Southeast Ohio Summer 2010
This report covers my southeast Ohio highlights,
from late May through the end of the year, in chronological order.
I flew into the Columbus airport late one night. It was raining,
and I was glad I had my camera along.
However, I didn't wind up seeing a whole lot. This was the highlight:
![](fowlers_22may10_1b.jpg)
Fowler's Toad, the only one I saw all year.
I met up with Andy Avram one day. We found a few things:
![](milk_25may10b.jpg)
Milksnake.
![](copper_25may10_1b.jpg)
Copperhead in some trash.
![](nigra_25may10_2b.jpg)
A black king Andy found under a discarded coat.
Brian Folt joined us in the late afternoon.
![](coluber_25may10_1b.jpg)
A young racer.
![](copper_25may10_4b.jpg)
We cruised a copperhead.
![](copper_29may10_2c.jpg)
A copperhead cruised a few days later.
This is my favorite find of the year:
![](laticeps_05jun10_1b.jpg)
Broadhead Skink. This is the first for-sure Broadhead I've photographed
in Ohio. I found it on the forest floor, in some pretty dense woods on a
ridge top. I was able to sort-of corner it on the lower part of a tree
trunk. With Brian Folt acting as a spotter from the opposite side of the
tree, I was eventually able to bring it to hand.
![](laticeps_05jun10_2b.jpg)
Another look. It measured 95 mm SVL.
![](nigra_05jun10b.jpg)
A black king with a big meal in it.
![](valeriae_05jun10_1b.jpg)
A Smooth Earth Snake, not in situ!
![](worm_26jun10_1b.jpg)
A young Wormsnake. The proportions of young Wormsnakes and
Virginia valeriae always strike me as a bit odd.
![](ringneck_26jun10_2b.jpg)
A Ringneck Snake. This one seemed to have a particularly wide ring?
![](milk_15jul10_2b.jpg)
A Milksnake as found under a piece of carpet. This piece of cover was pretty
much owned by ants, the snake was hanging out at the very edge.
I find this color phase of milk to be rather attractive.
![](nigra_17jul10_2b.jpg)
A black king found under an automobile gas tank.
![](habitat_15aug10_2b.jpg)
A stream, with low mid-August flow.
![](mudpup_15aug10_1b.jpg)
A couple of mudpuppies found in the above habitat.
![](mudpup_15aug10_2b.jpg)
A closer look at the smaller one.
![](logperch_15aug10_1b.jpg)
This Logperch was found nearby.
Brian and I tried roadcruising a few days later:
![](copper_28aug10_1b.jpg)
A copperhead giving us the characteristic stink eye...
![](copper_28aug10_4b.jpg)
Another copperhead.
![](copper_12sep10_1b.jpg)
This copperhead was not expected.
![](marbled_19sep10b.jpg)
Marbled Salamander. Starting in mid September, they start to turn
up more frequently under surface cover.
![](rgreen_19sep10_1b.jpg)
A Rough Green Snake, as found crossing an ATV trail.
![](rgreen_19sep10_3b.jpg)
Another look.
On October 26, we had some good rainy conditions for amphibian movement.
![](jeffersons_26oct10b.jpg)
A Jeffersons Salamander. The rumble strip makes for an interesting backdrop...
![](marbled_26oct10_1b.jpg)
A young Marbled Salamander. Many were seen.
![](pipiens_26oct10b.jpg)
Leopard Frog (Rana pipiens), found in pretty much the only
place in southeast Ohio that I can find them.
![](marbled_26oct10_2b.jpg)
A melanistic? Marbled Salamander.
Fall usually provides some opportunities to go salamander looking.
![](ruber_11nov10_1b.jpg)
Pseudotriton ruber larvae.
![](ruber_14nov10_1b.jpg)
A young Pseudotriton ruber that Brian Folt turned up.
I was having all sorts of problems with my flash, and this was the
best photo that I got. Later, when I was putting my camera away, I
discovered that the flash was poorly secured to the camera body.
The salamander had long since been released...
![](springsal_14nov10_1b.jpg)
A Spring Salamander (G.p.p.) turned up by a friend.
![](sculpin_14nov10_1b.jpg)
Mottled Sculpin (Cottus bairdi), salamander larva dipnetting bycatch.
![](sculpin_14nov10_3b.jpg)
For scale.
![](springsal_21nov10_1b.jpg)
A large adult Spring Salamander (G.p.p.).
Bitter cold and snow moved into the region right around Thanksgiving,
and hung around for a month. I had figured that my herping for 2010 was over.
However, right at the end of the year, some gorgeous weather briefly appeared.
My son and I went for a long hike in a new area on December 31st:
![](habitat_31dec10_2b.jpg)
The teeth of Old Man Winter were definitely losing their grip...
It wasn't long before he returned.
![](habitat_31dec10_1b.jpg)
This little seepage proved to be productive for dipnetting.
![](larvae_31dec10_5b.jpg)
A bunch of twolines (E.c.) and two Mud Salamander larvae were found
in the above seepage. There were also more twolines and three Green Frogs.
![](larvae_31dec10_1b.jpg)
A pair of twolines and one of the muds.
![](montanus_31dec10_1b.jpg)
A closer look. It's a little hard to see, but one of the external gills
on the right (foreground) side of the mud is just a stub.
![](larvae_31dec10_4b.jpg)
The other mud and a twoline. This mud was noticeably darker than the
other one.
![](ryan_31dec10_1b.jpg)
Ryan concluded that it was warm enough to take his jacket off.
The weather was really nice...
Not a bad way to end the year.