Kalymnos and Kos May 2015

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Kalymnos and Kos May 2015

Postby Bert Vandebosch » Sat May 16, 2015 2:18 am

I've been intriged by the island of Kalymnos for some time. A small island with a lot of snake species of which I hadn't seen a few yet. So a perfect destination for a spring trip. It is easiest reached via the island Kos, so I included that one also.

These islands aren't visited that much by herpers. Although in the week before I left, I learnt that a couple of Englishmen just finished a trip there around easter. Well known around here: Matt Willson and Carl Corbidge. You can find their tales on their blogs.

I promised two very young herpers that they could join me on my next trip since they had to miss me for three weeks while I was herping in Malaysia. They need some more practise, have a rather poor species list and get on my nerves every day but they make up for it by their enthusiasm and making me laugh a lot.
We took the wise decision of inviting Elfie too because some of us (actually all of us) need her for various kinds of support and we all adore her.

We flew to Kos on the second of May, rented a car and went by ferry to Kalymnos (Tip: not the best idea if you like road assistance and insurance on Kalymnos; we took our chances). We stayed there for 5 days, returned to Kos for 6 days and flew back home on the 13th of May. Weather was sunny, with the first days temperatures ranging in the low 20's °C. Then it became hotter (towards 30°C) and the last days it cooled down again with a thunderstorm on our last full day.

We made our base at Villa Maria in the very small town of Vlichadia on the south west of the island. We were the only customers and Maria is a very good cook so we had a splendid stay.
Some scenery
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There used to be one species of amphibian present, Green toad (Bufo viridis) but it is unlikely that it still exists on the island because all surface water is collected, you cannot find any open fresh water anywhere.
There are five kinds of lizards to be found on Kalymnos:Turkish Gecko (Hemidactylus turcicus), Kotschy’s Gecko (Mediodactylus kotschyi), Snake-eyed Lacertid (Ophisops elegans), Starred Agama (Laudakia stellio) and Snake-eyed Skink (Ablepharus kitaibelii). None of them were very abundant and all were very shy. Of the latter I saw only one and I failed to photograph it. I missed Kotschy's Gecko and found about six Turkish Gecko's during a night search near the hotel and 3 more on the walls of a water collector (no pictures). The others were seen at several places:
Ophisops elegans:
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Laudakia stellio:
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There was something I planned to search for on Kos but appearantly it also occurs on Kalymnos. Matt and Carl also found it on their trip: Anatolian Worm Lizard (Blanus strauchi). To my knowledge they are the first to report it from Kalymnos.
I found three specimens at opposite sides of the island.
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Then the snakes in order of appearance!:
On the first full day we visited a monastery. In the environments I turned some rocks and found our first: Worm Snake (Xerotyphlops vermicularis) It wouldn't stop moving so no decent pictures to show.
We went to have a look inside the monastery and totally unexpected a snake appeared crawling on the tiles between me and Paco. It was the major goal of the entire trip: a black Dahl's Whip Snake (Platyceps najadum 'kalymnensis'). A very easy catch. People must have turned religious for less. Don't worry, I just call it luck ;) .
You always read about this variety of najadum but I could never find any pictures. So I had to go and get them myself. I'm very happy to share them with you:
This one clearly needed a shed. I contributed the blue shine on the lighter parts to that:
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What is even better then this?: A freshly shed specimen. I caught one a few days later on one of my very early morning sessions while the others were still asleep.
An absolutely stunning animal. Deep velvety black in colour and to my surprise also this one had somewhat of a blueish shine on the markings and belly.
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I even saw a third one, but didn't manage to catch it.
habitat: Image

In between I found a few other species. One was found at the remains of a small castle.
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Litterally the last stone I planned to turn, revealed this: Sand Boa (Eryx jaculus).
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That puts a grin on one's face.
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The day after, in the north of the island, I found another Worm Snake. Paco dropped it in the tall grass, so again no pictures.
It was a very good area with a lot of species: Starred Agama, Worm Lizard, Turkish Gecko, Snake-eyed lacertid and a new species for me: Dwarf Snake (Eirenis modestus). A relatively big animal, close to maximum lenght, about 55 cm.
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My cool and mad fellow herpers at the prime habitat:
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Afterwards you can stop for a "light" meal in tomatoe sauce:
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I saw two more snakes. One tail that I couldn't identify slittered into a pile of rocks. And a Caspian Whip Snake (Dolichophis caspius) past right in front of me on a steep slope. No chance to grab it.
That concludes Kalymnos.

On Kos we had booked a stay in a far bigger hotel. It was full of strange people who seemed to enjoy acting as if they were in a prison camp. On an island full of herps they preferred staying at the hotel. They happily wore bracelets to identify which food regime they were allowed to follow. Sometimes groups of them were hurdled into busses. Some came back, others did not :? . They tried to impress me by imitating reptiles: taking every chance they got to bask, turned colour like chameleons from white to red and some even started shedding :shock: . Most were very ugly so I cut off my bracelet and took every chance I got to flee that place!!!

