adjacent woods.

Not to hijack the thread, but during the same rain event Nicholas also found some nice salamanders walking and flipping, if in smaller numbers.

Saturday we found this juvenile Monterey Ensatina under what was literally the final log of the day:

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And Sunday, also after a lot of surprisingly unsuccessful flipping (maybe the substrate was TOO moist?), we found this nice young adult Arboreal Salamander:

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We also saw a couple Black-Bellied Slender Salamander, but not nearly as many as we had thought we would see. My best guess is that they are not hiding under logs as much as they are active doing whatever they are doing. For example. I found one of them by running my hands through leaf litter next to a big rock wall with large crevices in it. I was amazed at how fast the Slender was moving. It was clearly on the move, and not just hanging around curled up in a ball as we usually see them.

Newts were everywhere. We literally saw over 100. Just this weekend we finally realized that they preferably walk on leaf litter that matches their own, brown color, rather than on green/yellow leaves. It's not really surprising, of course, but we were still struck by how strictly they seem to adhere to that rule, at least when brown leaf litter is available. Once we concentrated on the right color leaves, we found way more than before.

On our final hike on Sunday night, during a light rain, we saw 80+ CA toads at a place just minutes from our house. Aside from the large number, we were surprised to see how far up the mountain - and away from their breeding pool (dry for the last 2 years) - they range. The breeding pool is at about 1100 of elevation, and we found toads up to almost 2000 feet and a long way from the water (when there is water). It made us wonder how many of these high-elevation toads will bother with - and survive - the trip back down to the water to breed. A one-way trip is an accomplishment. A roundtrip, especially if made more than once, seems suicidal.

Anyway, we enjoyed the rain event last weekend and learned a lot in the process. We have now found 5 out 6 SoCal salamander species this year and hope to find the 6th (B. gabrieli) next weekend, conditions permitting.

Almost needless to say, the photos were taken by Nicholas.

Robert
hellihooks
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Re: Ensatina salamander courtship night

Post by hellihooks »

Great stuff Jeff... :thumb: jim
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Gary N
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Re: Ensatina salamander courtship night

Post by Gary N »

3 pairs of Ensatina!
I would have stopped after the first pair because I would have just sat all night and watched them.
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yolodave
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Re: Ensatina salamander courtship night

Post by yolodave »

Awesome post! Great that you witnessed this behavior and were able to share it with us.

thanks.


Dave
condyle
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Re: Ensatina salamander courtship night

Post by condyle »

Nice post!
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nightdriver
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Re: Ensatina salamander courtship night

Post by nightdriver »

Way cool Jeff :thumb:

-nightdriver
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