On Thursday, Dec. 11, 2014, I presented a brown bag lunch program at Elachee Nature Center, near Gainesville, Georgia. The Executive Director, Andrea Timpone and the Education Director, Peter Gordon have been very good friends for many years and I enjoy providing the center with programs each year. The program on Thursday was titled: The Amphibians of North Georgia and it was very well attended......as most programs are at Elachee. I covered only North Georgia amphibians as it was more relevant for the attendees, many of whom are volunteers and or staff, to learn about the local species so the information could be presented to future visitors at the center. North Georgia is extremely well endowed with a wide diversity of amphibians and I covered about 75 % of the species. One of my favorite topics in public programs, is the discussion of species that only appear briefly above ground each year. Many of these species are winter species in Georgia and I covered three species that are extremely similar in their size, color and pattern: Southern red-backed salamander, zigzag salamander and Websters salamander. These gnomes of the forest appear above ground in mid to late November and disappear again in March. I love flipping a rock or rolling a log and finding one of these tiny creatures and as a naturalist, those observations always provide a real sense of time and place. The following photographs are of the three very similar species. The salamander on the lichen, facing down and to the right is a Websters salamander. The salamander on the leaf is a Southern red-backed and the salamander on the moss is a zigzag salamander. The Websters and zigzag are in a reddish phase but the red-backed is a grayish color known as lead phase. A lead phase zigzag salamanders tail is the fourth image to show the detail of a lead phase coloration. Enjoy!
Posted on: Sat, 13 Dec 2014 09:52:10 +0000
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