New Member (Pictures Included)

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Nwherper
Posts: 7
Joined: April 29th, 2014, 6:22 pm
Location: Portland, Oregon

New Member (Pictures Included)

Post by Nwherper »

Hello fellow herper's, I've been around the forum and finally decided to join the scene. I'm a ameteaur herper at best

but I'm not doing so bad either. Some of you may have seen me on Naherp aliased as "John H". I'll leave my name at

that. I try to get in the field whenever possible and I've had some very good luck. Here's a list of everything I've found

to date.



Starting at my favorite Wetlands 8 Minutes from my house you can find as follows.

(Thamnophis sirtalis concinnus)
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An outing in February 28th with Highs in the mid 50's revealed plenty of sunning snake outside hibernaculum.

There's around 8 in this picture.
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(T. Ordinoides)
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One day in spring I found a lone Northwestern fence lizard basking on a rock. This is the first sighting of this species

at said locale despite countless visits over many years. This is also a Multnomah county record.

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Getting into the forest reveals the more typical species.

( Ensatina eschscholtzii oregonensis)
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(Ambystoma Macrodactylum)
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My most recent trip revealed red-eared sliders as far I can tell. I'm no good with turtle identification so input is welcomed.

(Trachemys scripta elegans)
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One of my most memorable moments was when I found this Monster 10 Inch coastal giant out and about during a torrential downpour.
(Dicampidon Tenebrosus)
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Here are some more finds in the Columbia river Gorge.

(Cascade torrent salamander)
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(Dunn's)
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Cope's or coastal?
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Second individual

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Getting higher in elevation now the species list grow's.

Cascade's frog

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Boreal toad

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Also to note, SE of Mt hood past the crest of the cascades there's a lake with a nice population of northern alligator lizards, cascades frog, and valley garter snakes.
Does anybody know the range of northern alligator lizards in the cascades? Answer's appreciated ;)

Now getting hot and dry let's look at the East side.

South of the dalles in Wasco county there's a nice side canyon that produces sagebursh and northwestern fence lizard, oregon alligator lizards, northern pacific rattlesnakes, and yellow bellied racer's.

Some habitat
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March 24th produced some nice fence lizards.
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Early September of last year had even better results.
Sagebrush?
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Very orange fence.
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Almost stepped on this neonate. No more than 16 inches long.


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Scorpions were plentyful under rocks.
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Mid October during the last 70 'F day of fall decided to head to Washington county to a well known nature park.

Habitat
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Very happy about this find. The very first rock flipped produced a rubber boa.

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Garter's were also observed. Was hoping for some skink's but struck out.

As we were leaving 50 feet from the parking lot yet another rubber was on the crawl.

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Some other finds around the state.

Nice multnomah couty stream.

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Produced some red legged frogs.

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T. Ordinoide's from clatsop county.

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Very, very redish orange morph along springwater trail.

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That about Sum's up my herping career to date. I hope to start this summer with some new species. I also know where to find rubber boas, skinks,
and northern alligator lizards in multnomah county which is severely lacking in reptiles.

Best Regards, "John H"
Tamara D. McConnell
Posts: 2248
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 11:42 am

Re: New Member (Pictures Included)

Post by Tamara D. McConnell »

Hey, John.
I am dazzled by your northwestern animals. I'm coming to that area for the first time imminently. Your post has me very stoked.
Nwherper
Posts: 7
Joined: April 29th, 2014, 6:22 pm
Location: Portland, Oregon

Re: New Member (Pictures Included)

Post by Nwherper »

Tamara D. McConnell wrote:Hey, John.
I am dazzled by your northwestern animals. I'm coming to that area for the first time imminently. Your post has me very stoked.
The Pacific Northwest has a lot more diversity than people think. A lot of these places are one time visits that produced some really nice species.
The key is to look at a species, find some good habitat, and search at the right time of year. Happy herping!
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Fieldnotes
Posts: 1474
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 6:12 pm
Location: Anaheim, California
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Re: New Member (Pictures Included)

Post by Fieldnotes »

Could that be a Red-bellied Turtle. ;)
Awesome post and welcome to the forum. :thumb:
Zach_Lim
Posts: 1607
Joined: June 10th, 2010, 8:37 pm

Re: New Member (Pictures Included)

Post by Zach_Lim »

Great post- lots of species, especially the garters, that I hope to see soon.

Will be up in PDX next month- fingers crossed.
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M Wolverton
Posts: 417
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 2:46 pm
Location: Seattle, WA

Re: New Member (Pictures Included)

Post by M Wolverton »

Lots of good stuff. I agree the turtle is an invasive.
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jonathan
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Re: New Member (Pictures Included)

Post by jonathan »

Welcome! And nice post!

You win the award for "most places I think I recognize in one post". The Portland metro area has a lot of cool places to herp that you can find just by looking at a map.

I think the first giant larvae is indeed a Cope's.
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TravisK
Posts: 774
Joined: July 8th, 2010, 11:14 am
Location: Eastern Washington

Re: New Member (Pictures Included)

Post by TravisK »

jonathan wrote:Welcome! And nice post!

You win the award for "most places I think I recognize in one post". The Portland metro area has a lot of cool places to herp that you can find just by looking at a map.

I think the first giant larvae is indeed a Cope's.
Welcome to the forum, and I second Cope's.
Nwherper
Posts: 7
Joined: April 29th, 2014, 6:22 pm
Location: Portland, Oregon

Re: New Member (Pictures Included)

Post by Nwherper »

jonathan wrote:Welcome! And nice post!

You win the award for "most places I think I recognize in one post". The Portland metro area has a lot of cool places to herp that you can find just by looking at a map.

I think the first giant larvae is indeed a Cope's.
Thanks for the warm welcome guys. Your right Jonathan, lot's of these places are pretty

well known public parks with great species especially the Washington County park. Hoping

to get some County records for Multnomah County soon in the future also.
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jonathan
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Re: New Member (Pictures Included)

Post by jonathan »

Nwherper wrote:Hoping to get some County records for Multnomah County soon in the future also.
Considering how many people herp in Multnomah County, its amazing how many potential database county records are still out there to get. It seems like almost everything that likes the sun hasn't been found there (with the exception of the fence lizard you posted). None of the following species have been recorded in Multnomah County in our database yet:

Western Toad
Western Pond Turtle
Rubber Boa
Yellow-bellied Racer
Gopher Snake
Ringneck Snake
Western Terrestrial Garter Snake
Northern Alligator Lizard
Southern Alligator Lizard
Western Skink


The following species, at least, have been recorded:

Oregon Slender Salamander
Dunn's Salamander
Larch Mountain Salamander
Western Redback Salamander
Oregon Ensatina
Clouded Salamander
Cascade Torrent Salamander
Northwestern Salamander
Western Long-toed Salamander
Coastal Giant Salamander
Cope's Giant Salamander
Rough-skinned Newt

Northern Pacific Chorus Frog
Western Tailed Frog
Northern Red-legged Frog
American Bullfrog

Western Painted Turtle
Red-eared Slider

Northwestern Fence Lizard

Northwestern Garter Snake
Red-spotted Garter Snake
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