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Features: Gaper clams have large "neck" housing the two siphons that protrude above the substrate surface when feeding. Protective leathery plates are found just below the siphon tips and feel rough to the touch. Gapers are unable to retract‌ their neck entirely into the shell, producing a "gape" in the shell. It is common for algae to grow on their necks and gaper pea crabs to dwell inside the shell with the gaper clam.‌ Habitat: Gapers can be found in high salinity sandy and/or muddy areas in most of Oregon's larger estuaries. Tillamook, Netarts, Yaquina, and Coos‌ are favorite bays…

The kit fox is the smallest canid that occurs in Oregon. It has the typical canid conformation: the body is slim, the legs are long and thin, and the ears are large and erect. The tail is about 40 percent of the total length and is tipped with black, but has no dark mane on the dorsal surface. The feet and legs are whitish interiorly, light rusty-brown posteriorly. The dorsum is grizzled brownish-gray medially blending to grizzled gray then to light buff laterally and finally to white on the chest and venter. The head and posterior surface of the ears…

The Canada lynx is only slightly larger than the bobcat. Nevertheless, long legs and long fur produce the illusion that the lynx is considerably larger than it actually is. Documented accounts of wild lynx are rare and lynx are not expected to currently reside in Oregon. However, if lynx were to be observed, it is likely to occur at higher elevations such as in the Cascade Range, Blue Mountains or Wallowa Mountains. Habitats used by lynx often are defined in terms of habitats used by their primary prey species, thus good snowshoe hare habitat usually is considered to be good…

Features: A medium-size goose, adult snow geese are white with black-tipped wings that are visible in flight. Their pronounced pink bill has a dark "grinning" patch across it, and they have pinkish feet. Young of the year snow geese are grayish white with grey legs and bills. These birds are very vocal and can be heard over a mile away. Habitat: Snow geese are well-adapted to agricultural land. They can also be found in wetlands, roosting in open water. Sauvie Island, Summer Lake and Klamath wildlife areas have abundant snow goose populations during various times of year. Technique: Snow geese…

The gray fox is among the smaller canids in Oregon. The basic color of the gray fox is grizzled gray, but the stiff middorsal hairs have long black tips that extend onto the tail as a black mane. Guard hairs are banded white, gray, and black. The throat, venter, and inside of the legs are white; a cinnamon-rufous border to the white throat extends on the flanks and underside of the tail A blackish patch on the side of the face extends onto the lower jaw and a grayish black "exclamation point" extends upward from the interior margin of each…

Sperm whales inhabit all oceans of the world, and have been observed in Oregon waters from March through November. Sperm whales are usually found in deep off-shore waters so they are only occasionally seen off Oregon by fishers and birders on offshore trips. It is the largest of the toothed whales and possesses the largest brain of any animal with an enormous head to house it. Sperm whales have 20 to 26 large conical teeth found only in their lower jaw. A mature male can grow to 52 feet long with its head representing up to one-third of its length…