Buckeye Herps Blog

A photographic journal of the reptiles and amphibians of Ohio, Michigan and other places interesting wildlife call home.

Monday, September 24, 2012

2012 Wood

The paddle season is coming to an end quickly.  Despite the new boat, I was late to get on the water this year.  I wasn't able to take her for a maiden voyage until midAugust.  Since then, we have paddled far and wide though, so I guess I have been making up for lost time!  In the past month, we have paddled six rivers, a few of them involving multiple trips.  Turtles have been fairly hard to come by, mainly because I have been trying for a couple county records, but I have still seen a few here and there.  This will be short on dialogue, but blessed in turtles!

Every shot in this series is in situ - I tend to leave these beasties alone!



















A few of these turtles were notched, part of someones research study.  Another good reason to leave them as you see them and move on down the river quietly!

I have a few days off next week I might try to hit one of my nemesis rivers again.  It is sorta close to home, and I have now paddled it twice without seeing any turtles or any species.  Historically, woods should be present.  Unfortunately, I usually hit the river under poor conditions and don't give it a chance to work out.  Seems like this year will be no different.

BH

Friday, September 14, 2012

Oregon 2012

We recently flew to Oregon for a weddding in my family.  It was a great opportunity to catch up with my father's side of the family and spend a nice weekend with Molly and my dad.  Most people might not find Portland to be all that exciting, and it might be way off the radar of most "herpers", but for a salamander enthusiast it was a dream come true!

The herping was limited by the above reasons, but I managed to make the best of a quick trip.  We drove to the coast for a few hours the first day, and enjoyed checking out the tidal pools and nearby streams.  Herping was a huge bust here.


I fooled around photographing some of the tidal pool creatures.






About this time a girl walked up to us yelling "WAR EAGLE!!".  She seemed a little excited to see a "fellow" Auburn fan in Oregon. Sadly, my father was sporting the shirt that was a gift from Brian.  He was completely clueless and couldn't figure out what she was saying or what it meant.  I kindly explained to her he didn't understand, and she proceeded to further educate him on Auburn etiquette.  I found the whole interaction rather humorous.  Crazy war eagle stuff...

The next day, we got to the gorge in the early afternoon after picking up a college buddy to be my "guide" and a quick bite to eat.  We hiked a couple trails he picked out.  Wes is a "nonherper" but is a biologist type and enjoys rustling around for herps when given the chance.


That pool yielded nothing unfortunately.


But I faired better at this one.


Unfortunately, I think they are all coastal giants and I missed out on Copes.  Coastal Giant Salamanders are some pretty cool beasties.  They get rather large, and are considered the largest terrestrial salamander of north america. Many of them actually retain their "larval" form, despite being sexually mature, which is known  as neotony or paedomorphism.



Coastal Giant Salamander Dicamptodon Tenebrosus



Wesley Snipes - Rocking it out!


Wes and I decided to explore farther up a creek that led away from the trail.  I was rewarded with the first frog of the day - Northern Red-legged Frog Rana aurora.


Farther up I explored a seepage that trickled down a rock wall and flowed into a smaller pool in the creek.  I spotted a tail sticking out of moss and was surprised and excited to find this adult Dicamptodon up on the rock face.

The transformed adult form of the Giant Salamander

Wes also found a second Red-legged frog in the edge of the pool.


The next trail we hiked led back to another waterfall.  This pool was very deep and large, and hard to hunt without actually going swimming.  I checked out some of the pools downstream where the water flowed out of the rock walls, as well as some other seepages in the area.  I quickly turned up another 4 or 5 Dicamptodon without much effort.  I flipped another rock and was scooping out a Dicamptodon when Wes said "Hey, here's a frog too!" I had evidently overlooked it. He picked it up and at first glance said he thought it was something different.  Being a bit of a salamander nut, I was still focused on my quarry, until he mentioned it had a tail.

Coastal Tailed Frog Ascaphus truei


These frogs are pretty stinking cool.  The "tail" is actually an organ for internal fertilization, much like a penis. These are the only Genus of frogs in the world that fertilize internally.  It is also thought that they do not vocalize!



Our few hours of hunting unfortunately came to a quick end after this.  I was pretty happy to turn up what I did, but was a little bummed out that I missed Rhyacotriton. I also missed out on the other terrestrials, despite flipping a bunch of logs and rocks along the trail and stream edges. I am hoping it was just due to my timing at the end of August during a drought, but who knows.  Just more reasons to head back, and hopefully soon.

BH

Sunday, September 2, 2012

Kayak

I finally was able to put my kayak in the water a couple weeks ago.  Oh what a great time it was!  Super busy with work and travel, but I will have stuff to share soon.  I hope to get on the water two or three more times next week as well!



BH