And Then... I Found Myself In Washington - (part 2)

DSC_0405-2 by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr

Special Thanks to Gary and Ian for meeting up with me and herping First time in Washington and it rocks Ok... time for bed

the_cw1 · Post by **the_cw1** » October 6th, 2018, 4:39 pm

Love the sals. Ian is a good gut--I always enjoy herping with him. Glad you had a chance to get out there and see some PNW snot lizards. :p

-Derek

technoendo · Post by **technoendo** » October 7th, 2018, 3:02 pm

Great job Porter! I especially dig the kickass puget sound garter shots -- you got some nice ones! What a productive trip.

Love the sals. Ian is a good guy -- I always enjoy herping with him. Glad you had a chance to get out there and see some PNW snot lizards.

Hey the_cw1! Sometime in the spring you should come over to west Utah for a couple days and I'll show you a few of my favorite roads/canyons.

Porter · Post by **Porter** » October 17th, 2018, 4:32 am

technoendo wrote:Great job Porter! I especially dig the kickass puget sound garter shots -- you got some nice ones! What a productive trip.

Thanks to a little help from my friends

There should be 5 full deep blue puget sound individuals. Counting the first one that I found when I first got in (from the part 1 post)and the ones Gary showed me- two swimming in the water grasses, one in the limbs and the in situ basking on the log. Gary took me to a pond he knew of that had those super deep blue ones and the coolest thing was... As were walking in, I'm rambling about how I like to incorporate some weird interesting habitat in my photos. And we walk by this log thats partially submerged in the pond. I point out, "see like that right there. That would be awesome to photograph something on." Then right at the end of our search we walk back by the log andddd... cooool blueeee

just crawed up to get some warmth

Gary's like, "look at that...same log you pointed out, right?"facking awesome mates

the_cw1 wrote:Love the sals. Ian is a good gut--I always enjoy herping with him. Glad you had a chance to get out there and see some PNW snot lizards. :p

-Derek

Thanks man

I love those Kermit-like little bastards

So, glad you like that PNW. That has actually been at the top of my want-to-see-salamander list for like, ever...

I,ve never been far enough north in the coastal region to see one in CA and that was top priority in Washigton. I know a lot of people think they just ugly brown turds. Even Gary's like, "why the hell do you want to see one of those?" ...and went on to say its highly unlikely because of the time of year and missing breeding season and all. He thought maybe a larva if lucky. I was determined tho and had a pond picked out from googling on the plane. Where I found it was dry as hell

I mean, yellow moss mates. Still, you're getting rain tho...So, Im searching all over the place and I finally found one bedded in to an old blue tarp. And funny you call it a snot lizard because both nostrils looked like it was dipped in glue and it kept gasping air breaths every so often. I started getting rained on, so I took some wet moss and cleared one nostril for breathing. The other side was too dry and caked on to remove and I didn't want to hurt em by trying. I'm pretty sure it was the sticky white defensive goo that bleeds through the skin like on Ensatina. I saw some seeping out of the leg region as I was clearing the air way.

I don't know why, but I'm just fascinated by them. Mainly because of the contradicting concept of hidden beauty. They look ugly lumpy brown, but you photo one under flash and all thses amazing brown tones and blue come out...which is just mesmerizing. I couldn't really get a good flash shot because the rain started coming down hard and I had a long walk back to the car with my gear. Still I love the shots of the sky reflections over the anatomical characteristics in natural lighting. Best shots of the trip for me

LouB747 · Post by **LouB747** » October 17th, 2018, 5:40 pm

Loving the blue garter. Puget Sound Garter I'm guessing. Haven't been able to find a super blue looking one yet.

Porter · Post by **Porter** » October 18th, 2018, 4:44 am

Porter · Post by **Porter** » October 18th, 2018, 4:46 am

LouB747 wrote:Loving the blue garter. Puget Sound Garter I'm guessing. Haven't been able to find a super blue looking one yet.

Thanks Lou

I wouldn't have found one myself if it weren't for the generosity of thee ol Master. Very greatful to see the old man and we may have spent more time sitting and sharing old war stories than actual herping that day

I think the first one I found while exploring on my own, may qualify as Puget Sound (individual coiled upon nature's barbedwire). Ian was saying the light blue dorsal is the key factor, however he confirmed it from a picture of my viewfinder which altered the appearance a bit. Once I processed the photo and lookde again last night, I do see some green twards the tail end... and I think any hints of yellow may hinder that status. Where I found it, was near the same area I found the cluster of breeding serpents. I call the, "hybrigades" because I'm just cool like that (

) but I know Ian could break down the whole drama of what's happening with those genetic meshes far more clear & accurately than I can (maybe he'll chime in...)

In all honesty it is very interesting and each spot I saw snakes seemed to display it's own unique mixture of color characteristics. My favorite is that deep blue baby with the orange dorsal. Than little guy, to me, hold a torch up there with the San Fran Garters for recognition as most beautiful North American serpent

The contrast display in color is amazing and without a doubt the prettiest garter I've seen to date. I found it along with the all yellow baby under the same peice of plywood with a couple others. About a quarter mile away from the breeding cluster site. I flipped then at night, left them there, then went back the following day and photographed those to because they seemed to display the far ends of the oddity spectrum.... however, the other two looked cool too.

Here's a vid of the flip, snake cluster, and some comparison shots that display that orange dorasl a little better: