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Features: These blue-green, silvery or light brown fish are a schooling fish and an important food source for larger fishes, sea birds and marine mammals. Habitat: Anchovy are frequently offshore, but can be caught inshore in harbors and large estuaries during spawning. Technique: Anchovy are usually targeted in bays with multiple-hook herring jigs.

This large loon breeds in the Arctic tundra from Northwestern Russia across Siberia and Alaska through Canada to Hudson Bay. It winters in North America along the coast of South Alaska and British Columbia, and regularly in small numbers south to Baja, California. The majority of Oregon records are of transient birds found between early November and early June. Hear the call of the yellow-billed loon Photo by Mark Peck, Flickr

Horned puffins have an unmistakable black and white plumage and a large, distinct, yellow and orange bill during the breeding season. They are rare in Oregon, and most commonly encountered dead on the beach in winter or spring, or sighted more than 50 miles offshore in spring. Individual birds, or possibly pairs, occasionally stay in Oregon for the breeding season and are seen attending colonies with Tufted puffins, but there are no records of breeding in Oregon. Hear the call of the Horned puffin

About the size of the domestic pigeon, this swift-flying species is popular among sport hunters. An arboreal bird, it is often observed perched alone on top of a tall tree or in flocks when flying about feeding areas and mineral sites. This is a common summer resident in forested areas west of the Cascade crest. It typically nests in forested mountain areas in the west Cascades. Hear the call of the Band-tailed pigeon Photo by Dave Budeau, ODFW

The Southern alligator lizard is found in a variety of habitats from grassland and chaparral to oak woodlands and edges of open coniferous forests, as well as riparian zones and moist canyon bottoms. It requires thickets, brush heaps, downed logs, or rock piles for cover. This carnivorous lizard feeds primarily on small invertebrates (slugs, spiders, centipedes, scorpions, beetles, grasshoppers, and crickets), but also is known to feed on bird eggs, nestlings, other lizards, and small mammals. Photo by Alan Harper, Creative Commons

This mid-sized, pink-legged gull has caused much of the confusion in west coast gull classification and identification. Its plumage characteristics are similar to Herring, Iceland, and some Glaucous-winged hybrids, and great care is needed for correct identification. It differs from the Herring gull in having a much smaller bill, a darker eye, less black in the wing-tips and, often, a more rounded head. Opportunistic feeders, Thayer's gulls regularly concentrate about landfills, food-processing plants, and over fish runs. It is a common migrant and fairly common winter visitor along the coast. The largest wintering numbers are found in the Portland metropolitan…

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 striking songbird is best known for its habit of impaling prey on thorns and barbed wire, or wedging items in a v-shaped branch for easier handling and storage. The Loggerhead shrike breeds in open habitats east of the Cascades where they are rare but regular in the winter, especially at low-elevation sites. They are uncommon and declining in northeast Oregon. West of the Cascades, there are usually a few records each year during fall, winter, and spring in open habitats of the coast and the Willamette, Umpqua, and Rogue valleys. The Loggerhead shrike is an Oregon Conservation Strategy Species…

This salt-loving bird is possibly the most abundant grebe in the world. These grebes nest in the large, tule-fringed marshes of southeastern Oregon. They also use almost any open water for feeding after the breeding season. The eared grebe has been reported breeding in nearly every eastern Oregon county, but principal breeding areas are in Klamath, Lake, and Harney counties. It is local elsewhere east of the Cascades. Hear the call of the eared grebe Photo by Dave Budeau, ODFW

These elegant shorebirds are found as often in dry or damp upland areas as they are on mudflats or beaches. The plain brown immature birds of autumn become spangled with black and gold as breeding approaches. It is an occasional to uncommon migrant in western Oregon (mainly coastal) and locally rare, irregular migrant in eastern Oregon, with most reports at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, in the Klamath Basin (summer) and in Umatilla County. Hear the call of the American golden-plover Photo by Mark Peck, Flickr

