Two things:
1. How has your salamander hunting been for those of you in SoCal? Last year I changed job sites to one that is infinitely more suitable to herping. With the rain this winter season, I was looking forward to seeing some sallies near my work. However, despite looking under hundreds of what I thought would be suitable logs, rocks and other debris in prime/suitable habitat, I managed to find nothing of any salamander specie what-so-ever. I managed one sally in a different spot I saw four or five last year. What the heck?
How about you guys?
2. Yesterday I set out to herp my local bit of heaven behind my house in the hopes of finding my second ruber of the year or perhaps something else out on the crawl. After striking out in my first patch of cactus, I passed a couple of guys on the trail that looked like they belonged there about as much as Paris Hilton. I noticed one of them was carrying a small jar about big enough to cram a tarantula in with holes in the lid big enough for even the largest Uta to easily escape from. Soon after I came to my second target area of the evening and instantly noticed that every rock small enough for two people to move had been turned over and completely displaced. All had been fine two nights before. I came to discover that every rock, branch, .... visible from the trail had been moved, rolled and otherwise relocated , broken apart and the micro habitats destroyed. Some rocks were rolled far enough downslope that they will never get back anywhere close to their original location
I ended up spending the rest of the daylight hours trying to muscle rocks around and back close to their original positions. In all the years I've hiked the area and flipped the few rocks that really seemed suitable(of which I could count without using my toes) I have found maybe one lizard under any of the rocks. Of course, unfortunately, this ends up happening to most of us ecologically minded herpers eventually, and it's not the first time it's happened to one of my favorite spots. The most painful were the TINY little rock outcrops, covered in multi-colored lichens, of which there "were" few to start with, that were completely torn apart. Unfortunately, I didn't get far in replacing rocks, and will likely have many more hours of "repairs" to do... -thanks again...
-nightdriver
) has become very good at finding salamanders.