Sierra Newts on the Trail

This month has been full of reptiles and amphibians! My husband sent me this image of a Sierra newt that he took on a hike with a friend. He sees newts a few times a year on this particular trail and I think he did a great job of capturing this colorful amphibian so I could share with all of you.

Taricha sierrae- Sierra Newt

•  Medium sized salamander
• Subspecies of the California Newt
• They breathe through lungs and not gills.
• The Sierra newt spends most of his time on the land.
• The Sierra newt has very few predators because they contain tetrodotoxin. The only real predator is the garter snake. The Sierra news bright orange color is a warning to other potential predators.
• One source said they can live 12-15 years in the wild.
• Their habitat is forested areas, migrating to breeds pools or rivers during breeding season. 

This amphibian has been added to my list of reptiles and amphibians in my nature journal and recorded in a journal entry. My sons and I saw newts in a breeding pool a long time ago and I wrote about it in this entry: California Newts and Tree Frogs.

CaliforniaHerps.com has an informative entry for the Sierra newt.