This year I was particularly interested in the sun-loving herps, having noted that many of them (toads, all lizard species, and all snakes other than northwestern and common garters) have rarely or never been recorded in the NAHERP database.
First, I carpooled with my dad's Boy Scout troop to herp one decent-sized park to the east. The river basin area produced ranids and long-toed salis, along with a single northwestern garter.
American Bullfrog (Lithobates catesbeianus)
Northern Red-legged Frog (Rana aurora)
Western Long-toed Salamander (Ambystoma macrodactylum macrodactylum)
Habitat shot. Bullfrogs were clearly in the permanent water in generally sunny locales, while red-legged frogs were in the smaller puddles in generally shaded locales.
Typical bullfrog habitat
Typical red-legged frog habitat
Getting up into the meadow just above the current floodzone, the snakes started coming out.
Red-Spotted Gartersnake (Thamnophis sirtalis concinnus)
Northwestern Gartersnakes (Thamnophis ordinoides)
Northern Pacific Treefrog (Pseudacris regilla)
Habitat shot. I'm curious if the lack of lizards/boas/racers/etc. was just by bad luck, or was related to the historical state of the habitat as still within the river's floodplain.
One of the ticks that I've suddenly been finding recently:
I was picked up from there by a childhood friend who I'm slowly converting into a bit of a herper. He lives in the Clackamas County portion of Portland's metro area, and was excited to try to fill in some of the many gaps in that county. We hit up a couple of ponds he had located for me, and indeed managed to get three county records for the database, of quite common species.
Northern Red-legged Frog (Rana aurora) (1st record for Clackamas)
American Bullfrog (Lithobates catesbeianus) (1st record for Clackamas)
Northern Pacific Treefrog (Pseudacris regilla) (1st record for Clackamas is call only, another seen but not vouchered)
Northwestern Gartersnakes (Thamnophis ordinoides) (2nd record for Clackamas)
I have an ongoing quest to voucher stream salamanders from as many Portland-area streams as possible. To this point I've looked at 8 streams and found giant larvae in 7 of them! This isn't representative, of course – all 7 streams where I found giants were in places that I knew would be good habitat. During this trip I was able to add 2 giant streams to my list.
Coastal Giant Salamanders (Dicamptodon tenebrosus)
habitat shots
Other salamanders were in springs and hillsides in the same areas.
Western Red-backed Salamander (Plethodon vehiculum)
Dunn's Salamander (Plethodon dunni)
Matt and I tried to hit up a few clearings, looking specifically for rubber boas, racers, western terrestrial garter snakes, and alligator lizards, all species that had not made it into the database for Multnomah County yet, much less Portland itself. That changed about 3 seconds into the very first spot we looked! Less than 10 feet from our first trailhead, Matt spotted an alligator lizard, I dove, and we had a new county record.
That area produced three more alligator lizards and well over 50 northwestern garter snakes, nearly all of which were neonates or juvis. I thought it certainly looked like possible rubber boa habitat, but we didn't see any.
Northwestern Gartersnakes (Thamnophis ordinoides)
this one was holding an odd raised position
habitat shot
We struck out on herps entirely in our second spot. On another day in a third location, I found some pretty habitat. On this cool day it only produced an alligator lizard and a snake shed, but I think there's a chance it could be WTGS habitat or something else.
Northwestern Alligator Lizard (Elgaria coerulea principis)
habitat shot
To this point, we've found the following herps in Portland itself (within the city limits).
Western Long-toed Salamander
Coastal Giant Salamander
Oregon Ensatina
Western Red-backed Salamander
Dunn's Salamander
Rough-skinned Newt
Northern Pacific Chorus Frog
Northern Red-legged Frog
American Bullfrog
Western Painted Turtle
Red-eared Slider
Northwestern Alligator Lizard
Northwestern Garter Snake
Red-spotted Garter Snake
If you take the entire Multnomah County metro area all the way out through Troutdale, I could also include the following:
Oregon Slender Salamander
Clouded Salamander
Cascades Torrent Salamander
Notably absent amphibs are Northwestern Salamander (obviously there, I just haven't seen one) and Western Toad. Perhaps there's a distant chance that Columbia Torrent Salamander could be found somewhere on the west side of Multnomah County as they can be found in both Washington and Columbia Counties, but there isn't a spot where the habitat is quite perfect. Same goes for Tailed Frogs. I also haven't been able to verify Clouded Salamanders from Portland itself, though I keep hearing rumors.
Reptiles are much more notably absent. Where are the skinks, rubber boas, racers? Stretching a little bit, how about Western Terrestrial Garter Snakes, Ringneck Snakes, Gopher Snakes, Southern Alligator Lizards? Two NAHERP herpers have recorded fence lizards in the Portland metro area, but they appear very isolated. Also, are there any Western Pond Turtles left in Portland, or have they been extirpated?
So here's the species I still want to verify in Portland myself:
Northwestern Salamander (of course)
Clouded Salamander (almost certain)
Columbia Torrent Salamander (unlikely)
Coast Tailed Frog (unlikely)
Western Toad (hopefully?)
Western Pond Turtle (hopefully?)
Western Skink (likely)
Western Fence Lizard (likely)
Southern Alligator Lizard (unlikely I think)
Rubber Boa (of course)
Racer (likely)
Ringneck Snake (maybe?)
Gopher Snake (unlikely?)
Western Terrestrial Garter Snake (likely I think)
I'd be interested in any thoughts or solid verifications of anything on that list.