Luckely Kos is also a beautiful island. Our hotel was in Tigkaki near a salty lake with flamingo's and other birds...
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I couldn't find any terrapins but they should be present.
A lot of Green Toads were seen. Mostly juveniles. The last night after the rain there were hundreds at the hotel together with one adult male.
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I went out to search the surroundings at the lake and didn't find a single animal except for some larvae in a small stream, when I returned to the room, 11 were still sitting at our terrace! Strange!
Eastern Tree Frog (Hyla orientalis) was heared every evening but only 2 or 3 animals were calling in the reeds, impossible to locate. I found an egg clump ready to hatch at an archeological site (asklepion)
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Also eggs and larvae of Green toad were present at this location
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These ones confuse me a bit:
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Are they supposed to be white at their underside? They seem to be too long and dark and it is a bit too late in the season to be Pelobates eggs no?
Anyway Eastern Spadefoot Toad (Pelobates syriacus) has been found at that site. I saw some big larvae swimming which very well could be them. But also Levant Water Frog (Pelophylax bedriagae) was present, although it might be too early to find larvae of this species?
The water frogs were quite common on Kos. I even found them at mountain streams and drinking reservoirs for goats.
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The asklepion is also a good place to photograph Starred Agama because they are used to tourists.
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They seem to be much more abundant than on Kalymnos and less shy. We saw them everyday all over the island.

A lot of stones at the asklepion, I turned some small ones at the side in the shade. Just before I was officially informed, I shouldn't do that ;) , I saw a Worm Lizard escaping deeper in the ground.

Ofcourse Snake-eyed Lacertid was common too:
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I saw two species of lizard that occur on Kos and not on Kalymnos:
Balkan Green Lizard (Lacerta trilineata) was found at several more humid places.
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And Glass Lizard (Pseudopus apodus). To my surprise I only saw one of these.
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Paco still loves them.
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Turtles were around everywhere in the mountains. Spur-thighed Tortoise (Testudo graeca)
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Ben swears by using binoculars to spot them.
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There was one species I really wanted to see on Kos: Black Whip Snake (Dolichophis jugularis)
One evening I found a big shed of that species at a chapel in the middle of some olive groves. A few meters further we found two more sheds of Dahl's Whip Snake. So the next morning I got up real early to check out the place. I saw nothing but a few lizards and made a walk at the surroundings. Just before I wanted to go back for breakfast I had a quick look again at the chapel when a big snake took off. I chased it for about 20 meters and we both stopped in a few sqare meters of thyme and thorn bushes. I couldn't see it anymore so we had a stand-off for a couple of minutes. Then it started moving again and I managed to grab it. What a beast. It was slightly longer than me. So at least 1,8 meter. It was a hell of a task to get pictures on my own but I loved every minute of it :) .
Habitat
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After about a dozen attempts I managed to make a selfie to give you an idea of the size:
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Craziest thing about it: It still was due for a shed, so at least two of those monsters live there!

I saw two more Dahl's Whip Snakes, both around noon in the mountains but couldn't catch them.
And found one more Worm Snake. This time I got a somewhat OK picture.
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I got one last bonus on Kos. The second last evening whe drove down the mountain and stopped at a small village with a lot of abandonned houses. Just outside the village at a nice pasture I turned a stone under a walnut tree and found this:
Leopard Snake (Zamenis situla)
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Some more scenery from Kos
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And our fourth team member at her favorite place on Kos. Amazing how she puts up with the rest of us! Thank you!!!
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I missed a few things like Coin-marked snake (Hemorrhois nummifer), Ottoman Viper (Montivipera xanthina), Eastern Montpellier Snake (Malpolon insignitus) etc... But I'm more than pleased. It was one of the best family/herping trips ever! And now I have an excuse to go back for that Coin-marked snake.

Hope you liked it.

Bert
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Re: Kalymnos and Kos May 2015

Postby Sjuul Verhaegh » Sat May 16, 2015 4:43 am

Nice finds and photographs! Especially the striped situla!
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Re: Kalymnos and Kos May 2015

Postby Andre Schmid » Sat May 16, 2015 5:09 am

Great ! Cant wait till my holiday on the island(´s) starts after reading your report :)

Thanks for sharing !
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Re: Kalymnos and Kos May 2015

Postby Jürgen Gebhart » Sat May 16, 2015 6:11 am

Nice pics!!!
the black najadum are very cool!!! Black rocks!!!
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Re: Kalymnos and Kos May 2015

Postby Kevin Byrnes » Sat May 16, 2015 6:52 am

Nice report, that Leopard snake is beautiful.
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Re: Kalymnos and Kos May 2015

Postby Bert Vandebosch » Sat May 16, 2015 3:59 pm

Thanks all.
Indeed black rocks!

Andre Schmid wrote:Great ! Cant wait till my holiday on the island(´s) starts after reading your report :)

Thanks for sharing !


Funny to see how popular the islands are this year :)
Good luck, I'm curious to see what you will find.
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Re: Kalymnos and Kos May 2015

Postby Kristian Munkholm » Sat May 16, 2015 4:40 pm

That looks and sounds like a thoroughly enjoyabel way to spend a family holiday peppered with some very nice herps. Thanks for a good read :)
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Re: Kalymnos and Kos May 2015

Postby Carl Corbidge » Sat May 16, 2015 6:45 pm

Great Bert, its weird how with just one week between us how we found different things, we did quite well for Dahl's on Kos but on Kalymnos we maybe saw one (couldn't be certain) but again did quite well with Caspian and you got the Sand Boa and Dwarf snake. One thing we had in common was catching a last minute Black whip about the same size as well. I was gonna put a post up at some point but have been a bit lazy. So heres a caspius.
caspian whip snake  (8) copy small.jpg
caspian whip adult 2nd adult (17) copy small.jpg
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Re: Kalymnos and Kos May 2015

Postby Edmond Themeli » Sat May 16, 2015 7:16 pm

Wow...i never knew black caspius and Dahl's snakes ever existed !! Cool pics
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Re: Kalymnos and Kos May 2015

Postby Kevin Esser » Sat May 16, 2015 9:59 pm

Nice to see the future generation of herpers :-) Congrats to that cool trip.
The black Platyceps are really amazing!! And the baby-situla is really beautiful - saw a similiar specimen in croatia last year.
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