One of several nesting birds along the Allegheny, this one between Olean and Portville.

Bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) 21-JUL-14
This mother has a fledgling juvenile still hanging about.

Lungless salamanders

Here are a few lungless salamanders found in a small seep in Allegany State Park. The first is a red backed salamander (Plethodon cinereus), and the others are dusky salamanders (Desmognathus sp.), either Allegheny (D. ochrophaeus) or Mountain (D. fuscus).

 

Mudpuppy

Mudpuppy (Necturus maculosus) 21-JUL-13
A juvenile, found swimming between rocks in a shallow section of the Allegheny.

Back in the area for a while...

 

 

I'll be posting again for a few weeks, as the Allegheny Valley Project is back in town for the summer. Here's our first summer visitor:

 

Red spotted newt (Notophthalmus viridescens) in the terrestrial juvenile "eft" phase.

Some summer pics

Here are a few snapshots from summer 2012.

An American toad (Bufo americanus)

Some daylilies (Hemerocallis fulva) by the side of the road. Native to China, Japan and Korea, these have been introduced all over the world.

The view from Big Level, aka Rock City Hill.

Some roadside rocks.

Introduced from Europe, chicory (Cichorium intybus) brightens up the roadsides on summer mornings.

Eagles

During the 2012 AVP season, we were graced by the presence of a pair of bald eagles flying up and down the river. Attempts to photograph the birds from the site failed miserably, but I did manage to snap a distant image of one in a tree across the river.

A juvenile mantis

This tiny praying mantis was scrambling across the Karl Site during preparations for field season 2012 for the Allegheny Valley Project.