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Island Krk June 2014

PostPosted: Sun Jun 22, 2014 7:34 am
by Mario Schweiger
Just returned from Krk island last night.
Was there from Wednesday, June 18th evening till Saturday, June 21st noon.
Much to dry and hot for herping......................
Only a few specimens seen.
Will start now with a few panorama pics from the island (click the image to see it in full size).
Hills near the Konoba naturalist beach. Habitat of Lacerta trilineata, Hierophis viridiflavus, H. gemonensis, Vipera ammodytes.
konoba1a.jpg
Konoba area

Same area, view to the west: in the background the small island Plavnik and more back the island Cres.
konoba2a.jpg
Konoba area

Kimpi pool. Habitat of Emys orbicularis, Trachemys scripta elegans :( , Natrix natrix and Pelophylax ridibundus. In the stone wall Algyroides nigropunctatus and Podarcis siculus.
kripi_a.jpg
Kimpi pool

Prniba peninsula (SW of Krk town). In the olive yards Algyroides nigropunctatus, Podarcis melisellensis, Lacerta trilineata, Zamenis longissimus, Hierophis gemonensis and Vipera ammodytes.
prniba_a.jpg
Prniba peninsula


Will add some herps and insect pics later ;)

Mario

Re: Island Krk June 2014

PostPosted: Sun Jun 22, 2014 7:59 am
by Andre Schmid
Very nice landscape pictures, I m waiting for the rest :)

Re: Island Krk June 2014

PostPosted: Sun Jun 22, 2014 9:12 am
by Mario Schweiger
Thursday morning (7:00 a.m.) we visited the Kimpi pond near the town Krk.
Some Trachemys showed typical behavior of captive kept specimens. When looking to the water they came close and beged for food. Emys have only seen head out of water far from the bank.
kimpi.jpg
Kimpi pond - see also panorama pic in 1st post

Board with some infos on Amphibians and Reptiles (in Croatian, German, Italian and English) near the pond
tafel_kimpi.jpg


At 7:30 we went to the interior of the island. It gots hot already
schneisse.jpg

Hundreds of Podarcis siculus have been outside
siculus1_ponikve.jpg

siculus2_ponikve.jpg

siculus3_ponikve.jpg

On the flowers of thistles we have seen dozens of very nice hornets
hornet.jpg

hornet2.jpg

Beside the Italian wall lizards, only one Testudo hermanni and one Elaphe quatuorlineata and a few Algyroides nigropunctatus could be observed.
4lineata.jpg

hermanni.jpg

At around 10:30 a.m. it was very very hot and even the P. siculus stayed in full shade.
So we drove back to town to have some beer.

Re: Island Krk June 2014

PostPosted: Sun Jun 22, 2014 9:36 am
by Mario Schweiger
At about 5:00 p.m. we tried our luck again at the Prniba peninsula.
Close to the southern coast a few Algyroides nigropunctatus.
prniba1.jpg

algy_prniba.jpg

Until "now" the peninsula has been free of Podarcis siculus.
At this afternoon I found the first specimen of the Italian Wall lizard there.
Will this be the beginning of the end of Podarcis melisellensis there? :(
siculus_prniba.jpg

In an olive yard we found some Podarcis melisellensis
meli_prniba.jpg

meli2_prniba.jpg

meli3_prniba.jpg



Fryday morning we visited the hills near the Konoba naturalist beach (south of the town Punat).
konoba.jpg

Some Lacerta trilineatas (adults and subadults) have been seen, but I could not make pictures.
A companion found a baby Vipera ammodytes in a stone wall. But she went inside when coming closer than 3 to 5 meters. After 20 minutes she has been out again, but the same behaviour.
Some Hierophis gemonensis and viridiflavus fled at a large distance.
kreuz.jpg
Araneus diadematus

Re: Island Krk June 2014

PostPosted: Sun Jun 22, 2014 10:04 am
by Frédéric Seyffarth
Hello Mario,

Are you sure for the Araneus diadematus? It looks more like Araneus angulatus for me...
The landscapes are really attractive.

Regards
Fred

Re: Island Krk June 2014

PostPosted: Sun Jun 22, 2014 10:29 am
by Gerald Ochsenhofer
Hehe, nice! :)
For the Hornet, it's a "wasp" (or at least not s.str. a Hornet) -- it should be Megascolia maculata, Mammoth Wasp, or Dolchwespe on german.
As I just found out, there seems to be a second Megascolia species, bidens..

Re: Island Krk June 2014

PostPosted: Sun Jun 22, 2014 2:55 pm
by Mario Schweiger
I'm no spider and insect specialist :oops:
Hope, this one is correct :lol:
caterpillar of Saturnia pyri, Large Emperor Moth
raupe.jpg

and a nice grasshopper
heuschr1.jpg


Friday afternoon we visited a nice aisle in the "center" of the island.
schneisse2.jpg

First herps at 6:00 p.m.
Lacerta trilineata and Algyroides nigropunctatus
algy1.jpg

algy2.jpg

trili1.jpg

and an Ephippiger sp.
sattel1.jpg

Two adult Hierophis viridiflavus carbonarius layed in the shade and have been recognized to late, when they already started away.
Driving to dinner, we stopped at a small ditch.
Beside a baby Natrix natrix swimming only a few Pelophylax ridibundus
peloph.jpg


Saturday morning, on the way back to the bridge, we stopped at some nice places, but only 3 subadult and one adult Lacerta trilineata run away.
trili2.jpg


Conclusion:
End of June is no good herping time on the island :cry:

Re: Island Krk June 2014

PostPosted: Sun Jun 22, 2014 8:32 pm
by Francesco Tri
What a pity, it is frustrating to know that animals are there and not being able to see them .... ;)

Re: Island Krk June 2014

PostPosted: Sun Jun 22, 2014 8:34 pm
by Francesco Tri
elaphe quatorlineata is female and is about to lay many eggs .... :)

Re: Island Krk June 2014

PostPosted: Mon Jun 23, 2014 5:53 am
by Mario Schweiger
Francesco Tri wrote:elaphe quatorlineata is female and is about to lay many eggs .... :)

Sorry, Francesco ;)
That was my first thought too!
But when palpating, she was only fed very well - no eggs could be touched ;)