A UCC Coverboard Check and Some Flower Browsing

This afternoon I decided to go check the 36 metal and wood cover boards I placed on the Umpqua Community College (UCC) property on 21 March 2017. It has been just over a month and the vegetation underneath was beginning to die and decompose. More “pillbugs,” centipedes, slugs, etc., were beginning to be found underneath, though I did not have time to record them all. My search was mainly focused on amphibians and reptiles. I was not disappointed. Today I had my first Western Fence Lizard for this project, as well as a handful of Western Skinks. One skink in particular was strongly orange-colored on its upper and lower jaw area and a little below the lower jaw. Apparently males attain this coloration when in breeding condition.

Adult male Western Skink (Plestiodon skiltonianus) in breeding colors
Northwest Hesperian (Vespericola columbianus)
Field Chickweed (Cerastium arvense)
Neoneides muticus

Many more observations and photos are here.

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