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Dick contacted us again in November about some unfinished business. His book was coming together and he REALLY wanted photographs of Kentucky spring salamanders and Wehrle’s salamanders. We all decided to meet up at Natural Bridge State Park the following spring during Herpetology Weekend 2004. We advised Dick to get with our State Herpetologist about the Wehrle's salamanders though, because we had no idea how to go about finding such an elusive creature.
Phil and I met up with Isaac and Trace and made our way to Herp Weekend the
following April. Once there we decided to stuff ourselves at the Lodge. |
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As soon
as we walked in I saw that Dick had made the same decision. He waved us over and
we sat down and caught up. At one point he and Phil went back to the buffet for
thirds and Trace and Isaac asked me who in the heck the “old dude” was. I
thought that was pretty funny.
The Herp Weekend event was a real blast, but there was zero rain. For once
not a single spring salamander could be found. Everyone knew how badly Dick
wanted one and we all pitched in by flipping everything in site, but to no
avail. |
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Phil and I received an invite to leave the event and hunt for the Wehrle's Salamander with John, James, and Dick. We were to meet up at four in the afternoon with an armed guard who would take us to view the habitat before sundown.
Unfortunately Phil and I got lost in Kingdom Come State Park and arrived
late. |
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The guard advised us to return at 7 in the evening. We asked him where the
nearest town was so that we could get some food and call our wives. He
informed us that the nearest town was forty miles away. There was a Citgo gas station 15
miles away though, and he told us they had good pizza. |
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When we got there Phil was delighted to discover that they not only had squeeze cheese, but chili to boot.
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We found a number of Desmognathus salamanders that we struggled to identify. We just happened to be
within the range of four different species. Man those guys are tough!
With fifteen minutes until our meeting time we made one last pull off of the road at a seep. Man, were we ever glad we made that stop. |
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Phil and I both noticed that special rock as soon as we got out of the car. Phil had his rake so I just went ahead and got down on the ground to catch whatever was under it. The rock was simply that obvious. As soon as the rock was flipped we both saw a giant red flash! I made the grab and bagged that sucker. It was the largest KY spring salamander that we had ever seen! We shot some pictures and then raced back to meet up with our party. |
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When we pulled up everyone was there. We all immediately began to make fun of each other. There is nothing that I appreciate more from a group of guys. This sort of atmosphere is perfect for me as it lends me a sense of comfort. I was most certainly lacking in salamander knowledge compared to my companions, but Phil and I had noticed that special rock, and we had delivered the one species that seemed to elude everyone else. While a bit slow, I did realize that what really mattered is that Dick had the salamander he needed. |
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| After Dick was finished jumping for joy, John, James, and Dick identified what species of Desmognathus we had in our other bag. As it turned out, we had the most common form. We never heard the end of it! | |
