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Oregon has two species of pelicans, American white and the Brown pelican, and three species of cormorants. All are fish-eating water birds with four toes joined by webbing. Depending on the species, pelicans and cormorants inhabit the Oregon coast, rivers or interior waterbodies.

Adult clouded salamanders are generally brown with brassy patches on their backs and gray bellies. As salamanders age, the brassy color fades. The clouded salamander is one of the lungless salamander species; they breathe through their moist skin. Mature adults can grow to just over five inches in total length. Clouded salamanders prefer forest habitats or burned areas that provide large decaying logs or stumps. They are often found in Douglas fir trees where they can find burrows in the wood, or spaces just under the bark to hide. They may also hide deep in rock crevices during dry and…

Features: Bullheads present in Oregon are distinguished from channel catfish by their square or rounded tails and lack of spotting. They seldom exceed 18 inches in length and a weight of 2 pounds. Yellow bullheads are a more uniform yellow color with white or cream chin barbels and a rounded tail. Habitat: Bullheads are found on the bottom in the shallows of mud-bottomed ponds, lakes, reservoirs and backwaters of rivers. The yellow bullhead is found mainly in the Willamette basin. Technique: Bullheads can be caught any month of the year, but fishing is best from the first warm days of…

The mottled petrel breeds in New Zealand and nearby islands, and ranges throughout much of the Pacific Ocean, mostly far from land. It is a common May to October visitant in the northern and eastern North Pacific, with non-breeding birds occurring during the winter months. Photo by Dominique, Flickr

The black rat is slightly smaller than the Norway rat, but much larger than the house mouse, the only other members of the subfamily in Oregon. The black rat is similar to other members of the subfamily in that it possesses a scaly, scantily haired tail; membranous, nearly naked ears, and a soft pelage. It differs from the Norway rat in having a tail much longer than the length of its head and body and commonly having a darker-colored pelage. The pelage ranges from black to sandy brown dorsally and from lead colored to nearly white ventrally. The black rat…

The Pacific white-sided dolphin is most abundant in the Southern California Bight in winter, but move further north, off Oregon and Washington in summer. These animals can be found from the tip of Baja to the Aleutians and the western Pacific from the Kuril Islands to Japan. They prefer deep, off-shore waters, so sightings are usually limited to recreational and commercial fishers. The Pacific white-sided dolphin is about seven or eight feet long. It has three colors: the chin, throat and belly are creamy white; the beak, flippers, back, and dorsal fin are a dark gray, and there are light…

This dark colored salamander has a reddish-brown ragged edged stripe that runs along the top of the head to the tip of the tail with black or dark brown sides. It has a long body and tail and the belly is black with large white flecks. The Oregon slender salamander is a lungless salamander species, relying on its skin to breathe. Mature adults can grow to just under four inches in total length, with females about 12 percent larger than males. Oregon slender salamanders are most common in stable, moist old-growth (late successional and second-growth) forests where there are abundant…

Features: Bullheads found in Oregon are distinguished from channel catfish by their square or rounded tails and lack of spotting. They seldom exceed two pounds and 18-inches long. Brown bullheads are a mottled yellowish-brown with a yellow belly and dark chin “whiskers” or barbels that are white near the base. They have a square tail. Habitat: Bullheads are found on the bottom in the shallows of mud-bottomed ponds, lakes, reservoirs and backwaters of rivers. The brown species is common throughout the state. Technique: Bullheads can be caught any month of the year, but fishing is best from the first warm…

Hummingbirds are a popular backyard bird watching species, especially at hummingbird feeders. ODFW advises making your own feed to avoid commercial mixes that contain red dye. Hummingbirds swoop and dive with most performing a low back-and-forth movement called a shuttle display. Feeding on flower nectar, hummingbirds often are stained with pollen and are an important pollinator.

The red fox has a beautiful orange-red coat, black feet, and black-tipped ears. The belly is usually white or light grey, the muzzle is narrow and pointed, and the ears are pointed. It is an opportunistic carnivore, eating what is available including small mammals, birds and their eggs, reptiles, amphibians, fruit and some insects. The red fox is territorial and mates for life Red foxes occur throughout much of Oregon.

This lizard prefers humid areas, such as the edges of meadows in coniferous forests, and is also found in riparian zones. This is the only lizard found in the cool coastal forests of northern Oregon. The Northern alligator lizard eats small invertebrates (termites, beetles, ticks, spiders, millipedes, and snails), and occasionally takes small birds, mammals, and other lizards. Photo by Simon Wray

This snake is most common in thick vegetation along water bodies, but ranges into farmland, chaparral, and deciduous and mixed coniferous woodlands in the Rogue and Umpqua river valleys of southwestern Oregon. Common kingsnakes usually feed on other snakes, but have been known to take small turtles, birds and their eggs, frogs, lizards, reptile eggs, and some small mammals. Photo by Alan Schmierer, Flickr

In the Northwest, this snake is found in grasslands, sagebrush flats, rocky stream courses, and canyon bottoms. Elsewhere it also frequents juniper and pine-oak woodlands. In southwestern Oregon, it is found in dry bushy areas close to rocks. Young striped whipsnakes feed primarily on lizards and insects. Adults also take snakes, small mammals, young birds, and insects. Photo by Bryn Hamilton, Flickr