Saturday herpetology.
Mar. 7th, 2010 09:31 pmToday was one of those early-spring days that's just warm enough, just dry enough, and just bright enough to make the perfect sort of day for a little hike. The Coast Range is less than forty minutes from my house by car, so we went there for an afternoon outing.
For context, the place we went to is Cold Canyon, which is a small nature reserve with a few walking trails. This time of year, when the rain's just about over and spring's getting started, everything's lush and green, all fresh and new. There was some cloud cover, just enough to keep the sun from bearing down on us, so it never got too hot or too cool. Flowers were blooming, butterflies were flying, turkey vultures were circling. We wealked along the creek for a while, looking at places we'd been to years before, and then I spotted the first newt of the day.
For additional context, this is the newts' breeding season, and they're out and about, just hanging around and hoping to find a suitable mate or egg-laying spot. And they're adorable. Seriously, they are so cute, and if you can't imagine how happy I was to see all of them, then you've got to try harder, because I was over the moon. I found the key to finding them was to look in places where I knew they'd be, and learned they've got a very strong grip with those little toes of theirs. We must have seen at least thirty of them, some alone, some in groups, at least six of them in rather intimate situations doing their best to continue the species. I didn't catch nearly that many, but I loved watching them even when they weren't in my hands, the way they walked and how they swam through the water and curled up in their hiding places.
I reached what I think was my apex when I was watching two climb up a mossy wall and remarked, "They're breathing! That's so cute."
We put on sandals and got our pants very wet, and we did our best to take some time to sit back and just experience the flowing water, and we all had a blast.
Before we went out, we went to the Farmers' Market to get some fruit and look at baby pigs - apparently it was Pig Day, which included people dancing in pig costumes and a woman with a pink wig and pink clothes with ears and a tail dancing to music as well as a guy in a wolf costume - and after we got back, we all showered to take care of potential poison oak and went to a local Spanish place for dinner with my grandmother.
Bring on tomorrow.
For context, the place we went to is Cold Canyon, which is a small nature reserve with a few walking trails. This time of year, when the rain's just about over and spring's getting started, everything's lush and green, all fresh and new. There was some cloud cover, just enough to keep the sun from bearing down on us, so it never got too hot or too cool. Flowers were blooming, butterflies were flying, turkey vultures were circling. We wealked along the creek for a while, looking at places we'd been to years before, and then I spotted the first newt of the day.
For additional context, this is the newts' breeding season, and they're out and about, just hanging around and hoping to find a suitable mate or egg-laying spot. And they're adorable. Seriously, they are so cute, and if you can't imagine how happy I was to see all of them, then you've got to try harder, because I was over the moon. I found the key to finding them was to look in places where I knew they'd be, and learned they've got a very strong grip with those little toes of theirs. We must have seen at least thirty of them, some alone, some in groups, at least six of them in rather intimate situations doing their best to continue the species. I didn't catch nearly that many, but I loved watching them even when they weren't in my hands, the way they walked and how they swam through the water and curled up in their hiding places.
I reached what I think was my apex when I was watching two climb up a mossy wall and remarked, "They're breathing! That's so cute."
We put on sandals and got our pants very wet, and we did our best to take some time to sit back and just experience the flowing water, and we all had a blast.
Before we went out, we went to the Farmers' Market to get some fruit and look at baby pigs - apparently it was Pig Day, which included people dancing in pig costumes and a woman with a pink wig and pink clothes with ears and a tail dancing to music as well as a guy in a wolf costume - and after we got back, we all showered to take care of potential poison oak and went to a local Spanish place for dinner with my grandmother.
Bring on tomorrow.
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