benjaminmb's Identifications

Having just been instructed in how to tell a Pileated Woodpecker call from a Flicker, I went chasing one in a boggy area trying to get a visual confirmation. The other-side-of-the-tree-bird did not cooperate (altho I did find spots where it had been drumming), but I saw lots of other interesting plants & animals. This is the eft (immature forest-floor-dwelling) form of the Red-spotted Newt. It's only ~2.5" long. When it grows up it will become yellowish with black spots & go live in the water & lay/fertilize eggs.

This was my first adult Marbled Salamander, from way back in 1998. I found it after a late summer rain under alog near a dry vernal pool where I'd seen their larva in the winter (they lay eggs in late summer, and the larva hatch under the ice in the winter). I was excited beyond belief.

Date is approximate, but it was definitely in August 1998.