wordless Wednesday

CA striped racer ~ 08/26/14 ~ Pinnacles

California striped racer
Coluber lateralis lateralis

While I don't go out of my way looking for snakes, I get a thrill when I do find them.  This is only my second time knowingly spotting a striped racer; the last time was at Fort Ord over 3 years ago!  True to its name, it quickly skedaddled when I attempted to get a closer picture.  And, yes, my location label below is correct for the east side of Pinnacles.  This was the first time since camping back in 2011 that I've hiked from one side of the park to the other.  I'll admit, I'm a bit of a hiking wimp, especially in the heat on hills.  It was worth the trek.

coast horned lizard ~ 08/07/14 ~ Podere di Farfalla

juvenile coast horned lizard
Phrynosoma blainvillii

It's August.  That means it's baby lizard time around these parts.  This one puffed itself up as I continued to follow it to the shade.  Unbothered, it can look quite flat and deflated.  Still, so tiny. Cute.  And, well camouflaged.  There's an unusual growth near its tail.  Don't know what that's about.

Can you find the horned lizard?

CA kingsnake ~ 08/05/14 ~ Pinnacles

California kingsnake

Lampropeltis californiae (formerly L. getula)

There is something to a 6th sense, I gotta tell ya.  I spotted a patch of narrow-leaf milkweed about 20 ft. off trail and was excited it was still in bloom.  I wanted to take a closer look for nectaring leps, and as I lifted my leg to go, a voice in my head shouted "Look for snakes!"  Sure enough, in the shadow of my boot was this cryptic CA kingsnake.  Whoa.

Who would have thought that someone out looking for butterflies also has to keep a keen eye out for snakes?  Fortunately, every organized field trip I did this spring came with stern warnings about rattlesnakes and watching where you step.  I try to keep snakes in mind at all times... that is, if I'm not too distracted by some other new find.

While I probably would have done more damaged to this snake than it to me, I'm glad I didn't step on it.  I have to say those stripes do a good job hiding it in the grass.  The only other time I've seen a CA kingsnake was a freshly flattened one on the road out of Pinnacles, and the camouflage made little impression on me then.

This was the only picture I managed to take.  Once it deemed I was interested, it quickly slithered backwards into what looked like a gopher hole.  Given that I had already seen an unusual number of fence lizards, both juveniles and adults, I figured it would be safer for me to stay on trail for the remainder of my hike.  Something about this day made it a good one for finding snakes and lizards out and about.  It could have been my startling heightened awareness, or the sunny temps were just right for sunbathing reptiles?

ps 08/14/14 - We also saw a CA kingsnake at Podere di Farfalla in Monterey Co. on August 7, 2014 not very far from where we saw a juvenile horned lizard.  Maybe baby lizards make great snake snacks?  It's the season, apparently.

CA kingsnake ~ 06/03/14 ~ Pinnacles

California kingsnake

Lampropeltis californiae (formerly L. getula)

Ah, man!  The truck ahead of me ran over this gorgeously large snake on the road out of the Pinnacles west entrance.  I had to stop and check it out, because I don't get to see as many snakes as I would like, especially ones this large.  I'm sure some of my more squeamish readers will be glad to know I picked the PG-rated head shot; the other side was a bit gruesome with more blood and a cracked eye, which I found totally fascinating.  So, this is my first CA kingsnake I've ever seen... I think.  Certainly, I didn't know what it was until I got home and looked it up.

checkered underside of California kingsnake

I nudged it a little bit.  Dead.  So, I gingerly picked up its tail to flip it over.  It was still quite flexible.  Wow!  Look at that amazing belly pattern, like a checkerboard, kinda.  The way the curvy head scales transition to the orderly rectangular belly scales is amazing.  Reminds me of what they did to Mystique in the X-Men movies, eh-hem, to keep her modesty.

very large California kingsnake (over 3 1/2 feet?)

This has got to be an old snake to be so big, right?  I'm sad to see it become bird food.  I pulled it over to the side of the road, because we certainly don't need turkey vulture (or heaven forbid, condor) roadkill, too.  Does that happen?

