Backyard Critter

This morning I looked out of one of the kitchen windows and saw something dark moving on a piece of roofing tin that my husband had measured out to put on the roof.   Grabbing my trusty camera I rushed out to see what it was.   It was a salamander!  Searching through my Audubon series field guide books, I discovered this was a species of Tiger Salamander.  There are hundreds of species of salamanders, and the coloring of Tiger Salamanders can vary a lot, too.  This little guy (gal?) was about 7 inches long and about 2 inches wide.   I got some good photos of him/her and was glad that I got a chance to view some backyard wildlife.   So often we miss these small moments in life.  If I had not taken the time to look out the window and observe things, I would have missed seeing this little creature!  It was learning experience anyway.

A Tiger Salamander on a piece of roofing metal in the back yard.  Kind of a "cute" little guy/gal eh?

Another view from the other side.   It looks like a piece of grass stuck to its body towards the rear.

A close up of the little critter.  I wonder if this is a male or female? 

After I snapped the pictures the salamander crawled off the metal and onto the grass to.....? wherever it came from in the first place?   I sometimes see these crawling across the highways up here, but I haven't seen them in the yard.   We have had a lot of rain lately, and they like to eat earthworms and beetles in moist areas.  Besides all the deer and larger mammals around here in the woods, we have had many snapping turtles, owls and eagles and now salamanders paying a visit to the yard!  I always consider it a treat to observe nature close up like this.