Wildlife Care Naturalist, Emily Hutto, and her husband, Ross, hiked to the big crusher and the red lakes on Friday afternoon — “We found all kinds of wildlife. We found dozens of Slimy Salamanders and Webster’s/Zigzags that I didn’t photograph.
--Box turtle shell and live Box Turtle (Terrapene carolina)
--Some kind of cup fungus that was really large (Ascomycota is the farthest I can ID this)
--Barred Owl (Strix varia) who was not scared of us at all and happily sat on his branch as we walked by
--Ringneck Snake (Diadophis punctatus) who was unfortunately deceased when we found it
--Biggest slimy salamander (Plethodon glutinosus) I’ve ever seen. Definitely 6in long!
--Red Salamander (Pseudotriton ruber) - find of the day! I’ve never seen one before. Also massive!
--Two-Lined Salamander (Eurycea bislineata)
--Spotted Dusky Salamander (Desmognathus conanti)
--Literally the largest Jack-in-the-Pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum) I’ve ever seen in my life. It was 3 feet tall and had a woody base! Has anyone ever seen one this big before? How big do they get?”