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife has a downloadable .pdf of the CA kingsnake.  To open it up, click here.

valley garter snake ~ 05/27/14 ~ Pinnacles

valley garter snake
Thamnophis sirtalis fitchi

(ssp. of common garter snake)

The very few remaining puddles along the Juniper Canyon Trail creek are tightly confined hot spots for butterflies, bees and wasps, and this smallish valley garter snake!  It seems any small amount of water or moisture is coveted by wildlife this extremely dry year.   The following local nature cam trappers have done a fine job documenting the variety of activity:

Camera Trap Codger: Bath Party

Nature of a Man:  Mono Grotto Lotto

Nature of a Man:  Exclusionary Principles

Nature of a Man:  Exclusionary Principles, Bird Edition

Nature of a Man:  The Daily Deluge
Camera Trapping Campus: Take Me to the Water

Check 'em out!

ps 11/23/14 - And another Nature of a Man:  Hoping for Springs Eternal

coast horned lizard ~ 05/23/14 ~ Pinnacles

coast horned lizard
Phrynosoma blainvillii

Apparently, this cool lizard is now supposed to be called Blainville's horned lizard?  Sigh.  I can't keep up with all the name changes, scientific or common.  Eh, that's not the point of this post, anyways, even though I have seen a few impressively large horned lizards during my many recent activities.

Paul has suggested I try iNaturalist as a way to document and share what I find during my weekly Pinnacles visits.  I haven't decided yet, because I have questions about macro photo quality and GPS capability in a smart phone where there's no cell service.  Click here to see Paul's photo of this same horned lizard using his iPhone 5 (don't know which letter c or s), and then click on my photo above to enlarge.  What do you think about the photo quality comparisons?  I think Paul's appears very tan colored and a little flat, even though my depth of field is shallow.  I'll mainly be taking photos of little butterflies about the size of the lizard's head anyways, but coloring is important.  And, I'm still unsure how to resolve the pseudo-GPS in phones issue.  I heard there are GPS units that bluetooth to the phone, but what a pain and more crap to carry.  Does anyone have any suggestions to obtain accurate GPS linked to a phone-generated photo?  Are there actual GPS phones, not the fake ones reliant on cell service?

Oh, have I mentioned I don't currently have a smart phone?  I've had my flip phone since 2006, which I think is the responsible thing to be aware of in this day and age of disposable everything, including electronics.  I had my last computer for 10 years before I upgraded to iMac.  I really don't need the latest and greatest toy, but it may be time to update.  Plus, we've been needing to switch carriers for some time since many of my calls get dropped at home on the Peninsula where ocean meets spotty cell coverage.  We never had a land line.  There was a bit of a city hall brouhaha over additional cell towers being installed.  On one side were the monarch butterfly lovers who didn't want the overwintering butterflies or themselves to be radiated (is that the term?), and on the other side was the city needing to offer basic public services, like cell phone coverage for emergencies.  The towers went in, cleverly disguised as chimneys.  Are we all being microwaved now?

ps 05/30/14 -  One of the take-aways I got from the Citizen Science Session of the Ocean Science Trust Conference last month was that citizen science could and should be able to provide data rigorous enough for scientific review (Thanks, Lisa Emanuelson!).  So, when a few days later CalAcademy announced their acquisition of iNat, I paid attention.

Ken-ichi Ueda, co-founder of iNaturalist, has been kind enough to reply to my numerous criticisms (hopefully, constructive!) and questions as I figure out the best recording method(s) for my project, which in an unexpected way could also help shape its initial purpose.  With Ken-ichi's permission, here's what he said, "Ok, let's talk tech. For iNat, my recommendation is to get the latest iPhone. Our iOS app is quite a bit better than our Android app, and the iPhone's GPS and camera are great. Here's are some particulars:

IMAGE QUALITY
As you pointed out in your post, the iPhone isn't quite as good as a conventional camera, but it's still pretty good. It doesn't give you much DoF control, but it can be quite sharp, particularly for stable subjects that are close.

