The Upper Delaware River region is rich with a variety of wildlife. Some species are quite commonly encountered, while others are fairly elusive. I saw two of the latter recently—one in my backyard and the other along a nearby dirt road.

The first, a slimy salamander, was discovered in a pile of moist decaying wood. This terrestrial salamander is black with a spattering of white to silver spots, with a light brown throat and slate gray underside. Ranging in size from four to eight inches, it prefers shady forested areas, shale slopes and ravines. It features a head that is somewhat square and a truncated snout.

Aptly named, its skin secretes a sticky glue-like mucous when handled. It hunts mostly at night, consuming worms and insects. Females lay clutches of six to 40 eggs underground or inside a rotting log. Newly hatched juveniles are tiny replicas of adults.

The second critter startled me when it fell onto my forearm from a tree. Perched in brush, a walking stick insect blends in beautifully due to its resemblance to a twig. Given its typically brown, black or green coloring, I would have passed right by without realizing it was there. But its clever camouflage was useless against my skin.

Walking stick females can reproduce without males, but all offspring will be females. Up to 150 brown seed-like eggs are laid simply by dropping them to the ground, one by one. And should a predator get hold of a stick insect’s leg, these odd bugs can shed the limb by allowing it to break off at a weak point, then regenerate the lost limb the next time they molt.