Along coastal shores and islands, the chatter and flight calls of Black turnstones invite an observer to look more closely at the rocky substrates to find these birds busily picking about in their search for food. They primarily use rocky shores, jetties, and offshore islands, but may also be found on shorebird flats and sandy beaches. The Black turnstone is a common transient and winter visitant on the coast. Hear the call of the Black turnstone Phogo by ©Keith Kohl, ODFW

These large "peeps" are seen in Oregon mainly in late summer and fall, when their size, scalloped buffy plumage, and long profile help them stand out in flocks of other small sandpipers. It is an uncommon migrant statewide, with most birds southbound juveniles. It can occur in suitable habitat anywhere in Oregon, but numbers are usually very low and sizable flocks almost nonexistent. Hear the call of the Baird's sandpiper Photo by Howard Patterson, Flickr

Parasitic jaegers are strong, fast fliers with a flash of white on the bases of the underwing primaries. This is the most frequently seen jaeger from shore and it sometimes enters estuaries. They are an uncommon fall and rare spring transient offshore. Their flight is low and unlabored with falcon-like wing-beats that alternate with shearwater-like glides. These birds chase terns and small gulls for up to several minutes until they disgorge food. Hear the call of the Parasitic jaeger Photo by Aaron Maizlish, Flickr

The Costa's hummingbird is a very rare spring and summer visitant to central and southwestern Oregon. Males are sometimes present for the entire year in the Rogue Valley. Males have been observed in canopy-free riparian habitat along Bear Creek and semi-open tall white oaks at the edge of Agate Lake. Many of these birds go undetected in Oregon because of their similarity with other hummingbird species. Hear the call of the Costa's hummingbird Photo by Mick Thompson, Flickr

This snake is found in meadows and at the edges of clearings in forests. It prefers areas with dense vegetation but, when basking, can be found in open areas or on talus slopes. It occurs in wooded areas on the floor of the Willamette Valley and has been found in the Rogue Valley. This garter snake is commonly found in suburban areas and city parks. The Northwestern garter snake feeds mainly on slugs and earthworms, but also takes insects, small salamanders, frogs, fish, small mammals, and possibly nestlings of ground nesting birds. Photo by J. Maughn, Flickr

This small, remarkably delicate long-legged wader can be found in migration across most of Oregon. It is speckled gray and white with some variation by season and is typically noticed mincing about in shallow pools and in the water adjacent to mudflats or on seasonally flooded fields, as well as in small isolated ponds. It is an uncommon to common migrant, most birds in fall. In the eastern one-third of Oregon, it usually outnumbers Greater yellowlegs in fall. Hear the call of the Lesser yellowlegs Photo by Dave Budeau, ODFW

Southern Oregon is the northwest limit of the breeding range of Blue-gray gnatcatcher, which, as its name implies, is an active, diminutive bluish-gray. This is an energetic bird, commonly jerking its tail sharply to one side, wings held below, occasionally spreading its tail. It breeds in numerous disjunct localities and may be expanding its range in Oregon. It is an uncommon to common summer resident in the interior Rogue Valley. Hear the song of the Blue-gray gnatcatcher Photo by John Sutton, Flickr

This colorful bird of coniferous forests and mixed woods is a common breeding species of eastern North America. It winters in the West Indies and Middle America and occasionally in California and the southern United States. It is a regular migrant in very small numbers in spring and irregular in summer and fall in the southwestern United States to California and Oregon and is occasionally found elsewhere in the West. The majority of Oregon records are from late April to late June, mostly from the east of the Cascades. Hear the song of the Northern parula Photo by Jeff Bryant…

This species is found in pine forests, oak woodlands, and in chaparral of southwestern Oregon valleys. It is usually found in, under, or near rotting logs in open wooded areas near streams. The California mountain kingsnake preys upon snakes, lizards, birds and their eggs, and some small mammals. It is an Oregon Conservation Strategy Species in these ecoregions: Coast Range, Columbia Plateau, East Cascades, Klamath Mountains, and West Cascades. Photo by William Grenfell, Flickr