Some washington county herps

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Entomancer
Posts: 22
Joined: June 2nd, 2014, 9:12 pm

Some washington county herps

Post by Entomancer »

Alright, first "results" post.

I decided to go out to a nature park in washington county last friday, since the weather seemed perfect; it was the first 70+ degree day of the year, and I knew I'd find some scaly beasts taking advantage of it.

I'm not great with photography, and all I have is a smartphone (with a pretty good camera considering); the following photos will not be expert-quality, but I did my best.

First, near the edge of the park, I spotted this dilapidated erosion barrier:

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And found a few T. ordinoides hiding beneath:

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The park had some rare/uncommon plants, such as these lilies:

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I didn't see many herps for a while...but I did find quite a few of these large millipedes under logs (I think these are Tylobolus sp.):

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After finding the millipedes, I did find a rocky clearing with a slight slope to it. This proved to be habitat for more T. ordinoides, but I also found a lizard...which managed to completely elude capture or photos by disappearing into the rocks, which were deeply embedded in the sloping clearing and laced with rodent burrows. I'll have to return to see if I can find it again.

A bit further along, I came across a pond, which was brimming with T. granulosa:

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And their plucky offspring:

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As I left, I also saw a red-spotted garter (T. sirtalis concinnus) prowling the shores for food:

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(it's right at the edge of the water, on a rock, in the middle of the photo near the moss. I decided not to get closer as to avoid causing erosion of the banks)

Finally, at the end of the trip, I was graced by the appearance of this fella:

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This was my very first attempt at "posing" a herp for a photo, and I'm pleased enough with the results. I actually found it in somewhat plain sight near the rock in the photo, which was pretty cool and quite lucky.

Anyway, thanks for looking!

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the_cw1
Posts: 138
Joined: April 2nd, 2015, 8:30 am
Location: Utah
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Re: Some washington county herps

Post by the_cw1 »

Oh man, the newts and rubber boa are awesome. I *still* haven't found a rubber, haha. Cool stuff.
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TravisK
Posts: 774
Joined: July 8th, 2010, 11:14 am
Location: Eastern Washington

Re: Some washington county herps

Post by TravisK »

Nice to see you got some early year herping in. :thumb:
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DesertZone
Posts: 121
Joined: July 27th, 2010, 9:17 pm

Re: Some washington county herps

Post by DesertZone »

Very cool, thanks for posting. :)
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jonathan
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Joined: June 7th, 2010, 8:39 am
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Re: Some washington county herps

Post by jonathan »

Nice post
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