Herpedex: All the Herps I Have Seen In The Wild: red back salamander

Showing posts with label red back salamander. Show all posts

Friday, 28 August 2015

Fall Herping at the Vermilion River Observatory, Illinois

Smooth Earth Snake: PC Tristan Schramer

Date:
August 28th 2015

Species Found:

Eastern American Toad (Anaxyrus americanus americanus)
Ringneck Snake (Diadophis punctatus)
Eastern Garter Snake (Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis)
Eastern Milk Snake (Lampropeltis triangulum triangulum)
Midland Brown Snake (Storeria dekayi wrightorum)
Western Smooth Earth Snake (Virginia valeriae elegans)
Red Back Salamander (Plethodon cinereus)
Wood Frog (Lithobates sylvaticus)
Northern Cricket Frog (Acris crepitans blanchardi)

Background:

Tristan and I had been given permission to do herp surveys at the Vermilion River Observatory last Spring, so we decided to go back out there to see what we could find in the Fall. One Friday evening after classes, Sam, Tristan, I and a few non-herpers: Lewin and Elliot, went to the VRO to check the cover objects that we had set out last Spring.

The Trip:

The first thing we did was stop by a large pile of tin that we had checked last Spring. Working together, we started moving the huge sheets of tin, one at a time. A few layers deep, we found 3 Ringneck Snakes. Tristan could only grab 2 as the precision of his fingers was compromised by the gloves he was wearing. The third snake escaped deeper into the tin pile, bit we weren't disappointed as we knew that we would find it eventually. After about 10 minutes, we had gone through the whole

tin pile and we had 8 Ringneck Snakes. In the Spring we had found just one in this pile, so finding so many was a pleasant surprise. While we were putting the tin back into its original position, Lewin spotted a snake moving through the grass and immediately jumped and grabbed it by the tail. For someone who had never caught snakes before, his reflexes were surprisingly good. I helped him pull the snake out of the grass and it turned out to be an Eastern Garter Snake, a common species throughout the region.

Ringneck Snake: PC Tristan Schramer

We moved on to the spot where we had found a Blue Racer last time. Sam found a Milk Snake under a piece of wood, which came as a surprise because nobody expected to find that species in this region. Lewin found a Brown Snake under some wood there too but we didn't find that large Blue Racer from last time. We did however find some Blue Racer eggs under a piece of tin in the same area.

Milk Snake: PC Tristan Schramer

Next, we went to a patch of woods which had some debris lying around, perfect habitat for many a reptile and amphibian. There, we found a number of American Toads under objects as well as out in the open. In a collapsed shack, I found a Red Back Salamander under a paint can lid. Meanwhile, Tristan ran out of an old broken down trailer saying that there was a raccoon inside hissing at him. I heard the hissing but I didn't think it was a raccoon so I circled around the trailer and looked in through the window at the back. I saw a medium sized animal sitting up on the counter but it definitely was not a raccoon. At first I thought it was a small dog, then a cat, and then it dawned on me that I was looking at a bird. It was a young Turkey Vulture, with its white down feathers still intact. It was the same size as an adult but the colors were nothing like an adult's black plumage. I went into the trailer to get a better look at it and it continued hissing loudly, clicked its beak and jumped off the counter to hide under a table. I managed to get just one crappy photo with my phone before it disappeared from my sight.

Red Back Salamander: PC Yatin Kalki

Turkey Vulture: PC Yatin Kalki

We continued searching for snakes in the same area. I found another Ringneck but this one had a very different belly pattern from the others we had found. It had 3 rows of black spots instead of just one. Sam found a snake that he thought was another Brown Snake but when Tristan took a look at it, he identified it as a Smooth Earth Snake. We knew that this was definitely a new record for this site but we were unsure of its status in Vermilion County. Later, we found out that the last Smooth Earth documented in the county was back in 1991. We had found the first Vermilion County Smooth Earth in over 20 years!

Unusual Ringneck Belly Pattern: PC Tristan Schramer

Smooth Earth Snake: PC Tristan Schramer

We then took some time to photograph the animals we had seen. A Ringneck we had found was in the process of shedding its skin and we got the whole process in a series of shots. After we had taken detailed photos of our finds, we decided to walk through the woods to see if we could find any other interesting stuff. We found a few Wood Frogs and a Cricket Frog but that was about it.

Ringneck Snake Shedding Skin: PC Tristan Schramer

Wood Frog: PC Yatin Kalki

We hadn't seen the Black Rat Snake that we were hoping to find at this site but we did make a lot of very cool finds. This will definitely not be our last trip to the VRO this Fall, so hopefully we find it some time in the future.

