NW Herpers Storm the Border - Oregon side

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jonathan
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NW Herpers Storm the Border - Oregon side

Post by jonathan »

Part 1, the Cali side, is here: http://www.fieldherpforum.com/forum/vie ... =8&t=21982


Stage 5: Medford

After three days in hot California, we crossed the border into Oregon. We had an area on the map picked out, but that was it - we didn't know where to go, how to herp it, anything. After an extended argument over whether to even get out of the car and herp, we decided to skip it, then changed out mind and drove over. The three of us headed down an innocuous little trail that looked like it would result in nothing. The only thing going for us was that we liked the direction of the slope.

It was a good thing we did...

There were tons of fence lizards

NorthWestern Fence Lizard (Sceloporus occidentalis occidentalis)

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Then Rose spotted this racer in some manzanita:

Western Yellow-bellied Racer (Coluber constrictor mormon)

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I flipped a few things looking for kingsnakes, then Matt and I started checking out some rocks that looked extremely rattlesnakey. I stepped up on a boulder, walked to the other side, looked down to step down, and yelled, "Zonata!" The snake saw me too and started to head for a hole under the boulder, but I got him just before he made it. It was a real long one, approximately 32-35". My first Oregon zonata ever!!!

Sierra Mountain Kingsnake (Lampropeltis zonata multicincta)

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Only a couple minutes after that, Matt spotted another racer, and then he found the big rattlesnake we had been looking for. This was my first Oregon NorPac in almost 20 years:

Northern Pacific Rattlesnake (Crotalus oreganus oreganus)

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The temps picked up, and after three nights of camping in random places, we hit up a friend's house and took a nice break and some showers. Then it was back out for a couple of quick hikes.

Three gophers showed up on the first short walk:

Pacific Gopher Snake (Pituophis catenifer catenifer)

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An alligator lizard and a nice ringneck at the second one:

Oregon Alligator Lizard (Elgaria multicarinata scincicauda)

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Northwestern Ring-necked Snake (Diadophis punctatus occidentalis)

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habitat shot:

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Stage 6: Springfield

Finally, we drove up to Matt's hood and crashed at his place that night. The next morning was a surprising change from the hot days before - cold and windy. Flipping suddenly had a chance to succeed again.

Matt took us to a wonderful marsh, where Heather joined up with us. We started walking down a rather innocuous trail, and it wasn't long before I spotted a garter snake entwined into the nearby grass, staying out of the wind:

Northwestern Gartersnake (Thamnophis ordinoides)

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A little bit later, a racer that was still and so low in the grass I almost missed it:

Western Yellow-bellied Racer (Coluber constrictor mormon)

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Matt showed us some fallen masonry that was embedded in the marsh. I started flipping it, and there were long-toed salamanders everywhere. We found a dozen of them:

Western Long-toed Salamander (Ambystoma macrodactylum macrodactylum)

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Heather then spotted a piece of concrete a few feet out in the marsh. She flipped it, and was rewarded with three ringnecks!

Northwestern Ring-necked Snake (Diadophis punctatus occidentalis)

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One had extremely light ventral coloration:

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We got to a bridge after that, and I saw a nice red-spotted garter curled up against the end. Unfortunately I slow-played the photo, and it got away without a voucher. To make up for that, here are some red-spotted garters I saw yesterday (much further north):

Red-Spotted Gartersnake (Thamnophis sirtalis concinnus)

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Unfortuntely, the public setting of the trail (we're back to the trip now) meant that there were causalties. We found a couple of killed herps near the end of the walk:

Metamorph Rough-skinned Newt? (Taricha granulosa)

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Western Yellow-bellied Racer (Coluber constrictor mormon) - hardened so you can't tell it's dead

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I finished it off with one more live racer under masonry:

Western Yellow-bellied Racer (Coluber constrictor mormon)

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We had one more spot to hit, another wetland. This was full of turtles:

Western Pond Turtle (Actinemys marmorata) and Red-eared Slider (Trachemys scripta elegans)

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And I found one last snake, flipped under a rock:

Pacific Gopher Snake (Pituophis catenifer catenifer)

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With that, we called it a week. I think it was well worth it.


Here was our final species list:

Speckled Black Salamander (Shasta population)
Western Long-toed Salamander
Coastal Giant Salamander
Rough-skinned Newt (DOR only)

Sierran Chorus Frog
Foothill Yellow-legged Frog
American Bullfrog

Western Pond Turtle
Red-eared Slider

Shasta Alligator Lizard
San Diego Alligator Lizard
Oregon Alligator Lizard
California Alligator Lizard
Western Sagebrush Lizard
Great Basin Fence Lizard
Coast Range Fence Lizard
Northwestern Fence Lizard
Western Skink
Variegated Skink
California Whiptail

Sharptail Snake (4)
Northwestern Ringneck Snake (5)
California Kingsnake (2)
California Mountain Kingsnake (2)
San Diego Gopher Snake (2)
Pacific Gopher Snake (7)
Western Yellow-bellied Racer (6)
Striped Racer (1)
Alameda Striped Racer (1)
Coast Garter Snake (1)
Oregon Garter Snake (2)
Valley Garter Snake (1)
Red-spotted Garter Snake (1)
Northwestern Garter Snake (1)
Northern Pacific Rattlesnake (3)



I also added about 100 records to the http://www.naherp.com database, many of which were for counties that didn't have a lot of records before. When Heather, Matt, and Joshua put in their entries, we should have 150-200 new records total for this region.

Thanks for taking a look. :thumb:
Jimi
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Joined: December 3rd, 2010, 12:06 pm

Re: NW Herpers Storm the Border - Oregon side

Post by Jimi »

you guys rocked it! well done, congrats

the Oregon Z looks like a real beast

I'm stoked you at least got your Shasta black, I know you wanted more sallies

glad you saw a bunch of river turtles, people often overlook their existence in the fast cold water

hopefully you didn't get too much poison oak and tick bites, you looked a little underdressed at times (yep, there's an avatar!)

cheers,
Jimi
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TravisK
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Joined: July 8th, 2010, 11:14 am
Location: Eastern Washington

Re: NW Herpers Storm the Border - Oregon side

Post by TravisK »

Nice pics, I still have Ring Necks on my list for first..... :roll:
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jonathan
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Re: NW Herpers Storm the Border - Oregon side

Post by jonathan »

Thank you Jimi and Travis!

Yeah Travis, when I was a kid I saw 1 each of ringneck, gopher, and rattler in Oregon. But these were the first of those species that I'd gotten to see since 20 years ago, as well as the first (Oregon) southern alligator lizard since my childhood and the first-ever mountain king and pond turtles in Oregon.
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