Herpin the Northwest--Summer 2014

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mdagz
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Herpin the Northwest--Summer 2014

Post by mdagz »

The Northwest had a beautiful summer and here in Eugene we set a record with most 90+ degree days in a year. I didn't get to herp out as much as I'd like to, but still managed a few herpin adventures.

The Willamette Valley used to be one huge estuary, while modern day has drained much of the surface water there are some great wetlands areas to explore. A lot of city's have scrounged up some protected wetlands areas and they have proven to be a haven for herps and wildlife. I love the wetlands area in Eugene and have found five species of snakes on one walk. I suspect there could be 8 species of snake there.


The garters are plentiful;


Northwestern Gartersnake (Thamnophis ordinoides)

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Red-Spotted Gartersnake (Thamnophis sirtalis concinnus)


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Pacific Gopher Snake (Pituophis catenifer catenifer)


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Only have found these guys a few times, always impress me;


Northwestern Ring-necked Snake (Diadophis punctatus occidentalis)

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And the most plentiful snake I see are these sleek beauties;


Western Yellow-bellied Racer (Coluber constrictor mormon)

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The heat and dry weather scared the sallies away but brought out a lot of lizards. I found most of these guys in recent clear cuts and along logging roads in said clear cuts. Whether they are just easier to spot not under a forest canopy, drawn to the huge basking areas, or both the lizards loved the clear cuts.


Lot's of stumps and rocks could be found with one these on it;


NorthWestern Fence Lizard (Sceloporus occidentalis occidentalis)


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Western Skinks and Alligator Lizards were found on the edges of logging roads scurrying into the brush. This Alligator lizard was pokin out a hole in an embankment;


Northwestern Alligator Lizard (Elgaria coerulea principis)
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I was exploring some back roads for work hoping that an unknown one would connect thru to where I needed to go. Of course I made it about 90% of the way before the road became impassable. I was a little irritated and while turning around interrupted a sweet herp interaction. Cheered me up for the long round about drive back.


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A family vacation in central Oregon in an area where an endemic(?) in Oregon Plateau Striped Whiptail exists gave me a mission to accomplish. Apparently they made an appearance in the 70's and never left, can't blame them really it's a beautiful place. I was lucky enough to find some, actually there were lots right in the parkin lot so it was easy.



Plateau Striped Whiptail (Aspidoscelis velox)
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I made a trip up to North Central Washington and did some herping in the Grand Coulee area. Ice age floods created epic geologic formations here and I was hoping for some epic herping. Unfortunately it was unseasonable cool and cloudy and the reptiles were hiding out. I spotted a dry waterfall area to hike to and thought there looked to be a lot of rockiness to explore.


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As I got closer it looked like the waterfall was still dribblin' out a bit of moisture, maybe a sweet herp spot?


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After busting through some thick veg I made it to the base and bingo!
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I checked out that pool and there were tons of tadpoles. Not sure but I think they are spadefoots;


Great Basin Spadefoot (Spea intermontana)
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After some circling I spotted quite a few salamanders, couldn't find any adults unfortunately. I'm guessing they are tigers but could also be long-toes?


Blotched Tiger Salamander (Ambystoma mavortium melanostictum)
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And as I was walking around I spooked some garters out from the rocks;


Wandering Gartersnake (Thamnophis elegans vagrans)
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My hometown county of Columbia County, OR yielded some cool looking garters;


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There is also a beautiful area that has a great rubber boa population.



Northern Rubber Boa (Charina bottae)
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And in conclusion we all know there ain't no party like a western pond turtle party cause a western pond turtle party don't stop! (till winter)


Western Pond Turtle (Actinemys marmorata)
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Thanks for reading--Matt
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Lyle
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Re: Herpin the Northwest--Summer 2014

Post by Lyle »

Sweet deal! I like the Pond Turtles.
Richard F. Hoyer
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Re: Herpin the Northwest--Summer 2014

Post by Richard F. Hoyer »

Nice post!

Richard F. Hoyer
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jonathan
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Re: Herpin the Northwest--Summer 2014

Post by jonathan »

Nice post! Five species of snake on one hike is fantastic for Western Oregon.

You did great hunting down herps in conditions that weren't always the best. I wish I could get you more help on those tadpole/salamander larvae IDs. Perhaps some of our Washington-based herpers will chime in?

You're also doing an incredible job entering all that data. Way to set an example. You're doing good work out there.
kwheelz
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Re: Herpin the Northwest--Summer 2014

Post by kwheelz »

Wow, great post and photos. Thank you!!
kwheelz
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Re: Herpin the Northwest--Summer 2014

Post by kwheelz »

Oh yes, the turtles is exceptional!
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Kyle from Carolina
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Re: Herpin the Northwest--Summer 2014

Post by Kyle from Carolina »

Man, those gartersnakes are sweet. Great post.
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TravisK
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Re: Herpin the Northwest--Summer 2014

Post by TravisK »

I would say Long Toes for the Sallies. Nice post!
Jimi
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Re: Herpin the Northwest--Summer 2014

Post by Jimi »

Nice, I like it! Esp the turtle shot.