GPS
Any device with a real GPS chip should get coordinates *anywhere* it has a clear view of the sky, since it works by communicating with satellites, not ground-based towers. Reception may vary depending on weather, topography, or the particular configuration of satellites in line-of-sight from your position. Devices like the iPhone can improve both the speed of coordinate acquisition and the accuracy of those coordinates by using cell tower and wifi signals, but they aren't required. Almost every cell phone has a real GPS chip on board, including every iPhone and most Android phones. Note that the majority of tablets do NOT have onboard GPS. This includes the iPad.

In my experience the iPhone's GPS functionality is very accurate. If you get a chance to look over someone's shoulder, you'll see that the iNat works by continually acquiring coordinates until it gets the precision below 5m."

To keep this from becoming free advertising for phones and plans, I'm skipping some of what Ken-ichi recommends.  Then, he goes on to say, "Regarding iNat recording devices, keep in mind you don't need a phone to use iNat! You can upload images directly. My usual practice is to use my phone for most observations, but to also carry around my SLR and a handheld GPS in my pack. The GPS is always recording a track, which I use to add geotags to my SLR photos later (I use http://www.earlyinnovations.com/photolinker/ for this, but there are many other such applications, including Lightroom). The SLR is much faster and sharper, so for things like butterflies, that's usually what I'm going to use. Getting identifiable lep shots with a phone takes more time and patience than you can probably spend if you're doing a research project. Most high-end point-and-shoots would probably be as good or even better (in terms of flexibility) than my SLR setup."

Then, I asked questions about iNat itself.

I haven't found where it explains the different color map markers (red, blue, green?).

"Colors relate to the "iconic taxon" of the thing observed: blue for most animals, orange for insects / spiders / molluscs, green for plants, purple for slime molds, brown for chromists, pink for fungi. It isn't really explained anywhere. There are a lot of things on the site we just assume people will figure out for themselves."

I also don't understand how the "Redo search in map area" works, because it comes up with new and different points depending on the zoom level on the map.

"It redoes the search using the bounding box of the current map. It loads different observations because some of the observations in your previous search will be outside the bounding box."

Then, how do you select the marker that sits just below another one when on max zoom?

"I guess you don't, but you can see them all in the list on the right. You can also zoom in much farther with the satellite tiles."

Is it possible to select by week number to see everything found at a particular location in that week of any year?
"You can't look up observation by week, but you can do it by month. If you go to http://www.inaturalist.org/observations and click the "Search" button you'll see a bunch of filters, one of which is a month filter. If you set that and leave year and day blank, you'll see all the observations added in that month, regardless of year."

... He did say he privatizes his locations, does not carry a GPS unit, guesses based on a google app, so maybe that was the result of being "obscured" as well.  It doesn't seem like that should qualify for "research grade".
"... his observations for that day is due to the fact that he obscures the coordinates, which means each observation is displayed at a randomly chosen location somewhere within 10km of the true coordinates. iNat's "research" quality grade doesn't consider how precise the coordinates are, just that you've added them. The name "research" was probably a poor choice since it seems to get people's ire up, but it just means observations of that grade are probably more accurate / complete than others. Then again, the definition of "research" is pretty flexible. For some studies, precision of 50k might be adequate."

Finally, in the spirit of encouragement to become better, I had the audacity to question Ken-ichi's algorithms.  It's a bit meta, and I've noticed not everyone appreciates the different perspective.  In fact, he seemed very receptive to it.  I agreed with him that the freedom to make errors is educational, which is why this hobby blog has been so liberating for me over the past 5 years.  By being okay to make mistakes, being honest in the not knowing, asking those questions, and accepting of others' help, I have learned so much.  Here's Ken-ichi's reply to my algorithms charge:
"I would argue that our crowdsourcing approach generates data that is close to the accuracy of professionally collected data, with the added benefit that it usually comes with media evidence for independent verification. It is generally not as comprehensive as professionally collected data (most casual naturalists aren't going to identify every carabid under a log in the way that a working coleopterist would), but if you look at the inaccuracies present in supposedly professional collections at museums or in GBIF, you will find most of the same geographic biases (no collections far from roads or trails), identification mistakes, and taxonomic confusion... except it's really hard to see this errors because either there's no associated media evidence or you have look at a specimen. An actually quantitative comparison between professional and crowdsourced data collections like this would be a pretty cool outcome of being at CAS. We shall see."

