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Features: Brant are a small to medium-size goose. They have smoky black backs and bellies, and dissected white collars and white around the tails provide striking contrast. The brant can live up to 20 years and are resilient enough to ride out storms on the open ocean. Habitats: Brant are primarily found in bays and estuaries, but on occasion can be found inland. They forage on eel grass and other aquatic vegetation. Most of their feeding is in shallow water or in tidal flats. They tend to feed in flocks. Techniques: As with any waterfowl hunting, location is key. Seek

Features: Canada geese come in many sizes and colorations. All have the same general long, black neck and white chinstrap. Their breast color can range from light gray to a dark brown. Habitats: Canada geese have become abundant in many city parks and agricultural fields where forage grasses are available. They can be found floating in bays, estuaries, rivers, reservoirs and lakes as well. Techniques: Canada geese can be hunted like other waterfowl. From jump shooting to calling birds into a decoy spread, Canada goose hunting can be productive. Note: If you want to hunt geese in Northwest Oregon, a

Features: Both the male and female are gray or reddish-brown on the body with dark bars and spots throughout. They have variable tail colors but always have a black band near the tip. Habitat: Ruffed grouse are most commonly found in brushy riparian areas in eastern Oregon and in early-aged mixed woodlands in western Oregon, though birds may be found in pockets of good habitat nearly anywhere. Technique: The ruffed grouse is a bird of the edge, so look in edges of meadows, clearcuts, and where brushy growth meets timber. In September, when most ruffed grouse hunting takes place in

A large and colorful member of the sparrow family, the Green-tailed towhee is perhaps more recognizable by its eye-catching chestnut crown than by its less intense green-gray back and olive tail. As a ground forager, it spends most of its time on the ground or in thick cover, scratching about industriously in the leaf litter, and it may go unnoticed. But its catlike mewing call, which it often gives from a brushy perch, is one of the quintessential sounds of the shrublands of the east slope of the Cascades and the Great Basin. It is locally fairly common east of

Oregon has 15 species of bats, and eight of those are Oregon Conservation Strategy Species. Strategy Species are those having small or declining populations, are at-risk, and/or of management concern. Bats are flying mammals that can reach speeds of 20 to 30 mph. Some of Oregon's species migrate south in winter while some remain here and hibernate. Bats have ecolocation which allows them to make high-pitched sounds then listen to the echo of those sounds to locate where objects are. Echolocation helps them find even the smallest insect. Learn more about Oregon's bats on our Living with Wildlife, Bats page

The canyon mouse is a moderate to small-sized mouse-like rodent with a long tail, nearly naked ears and a long, lax, and silky dusty gray pelage. In Oregon, most locations where the canyon mouse has been found are in Harney and Malheur counties, but the distribution includes a group of localities in Crook, Jefferson, Wasco, and Wheeler counties and another group in Lake County. There are also records of the species in extreme southeastern Baker County. Rock, primarily rimrock and talus slopes, seems to be the key component of habitats occupied by the canyon mouse. They are usually active nocturnally

Features: Oregon is home to an estimated 25,000-30,000 black bears, which is North America’s most common bear species. They are the only type of bear found in Oregon. Despite their name, black bears are often brown in color. Habitat: Black bears are found statewide, with concentrations in the Coast and Cascade ranges and the Blue Mountains. Techniques: Oregon offers a controlled spring season (apply by Feb. 10) and a general fall season. Glassing open areas where bears are feeding on grass and shrubs works early spring season. Later in the season, some hunters turn to predator calls. Most fall bears

Arguably the most widely recognized of Oregon's birds, the American robin is the largest, most abundant, and most widespread thrush in the state. Ranging from sea level to treeline, the robin's loud, musical voice and conspicuous brick-red chest make it unmistakable to even the most casual of observers. The robin thrives in both human-dominated and natural landscapes and is considered to be a habitat generalist throughout its range. Considering the robin's natural history, we know most about its diet, which comprises primarily of soft invertebrates in the spring and summer and fruit in the fall and winter. It is most

Of Oregon's breeding seabirds, Leach's storm-petrel is the smallest, most pelagic, and flies the farthest offshore of any of Oregon's breeding seabirds to feed. It spends the non-breeding season in the subtropical and equatorial Pacific. It is the second most abundant breeding seabird in Oregon, and is rarely seen from land or close to shore. It comes to its breeding islands, where it nests in burrows, only under the cover of darkness. Its plumage is black and Oregon populations have a distinct white rump. Leach's storm-petrels are long lived birds characterized by long-term pair bonds and may breed yearly for

