I was lucky to find this salamander under a big log, because the area was extremely dry, more suited for the alligator lizard and fence lizards that I saw nearby. It really didn't want to pose for me, and kept plodding for cover, but eventually it sat still for a few seconds and I got a decent shot.

This young salamander was found in the usual salamander place -- under a log. It was something of a consolation prize after my friend Bruce Schneider and I had spent a very long day of hiking hoping unsuccessfully to find Mt. St. Helena Mountain Kingsnakes to admire and photograph. (Bruce went back the next weekend and did find one.)

Thanks to Fred Harer, I found this young Santa Cruz Black Salamander by looking under bark and stones in a muddy seepage. We had come to primarily look for California Giant Salamanders, but took a little time to hunt for this subspecies that I had not yet seen. The closeup shows the little bits of debris that one usually finds clinging to a mud-dwelling salamander. The salamander took a brief bath in the salamander spa before posing for the glamour shot on the leaf.

My friend Fred Harer uncovered this salamander in a mucky seepage along the stream that flows through this park. Another day, another salamander poised on a leaf.