This is all very helpful information for me.  Thanks, Ken-ichi!

The future of natural history documentation is at our feet, a path extending into the digital age through the eyes and hands of millions of curious participants.  I know that sounds corny, but it's true.  This is exciting stuff!  It's too bad it currently selects for the well-to-do with expensive phone requirements, GPS devices, and fancy cameras.  The reality of the situation is nature is available to pretty much everyone... and it's free, if we just put down our electronic devices.

northern Pacific rattlesnake ~ 05/17/14 ~ Fort Ord

northern Pacific rattlesnake

Crotalus oreganus oreganus

(ssp. of western rattlesnake)

Rattlesnake or rattle snake?  Ugh.  In any case, you'll notice the max, fuzzy zoom on this baby.  Lyle, the Army Lands munitions safety officer, also served as the snake safety officer and kept all of us a respectable distance away.  This is probably only the third rattlesnake I've ever seen here in CA.  The other two sightings have been tucked in among rocks at Pinnacles at the east entrance to the Balconies Cave and the switchbacks along the Juniper Canyon Trail.  I sometimes forget we have these poisonous snakes, because for me their sighting is rare.  Gary Nafis has created quite a montage of rattlesnake warning signs.  Note the wide head and 3-segmented rattle.  Can you tell how old a rattlesnake is by the number of rattle segments?  This one was small, took up an area probably smaller than a salad plate.

western yellow-bellied racer ~ 05/02/14 ~ Tassajara Road

western yellow-bellied racer

Coluber constrictor mormon

(ssp. North American racer)

Chris stopped the car rather quickly.  Snake!  On the road!  I jumped out with my camera to find it stretched out in long waves.  It still makes me laugh how snakes just lie there on the road, as if their usual hiding spots are too cramped and they just need to stretch themselves out for a bit. Reminds me of how I feel the need to stretch out on a flat bed after a long flight in a cramped airplane.

As soon as I got closer, it coiled up and made the most amazing continuous backwards movements onto itself.  According to Gary's CA Herps (linked in the scientific misnomer above), this Northern American racer is not a constrictor, and it bites aggressively.  I didn't know that at the time, but I'm always a bit cautious around snakes I don't know.  Chris, who stayed with the car should another car come barreling around the corner, shouted for me to get video.  Ha!  As if. I was just hoping I could get at least one non-blurry photo, because so often these opportunities are fleeting.  Little did I know the snake wasn't too keen on moving anywhere.  It held its ground and watched me closely.  I didn't want it to get run over by a car, so I tried herding it to the side of the road with a nudge from my boot and then a stick to pick it up.  That's how I got the yellow belly picture.  It was extremely reluctant, but once it decided to go, it went in a flash.

After I got home and looked at my pictures, I noticed the oozy stuff here and there on its back.  Click second picture above for closeup.  It was my first shot out of the car before I molested it with my picture and herding activities.  What is that shiny stuff?  Did it already get run over?  Was it in some mammal's mouth and dropped?  Is it some kind of defensive secretion?  Is it the result of a twisted mating position?  Hmm...

Ken @ Nature of a Man has an excellent blog post on Coluber mormon.  Some view this snake as its own sp., not a ssp.

ring-necked snake ~ 04/15/14 ~ Pinnacles

Monterey ring-necked snake

Diadophis punctatus vandenburghi

Paul is amazingly gentle when he catches herps.  I've never seen anything like it.  He'll just stop on the trail when he hears something rustling, look over, and then quietly pounce in one fell swoop with flat hands.  It looked like a Tai Chi movement.  He also got a rather large alligator lizard this way and showed us the stripes running down the middle of the belly scales and the light colored eyes.