These small, chunky plovers are uncommon to locally abundant migrants statewide, where they are among the most visible and easily identified small shorebirds. The only single-banded plover that occurs in Oregon, they can be remarkably easy to see when they are moving about on mud flats, and remarkably hard to detect when only their unmoving brown backs are visible against the mud. It is an uncommon to locally abundant migrant, with most birds at estuaries and some concentrations in spring at larger lakes of southeast Oregon. In the fall, it's rare in the Cascades; in winter, it's uncommon at larger

This large arctic gull visits the Northwest in winter where its pale bulk often stands out in gull flocks. Finding one is a highlight of winter birding. Even at a distance the size and frosty tones of this bird can be spotted in a flock. Most Oregon birds are in the whitish first-or-second-year plumage showing a pinkish bill with sharply delineated black tip, but third-year birds and adults occur now and then, mainly on the north coast and at Sauvie Island. They are rare but regular along the coast and the Columbia River, and rare in the Willamette Valley. It

This medium-sized owl is easily recognized by its conspicuous "ear" tufts, yellow eyes set in a round facial disk, size, and mottled plumage of black, brown, gray, buff, and white. Legs and toes are densely feathered. Females are larger and darker in coloration than males. It is strictly nocturnal and secretive during nesting. The Long-eared owl is a fairly common breeder in open country east of the Cascades in wooded riparian areas and junipers. It is a common breeder on Boardman Bombing Range, Morrow County and widespread in Malheur County. It is a rare breeder in the foothills of the

Perhaps the most enigmatic hummingbird found regularly in Oregon, the Broad-tailed hummingbird has so far eluded documentation of its breeding in the state, likely due to identification uncertainties and the remoteness of its preferred habitat. Primarily a Rocky Mountain species, its hard-to-define breeding range seems to reach its limit at Oregon's eastern edges where reports of this beautiful and rare species arise each summer. The relatively large adult male has a rose-red gorget and green plumage with no dorsal Rufous coloration. Females and immatures are nearly indistinguishable in the field from those of the more common Rufous hummingbird. Hear the

This is a marine gull that breeds on both offshore islands and rocky cliffs along the Oregon Coast. It also uses structures for nesting and, occasionally, will nest on grass-covered headlands. The Western gull's food comes from the marine environment, estuaries, and the immediate shoreline. It eats small fish, clams, mussels, bird eggs, the young of other birds nesting nearby, sea urchins, starfish, squid, crustaceans, marine worms, and carrion. it will scavenge garbage or waste from fishing boats as well. It is present all year along the entire coast of Oregon. Hear the call of the Western gull Photo by

This gull nests on offshore islands, rocky coastal cliffs, and sometimes in grass on level parts of headlands. It forages in the marine and intertidal environments. Glaucous-winged gulls eat just about any animal material they find. They take small fish, barnacles, molluscs, sea urchins, bird eggs, carrion and animal waste discarded from fishing boats. It is rare but regular along the coast and the Columbia River; local and rare in the Willamette Valley. In can be uncommon midwinter at Sauvie Island. Most Glaucous-winged gulls in Oregon nest in the mouth of the Columbia River. Hear the call of the Glaucous-winged

This is a small tern most often seen along the coast flying along the beaches or hovering and diving over a school of fish just offshore. Breeding-plumage adults have sharp black caps, reddish bills, and forked tails, and are pale grayish above and white to pale gray below. They are a common to abundant spring and fall transient over the ocean, usually within 15 miles, irregularly along the coast and in the estuaries. Nearshore and inland flocks are often observed resting in compact flocks on nearby shores or on floating objects, or flying about over the water in search of

This bat, found in older forests, has a wingspan of about 10 inches. Its fur is glossy black, tipped with white. It forages over ponds, streams, meadows and roads, often flying very low and roosting behind loose tree bark. Maternity roosts of the silver-haired bat are found in trees. This bat usually bears twins. The silver-haired bat occurs statewide in Oregon except for most of the Columbia Basin and is an Oregon Conservation Strategy Species in all ecoregions except the Nearshore ecoregion. It is primarily associated with coniferous forests, including the juniper woodlands in the southeastern portion of the state