Friday, 8 May 2015

Herping at the Vermilion River Observatory

Blue Racer: PC Yatin Kalki

Date:
May 8th 2015

Species Found:

Eastern American Toad (Anaryxus americanus americanus)
Ringneck Snake (Diadophis punctatus)
Smallmouth Salamander (Ambystoma texanum)
Northern Green Frog (Lithobates clamitans clamitans)
Eastern Garter Snake (Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis)
Blue Racer (Coluber constrictor foxii)
Red Back Salamander (Plethodon cinereus)

Background:

Tristan and I had recently become board members of the Wildlife Society - Illinois Student Chapter. I was the Vice President and Tristan was the Undergraduate Representative. This meant that we frequently met one of the advisers for the club, Steve Buck, the Natural Areas Coordinator for the Vermilion River Observatory. He told us that he had a large area of land that was owned by the ECE department but was mostly natural forest area. He said that he had seen snakes on the property but nobody had actually done any surveys. He wanted us to come out to the site with him and document the species we found.

The Trip:

Steve drove us to the VRO, about 30 minutes off campus. He opened the gate and gave us a copy of the key so that we could come back without him. We walked past piles of debris like tin and wooden boards, perfect snake habitat. Since we were on a schedule, we didn't flip any of it. The first herp we found was a small American Toad hopping through the grass. I picked it up and Tristan recorded its GPS coordinates. Steve showed us some pond and vernal pools that he had seen salamanders and frogs breeding in. We saw a few Green Frogs but didn't attempt to catch them. We then passed by a big pile of tin sitting out in the sun by the side of the road. This looked too good not to flip so we started moving the large tin layers. About 5 layers deep, I spotted a small Ringneck Snake curled up at the corner of the tin. I picked it up and showed Steve. He said that Ringneck Snakes had never been found in this area so it was a new record.

Pile of Tin: PC Tristan Schramer

Ringneck Snake: PC Yatin Kalki

Ringneck Snake: PC Yatin Kalki

Ringneck Snake: PC Tristan Schramer

At the very bottom of the tin pile, we found a Smallmouth Salamanderresting in the moist dirt. These had been well recorded in this area so we just left it alone. We let the Ringneck Snake go after getting some photos. Near the tin pile, there was some more debris that we decided to look under. Tristan found an Eastern Garter Snake under a rusty toolbox but that was about it. After that, we went to an old shed where Steve said that he had frequently seen a resident Black Rat Snake. Neither Tristan nor I had seen a Black Rat Snake so we were quite excited at the prospect of seeing one. We checked inside the shed but didn't find any snakes. Right outside the shed was a pile of debris. We started moving some of that and I saw the tail of a medium sized snake with some patterning on it. I immediately thought Black Rat Snake and pulled it out by the tail. I was surprised to find that it was actually a Blue Racer and the "pattern' I had seen was actually scale damage. It was not a healthy snake, with scale rot in multiple spots and a moderate case of mouth rot. We thought that it might even have Snake Fungal Disease so we took some pictures of the damage to send to herpetologists.

Catching a Blue Racer: PC Tristan Schramer

Blue Racer: PC Tristan Schramer

Blue Racer: PC Yatin Kalki

We then visited a cabin that had another shed next to it, where Steve had seen Five-Lined Skinks. I had seen plenty of these in Southern Illinois and Indiana but Tristan had never seen a Skink before. We tried looking for them but couldn't find any. We did, however, find another Ringneck under a piece of bark. Next, Steve took us to a spot where he had seen Redback and Slimy Salamanders. We found the Redbacks fairly easily but didn't find any Slimys. Steve gave us the keys to the cabin and said that we were welcome to stay there overnight when we were doing research. I really look forward to coming back here in the Fall and doing some intense snake surveys.

Friday, 17 April 2015

April Herping in Vermilion County, IL

Ringneck Snake: PC Tristan Schramer

Date:
April 11th and April 17th 2015

Species Found:

Redback Salamander (Plethodon cinereus)
Four Toed Salamander (Hemidactylium scutatum)
Silvery Salamander (Ambystoma platineum)
Ringneck Snake (Diadophis punctatus)

The Trip:

Last Fall we had been to a snake hibernaculum and found some large Blue Racers. We expected the snakes to emerge sometime now so we made a trip there one sunny evening. Sam, who was new to herping, came with us and was psyched up and ready to find some large snakes. We got there and were unhappy to find a group of people sitting on the railroad tracks above the hibernaculum, smoking and drinking. All our hopes of finding large snakes disappeared as we knew that these people would have spooked any snakes that had been out basking. Either way, we started looking under objects like logs, rocks and railroad ties for anything. We found some Redback salamanders under rocks but that was about all we could find.

