Rough-skinned Newt

Rather cute, eh? Indeed! But this rough-skinned newt (Taricha granulosa) could kill you. With little tiny newt nunchucks or crazy newt voodoo? No, with his potent newt toxins. But I don't hold this against him. If some sicko were to ingest this little guy (that's horrible!), the poisons could likely kill said idiot. Sometimes there is skin irritation if you pick them up, but it's still generally safe to hold them. A lot of salamanders, newts and other herps produce toxins, but not anywhere nearly as potent as these.

We've seen a handful of them since we've been here, but this was by far the best look I've got of one. They certainly are handsome! (and cute, but I realize I overuse the word "cute" far too much. But, I can't help it, it's so descriptive and fitting for my little friends) Color Carnival, Shadow Shot, Macro Monday, Face of the Week

Two in One

The marsh was lookin' all pretty like so I took some pictures, go figure. Weekend Reflections, Mellow Yellow

Poppy Sans Color

Monochrome Weekend, Today's Flower

Wheeler Peak

This picture is almost a couple years old, but I was thinking about Great Basin NP earlier today and was kinda thinking I needed to go back there soon. Definitely one of my favorite parks and it has Bristlecones, one of my favorite things. The good stuff abounds. Take me there. Skywatch, Blue Monday

Harbor Seal Pups!

Ahhhh! Cute overload! My brother was in town for a few days so we decided we needed to show him all the cool stuff Humboldt has to offer. We got crazy lucky with weather and sightings (more on that later), including the harbor seals (Phoca vitulina). We went to the secret seal spot (SSS). Okay, it's not so much secret, but it's rare that people are ever around there. (Just the way I like it).

Anyway, there were about 20 adults and 4 very young pups lounging on their favorite beach spot. On our walk back (this time by the ocean, not the river), there was a newborn pup on the beach. Holy baby animal overstimulation! It was loving the sun and I'm pretty sure no living thing on earth has ever experienced the extent of relaxation this guy was enjoying.

It's normal for the mom to leave the pup on the beach for pretty long periods of time while she feeds in the ocean. So, if you see a baby seal on the beach alone, fret not. Pup season here is from April until July and females usually have one a year. She'll wean the baby for about 6 weeks and after that the little guy is more or less on his or her own foraging wise.

I didn't take too many photos of the baby so as not to disturb his state of peace, so I just snapped a couple quick ones and we went on our way. He looked up at me a couple times - what a sweet little face! Check out the babies in the other pictures - they are sleeping so hard, I love it! Nature Notes, Scenic Sunday, Camera Critters, SOOC

Dusk

Watery Wednesday, Wordless

Ochre Sea Star

From the tide pools yesterday, one of the many ochre sea stars. Abc Wednesday (O), Outdoor Wednesday

Oh hey, more poppies.

Today's Flower

Butter Butts

Holy Yellow-rumped Warblers (butter butts) everywhere! Everywhere. (okay, not the most exciting warbler, I'll admit) Good mix of Myrtle and Audubon's but the Myrtles were the ones who posed for me the other day. Palm Warbler (last photo) too (not the best photo, but glad to see that around).. SOOC, Bird Photography Weekly, My World

Stalker

GREG (Great Egret) looking for a tasty treat...(I'm pretty convinced the tail plume is actually a third leg)

Weekend Reflections , Monochrome Weekend

3 Frogs, Tree Frogs

Three different Pacific Tree Frogs from the weekend. All very cute, and very different. Check it. Pacific Tree Frogs can have some pretty varied colors and even a bit different patterning, too. The most common color we see is the bright green. So it was cool to see these three different shades in a short period of time. Face of the Week Color Carnival, Camera Critters, Shadow Shot, Macro Monday, Save the Frogs

Redwood Sideband

This good lookin' snail is a Redwood Sideband (Monadenia fidelis). We saw two of them the other day in...the Redwoods. While I think snails are pretty cool, this one stepped it up a level by being just plain beautiful. Yep, a beautiful snail, it's true. This one is a subspecies of the Pacific Sideband, found in the Pacific Northwest. It looks like Humboldt (where we are) and Trinity Counties are the south end of their range. Outdoor Wednesday, Nature Notes, Circus of the Spineless

North Coast Sunset

Watery Wednesday, Wordless, Skywatch, Scenic Sunday

Pacific Gopher Snake

Check this friend out! He's a pacific gopher snake, roughly 4.5 feet. Zac and I were hiking some trails we hadn't been on before near the Mad River, along some nice cottonwoods and this guy was completely loving the fact that the sun had been out for more than 45 minutes at a time. I don't blame him.

I was able to get some up close and personal shots with the macro and extension tube. I thank him for staying put for so long! He was beautiful. I'm so glad we've been seeing snakes lately! I love snakes! Still waiting for the first rattlesnake of the year though...We actually saw 3 other gopher snakes yesterday and 3 ring-necked snakes too - niiiice! Macro Monday, My World

This is me with a different (smaller) gopher snake yesterday.

Popp! (ies)

The California Poppy. I love it. You probably love it too. Right? Today's Flowers, Mellow Yellow

Northern Spotted Owl!

Finally saw a Northern Spotted Owl (hot damn, and even better since we're officially moving away from their habitat). He was incredibly obliging...and awesome. This guy was pretty much badass. Spotted owls are listed as threatened because of severe habitat loss (they require old growth, deforestation is a huge problem). They were a lot bigger than I thought, one of the biggest owls in North America. So pumped we had such excellent views of this beautiful animal. Bird Photography Weekly , Camera Critters, Face of the Week Abc Wednesday (N)