Winchester, OR–May 3, 2017. 0950-1330. Before meeting a student along the river trail, I checked the UCC Cover Boards. The skinks up on the grassy hill were fast, and I had a meeting so I decided not to catch and photograph them. While at the cover boards in the patch of Ceanothus cuneatus, I heard what sounded like a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (rare in Douglas County), tracked it down, photographed it, and obtained some sound recordings. It is unknown if this species has ever bred at this location, but it is possible, though it is a rather small patch of habitat.
Once I got down to the most southern group of cover boards under the conifer forest, I finally detected my first herp there, a medium-small Ensatina. While standing on the bank with the student we watched a Mink searching the river edge. Unfortunately it ran off before I could get a photo, but I included the record in iNat. After meeting the student and going over project specifics, I wandered the River Trail a bit. I found a few new flowers and found a juvenile Foothill Yellow-legged Frog. Again, I would not have noticed this frog had it not hopped from an adjacent branch or vine and into the 12-inch wide seasonal stream. I photographed it inside a water-filled plastic bag this time, just to avoid skin contact (for the frog’s sake, not mine). I’ll be interested to see if there are adults breeding in the river this summer.
Many more observations and photos for the day are here.