Happy Newt Year!

Wow, living in the country is really something! I have lived in the Pacific Northwest for most of my life, and in Oregon for about 15 years but I am so surprised by all the wildlife we have in out own backyard, literally! Before we even moved in, we noticed a covey of quail, several deer, including a doe, a buck, a yearling and a fawn, we have seen wild turkeys (big FAT ones!), LOTS of wild birds, and these strange "love bugs" that I swear I have never seen before. After we moved, we found a mole wandering across our drive, and field mice by the scores (but usually only the hind legs and tail thanks to our hunter extraordinaire, Roscoe).

Then today Connor came running in saying he caught a Salamander! Ok, I have to admit I wasn't really sure what a salamander looked like. I remember getting lizards at the fair, which was really fun as a kid but I'm sure a really bad idea since they usually only lived a week or so an most probably died of starvation. And I was fully expecting to see a little tadpole in the bottom of the bucket he was carrying but when I looked in, there was this HUGE animal in there! I had no idea if it was supposed to be in the water or on land or what to do with it. We had to leave and Connor assured me it would be fine in the water while we were gone (it's great when your 6 year old knows more than you do!). Connor also told me that his skin is poisonous....which sounded odd to me. He dubbed him Shadow, and we were off on our errands.

So we ran our errands and when we came back, sure enough, he (she?) was just fine. Connor wanted to name is Shadow and keep it as a pet. I thought maybe we should look online and see what we could find out about it. When I looked up online I found that salamanders and newts are cross referenced everywhere. Upon further investigation, I learned that it is apparently very important to know which you have so you can determine what it eats and how it lives. I found this website and posted a picture of our creature in the forum to see if someone could help us identify it. While I was waiting I found a link to this page. The kind respondent agreed that it is most likely a Rough-skinned newt, commonly known as an Oregon newt. Apparently Connor know what he was talking about (said he learned about it the coast with Dad...where was I?) because I discovered that indeed, the oils on the skin are toxic and can burn your skin or eyes and make you violently if you eat them (eeewwww!!!). And were advised that it's not a good idea to try to domesticate them. Good to know. So Shadow will hang out in his bucket until Dad gets home so he can get a look-see then it's back to the great outdoors for our new little friend with the toxic skin.

What a wonderful experience for the kids! And what a great homeschool experience!