Field Herp Forum

Hi All!

I recently moved or again and I'm not yet familiar with the amphibian species here (any field guide recommendations?). I found a salamander last night and I'm curious what it could be. It was found in Lake Oswego Oregon on a sidewalk adjacent to a parking lot and a semi forested area with a lot of underbrush.

My guess is a juvenile Western Red-Backed, but my fiancé is convinced it's a Clouded (which I've read is unlikely). Here is my Observation on iNaturalist for you to take a look:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/45988572


Let me know your thoughts!


-Emma

Dunn's, Plethodon dunni, though they are usually close to moving water.

Jeff

Dunn's. I have found them on occasion quite far from water, usually where some sort of rock talus was available and often (though not always) during or after rains.

Welcome to Oregon! I wish I had a particular field guide recommendation, I own four but they're all quite old and I've kept up on changes via the internet. I've perused the new ones in stores on occasion and they all look "fine" to me. We don't have a wealth of species in NW Oregon so there's only a few ID questions to figure out:

Red-backed Salamander vs. Larch Mountain Salamander
Dunn's Salamander vs. Long-toed Salamander
Dunn's Salamander vs. Red-backed Salamander
Dunn's Salamander vs. Clouded Salamander
Cope's Giant Salamander vs. Coastal Giant Salamander
Distinguishing the three species of Torrent Salamander (best done by range)
Red-legged Frog vs. Cascades Frog (best done by elevation)
Learning to distinguish the three turtles (pond, painted, and invasive sliders) even when you don't have the best view
Northern Alligator Lizard vs. Southern Alligator Lizard
Northwestern Garter Snake vs. Common Garter Snake vs. Western Terrestrial Garter Snake

If you can ID those, you can ID anything here! Really the Giant salis and the various Dunn's confusions are the only ones that get very tough, sometimes you just need to see a lot of them before you start to associate the right traits with the right species.