The coolest thing about this snake is its odor.  No joke.  Right after Paul caught it, his fearless kids, who were downwind, made the funniest eww-gross faces.  As I moved in to take a closer look, I thought to myself, "Dang, someone has some really bad body odor."  Haha, it was the snake!  It smelled exactly like toe jam, or belly button jam.  Take your pick.  Paul said ring-necked and a couple other snakes release scent from their vents when stressed.  Wild.  I almost couldn't stop smelling my fingers after releasing this snake, as if it were my own version of the Flehmen response.  So weird.

I've commented on Nature of a Man and Dipper Ranch about how their area's ssp., the Pacific ring-necked snake (D. punctatus amabilis), looks tiny compared to what I remember of the dead one I found down at Rocky Creek.  I swear the dead one was as thick as my finger, not tiny enough to fit in 2 drinking straws, as Ken cleverly described.  But, lookie here, this is indeed very tiny and supposedly the same ssp. as Rocky Creek.  It could be a young one?  Or maybe I have a tendency to remember things as being larger than they actually were?  My recent discovery of the full-on macro, macro, mwahahaha mode may be messing with my sense of size, too, as is evidenced by this snake's pretty iridescence I uploaded to Flickr.  The ring-necked snake did not like my small point-and-shoot.  Every time I pressed the noiseless button, it would shirk its head away like it could see the blink of the camera eye.  Fascinating.  I really like holding snakes, but I also worry I could inadvertently harm the wild ones.

coast garter snake ~ 03/10/14 ~ Midpen Preserve

coast garter snake
Thamnophis elegans terrestris
(ssp. of western terrestrial garter snake)

I don't know how to sex snakes, but I'm calling it a she.  She was quick and sought refuge in the pond, but a long-legged herp fellow was quicker on his feet.  We thought the two red dots on her head were a nice addition to a very pretty little snake.

edited 04/01/14 - Thanks to Cindy's comment, I revised the ID from Santa Cruz garter snake (Thamnophis atratus atratus) to best guess a ssp. of the western terrestrial garter snake, the coast.  All 3 ssp. of aquatic garter snakes (T. atratus) do not have any red on their sides like this one clearly shows.  Doh! 

The other possibility would be one of the common garter snakes (T. sirtalis).  While Cindy says CA red-sided (T. sirtalis infernalis), I lean towards valley (T. sirtalis fitchi).  Look at this picture and tell me it doesn't look the same with that large eye and black wedges?  Well, okay, the individual shown above has 8 labial palps (typ. of western terrestrial, elegans), rather than only 7 (typ. of common, sirtalis), but that's apparently not 100% diagnostic.  Plus, neither T. sirtalis ssp. is supposed to be found in this area of the Santa Cruz Mountains, and we're confident, somehow, that this is not the endangered San Francisco garter snake (T. sirtalis tetrataenia). Confused, yet?  Join the club!

For a handy-dandy key to CA garter snakes, check out CA Herps.  And, for a brief summary of the confusion around garter snakes (with links) check out my CA red-sided post from Fort Ord.

arboreal salamander ~ 03/10/14 ~ Midpen Preserve

arboreal salamander
Aneides lugubris
more information
Plethodontidae

I should note that we did not happen across this arboreal salamander resting on top of the log as pictured. I think Ken found it under some bark, but that makes it difficult to photograph. Normally, I don't go actively hunting for herps, but I'm also not documenting spp. for a preserve. This individual is not as spotty as the one-eyed arboreal salamander Andy found near home 4 years ago. I can't believe how gushy I was with my first find.  I think I appreciate the random encounters a little more, but this was definitely eye-opening as to how much is hidden just out of sight.

