Salamander stress?

Mama’s getting ready to persuade the last of her four wee-ones to leave the nest (I thought “fledge” meant leave the nest, but it turns out it means get feathers; o woe is me on this vocab stuff); I’m guessing this was the runt (invisible to Mama’s left). She and her hubby, Señor Brilliant, have been nesting in the Taxus next to Mom’s kitchen window for several years now….

Was it a kind of fledging when jcb and I left this morning?

On the critter front, how much do salamanders feel stress? A week or so ago, I found one on the dusty, pea-gravel path next to Lake Clara Meer, and with some gentle (I hope) prods of a handy twig, I nudged the little guy over next to the water. I’m just hoping I didn’t give him (her? it?) a heart attack in the process….

2 comments

  1. kayak woman says:

    I guess I never knew the true definition of fledge either. Have you and jcb grown some feathers?

  2. Sammy says:

    Nah, we just left the nest to return to points south, in the land of the salamander!