newt in hand

Sara Heinrichs

"A newt in the hand is worth two in the pond," os so the old adage goes. ;)

A lovely newt I heartlessly captured and ate. Well, I did catch him, but he was too cute to eat. Surprisingly unslimy, but almost velvety to the touch. Living in what looked like a seasonal pond high high above the Pacific Ocean on the Big Sur coastline. He shared his pond with lotsa LOTSA frogs, some cool stripey water snakes, water spiders, and other strange and wonderful bits of life. I waded around happily, getting a mean sunburn and thinking good thoughts about life in general.

All the little specks you see are floating particles in the water. Mr. Newt was underwater here, big looming me with camera about a foot off the surface and a polarizer on the lens to cut down surface reflections.

I like him.

Edit: Turns out these little fellas are poisonous! Who knew? Apparently, I shoulda washed my hands alot after handling 'im. I didn't.

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