I rolled into town around 3 am and attempted to sleep in the car in a parking lot until I was to meet Sorin and Wayne at 7am. Our meeting went exactly as planned, and after some coffee and a check of the maps, we set out for some larger sections of creek. By 8:30 am we were in the frigid waters-wading through the water with shorts and winter coats. What a sight we must have been. Though we searched for several hours and a few different tributaries, all we turned up were Rana tadpoles, some darters, and a juvenile Thamnophis brachystoma. Wayne had seen what may have been a hellbender, but the speed at which it escaped us kept us skeptical. We moved on to find yet another tributary of the stream/river, though many sections were heavily silted. We settled upon a larger section of stream with a decent current, a rocky bottom, and easy access from the road. We waded down stream for quite a while. The silt in some areas was bad, and I was nearly ready to give up on this section of creek when I heard Sorin yelling from upstream. I ran as fast as my legs would carry me against the current until I reached Sorin. Sorin was standing in deeper water in a silty area under an old crumbling bridge. The bridge supports were made up of stone blocks and many of them had broke loose over the years and fallen into the river. I had passed up this area on my way downstream because it looked too silty and too stagnant for hellbender habitat. Sorin explained to Wayne and I that he had seen a small hellbender and that it had swam under an adjacent slab of the bridge. Our adrenaline began to flow, and we carefully began lifting the slabs in the immediate area. For our efforts we were rewarded with a beautiful, perfect, juvenile NECTURUS MACULOSUS! Our spirits sank.Finding a Necturus would have been a great find for us any other day, but we expected to see a hellbender (in our opinion a greater find).We decided to be content and locate more Necturus, which we did with relative ease. During this process, I lifted a very large (heavy!) slab of stone, and as the silt cleared my eyes began to make out the shape of a large salamander. I stood there in the 2 foot deep water in silence. This was no Necturus, it really was a hellbender! I yelled to Sorin and Wayne, who came to my aid (the excitement was too much and my knees felt like they may give out at any moment). I remember Sorin's reaction-"That's not a hellbender, that's a monster!". It was a big one, around 17" long. The animal sat motionless as we observed it for a moment, and then Sorin hauled it up onto land. We were able to find 3 more large adult hellbenders in the deeper, more stagnant water, as well as numerous Necturus. One Necturus was actually seen under the same stone as a hellbender. The Necturus are certainly eaten by the hellbender on occasion, but crayfish make up the bulk of the diet and are very abundant. Further downstream in water only 8-10" deep, with less silt and a swifter current, we found two smaller hellbenders under a huge (it took two of us to lift it) rock. Another specimen, around 10" long, which was the smallest seen was found under an adjacent rock. It seems we had found a pocket of them in this section of stream, though they were absent from other areas of ideal looking habitat. It was nearing dusk, and due to our success, we decided to call it a night.I had planned to stay another day in Pennsylvania, but I decided it would be best to get home as soon as possible. So, I set off on the 600 mile trip home on the same day I arrived. Though, I did suffer from sleep deprivation related hallucinations on the way home, I drove straight through and arrived home near dawn. Sorin calls these trips "kamikaze trips", which is a perfect name for them. This trip to find my favorite of all salamanders will go down as one of my best field trips ever.


*Anyone with an interest in the Cryptobranchidae family is welcome to contact me at kerk@dpc.net