Southern Two-lined Salamander (Eurycea cirrigera)

We had more than 3 inches of rain yesterday. That’s pretty wet around here. I walked down to check for mushrooms in the creek bottom. Although it was a little early for the mushrooms to have developed, it was pleasantly warm and good to get out and walk. I was checking out a new wildflower and walked along to get a better look at how high the creek had risen. There were a few moths but no Carolina Satyrs in sight.

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed something scurry and stop. It looked like a small skink – about 3 inches in length - although lighter in color than I would have expected a skink to be. Also, unlike a skink, it had ‘frozen’ and made no attempt to make a run for it even when I moved slowly towards it.

I got this photograph. It wasn’t until I downloaded the image and examined it that I realized it wasn’t a skink but a salamander. This is the first time I have found a salamander. Or maybe, in this case, it found me.

Identification resources:
- University of Georgia. Salamanders of Georgia and South Carolina: Southern Two-lined Salamander (Eurycea cirrigera)
- Stacy N. Smith. Two-lined Salamanders, Eurycea bislineata complex. pp. 186-189. In. Jensen JJ, Camp CD, Gibbons W, Elliot MJ (eds.). Amphibians and reptiles of Georgia. The University of Georgia Press, Athens, GA. 2008.