Something you said prompted a longer response-
Whether they are just easier to spot not under a forest canopy, drawn to the huge basking areas, or both the lizards loved the clear cuts.
When I worked in coastal Norcal timberlands, we did several years of pitfall and coverboard surveys for a variety of verts & inverts. Sampling was designed across an age-since-harvest and also silvicultural-prescription gradient. So, a space-for-time substitution (observation), not an experiment per se.

Anything that opened up the canopy "quite a bit" in large (~20 ac) patches was associated with (& in all reasonable probability, caused) a heliophilic-herp population explosion. Didn't have to be a full-on clearcut, but it had to be much more intensive than single-tree selection. Anyway, the effect started within a year, peaked at about years 2-4, and just fell away when the regenerating brush and conifers got to be wall-to-wall and there wasn't any sun left on the ground. In that country, say 6-7 years.

It's interesting. I mean you just don't see them - fence & alligator lizards - in the deep woods. But dispersers must always be pushing through, probably mostly to just die. But some few lucky ones clearly make it, because you just don't see those sunny spots lacking sun-lizards after a year or so. Somebody always gets through, and that guy has got it made. It's interesting...I wonder what was the mechanism for their colonization & regional persistence pre-Euro settlement. Indian burning? Occasional "Biblical" wildfire year? Refugia on persistent/active landslides, and rock outcrops? Fun to ponder...

cheers,
Jimi
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DesertZone
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Re: Herpin the Northwest--Summer 2014

Post by DesertZone »

Amazing post, thanks for sharing! :thumb:
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mdagz
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Re: Herpin the Northwest--Summer 2014

Post by mdagz »

Thanks everyone!

Travis--I was leaning towards tiger sallies because I saw a couple of larvae that were 3-4" , I didn't know the long-toe's could get that big?


Jimi--That's a cool study you got to do, I am fascinated with the affects of clearcuts on the forests, their short term impacts are fairly devastating but the forests do recover in time to varying degrees.
I'm thinking the lizards used to stick to higher elevations and rockier outcrops then infiltrating recent burn areas. My crazy idea is that they stayed in the canopy of all the old growth trees jumping from huge branch to huge branch :)
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jonathan
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Re: Herpin the Northwest--Summer 2014

Post by jonathan »

Jimi wrote:Nice, I like it! Esp the turtle shot.

Something you said prompted a longer response-
Whether they are just easier to spot not under a forest canopy, drawn to the huge basking areas, or both the lizards loved the clear cuts.
When I worked in coastal Norcal timberlands, we did several years of pitfall and coverboard surveys for a variety of verts & inverts. Sampling was designed across an age-since-harvest and also silvicultural-prescription gradient. So, a space-for-time substitution (observation), not an experiment per se.

Anything that opened up the canopy "quite a bit" in large (~20 ac) patches was associated with (& in all reasonable probability, caused) a heliophilic-herp population explosion. Didn't have to be a full-on clearcut, but it had to be much more intensive than single-tree selection. Anyway, the effect started within a year, peaked at about years 2-4, and just fell away when the regenerating brush and conifers got to be wall-to-wall and there wasn't any sun left on the ground. In that country, say 6-7 years.

It's interesting. I mean you just don't see them - fence & alligator lizards - in the deep woods. But dispersers must always be pushing through, probably mostly to just die. But some few lucky ones clearly make it, because you just don't see those sunny spots lacking sun-lizards after a year or so. Somebody always gets through, and that guy has got it made. It's interesting...I wonder what was the mechanism for their colonization & regional persistence pre-Euro settlement. Indian burning? Occasional "Biblical" wildfire year? Refugia on persistent/active landslides, and rock outcrops? Fun to ponder...

cheers,
Jimi
I'm with Matt - cool study Jimi. What were the "heliophilic" herps in the area that you observed other than fence lizards and alligator lizards?

I've always been curious about the question - how far out-of-range can a wandering herp travel in its life? And when the range is non-ideal, how much is that dispersion range limited?

And for Matt - how far north in the coast range have you seen fence lizards and skinks? I'm not imagining them in Clatsop or Tillamook County. Yamhill maybe? Or do you have to go even further south to find them at all?
Jimi
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Re: Herpin the Northwest--Summer 2014

Post by Jimi »

What were the "heliophilic" herps in the area that you observed other than fence lizards and alligator lizards?
It really varied by distance from the coast. Right across Highway 1 from the surf, almost any reptile would rather see a little sun than be in the full fog-drip mossiness. And many amphibians seemed like they didn't care - as long as there were cover objects, the vegetation structure didn't matter.

