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Raccoons are found throughout the state, excluding high mountains and desert regions. They have adapted well to residential life because of their flexible diet and nocturnal nature. Raccoons are opportunistic feeders and have a diverse diet that includes insects, plants, and small animals—but also unnatural foods, like pet food and trash, when they have the chance. Raccoons are notorious for getting into garbage cans and eating pet food left on a porch or food left out at campsites. Raccoons that are fed by people often lose their fear of humans and may become aggressive. Do not attempt to feed or…

This is the world's smallest "peep" and can usually be picked out by its brownish coloration, dull yellowish legs, and hunched, creeping foraging style. Least can be found in small flocks in Oregon almost year-round. The Least sandpiper feeds on open mud with Western sandpipers but often feeds where some grass, salicornia or other cover is present, avoiding walking in the water as Western often do. It is uncommon to locally abundant statewide in migration, with most birds along the coast and at larger lakes and marshes inland. It is locally common on the coast in winter; smaller numbers winter…

These lizards are found in open desert shrublands, particularly where islands of sand have accumulated around shrubs and are absent where a dense grass understory would inhibit their ability to run. The Long-nosed leopard lizard eats large insects, such as grasshoppers, crickets, and beetles, and also takes small vertebrates, including pocket mice, side-blotched lizards, whiptails, and Western fence lizards. Some plant material (flowers, berries) is eaten when available. Photo by Charlotte Ganskopp

This small tan-and-gray sparrow with a delicately streaked upper breast is found in summer in wet mountain meadows where its bubbly song can be heard from low shrubs. It winters in brushy lowland areas where it skulks in tall grass and weeds and is usually seen for only a moment. It breeds locally above 3,000 feet in the west Cascades and winters in the valleys west of the cascades. Hear the song of the Lincoln's sparrow Photo by Kelly Colgan-Azar, Flickr

This drab, greenish, diminutive species is similar in appearance to the Hutton's vireo, and sometimes confused with that species in western Oregon. Slighter-billed and smaller than the vireo, this little bundle of energy seems always to be moving as it flicks its wings and hops from twig to twig. The male Ruby-crowned kinglet sports a bright red crown spot, typically visible only when the bird is agitated, and in spring pours fourth a delightful melody, surprising for such a small, drab bird. This species breeds in high elevation forests, primarily east of the Cascade crest, where it is common in…

Features: The other "greenhead", the drake is handsome with a dark iridescent green head, white breast, reddish belly, blue wing patch of coverts, and an iridescent green speculum. Brown hens also have blue wing patches similar to that of the cinnamon and blue-wing teal. Habitat: This dabbling duck prefers lakes and ponds where it uses its unique bill to sift through water in shallow areas. Food choices include the seeds of sedges, bulrushes and other aquatic plants, duck weed, and algae; also aquatic insects, mollusks and crustaceans. Common winter species in the Willamette Valley and Columbia Basin, but widespread throughout…

The Red-breasted nuthatch is a happy, jolly little bird, quick and agile in its motions and seemingly always in a hurry to scramble over the branches. It is distinguished from other nuthatches by white eyebrows, black eyelines and cap, reddish breast, and nasal yank yank song. Although males have a blacker cap and redder breast than females, distinguishing sexes in the field is difficult. During winter, is can be observed foraging in mixed-species flocks with Chickadees, Brown creepers, Kinglets, Townsend's carblers, and Dark-eyed junkos. The Red-breasted nuthatch breeds and winters throughout Oregon where conifer or mixed conifer-hardwood forests are present…

This small, rich-brown wren is only slightly larger than a quarter, and has a tail quite short for a wren. A quiet observer in the forest will see these birds hop in and out and all over logs, snags, shrubs, twigs, and limbs on the forest floor. It has been said that the song of this bird is larger than the bird itself. The Winter wren breed from Coos County southward and in eastern Oregon in the Blue and Steens mountains. It retreats from high altitudes in winter where snow pack is heavy. Migration probably occurs throughout the state, but…