Herping in Floyd County, Indiana

Cave Salamander: PC Yatin Kalki

Date:

March 21st to 27th 2015

Species Found:

1. Redback Salamander (Plethodon cinereus)
2. Five Lined Skink (Plestiodon fasciatus)
3. Southern Two Lined Salamander (Eurycea cirrigera)
4. Northen Zigzag Salamander (Plethodon dorsalis)
5. Cave Salamander (Eurycea lucifuga)
6. Northern Slimy Salamander (Plethodon glutinosus)
7. American Bullfrog (Lithobates catesbeianus)
8. Northern Green Frog (Lithobates clamitans melanota)
9. Longtail Salamander (Eurycea longicauda)

Background:

I was looking for wildlife at my friend Garrett's farm over Spring Break. The farm is a 100 acre property, which is mostly deciduous forest with a few creeks and ponds. I spent a couple of days just walking through the woods, flipping logs and looking for animals.

The Trip:

The first herps I found were Redback Salamanders under a log near an old barn. I had seen at least a hundred of these before so I didn't bother taking very good photos. I was still pretty excited about finding an amphibian so close to a building, but that was because I didn't know that I would see another 100 of them later that day.

Redback Salamanders: PC Yatin Kalki

Redback Salamanders: PC Yatin Kalki

Shortly afterward, I found a juvenile Five Lined Skink under a piece of roof tiling. I could tell it was young by its blue tail. I had seen one of these before in Southern Illinois but I couldn't catch it and therefore had no photos of it. Luckily I managed to catch this one.

Five Lined Skink: PC Yatin Kalki

Five Lined Skink: PC Yatin Kalki

Five Lined Skink: PC Yatin Kalki

Juvenile Five Lined Skink: PC Yatin Kalki

Later that day, I found an adult Five Lined Skink and another juvenile under decaying logs. The adult was duller and didn't have a vibrant blue tail.

Adult Five Lined Skink: PC Yatin Kalki

Adult Five Lined Skink: PC Yatin Kalki

Juvenile Five Lined Skink: PC Yatin Kalki

Juvenile Five Lined Skink: PC Yatin Kalki

Under a log near where I found the first Skink, I found a Southern Two Lined Salamander. I had seen some of these before in Vermilion County, IL but it was still cool to find another species of salamander so close to the house. Later that day, when I was herping in a creek, I found around 50 more Southern Two Lined Salamanders under rocks. I also found a few larvae in small pools under rocks.

Southern Two Lined Salamander: PC Yatin Kalki

Southern Two Lined Salamander: PC Yatin Kalki

Southern Two Lined Salamander Larva: PC Yatin Kalki

Under logs on hillsides and under rocks by streams, I found some Zigzag Salamanders. I had seen these before at Snake Road but these had brightly colored zigzags which were much more prominent.

Zigzag Salamander: PC Yatin Kalki

Zigzag Salamanders: PC Yatin Kalki

For hours, I went on flipping rocks by the stream, finding Redbacks, Two Lineds and Zigzags but it all paid off when I found a Cave Salamander. I had never seen one before and it was really cool to see its bright orange body with black spots. I wasn't sure if it was a Cave Salamander or a Longtail Salamander so I sent a picture to Tristan and he confirmed that it was a Cave Salamander. After I took photos of it, I went to put it back under the rock I found it under and found another Cave Salamander!

Cave Salamander: PC Yatin Kalki

Cave Salamander: PC Yatin Kalki

Cave Salamander: PC Yatin Kalki

Just when I thought I was done finding all the salamander species I could find, I found a large Northern Slimy Salamander under a log along with 6 Redback Salamanders. I had also seen these before at Vermilion County, IL but it was cool to find so many salamander species in one place.

Northern Slimy Salamander: PC Yatin Kalki

Northern Slimy Salamander: PC Yatin Kalki

On the way back to the house I flipped a rock to find a tiny Bullfrog. It jumped into the water but I managed to catch it and take some photos. Bullfrogs are some of the most common frogs but I just hadn't managed to catch one in the last six months. So it was good that I finally got one. I also netted some large Bullfrog tadpoles in a pond.

American Bullfrog: PC Yatin Kalki

American Bullfrog: PC Yatin Kalki

American Bullfrog: PC Yatin Kalki

Bullfrog Tadpole: PC Yatin Kalki

Bullfrog Tadpole: PC Yatin Kalki

The next day I found all of the same species, with the addition of a new one. I found a total of 6 Northern Green Frogs under large rocks in a creek. They mostly occurred in twos but two were alone. I had seen another subspecies of Green Frog in Southern Illinois called the Bronze Frog, but the Northern Green Frog was new to me.

Northern Green Frogs: PC Yatin Kalki

Northern Green Frog: PC Yatin Kalki

Northern Green Frog: PC Yatin Kalki

Northern Green Frog: PC Yatin Kalki

While looking in various water bodies, I repeatedly came across Wood Frog egg masses but I couldn't find any actual Wood Frogs. The eggs were present in HUGE concentrations at some places and unfortunately, many of the masses were on the banks of ponds that were close to drying up.

