Washington County, Oregon

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Indafield
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Washington County, Oregon

Post by Indafield »

The lack of nice weather has kept my herping more locale and as such I'm finding some stuff I never thought would be this close to town.

Skiltons Skinks in Washington County? In the last couple days I've found close to 20 in Beaverton City limits.

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I was aware of Coluber around but had yet to find any, was surprised to find this 4' monster

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Alison holding it for size reference, here hunny hold this big nasty snake so I can get a picture!

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Northern Alligator in Beaverton City limits

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Sean, Alison and I found this Monster Southern a bit further from my house.

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The Charina sure are abundant locally. I'm well over 20 in the last couple weeks.

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A very small Newt.

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A very large Slug, biggest I've ever seen and I've lived in the northwest for 29 years

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Thamnophis are always abundant.

ordinoides

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A nice blue one

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Northwest herping at its finest, Poison Oak and Garter snakes

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Bad pic, unique pattern

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concinnus

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Both together

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Thanks for looking,

Nate
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Dman
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Re: Washington County, Oregon

Post by Dman »

Nice finds Nate,
Wow that Racer is a monster!!! That is pretty cool you are finding a lot of those within Beaverton City limits.

Damon
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monklet
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Re: Washington County, Oregon

Post by monklet »

I've seen a lot of gaping gator pics but that one is way beyond!!! Great post with lots of interesting stuff. That racer blows me away...fat and long! The garter mix is cool too. Also, really enjoy the concinnus on the log, just like if you walked up on it...which I assume you did?
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M Wolverton
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Re: Washington County, Oregon

Post by M Wolverton »

I have only ever seen one racer that size (near Spokane). I think it is very uncommon for them to get that large in the NW.
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Indafield
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Re: Washington County, Oregon

Post by Indafield »

Damon, I'm sure you'll see some in Beaverton eventually.

Monklet, Thanks for the compliments! I actually worked with these Garters for like 2 hours to get them to sit perfectly still, lots of crap on my hands...

Mike, Damon and I have seen one near that size "South of Salem" hopefully he can post a pic. Our racers around here are generally smaller than other coluber in the states as you know. I lived in Spokane for a bit and found quite a few racers, they all seamed like the normal size to me. I did notice the Crotes and Sayi... being stockier.
kevinb
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Re: Washington County, Oregon

Post by kevinb »

Lovely Garters but how about a few more of Alison ;)
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Natalie McNear
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Re: Washington County, Oregon

Post by Natalie McNear »

Hey I'll trade you some Yellow-bellied Racers for some of those boas. ;) I need to herp where you are, hahaha. The first boa looks like it has really green eyes, you have any close-ups of its face?
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Bryan_Hughes
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Re: Washington County, Oregon

Post by Bryan_Hughes »

Thanks for the very enjoyable post. I grew up in Oregon and seeing that grab-bag mix of gartersnakes really made me miss being a kid just now. I'm particularly interested in the Charinia. They were the "prize" when I was young and I'll always view them that way.
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Carl Koch
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Re: Washington County, Oregon

Post by Carl Koch »

Love the open-mouthed alligator shot! Awesome to see the rubber boas and red-spotted garters, too!
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Gibson
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Re: Washington County, Oregon

Post by Gibson »

Nice job! Rubber Boas are one of my favorite snakes, but I'm yet to see one... :(
and I love the Alligator Lizard shot!
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Indafield
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Re: Washington County, Oregon

Post by Indafield »

Kevin: I have tons of photos of Alison, mostly holding snakes...

Natalie: Those are yellow bellied racers in the photo?

Bryan: It takes everything in me not to grab every Garter I see, even after 25 years of getting crapped on. I feel the same way about Charina, I don't understand how I never really came upon them as a kid?

Thanks Carl and Gibson.
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Natalie McNear
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Re: Washington County, Oregon

Post by Natalie McNear »

Unless I'm mistaken (which is entirely possible), the racers you have in Oregon are Western Yellow-bellied Racers, Coluber contrictor mormon.
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Indafield
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Re: Washington County, Oregon

Post by Indafield »

You are correct Natalie, what yellow bellied racer where you talking about? Oh and that first boas eyes were pretty normal colored, I don't don't have any other shots of it though sorry.
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jonathan
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Re: Washington County, Oregon

Post by jonathan »

Awesome sightings!

It'd be great to get those in the database - for some reason there are no records for Washington County in the NAFHA database for the last three years. And there are no records for skinks, racers, or southern alligator lizards in Washington County at all.
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Ryan Thies
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Re: Washington County, Oregon

Post by Ryan Thies »

Those boas sure are nice. You are also lucky to have such nicely colored and patterned garter snakes. Keep up the good work!

