Wild life alert!
It's cold here in southwestern Nebraska. Most of the grass is dead, I've put the "de-icer" thing in the horse water, we've had some hard freezes. Today is Sunday and there are pheasant hunters across the road.
I saw a bizarre creature! Of course, I think salamanders are just weird - they are so prehistoric and primitive! Anyhow, I saw this big thing, about 7 inches long, by the horse water. I was wearing my gloves and it was moving slowly, so I kind of kept it contained and called Dick to come and see. After we looked at it a few minutes, I moved it a few feet into the treeline - but it really wanted to go back to the water tank, so I left it alone. I thought it was strange to see one at this time of year, so I looked it up:
"In the Barred Tiger Salamander (Ambystoma tigrinum mavortium) the dark spots are larger than in the last two and tend to form the background color, while there are yellow bars or stripes that extend from the belly to the middle of the back, though these are irregular in form. In the south of this subspecies range it is a winter breeder, in the north an early spring breeder, migrating to ponds after heavy rains."
(Thanks to http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/narcam/idguide/atigrin.htm )
That's it for this wildlife alert!