Wood Frog Egg Masses: PC Yatin Kalki

Wood Frog Egg Masses: PC Yatin Kalki

A couple of days later, I found Longtail Salamanders, too. The first one was under a large rock a few meters away from the creek. It was much bigger than any of the Longtail Salamanders I had seen befpre, about double the size. Like most Longtails, it was orange with black spots and had a really long tail. The other Longtail I found was severely wounded. Its whole tail had been cut off and it had a deep wound on its lower jaw. Salamanders are known to have amazing regenerative capabilities so I knew that he could very well make a recovery.

Longtail Salamander: PC Yatin Kalki

Longtail Salamander: PC Yatin Kalki

Longtail Salamander: PC Yatin Kalki

Longtail Salamander: PC Yatin Kalki

Injured Longtail Salamander: PC Yatin Kalki

Though I failed to find any of the infamous snakes that Garrett had told me so much about, I did manage to find a total of 9 species, 3 of which were new to me. My American Herp List now stood at 44 species.

Herping in Red River Gorge, Kentucky

Southern Two Lined Salamander: PC Yatin Kalki

Date:

March 23rd 2015

Species Found:

1. Southern Two Lined Salamander (Eurycea cirrigera)
2. Northern Dusky Salamander (Desmognathus fuscus)

Background:

I along with 4 friends from my college went hiking at Red River Gorge for a day. My friends didn't really know much about wildlife so I decided to take the lead and show them how interesting animals could be.

The Trip:

We were looking at the map with all the trails at Red River Gorge and we just couldn't decide which one to take. We wanted to walk along the river but none of the trails really ran by the river for a substantial distance. In the end, we decided to 'go on our own trail', so we climbed down to the river by a bridge and just started walking along the river. Since there wasn't any carved out path for us to walk on, we had to weave through thickets and climb over fallen branches. At one point, we ran out of flat land to walk on on our side, so we crossed the river, getting our shoes, socks and pants wet. I was looking in every crack and hollow for wildlife but I couldn't find anything except insects and earthworms. Soon, we stumbled upon a small stream that was flowing down the mountain and into the river. Choosing to walk up the stream was one of the best decisions we made.

The stream was filled with tiny waterfalls and had countless rocks to flip (which meant I had my work cut out for me). I flipped rocks that looked promising for salamanders to be under but kept finding crayfish, which were pretty cool in their own way. Finally, I flipped a flat rock to find a familiar yellow amphibian sitting all curled up. It was a Southern Two Lined Salamander. I had seen dozens of these just the previous day, but it was the first time my 4 friends had ever seen a salamander. They thought it was pretty cool and even started to help me flip rocks.

Southern Two Lined Salamander: PC Yatin Kalki

We continued to find more Southern Two Lined Salamanders, about 7 or 8. One of the individuals we found had large jaw muscles, indicating that it was in a breeding state.

Southern Two Lined Salamander: PC Yatin Kalki

Under a small rock just behind a small waterfall, I found a baby Dusky Salamander. I had seen a Dusky Salamander before in Southern Illinois but this one was much smaller and had an interesting pattern on its tail.

Dusky Salamnader: PC Yatin Kalki

Dusky Salamnader: PC Yatin Kalki

I didn't get any new species from this trip, then again, this wasn't really a herping trip. I did however have a lot of fun hiking with my friends.

Herping in Champaign County, Illinois

Small-mouth Salamander: PC Yatin Kalki

Date:
March 20th 2015

Species Found:

1. Small-mouth Salamander (Ambystoma texanum)

Background:

We had gone to Busey Woods on March 13th but didn't find anything because the ground was frozen solid. Tristan and I decided to go again on March 20th and the ground was nice and muddy, perfect for finding salamanders.

The Trip:

First we decided to look near a pond near which Tristan had found loads of Small-mouth Salamanders in the Fall. The 3rd log we flipped had a large gravid female Small-mouth Salamander under it. It was bluish-black and a little plain looking. This was the first Small-mouth Salamander that I had seen so I wasn't aware of how colorful they could be. Either way, I was happy that I had a model to photograph with my new camera.

Gravid Female Small-mouth Salamander: PC Yatin Kalki

Gravid Female Small-mouth Salamander: PC Yatin Kalki

Gravid Female Small-mouth Salamander: PC Yatin Kalki

2 minutes later I found 2 juvenile Small-mouth Salamanders under 2 mossy rocks right next to each other. These were prettier with light blue lichenous markings on their sides and bellies. They were both metamorphs, which were a little less than a year old.

Juvenile Small-mouth Salamander: PC Yatin Kalki

Juvenile Small-mouth Salamander: PC Yatin Kalki

Juvenile Small-mouth Salamander: PC Yatin Kalki

Juvenile Small-mouth Salamanders: PC Yatin Kalki

We moved to a different pond to see what we might find there. Tristan found some egg masses in the water and I found another large Small-mouth Salamander. It was as big as the female but we couldn't tell the gender of this one. When we were photographing it, it released a sticky substance that reminded me of the slime released by Slimy Salamanders.

Egg Masses: PC Tristan Schramer

Egg Masses: PC Tristan Schramer

Adult Small-mouth Salamander: PC Yatin Kalki

Adult Small-mouth Salamander: PC Yatin Kalki

Adult Small-mouth Salamander: PC Yatin Kalki

I got a new species to add to my American Herp List, which now stood at 41.