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The Long-tailed weasel is the larger of the two weasels in Oregon, but smaller than the other member of the genus, the mink. Males are considerably larger than females. The head is flattened and somewhat triangular; the body and neck are elongate and almost cylindrical; the legs are short, and the tail is long. The summer pelage is brown dorsally; the venter is yellowish to orangish except for a white chin and sometimes one or more scattered brown spots. The tip of the tail is black. The pelage is molted twice annually. In the Cascade Range and eastward through the…

Features: The Pacific sanddab is left-eyed, meaning both eyes are on the left side of the body. The eyed-side is dull light brown, mottled with brown or black, and sometimes yellow or orange. The blind-side is off-white to tan. They have an oval shaped body with large scales. They can grow to be 16-inches long and up to 2 pounds, though most weigh less than 1/3 pound. Habitat: As you probably guessed, sanddabs like to hang out on sandy bottoms. They are most abundant at depths of 20-50 fathoms, and are common in shallow coastal waters from British Columbia to…

The Short-eared owl is one of our most conspicuous owls owing to its use of open country and crepuscular habits. It is often seen hunting low over the ground across marshes, fields, and other open areas on its buoyant, long wings, flying slowly and irregularly like a giant moth. This owl also differs from most other owls as it seldom vocalizes and is more often seen than heard. It was named for its inconspicuous "ear" tufts arising from the center of the forehead, though field observers rarely see these tufts. Distinguishing characteristics include a pale buff facial disk and a…

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…

The mule deer is the larger member of the genus in Oregon. The ears are long, the metatarsal gland is surrounded by hairs similar in color but considerably longer than those on the remainder of the metatarsus, and the tail is short and constricted basally. Among adult males, the antlers are dichotomously branched with tines of approximately equal length. In winter, the basic pelage color is cinnamon buff. The chest is nearly black at the midline grading to grayish on the sides. The nose, sides of face, chin, and throat are whitish to pale buff. Spots of black occur immediately…