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
