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| A rambunctious bullfrog. |
Every year, the
Tualatin Hills Nature Park hosts Newt Day, which is not to be missed. For just $1 per person or a donation of two cans of food, you can see all kinds of reptiles and amphibians that inhabit the nature park up close and personal. Knowledgeable people are there to tell you all about them. This year, they had folks there with a handheld electronic microscope that utterly fascinated Jasper. He went outside to bring in some fern spores to see them up close. There was also a table where kids were doing leaf rubbings with crayons, an activity that Jasper just couldn't get enough of. As soon as we got home, he insisted that we walk all around the neighborhood to find as many interesting leaves as possible so he could do even more.
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| A rough-skinned newt. |
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| Slugs and snails never lose their charm. |
The newts that are the honored guests at the festivities, are not particularly shy. They are the only local salamanders that are not nocturnal, and they walk around in broad daylight with a cocky attitude. How can they get away with this sort of behavior, without being a snack for every predator in sight? When they are scared, first they flash their orange bellies as a warning. Then they start secreting a milky substance from their backs, which is the most powerful natural neurotoxin on the continent. Eating a newt is certain death for anyone...except for garter snakes. They developed a resistance, which seems to in turn have made the newts try being more poisonous, which in turn made the snakes more resistant... Some people say that just touching this toxin causes skin irritation. But one of the park rangers at Newt Day last year told me that she was holding one once while giving a talk, and did not observe that it had begun to secrete its toxin. The next thing she knew, half of her body was paralyzed for several hours. She just had to wait for it to wear off. This is why I never let my child pick them up himself!
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| Baby garter snakes. |
The Tualatin Hills Nature Park is a wonderful green oasis in the middle of Beaverton, one of the few places you can get to by Max if you want to go for a walk in the woods. The sheer concentration of wildlife here is pretty amazing. Parts of the park are off limits to people to provide habitat for the most shy creatures, but if you frequent this park, you are sure to see many of them. There are quite a lot of nature programs available, most of which have higher rates for those who live out of district. But Newt Day is open to all.
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