CA Alligator Lizard ~ 03/10/14 ~ Midpen Preserve

California alligator lizard
Elgaria multicarinata multicarinata

We saw several alligator lizards this day.  Most of them were smaller with various patterning, but this one was huge.  Note the long tail that looks like it's never broken off, which it apparently does at the drop of a hat.  I've never seen this personally, but I trust what I've been told.  The cool temperatures, especially in the shade under the trees, left most of the reptiles we found kind of dozy and easy to approach.  Usually, I find it near impossible to catch a picture of an alligator lizard.

I should note, I base all my herp IDs on Gary Nafis' California Herps website.  Ya, I know, I complained bitterly when I first found it 5 years ago, because of the impossible-to-decipher-by-looks-alone way herps are classified.  It's not Gary's fault.  Bar none, he's created the best herp site for CA out there.  It's up-to-date, extremely thorough, and easy to use.  There seems to be an unusual amount of funding to do PCR-crap (oh, did I say that?) on herps.  It's like all the university herp folks are in a race to see who can reclassify the most spp.  I'm sure there's historical biology precedent as to why this is, but I just find it perplexing.

CA newt ~ 03/10/14 ~ Midpen Preserve

California newt

Taricha torosa
Salamandridae

OK, what are they feeding the amphibians at this preserve?  Good golly, they're fat and huge, just like the Pacific chorus frog we found.   Seriously, no one is actively feeding these wild-found animals, but there must be plenty of food stuff available and plenty of comfortable habitat.  In one month's time, the CA newts have gone from skin and bones, like at nearby Stevens Creek on February 10, 2014, to fat, fat, fat.  Ya, the two locations have very different habitats, but still!  I'm unsure if the one in my hand is male or female.  Are those male nuptial pads on the toes?  Do you know?

a Rubenesque California newt

Pacific chorus frog ~ 03/10/14 ~ MidPen Preserve

Pacific chorus frog / Sierran treefrog
Pseudacris sierra (formerly P. regilla)

Oh.  My.  God.  Look at how fat and huge this adult is!  Fatty, fatty frog.  With its dark throat, I'm guessing it's a male.  Those toe pads are amazing.  Oh, that large hand is not my own. Compare the size of this sucker with this anemic-looking juvie I raised a couple years ago.  

Apparently, I prefer an outdated common name by calling it a Pacific chorus frog on Nature ID.  I don't get why "treefrog" is commonly used as one word, when in fact, it is a frog.  Remember, I used to be a science content editor.  Technically (there are indeed naming rules for common names), if the thing in question is truly the noun, then it is at least two words, descriptor 'space' noun.  If the thing in question is not the noun, then it is either one word (e.g., butterfly is not a fly) or hyphenated (e.g., poison-oak is not an oak).  Perhaps, like its/it's and their/they're, this is a frequent grammatical error that many people don't pay mind.  At what point does common usage change the rules?

CA slender salamander ~ 03/03/14 ~ Purisima Creek

California slender salamander
Batrachoseps attenuatus
Plethodontidae 

Cutie.  This is a fairly small salamander, thinner than the width of a pencil.  It looks pretty much like the Santa Lucia Mountains slender salamander (B. luciae) that I found April 29, 2012 as I was digging around at home.  Well, okay, this one is not covered in dirt and has a longer tail.  Field markings are almost no help for several look-alikes, because they appear to have just as much variation within as between spp.  Thanks to the expert ID I received from Gary Nafis @ California Herps and John Sullivan @ Wild Herps for my B. luciae, I understand the currently acceptable way to distinguish slender salamanders is to pinpoint location found.  Here's a map of Batrachoseps spp. distribution.  It doesn't seem very intuitive, but whatever, I'll go with it.  I kinda wish I had retaken molecular genetics back when I transferred to a larger (read: better funded) university, because I might have appreciated what the PCR craze is all about.  As it is, the statistical models, like Tajima’s D and Fu’s Fs, sound like rap names to me.  Eh, I guess I'm getting old and staid.

rough-skinned newt ~ 03/03/14 ~ Purisima Creek

rough-skinned newt
Taricha granulosa

Salamandridae

Often, I have to see something in person to really "get it".  Ken @ Nature of a Man showed me these very clearly defined rough-skinned newts.  Their dark color is distinctive, especially with a sharp, solid color divide, under the eye area, extending around the upper lip.  I found the color in my newt pictures can be wholly misleading from what I remember, depending on lighting conditions, and/or if a camera flash is used, and/or what the predominant surrounding color is, like these redwood needles here.  They look much darker in real life than my pictures indicate.

