This male ring-necked duck arrived in the pond a week ago. The grebes attack most new arrivals, and the ring-necked duck was not spared this welcome. However, he persisted, and seems to have lost the attention of the grebes. He hangs out with the coots who are tough enough to fend off grebes, and who don't seem to mind the duck.

Photo by Grant Pogson

This arboreal salamander (Aneides lugubris) was found near a redwood tree after recent heavy storm winds. It may have been blown out of a tree, or it may have been sheltering in the moist leaf litter nearby (these lungless salamanders breathe through their skin and need to remain in moist areas - which the extensive shade of the quarry provides copiously to the chagrin of the human inhabitants). Because they are usually hidden up in a tree or under leaf litter, this was a fairly rare unhidden sighting.

Photo by Song Nelson