It rained and The Giants emerged

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mdagz
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Location: Scappoose, OR

It rained and The Giants emerged

Post by mdagz »

I've been hopefully searching for my first adult coastal giant salamander to no avail all year. The Oregon coast range finally got a decent rain storm to roll through for a few days and it brought all kinds of sallies out. The red-backs were everywhere, many walking around so conditions were prime. I was in a very nice isolated older second growth forest with old growth creek draws.



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I found lots coastal giant larvae in that stream. And then the next day up on a ridge above that creek I was bushwhacking through some brush when something caught my eye;



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I knew immediately what that was and yelled in jubilation! :beer:



Coastal Giant Salamander (Dicamptodon tenebrosus)
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About an hour later I was takin a pic of a couple red-backs when I happened to look down below me


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Wow! Two in one day it was great.



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-Matt
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SurfinHerp
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Re: It rained and The Giants emerged

Post by SurfinHerp »

Awesome Matt! Way to go :mrgreen:


That first one seems rather huge and impressive. Was the second one about the same size, or somewhat smaller?


Jeff
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jonathan
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Re: It rained and The Giants emerged

Post by jonathan »

Fantastic. I know that's something you've been hoping for for a long time.
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Fieldnotes
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Re: It rained and The Giants emerged

Post by Fieldnotes »

Holey Cow that is awesome... huge too!!! That might be the best example of a Coast Giant I have ever seen. So the salamanders have sprung in the Pacific Northwest, pretty cool. I'm looking forward to some rainy salamander searching in Washington and perhaps even Canada this year.
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mdagz
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Re: It rained and The Giants emerged

Post by mdagz »

Yeah these two were huge. The first one was the biggest probably round 13" the second was big too aprx. 10" It was a humid foggy 60ish degree day, just ideal. I was really surprised to just see them out walking around on top of ridgelines in some drier parts of the forest, not where I expected to see them.
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TravisK
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Re: It rained and The Giants emerged

Post by TravisK »

Super cool finds! So jelly right now.
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Joshua Wallace
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Re: It rained and The Giants emerged

Post by Joshua Wallace »

Great post! There is nothing better than a big terrestrial giant. You need to make it out into the north part of the coast range and find some vandykei.
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herpgo
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Re: It rained and The Giants emerged

Post by herpgo »

Greta pics, thanks. I didnt know that kind lives as far into the North as Oregon
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AndyO'Connor
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Re: It rained and The Giants emerged

Post by AndyO'Connor »

Interesting they were out on the crawl during the day. I found a couple out on the crawl at night last weekend in the gorge on the OR side. I know a local herper that went out last night up here and found every species possible including a giant. I am looking forward to a HUGE northwestern salamander (Ambystoma gracile) migration in the next couple of nights right through my neighborhood.
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Fundad
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Re: It rained and The Giants emerged

Post by Fundad »

Wow what a beast..

Great Work Matt.

Fundad
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Owen
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Re: It rained and The Giants emerged

Post by Owen »

I don't know how I missed this. VERY nice sallies. In the SF Bay Area, on Halloween, we just got our first decent rain since last year. If we get a couple more, I'm sure our D. ensatus will be out and about.
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