Northern California Herps

[Namio]

Very nice finds! I was in your neck of the woods in March. Saw much of what you found and a few other things. Saw tons of migrating Taricha (torosa, rivularis and sierrae).

Nice! I see you pulled a little Taricha hat trick! May I ask where were you specifically, John?

[John]

For the Taricha? The Torosa and rivularis were Sonoma County I believe. The Sierrae were somewhere east of Oroville or Chico.

[UncleChester]

Thanks for sharing!

I don't know much about lizards, so I'm wondering what's the purpose of the surprisingly bright blue scales on the underside of that otherwise drably fence coloured fence lizard?

[KingCam]

Awesome finds, and great photos! Thanks for sharing. Gave me the itch to get out in the woods soon :P

[numpty]

Great pics of some nice finds. Wish I had access to the range of salamanders and newts that you have over there in the States!

[Namio]

Great pics of some nice finds. Wish I had access to the range of salamanders and newts that you have over there in the States!

It's quite alright, Taiwan has plenty of cool subtropical anurans that we don't have in the North America. Luckily I'm making my way to Taiwan in late December for my own wedding but I really don't know where the frog hotspots are. Any pointers for me, Numpty? I will be in Taipei from December 27th til February. It's a little shameful of me because I grew up in Taiwan....

[numpty]

Luckily I'm making my way to Taiwan in late December for my own wedding but I really don't know where the frog hotspots are. Any pointers for me, Numpty? I will be in Taipei from December 27th til February. It's a little shameful of me because I grew up in Taiwan....

Firstly, congratulations!

Do you read Chinese? There are a couple of books giving info on Taiwan's frogs and good places to see them. Can't remember the titles though ... and they might be out of print. Okay, forget that ...

I can PM you more exact details closer to the date, when I'm better organised, but there are a few good places either in or very close to Taipei. FuYang Eco Park, near the Linguang MRT stop on the brown line, has at least eight species. The Taipei Green Tree Frog should be breeding there during your visit (it breeds through the winter; most others only start in February or so). There's also a good spot halfway between XinDian and WuLai that I forget the name of, which has loads of cool stuff (ornate narrow-mouthed frog, emerald green tree frog, Taipei green tree frog, Eiffinger's tree frog, etc etc) ... I can send more details later on. There are also lots of good spots in YangMingShan National Park, which is easily accessible and well worth a trip in its own right.

If you have time to get out of Taipei, you could also visit Taroko Gorge NP and other protected areas further south, which gives you the chance of seeing species that don't live in the north. All the salamanders live high in the Central Mountains, around 3,000 metres asl.

As I say, I'll send you more stuff later on. Honest!

[Namio]

John, you were everywhere, man. That's some ground you covered during your time in California. I hope you had some good wine in Sonoma county

Thanks for sharing!

Hey Brian,

I don't know much about lizards, so I'm wondering what's the purpose of the surprisingly bright blue scales on the underside of that otherwise drably fence coloured fence lizard?

I don't really know either, but my guess would be sexual selection? By having a brighter blue belly attracts more female attention? Although female Sceloporus also have the same pattern and coloration, they are not as striking. But it's strategically located in the underbelly so aerial/other predators can't see it while the lizard can choose to show it whenever it wants to, so perhaps natural selection played some role in it as well.


Cam, you should make your way up Pacific northwest when you get a chance. For a cooler place, you'll surprisingly see a plethora of herptofauna. I mean, besides nature there are many other excuses to come, too