August salamanders and snakes

Well things have been primarily office-based for the last few weeks. I was able to turn in my progress report last week, which was a huge relief! Although, that means that now it's on to the comprehensive report and associated documents (a.k.a. the thesis). Eeek.


This past Thursday, we made a day trip down to the sites to check coverboards. Salamander activity is generally slow in the heat of summer, but it has been rather stormy, so we thought we'd give it a shot. We found only one salamander- a longtail, and proceeded to continually torture him by trying to stage the perfect picture. We also flipped over one of the boards and found....a SNAKE! Luckily, it was a worm snake (very small and completely harmless). Therefore, we proceeded to barage him with pictures as well (see below).

I've got one more official trip down scheduled for September 3. Each year the Powell River Project site hosts a symposium, which is like a workshop where all the researchers doing work there come together to talk about results and stuff. Plus, there is a social and dinner that takes place at the pavilion on site (right next to the field house we stayed in for the first 10 days of the season). Since I just finished and don't have a whole lot of results yet, I'm going to check coverboards in the earlier part of the day, and then hit up the social to schmooze the coal mine executives (and thank them for the funding!).

Enjoy the pictures!

For more info on the longtail salamander: http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/wildlife/information/?s=020033
For more info on the worm snake: http://www.uga.edu/srelherp/snakes/caramo.htm

Me and the longtail salamander

Longtail salamander, Eurycea longicauda

Some coverboards in action (this array is where we found the longtail).

Worm snake, Carphophis amoenus