Redback Salamander: PC Tristan Schramer

We decided to leave the hibernaculum and go to a nearby spot to where we had found Four Toed Salamanders before. Sam had never seen any salamanders before so he was excited to see anything. We got there and started flipping the rocks we had found them under last time. Unfortunately we didn't find any there. Tristan found a dead Box Turtle's shell and it was cool to see the bone patterns on the inside. About 5 minutes Tristan found a small Four Toed Salamander under a piece of wood. We showed it to Sam and explained how Four Toed Salamanders have a speckled belly and a constriction at the base of the tail. Sam and I found about 5 more Four Toed Salamanders but all of them were juveniles only 3-4 cm long. The adults were probably in the ponds breeding. As we photographed our specimens it got dark and we started to hear the hoots of Barred Owls. After we released the salamanders, we walked back to the car by the light of our headlamps, somewhat satisfied with what we had found.

Four Toed Salamander: PC Tristan Schramer

Four Toed Salamanders: PC Tristan Schramer

About a week later, Tristan and I decided to go back to the hibernaculum with Megan. This time we weren't greeted by the rowdy yelling of drunk people, but by the sound of the flowing creeks, broken only by the croaking of frogs. This was a good sign.

We had heard of Black Rat Snake sightings all throughout the Midwest, and this was after all a Black Rat Snake hibernaculum so we were hopeful that we would find one. About 2 minutes in, someone found some Redback Salamanders. We had seen tons of these so we didn't waste any time taking photos. 5 minutes in, Tristan shouted "Black Rat!" and pulled a medium sized black snake out from under some leaves. I was super excited until I actually saw the snake. It was limp and its face was discolored. It dawned on us all that the snake was dead and had been for at least a few days. Nothing drops your spirits more than finding a cool new snake only to find out that it is dead. It was hard to determine the cause of death but it had surely died sometime after we had last been there.

Dead Black Rat Snake: PC Tristan Schramer

We were discouraged by the dead snake but we kept on looking for snakes. I climbed up a hillside which had a lot of debris like metal pieces, wooden planks and ceramic tiles strewn on it. After about 10 minutes, I found a small Ringneck Snake under a ceramic tile. It was only a juvenile but still a first time species for Megan, Tristan and me. Ringneck Snakes are called so because of the bright colored ring pattern around their neck. They have a dull colored back and a bright colored belly. We found 4 more Ringneck Snakes on that hillside. With all of the snakes in front of us, it was very easy to see just how much the belly patterns varied. Some had 3 lines of dots running down their bodies, some had just the 2 sides and others had no dots on the belly at all.

5 Ringneck Snakes: PC Yatin Kalki

Ringneck Snake: PC Tristan Schramer

2 Types of Belly Patterns: PC Tristan Schramer

Plain Belly Pattern: PC Tristan Schramer

Ringneck Snake: PC Tristan Schramer

On the other side of the hill I found 9 more Ringneck Snakes but I didn't catch them as we already had 5 to photograph. Under a large flat rock, I found 2 Ringneck Snakes and a medium sized salamander. At first I thought it was a Mole Salamander because of its large head. Then, I thought it was a Blue-spotted Salamander because of the blue speckles on its side. Tristan later identified it as a juvenile Silvery Salamander. We had found a Silvery Salamander in this county last month but apparently nobody had found any in this area. We decided to tell the qualified herpetologists about this particular find.

Silvery Salamander: PC Tristan Schramer

After we got photos and released all the animals, we decided to head back. Though we didn't get any live Black Rat Snakes, I was still pretty satisfied with our finds. The Ringneck Snake was a new addition to my American Herp List which now stood at 49 species.

Friday, 27 March 2015

Herping in Floyd County, Indiana

Cave Salamander: PC Yatin Kalki

Date:

March 21st to 27th 2015

Species Found:

Redback Salamander (Plethodon cinereus)
Five Lined Skink (Plestiodon fasciatus)
Southern Two Lined Salamander (Eurycea cirrigera)
Northen Zigzag Salamander (Plethodon dorsalis)
Cave Salamander (Eurycea lucifuga)
Northern Slimy Salamander (Plethodon glutinosus)
American Bullfrog (Lithobates catesbeianus)
Northern Green Frog (Lithobates clamitans melanota)
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.