Herping at Mary's Peak

Dedicated exclusively to field herping.

Moderator: Scott Waters

Post Reply
User avatar
Hadar
Posts: 251
Joined: October 12th, 2011, 6:39 pm
Location: Delray Beach, Florida
Contact:

Herping at Mary's Peak

Post by Hadar »

Here are some photos from my first herping adventure in Oregon at Mary's Peak on June 14th, 2014. I was very excited to see my first tailed frog. Actually, all the species were new to me because I am only familiar with herps of the Midwest and Southeast. Please feel free to add comments. Thank you Jonathan for IDing the melanistic Plethodon dunni for me. In just 2 hours walking down this creek I was able to find 12 Dicamptodon tenebrosus, 8 Rhyacotriton variegatus, 4 Plethodon dunni, 1 Taricha granulosa, and an Ascaphus truei. It was a very exciting day for me. The only reason I stopped was because I found a cliff and I was very cold and wet. I look forward to going back soon.

Dicamptodon tenebrosus
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image

Rhyacotriton variegatus
Image
Image
Image

Habitat shots from where I found Dicamptodon tenebrosus and Rhyacotriton variegatus
Image
Image
Image
Image

Plethodon dunni
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image

Ascaphus truei
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image

Habitat shots from where I found Plethodon dunni and the Ascaphus truei
Image
Image
User avatar
Hadar
Posts: 251
Joined: October 12th, 2011, 6:39 pm
Location: Delray Beach, Florida
Contact:

Re: Herping at Mary's Peak

Post by Hadar »

I don't think those photos worked...I'll see if I can figure out how to get them to show.
User avatar
M Wolverton
Posts: 417
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 2:46 pm
Location: Seattle, WA

Re: Herping at Mary's Peak

Post by M Wolverton »

Welcome!

It's easiest to host them on photobucket or some other host.
User avatar
jonathan
Posts: 3689
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 8:39 am
Contact:

Re: Herping at Mary's Peak

Post by jonathan »

As Mike said, Photobucket works very well for getting pics uploaded.

I've also started just pulling my pictures straight from the NAHERP database. If you enter your data there (and Benton County could use a lot more data!), then you can take the photos you entered and repost them easily here as well.


p.s. - I believe that torrent salamanders on Mary's Peak would be R. variegatus. If it was found in the same habitat then the striped salamander would probably be Plethodon dunni, but pics of the hind feet would be definitive (though the coloration alone is often enough to tell). Looking forward to seeing the pics.
User avatar
Hadar
Posts: 251
Joined: October 12th, 2011, 6:39 pm
Location: Delray Beach, Florida
Contact:

Re: Herping at Mary's Peak

Post by Hadar »

My mistake, I thought the album was public but it wasn't. It is now.
User avatar
jonathan
Posts: 3689
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 8:39 am
Contact:

Re: Herping at Mary's Peak

Post by jonathan »

Beautiful pictures Heather! I especially like the torrent salamander - the spotting on that one is prettier than any I've found (I made a post about the different species in the Torrent Salamander family here). Tailed frogs are always an awesome find too.

The green-striped salamander is a Dunn's, and I believe that the dark salamander is also a Dunn's. The melanistic population of Dunn's at Mary's Peak was once described as a separate species, but that turned out to be inaccurate - they're just melanistic versions of the same thing. (Though those dark-toned salamanders are an area of weakness for me, so hopefully somebody else can confirm or dispute that.)
User avatar
Fieldnotes
Posts: 1474
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 6:12 pm
Location: Anaheim, California
Contact:

Re: Herping at Mary's Peak

Post by Fieldnotes »

WoW the mythical "stripeless" Dunn's Salamander does exist! Pretty cool. :thumb: :thumb:
User avatar
mdagz
Posts: 16
Joined: March 23rd, 2014, 1:15 am
Location: Scappoose, OR

Re: Herping at Mary's Peak

Post by mdagz »

Nice job on the finds! I'm thinking that is the mythical stripe-less dunni. I didn't find any at Mary's Peak but not too far south of there in northernmost Lane county I found these guys who look similiar;




Image


Image


Image
User avatar
Hadar
Posts: 251
Joined: October 12th, 2011, 6:39 pm
Location: Delray Beach, Florida
Contact:

Re: Herping at Mary's Peak

Post by Hadar »

jonathan wrote:Beautiful pictures Heather! I especially like the torrent salamander - the spotting on that one is prettier than any I've found (I made a post about the different species in the Torrent Salamander family here). Tailed frogs are always an awesome find too.

The green-striped salamander is a Dunn's, and I believe that the dark salamander is also a Dunn's. The melanistic population of Dunn's at Mary's Peak was once described as a separate species, but that turned out to be inaccurate - they're just melanistic versions of the same thing. (Though those dark-toned salamanders are an area of weakness for me, so hopefully somebody else can confirm or dispute that.)
Thank you for the help on identifying the dark salamander. Since I'm still learning the herps here I have to rely on my field guide and it wasn't too helpful on this guy.
User avatar
jonathan
Posts: 3689
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 8:39 am
Contact:

Re: Herping at Mary's Peak

Post by jonathan »

No worries - I'm the same way. My first stripeless red-backed salamander totally confused me, and I found three funny-colored Dunn's a few years back that I completely mis-ID'd. You were smart to not jump to conclusions. :thumb:
User avatar
TravisK
Posts: 774
Joined: July 8th, 2010, 11:14 am
Location: Eastern Washington

Re: Herping at Mary's Peak

Post by TravisK »

Nice post Hadar. Hope to see more to come ;-)
FrogO_Oeyes
Posts: 60
Joined: February 4th, 2013, 7:43 pm

Re: Herping at Mary's Peak

Post by FrogO_Oeyes »

I'm glad to see some of the black ones. I herped Mary's Peak a few years ago, and found northern R.aff.variegatus, D.tenebrosus (including a large terrestrial adult), A.truei, and normal phase P.dunni, all at a single site. No luck with the dark dunnis, which were previously described as Plethodon gordoni. "Gordoni" differs not just in color, but in various body proportions. However, both forms will occur in a single litter. If this population were to be isolated from other P.dunni, in only a few hundred or thousands of years we'd have a separate species which actually looked different. That, however, is hypothetical at the moment.
Post Reply