Departing some from the specific study I mentioned: within a couple miles of the coast basically any reptile is going to be more frequently encountered in openings than in shade. Whereas 15 or more miles inland (where summer high temps can reach 100F, the sun shines hard, and daily the afternoon RH plunges into the 30% range) things like boas and Contia are definitely going to want some tree canopy. Or at least be on the north faces, or have other terrain shade.

At the furthest inland, and at the highest elevations (25 miles, ~2500') there were rattlesnakes and gophers and cal kings. And skinks. (The latter I would not count among the fast positive responders to timber harvest. They just seemed to live where they live - poor dispersers maybe???) These areas probably (surely...) had zonata but I never found one. Didn't try very hard, I had work to do! Most of my herping was "accidental", except for 1) direct surveys for the species thought vulnerable to harvest impacts (tailed frog, torrent sallies) 2) the things we caught in our pitfalls and cover arrays, and 3) and those we got as "bycatch" in fish monitoring (Dicamps, YLFs).

Those regions had a lot more hardwoods and even some "balds" - most seemed anthropogenic (they were slowly shrinking due to tree encroachment) but some were definitely edaphic - serpentine parent mtrl? - and stable; those often had some big rock outcrops, which were good focal points for snakes and often had dens. No snakes in the timber, still. If you drive west of Willits on Hwy 20 towards Ft Bragg you can see some of this country when you crest the watershed divide into the Noyo River 'shed.

I would count Rana boylii as "heliophilic herps" but with the stream-zone retention standards, as well as our temperature-monitoring results , we didn't put a whole lot of sun on the creeks. Virtually none.

Interestingly we found pond turtles in all aquatic situations - ponds, rivers, and lagoons, cold and shady as well as hot and sunny. But they were rarely found in the chilly or shaded situations, whereas they were dependable in the hot sunny areas. I suspect they got some benefit in terms of nesting and also hibernation sites, from the logging. Especially in the transition areas between hot and chilly - the zone maybe 5-10 miles from the coast. It wasn't too uncommon to get them crossing roads where one side was the stream zone and the other was a young clearcut, in that not-so-hot zone. In the real hot inland areas they stuck closer to the water, it seemed.

Oh, I'd also count racers and T elegans in the "sun" group. Both seemed to benefit from or home in on the increased spring & seep flow in the clearcuts. But also seemed to appreciate the sun.

Anyway, fun trip down memory lane. Awesome country, I'd go back in a heartbeat. Did I answer your question? I'm curious how much things differ between NorCal and further north, herpwise, with the timber harvest.

cheers,
Jimi
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jonathan
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Re: Herpin the Northwest--Summer 2014

Post by jonathan »

Yes, you answered my question well! I was especially interested to see how far from the coast it took to start observing the rattlers and kings and such. Did you tend to need sun for the toads as well?
Jimi wrote:Anyway, fun trip down memory lane. Awesome country, I'd go back in a heartbeat. Did I answer your question? I'm curious how much things differ between NorCal and further north, herpwise, with the timber harvest.
I'd love to hear Matt's thoughts on that. I haven't herped the cuts often enough to really come to any conclusions, except that garters and alligator lizards love those logging roads.
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TravisK
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Re: Herpin the Northwest--Summer 2014

Post by TravisK »

mdagz wrote:Travis--I was leaning towards tiger sallies because I saw a couple of larvae that were 3-4" , I didn't know the long-toe's could get that big?
Well looking at the pics they look like what I am used to for long toed larva. I have seen them get up to 3.5" before morphing into adults. What time of year were you in that Coulee?
Jimi
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Re: Herpin the Northwest--Summer 2014

Post by Jimi »

I was especially interested to see how far from the coast it took to start observing the rattlers and kings and such. Did you tend to need sun for the toads as well?
Those snakes sure don't seem to care for the humidity. Really, at latitude ~ 39-40 N I'd say you have to go inland about to where you start picking up the deciduous oaks - where they start sharing the landscape with the evergreen hardwoods, and the conifers. And as I noted, to get up above the fog belt. See many redwoods - forget it. More inland, or up, or both. In the transition areas you might start picking them up on the upper south slopes.

The only exception to that "rule" is around Big Flat, north of Shelter Cove. I've found rattlers and gophers there right in the driftwood. Just like you can in SoCal and some of the Central Coast. The Big Flat / Lost Coast area is odd (but botanically consistent with the snakes) because there are also no (or almost no) redwoods or grand fir or hemlock or spruce...the big overstory conifers are all Doug fir. Similar to way, way inland.

Did I mention toads? Funny you bring them up. I don't recall seeing any toads at all. Treefrogs, tailed frogs, red-legs and foothill yellow-legs yes, all with regularity, in their proper seasons and habitats - I can recall any number of encounters. Bufonids (or pelobatids - a long shot), nope. That's weird...hmm. Shoulda been toads...but yes I would expect they'd like the warmer areas too.

cheers,
Jimi
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Joshua Wallace
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Re: Herpin the Northwest--Summer 2014

Post by Joshua Wallace »

Great representation of the NW. Love your posts, and records in the database.
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