Ryan
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Indafield
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Re: Washington County, Oregon

Post by Indafield »

Put in database, as well as the rest of the stuff on my new computer.
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jonathan
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Re: Washington County, Oregon

Post by jonathan »

Indafield wrote:Put in database, as well as the rest of the stuff on my new computer.
Nice. Looks like you threw in 4-5 county records and really updated a lot of other species. Plus, we can't see it, but you probably diversified the records in terms of where they are within Washington County as well.

Now you just have to get a voucher for those fence lizards. ;)
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Ross Padilla
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Re: Washington County, Oregon

Post by Ross Padilla »

That Racer your girlfriend is holding looks pretty heavy bodied for a Racer. Nice finds. I like the Garter with the dark pattern on the sides. Wonder what was going on there.. :thumb:
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The Real Snake Man
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Re: Washington County, Oregon

Post by The Real Snake Man »

The herps are neat, but the slug is the real shocker. Weird.
Sean Lundy
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Re: Washington County, Oregon

Post by Sean Lundy »

jonathan wrote:
Indafield wrote:Put in database, as well as the rest of the stuff on my new computer.
Nice. Looks like you threw in 4-5 county records and really updated a lot of other species. Plus, we can't see it, but you probably diversified the records in terms of where they are within Washington County as well.

Now you just have to get a voucher for those fence lizards. ;)

hmmmmmmmm Nate your county records are getting me hotter then tin in mid August.
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Dman
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Re: Washington County, Oregon

Post by Dman »

Nate,
I think the one Alison is holding is much bigger than this one
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Indafield
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Re: Washington County, Oregon

Post by Indafield »

That one was a big one too Damon, I do think the one Alison was holding was a little bigger. Thanks for posting that pic.
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rosy-man
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Re: Washington County, Oregon

Post by rosy-man »

neet pics
Rick Staub
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Re: Washington County, Oregon

Post by Rick Staub »

Move a little west and that skink is probably a range extension also.

Nice finds.
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Ameron
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You Lucky Rascal

Post by Ameron »

(Hi, Nate. We went herping once in the Gorge before I moved to Medford. I'm back in Vancouver now.)

You must know some terrific places with abundant cove, as your experiences in this area differ DRAMATICALLY from mine. I've been a bushwhacker for at least 30 years, and a serious herper for at least 20, and I rarely find the "common" animals that you show.

I've been to most of the local wildlife refuges and Gorge hiking spots. I mostly see garters, and only Red-spotteds near water (mostly, except for at least one in my yard). I've turned hundreds of logs, rocks and other objects - I've yet to find a Rubber Boa, and it's been years since I saw a skink.

I've been incredibly disappointed by my herping experiences in this area - but in this area only. When I visit sunnier regions, of course, the reptile life & sightings increase exponentially. I'm so happy that you keep finding the nuggets...
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Indafield
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Re: Washington County, Oregon

Post by Indafield »

Rick, Skiltons are documented east and west of this location just not right where I found them, According to Alan St John this is a range extension. Richard Hoyer and I were out there a couple weeks ago and he believes Contia should be there as well, witch would be another range extension. I'm working on getting some boards out there sometime soon to turn up some of the other herps I believe to be in the area.

Ameron, I'm pretty sure we never actually made it into the field? Maybe it's just me but every park I go to in the Portland area I can pretty much scrounge something up.
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tspuckler
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Re: Washington County, Oregon

Post by tspuckler »

That's a way-cool post. I like seeing all the variations in "looks" of the garter snakes. That's by far the fattest racer I've ever seen. And I can never get enough of seeing Rubber Boa photos - I'm still in search of my first one.

Tim
Rhett W.
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Re: Washington County, Oregon

Post by Rhett W. »

Hi Nate,

Excellent herping and great photos! For all who follow this forum, please forgive my ignorance and possible bad terminology. I'm an avid birder by trade, but with a modest bit of herping experience from east TX. Now living in Portland, I really want to explore and identify our local snakes so that I may better understand them and their relationships to everything else. I'm hoping to find both Rubber Boa and Ring-necked Snake in Tryon Creek State Park. Does this sound possible? If so, might you have any advice for locating them? People have said they're in the park, but no one remembers the last report or documentation of them.

Any advice or information would be much appreciated,

Thanks,
Rhett W.
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Indafield
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Re: Washington County, Oregon

Post by Indafield »

Thanks Rhett and Tim.

I should have put a tape on the racer, from the sound of it it could have been a record C c mormon, I don't know who would be able to verify that though?

Rhett, I've herped Tryon Creek several times and for the most part all that's there are Salamanders and Thamnophis....that I've found. I wouldn't doubt Charina could be there, it's just a matter of finding more open areas. Diadophis may be a little harder to locate, I've been on the hunt for them, Contia, and Pituophis in the City limits for a while to no avail when you get a little outside town and they start becoming more plentiful.

Nate
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