So, this is the last week of the semester and in between the rush to finish all of my over-due work, I decided to have a good herp session and try out my new camera. It is a Ricoh Caplio 500SE-W, made to take a beating. Nothing is better than a few hours break from madness to walk around on a warm rainy night in the high country!
Conditions: 24 April 2010, Blue Ridge Parkway. 11:15 pm. Moderate, yet constant rain from ~6pm on, heavy fog, ~20C.
Pseudotriton ruber nitidus
Tons of these guys (along with several other plethodontids) seen crossing the roads. Cool thing about our sub species is that they retain their bright coloration with age! (or so I hear)
Gyrinophilus porphyriticus danielsi
Spring salamanders also littered the roads and few trails we ventured on. Always a pleasure! Some of these guys get huge. I was sans camera/ruler/everything when I found a monster size one last year.....
Nerodia sipedon
First big snake of the year(>2ft)! I also got to show my friends the wonderful odor I had on my hands the rest of the night. :/
So, now on to some interesting stuff. Last August I was in a creek (camera was broke) and found what I thought to be a Desmognathus orestes. It was for sure a dusky, the head and jaw-line are distinct features and were present in that individual. The thing that got me was the coloration. I knew they could vary, but that one little guy last year had the oddest pattern. A brown covered the head, quickly fading to a smoky grey before the hind limbs and continuing on down the rest of the tail. In between the eyes was a triangular 'manilla' patch. Needless to say I thought I would never see that again, but it must be a trait specific to a few of these creeks for I found two other examples last night!
D. orestes
This individual was quite grey and large. The 'patch' is not very noticeable.
D. orestes
A much better example of this 'patch'. The rest of the body looks typical (if there is such a thing...).
Plethodon cylindraceus
Our local species from the slimy complex. This is a large individual too, great for first of the year!
Plethodon montanus
Once again another individual from a species complex! Our local Jordan's salamander. These guys are everywhere when it is wet out. Literally.
Eurycea wilderae
Brook salamanders may be my favorites out of them all, especially the genus Eurycea. Two-lines show (IMO) as much phenotypic variation in the Blue Ridge as the desmos. This next little one was sitting on a rock less than a foot away!
To top it off, I sat on a moss covered stump to check my pictures, looked over and found this dusky waiting for some bugs... Cool!
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-Bradley
