State Gamelands (31-Mar-2016)

I helped out again looking for sites for my friends graduate project. I don't mind sharing the photos of the critters that we came across, but to protect them and the streams in which they live I can not give out the locations of where we were. This is just the very start of Kelly's project and our goal is to locate streams which contain a variety of stream salamander species. Once she has decided on what streams to use the next step is to complete and submit her permit forms to the Fish and Boat Commission and possibly the DCNR. Yes, you do need special permits to conduct a study on amphibians in our state. We checked out three sites on this trip and as we were hiking in and out of the locations I was picking up trash as well. That you can find near the end of the post. The Salamander above is a Dusky Salamander. Two species of Dusky can be found in Eastern PA. 

I have shown Stoneflies before in this blog. This particular one is a Giant Stonefly. A good water quality indicator and an awesome insect. 

Two-Lined Salamander. Very common in not only streams, rivers as well. Many of these stream species you would rarely see on a riverbank. 

Spring Salamander. Always good to find a Spring Salamander. They are not as commonly seen as the Dusky or Two-Lined.

What is this? You might be asking yourself that. It is a Cranefly Larvae. It looks nothing like the adult cranefly and it is the only thing in a stream that I still find creepy. I do know people that won't even touch them though, so at least I am not bothered by that.  

Catching salamanders by hand is a delicate and sometimes frustrating endeavor. Here Kelly is carefully picking up a dusky salamander from the bottom of this clear stream. 

This downed tree presented a photo op that just had to be taken. 

From the first location of the day. I had cleaned this location last year and since then there looked to have been several parties at this spot. I will be going back to this area soon to do a more thorough clean-up.

The second location was much more remote. This was the only item that was near the stream. Did find more on the way in and out. 

Less than the first site and some of the bottles had been there for awhile. 

This was just from a short stop on the way home. I was surprised by the old 7-Up bottle. It was the first large one I have found. 

This was from Wednesday. After the memorial service I did find some time to make it out for a short trash collecting walk. This was taken off of the Macoby Creek in Montgomery Co. 

You too can help with taking out the trash! If you get out hiking take a grocery bag with you, give it a second use and fill it with trash while you are out! Every bit helps. You can also help contributing to this project here: Help Fund Taking Out the Trash

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