Birds

I keep a list of all birds seen on our farm on my birdnotes blog here: http://lindafink-birdnotes.blogspot.com/2014/10/fink-family-farm-bird-list.html

I'll copy a few of them here. No rhyme nor reason to my selections except I like the photos of these birds best. Lots more photos of lots more species on my birdnotes blog.

Wood Duck

Hooded Merganser

Common Merganser

American Kestrel

Ruffed Grouse

California Quail

Barn Owl

Pygmy Owl

Rufous Hummingbird

Pileated Woodpecker

Red-breasted Sapsucker

Violet-green Swallow

Tree Swallow

Steller's Jay

American Dipper

Cedar Waxwing

Common Yellowthroat

Wilson's Warbler

American Goldfinch

Chipping Sparrow

White-crowned Sparrow

White-throated Sparrow

Reptiles

Common garter snake (Thamnophis sirtalis)

The above color variety sometimes called red-spotted garter snake

The one below is much less colorful. Two of these were trying to hide in the veggie garden, hopefully eating slugs.

This one was stretched out sunning itself on a woodland path and did not move when I stepped over it.

Northwestern Garter Snake  ...Thamnophis ordinoides

Elgaria coerulea principis  Northwestern Alligator Lizard

 

 

and this one was on our stairs in the house!

This juvenile missing part of its tail had fallen (or been dropped) into a bucket

Western Pond Turtle

 

Invertebrates other than Insects

 Mollusks: Gastropods (snails and slugs)


Pacific Sideband Snail... Monadenia fidelis

Oregon Forestsnail...

The Oregon Forestsnail (all one word) , Allogona townsendiana,

 

The Oregon Forestsnail, a mollusk, is partial to Bigleaf Maple areas and nettles. We have plenty of both in our woods and lots of these snails. They are a species at risk in Canada due to habitat fragmentation.




Another mollusk, Ariolimax columbianus, Banana Slug, is common in our woods.

Banana Slug, Ariolimax columbianus

These small snails are numerous in Agency Creek on our property.

 These tiny red aquatic creatures are copepods, a crustacean. They appear in seasonal ponds and disappear when the ponds dry up. They become numerous in our seasonal horse pasture pond.

A larger crustacean lives in our creek... crawfish/crawdaddy/crayfish... and more names...

 Spiders are arachnids, another non-insect invertebrate. There were lots of these little black spiders running around the top of the water and the mud next to it on our seasonal pond on March 24. BugGuide.net says they are some species of Wolf Spider, Pardosa genus. My photo is too poor to tell anything closer.

Thin-legged Wolf Spider, Pardosa sp.

Lots of these Flower Spiders on flowers in the garden and fields.

Goldenrod Crab Spider, Misumena vitia

 

Araneus nordmanni
Orb Spider

The Black and Yellow Garden Spider is big and beautiful

Black and Yellow Garden Spider... Argiope aurantia

Diplopods (Millipedes)

Fish and Amphibians

Coastal Giant Salamander,  Dicamptodon tenebrosus

 

 crossing our dam on 4/30/22. Tail probably chopped off fighting with another

 

 Pacific Giant Salamander

  Northwestern Salamander, Ambystoma gracile

When threatened, a NW Salamander will lift its back up and tip its snout down to present its poison glands, as this one is doing. It was in the aisle of the buck barn in late December.

Western Red-backed Salamander

  Rough-skinned Newt, Taricha granulosa

Rough-skinned Newt, crossing the dam. They are common in our pond.

 Pacific Treefrog, Hyla regilla

Pacific Treefrog mating in our seasonal pond

 

 Speckled dace, Rhinychthys osculus

These have been identified as Speckled Dace, a native minnow. They were in Agency Creek

 

 

The fish below were in our pond January 2012. Fish experts tell me they are native Coastal Cutthroat Trout. They were exhibiting spawning behavior but would need to spawn in a gravel bed, not a mud-bottom pond.