With a little rainfall across the otherwise dry Californian hills, my focus has been brought towards salamanders. Some early morning rain got me hiking around and uncovered a single incredibly slender salamander.

The search for more moist environments brought me to a well-known and iconic part of Northern California, Muir Woods. While the redwoods soar high, I was focused on the incredibly wet ground and made sure to stay within range of the creeks. A couple quick flips and I was instantly rewarded.

Looking like Randall Boggs from Monsters Inc. it became obvious that ensatinas are doing well here. While the one pictured above strongly resembled the yellow-eyed ensatinas that reside near my house, there may be some genetic mixing going on here.

This one more strongly showed off its oregon ensatina influence in the darker coloraton, orange on top of its legs, and slight gold speckling near the end of its tail.

The chunkiest one seen shows that there may be a range of integrade going on here. The main oregon influence appeared to be the orange on top of its legs.

I love to see the difference in coloration between juveniles and adults. Appearantly juveniles have some incredibly bright red tails with blue flecks along their skin and are tiny of course!

While I originally believed this to be an integrade area where yellow-eyeds and oregons mixed, range maps appear to indicate that this is a purely Oregon ensatina area.

The main reason for choosing to go towards the coast was to begin to search for california giant salamanders. Boy was I surprised when I flipped a small log to see a giant head staring back at me. Would have made for a great in-situ picture if I wasn’t so worried about it going back into hiding.

Talk about a unit! This thing was massive. The thickest and largest salamander I had ever seen. Only took one photo opportunity on moss to realize it does not make the best floor for a salamander photo. With its enormous proportions, I missed out on some detail in the legs, toes, and under bodies.

In the dark lighting on the damp ground, their brown color and scattered pattern provides for excellent camoflouge amongst the damp pine needles.

Since I struggle with lighting and was forced to use my flash, here is the only picture that came out with natural lighting. Much lighter and less orange than depicted above. This was the second giant salamander found that day and was a little shorter and much thinner than its predecessor.

Incredibly pleased to find these beautiful beasts on my first attempt. I will return for sure! My next targets are hoping the rain brings out some newts and tiger salamanders.