Eva catching crane flies. (Interested in what crane flies eat like we were? They are much like soldier flies in that most species as adults eat nothing at all!)
Those little hands also caught four salamanders at the Audubon Society today while we hiked some trails and the kids walked around in the streams. Eva got down into the mud and muck where there were so many salamanders. We didn't know what they were at first when we started seeing movement under the water- fish? frogs? salamanders!
As we were leaving we saw many more lying in the water basking in the sun. There was also a sign reminding us to stay on the trails and not "harass the newts" which Samuel found at once hilarious and disturbing. Eva contended she was not harassing the newt- she was picking them up. She is extremely gentle and conscientious with their little bodies wriggling all around. Such funny little creatures with orange bellies and smooth skin- polished, as Eva said.
After checking it out I think the "salamanders" we saw were the Oregon rough skinned newt (or orange bellied newt). I wondered why there weren't at least herons somewhere about looking for them because they were so abundant and found they do indeed have toxins on their skin. We saw raccoon tracks in the mud as well. I wish we could have seen what they were up to!
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