Melrose, OR–May 14, 2017. 1530-1700. We’ve had some rain over the past week. Not having looked much for snails or slugs at our property, I decided to go out looking to see what I could find, and I figured the rain we’ve had over the last week would help my quest. I primarily looked in the closed-canopy oak woodland west of our house. I did find two species of snail and one slug species (two specimens); all native species. Both of the snails were with or in the process of laying eggs.
A very green Pacific Treefrog revealed itself by hopping from its perch in the grass. They breed in my neighbor’s pond to the north.
On my way to the oak woods I began to look at grasses, which I haven’t studied for some time, and checked a couple sheets of metal roofing along my gravel road. A familiar, large (3-4 ft) Gopher Snake was present and gave me good photos and an impressive striking and hissing video (links in comments on that species; click photo below).
While on the search for gastropods, I incidentally found a new vertebrate species for our property (not easy to do these days): an Ensatina (salamander). It was in a pile of scrap wood near our treehouse.