Do these eyes NOT extend past the margin of the head?

OK.  Love, love the toes.  Four in front, five in back and all dipped in yellow around the purlicue.  I find myself silently squealing like an 80's Valley Girl, "Like, oh my god!  Awesome!"

Yeah, but... I still don't get the eye margin and lower eyelid diagnostics when compared to CA newts (T. torosa).  We've noted quite a bit of gradation of characteristics among individual newts, especially at Stevens Creek where we saw so many.  It seems like T. granulosa and T. torosa intergrade, but I'm not sure that's known for a fact.  I believe Ken is gathering observational evidence.

I dunno, everyone sees things a little differently.  A friend once claimed that different cultures see colors very differently, and I suspect he was right.  I didn't necessarily agree with his claim of cultural basis, although that could very well be true.  I figure different groups of people would have natural genetic differences in how their eyes physically process information.  It's like how I, an Asian, can squat very low, and my husband, a Scandanavian, can barely cross his legs.  Same difference.

regenerating newt tail

It's crazy cool how newts can regrow body parts.  Remember for a while there, I had considered going back to school to study salamanders?  After talking it over with numerous people, I have decided it's not the best idea for me.  First, I didn't have any pressing questions about them.  What would I research?  I already know I don't like working on someone else's passion project, particularly when they die on me and leave me with a mess of handwritten scraps.  I want to follow my own questions and paths.  Plus, if I were honest, I truly only wanted to raise newts and salamanders 'cause they're cute, but under the guise of "in the name of science" (hey, it happens).  To do this, I'd have to handle them a lot.  Guess what?  They're toxic, very much so, producing tetrodotoxin (TTX), "the most poisonous nonprotein substance known to scientists."  Yeah, sure, you can be careful washing hands and such, but can you be sure to be careful all the time?  Ever since my first collegiate research project involving the unusual mating ritual of an x-large, yet incredibly beautiful, tropical mosquito (Limatus durhamii), I knew fairly quickly from first-hand experience (i.e., many itchy, sleepless nights with arms swollen from a colony's worth of female mosquito bites) that I did not want to study anything that sucks blood, bites, stings, poisons, or kills.  Seriously.  Then, there's another conundrum surrounding all herps, the dratted pet trade.  I don't know if it is "dratted" and bad, but it's what I've heard.  So that leads to a lot of secrecy, loads, so secret the CIA... uh, nevermind.

CA giant salamander ~ 03/03/14 ~ Purisima Creek

California giant salamander larvae

Dicamptodon ensatus larvae

Dicamptodontidae (formerly Ambystomatidae)

more information

 
If I had grown up in the Santa Cruz Mountains, you probably would not have been able to get me out of the creek.  As it was, my mother would express disgust at how muddy I got when playing in our irrigation ditch looking for crawdads and toads.  Hey, I'm thrilled to learn of the CA giant salamander.  For better pictures of this individual, check out randomtruth's flickr here and here.  This larvae is good sized and very comparable to the size of most adult newts that I've found.  They can be quite quick in the creek (say that fast 3 times).  Ken told me he had one bark at him.  Although, to me this recording from CA Herps sounds more like a fart than anything fearsome.  Read all about Ken's first-hand encounters with full-on beasties at Nature of a Man.  They're not named "giant" for nothing. Lastly, as a comparison, Blue Jay Barrens has a recent post of a fatty salamander in his Ohio backyard.

CA newt ~ 02/16/14 ~ Los Padres Dam

California newt

Taricha torosa
Salamandridae

Well, color me orange!  More newts!  This seems to happen to me all the time; once I see something and learn to recognize it, I tend to notice a lot more of them.  We found a couple dozen, and in much drier areas than I would ever expect to see them.  Click on the picture above to take a closer look at the amazing newt iris.  Very cool.

possible rough-skinned newt intergrade?
possible Taricha granulosa intergrade?

Supposedly, rough-skinned newts have not been found in this area before, but I'm still closely examining my photos with Gary Nafis' Taricha spp. comparison.  I dunno, do the eyes "extend past the margin of the head"?  Would it help if I said the lower eyelids on this individual were ambiguously dark?  Erg.  Erg.  Erg.  I may have to throw in the towel on being able to separate the 2 spp.

How many newts?

Answer: 2.  It could well have been the different lighting and moisture level (sunny vs. the overcast skies under tree cover at Stevens Creek from last week), but it seemed to me the newts here at Los Padres Dam have more of a reddish coloring on top.  In fact, I'd say their red was almost a perfect match with the madrone bark.

in the Carmel River

Good-bye, newts.  See you next time.  Have a lot of love and lay a lot of eggs.

CA newt ~ 02/10/14 ~ Stevens Creek

California newt

Taricha torosa
Salamandridae

 possible rough-skinned newt intergrade? 

 possible Taricha granulosa intergrade?

Squee!  I thought I had died and gone to newt heaven.  With 4 days of decent rain, we had high hopes in finding newts.  And, we did.  A couple hundred of them.  Yes, hundreds.  I stopped keeping track of count after a few hours.  We must have hit the timing jackpot, because I don't believe sightings like this are typical.  Or maybe they are?  This year's winter has been so wacky with the lack of rain, that the newts may not have been very active before now.  Many looked like skin and bones, with tiny little hips sticking out, and yet just as many others were quite plump and very healthy looking. Lots of thanks to Cindy @ Dipper Ranch for getting us bloggers together for this excursion.

If left to my own amateur ID skills, I would have said the above two newts were both CA newts.  Many online pictures show rough-skinned newts as being much darker, practically a charcoal color, with the area under the eye also quite dark.  Ken @ Nature of a Man suggested the ones we found may be intergrades.  Hybrids?  With so many newts around to compare, there was quite a bit of subtle variation in how much the eyes bulged and combinations of coloring (mustard yellow to cheddar orange to chocolate brown).  As I picked up several, I noticed an immediate tactile textural difference.  Those that felt rougher indeed had slightly darker coloring under the eyes; perhaps that's how they got their name.  I honestly don't know if the way they feel in the hand could be considered diagnostic, because I haven't handled that many newts before.  Plus, we found newts in many different stages, from itty-bitty 2 1/2" (head to tail tip) juveniles to hefty males with, eh-hem, bulges.  Check out Gary Nafis' California Herps for the best side-by-side Taricha spp. comparison.

 How many newts?

Answer: 3.  Only after one or two had been pointed out to me did I begin to recognize their movement in the douglas-fir leaf litter.  Pretty much they plod along on their little legs, but they will freeze momentarily when approached.  I can see why some parks will close roads for newt crossings.  They're perfectly colored to blend in with their surroundings and are not easy to spot.  I'm guessing I've passed many newts during my hikes and simply have rarely noticed them before.  Sadly, they're collected for the pet trade as "Oregon newts". Along with the convergent lady beetles, this was yet another reason for our discussion about the implications of sharing nature finds online.  Hey, I'm not giving out trail names or GPS points, so collectors can hike around just like everyone else to maybe find them.  They'd better be in good shape.

A 5th leg!

Given the number of newts we found this day, the chances of finding a mutant were good,  obviously considering we found one.  I don't understand how mutations work in newts.  Does it originate in the egg?  Or does it happen sometime when transforming from aquatic larva to terrestrial adult?  How much does the quality of the environment affect newts?  Or even an accident later in life?  Apparently, they're able to regenerate lost limbs.  These are definitely animals I want to learn more about.  Does anyone have a recommendation for a good, scientific, but not too dry, newt book?