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Features: Opah are also known as moonfish due to their round, laterally compressed bodies. These fish are very beautiful with pale red colored and lighter spots throughout resembling the craters on the moon, and orange-red fins. Opah grow to an average of 3-feet long and 100 pounds. Habitat: Opah can be found in temperate and tropical waters. They tend to be at depths of 300- to 1,000-feet during the day and come above 300-feet at night. Technique: These fish are rare in Oregon's waters and are difficult to catch by rod and reel, though they are occasionally brought in.

Coastal giant salamanders are the largest salamanders in Oregon. Terrestrial adults are marbled with tan and brown and are mostly tan on their undersides. Larvae are brown with a large head, frilled gills, and a tail fin. Adults can grow to a total length of 14 inches. This species lives in dense wet forests near cold and clear streams, lakes, and ponds. Terrestrial adults are rarely seen because they spend most of their time in burrows. Occasionally, during times of heavy rain, adults are active on the forest floor. Photo by Steve Krause, NPS

The green-winged teal is the smallest North American dabbling duck. In alternate plumage, green-wing drakes have a cinnamon-colored head with a green eye-stripe, gray back, flanks, and wing with a iridescent green speculum. Hens are brown with a green speculum. This duck is mainly a migrant and winter visitor. It is an uncommon summer resident and breeder in northeastern Oregon and a rare summer resident west of the Cascades. Hear the call of the green-winged teal Photo by Kathy Munsel, ODFW

The Black oystercatcher is easily recognized with its black plumage, long, strait, laterally compressed, orange-red bill with a yellow tip, orange-red eye ring, yellow iris, and pale pink legs. These birds are restricted to rocky coastal shorelines where they feed in the intertidal zone. They are an uncommon to fairly common resident on rocky shores and sand/gravel beaches along the entire coast. Along the sandy central coast, they are present only as an occasional dispersing or wandering individual, typically on jetties. Black oystercatchers are Oregon Conservation Strategy Species in the Nearshore ecoregion. Hear the call of the Black oystercatcher Photo…

A conspicuous wader of shallow wetland habitats with a striking appearance and graceful movements. These long-legged shorebirds have contrasting black and white upperparts and during the breeding season, the head and neck turn from gray or white to a deep rust color. One of their most notable traits is a long, slender upturned bill. It is a common breeder east of the Cascades at wetlands of south central and southeast Oregon. Distribution and number of breeding birds vary annually depending on regional and local water levels and habitat availability. Regardless, most breeders occur in the western Great Basin counties of…

This unusual shorebird breeds along rivers, streams, and lakes in a variety of habitat types throughout the state, from sea level to near timberline. Conspicuous by its distinctive teetering behavior, boldly spotted underparts, and noisy alarm calls, it is usually the only breeding shorebird present in its preferred habitat. The appearance of a sandpiper along a tiny tributary in the upper reaches of a heavily forested watershed can be startling to one unfamiliar with the species' ubiquitous nature. The Spotted sandpiper is a widespread transient and breeder throughout the state, found in nearly every county in Oregon. Most birds depart…

A large, long-legged wader distinguished from similar species in a flight by flashing rufous underwings and dark brown primaries. Its feet extend beyond tail tip in flight. Flocks generally consist of fewer than 50 birds on the coast. Juveniles migrate south several weeks later than most adults. After mid-November, a few stragglers are seen until late December. The Marbled godwit is a regular spring and fall migrant on the Oregon coast. Spring migration commences in early April and extends through early June on the coast. Its average arrival at the Malheur National Wildlife Reserve is April 27. Hear the call…

These chunky medium-small shorebirds are quite colorful in oranges and browns during most of their time in Oregon, where they are found mainly along the coast and locally in muddy areas inland. Their feeding motion has been likened to a sewing machine as flocks move slowly through shallow water and wet mud, probing with long straight bills. They are occasionally seen in marginal areas such as flooded pastures, but less likely than Long-billed to use such upland locations. They are a common to locally abundant coastal migrant, less common and more local in western interior valleys, and rare bur regular…

The striking tri-colored upperwing pattern on this graceful little gull is diagnostic in all plumages - a bold white triangle bordered by black outer primaries and gray back and inner wing. The Sabine's gull is most often observed flying in a steady migration over the ocean, and is seen seldomly foraging offshore. When ashore, it is found about coastal estuaries and inland lakes and impoundments picking food from the surface of the water, tidal flats, and along inland mud flats and shore edges. In Oregon, it is is a common to abundant spring and fall transient over the continental shelf…

Insects swept up in a rising air mass are favorite prey of this species nicknamed the "cloud swift." It prefers to nest near or even behind the curtain of a waterfall. This dark swift glides for long distances, often very high in the sky, with its wings held somewhat downward. It is larger and darker than the more common Vaux's swift, and has a slightly forked tail. The Black swift is a rare to uncommon spring and fall transient and summer visitant throughout the state. It's an Oregon Conservation Strategy Species in the West Cascades ecoregion. Hear the call of…

This small swift is best known for its quick flight and dazzling aerial agility, perching only when nesting or roosting. It is aerodynamically designed for fast speeds with long, pointed wings, short stout legs, and a compact body. The Vaux's swift is a transient and summer resident nesting in older forests and brick chimneys statewide except the southeast part of Oregon. Hear the call of the Vaux's swift Photo by Julio Mulero, Flickr

Among the least conspicuous of Oregon's birds, this inhabitant of arid country may be found in pine and juniper woodland and sagebrush shrubland. A particularly drab member of the difficult-to-identify flycatchers, the Gray flycatcher can most readily be recognized by its downward tail-bobbing motion. Other identification features include its overall gray coloration, its relatively long bill and tail, and a habit of frequently dropping to the ground from low perches in pursuit of food. It is an uncommon to locally fairly common breeder east of the Cascade summit and rare but annual along the west slope of the Cascades during…

With its long, forked tail and long wings, it is the most graceful of all land birds and reminds one of the smaller terns not only in shape but in behavior. The Barn swallow has taken so completely to nesting on human-made structures that one forgets they were once restricted to caves and rock crevices. Almost every farm in the state has a pair or two nesting in an outbuilding, and very few bridges do not have a pair or two. It is the best known of the swallows. It is a fairly common to locally abundant summer resident and…

An acrobatic flier with a dashing white eye-stripe, the Mountain chickadee is a common year-round resident of Oregon's high-elevation coniferous and mixed forests. This species is distinguished from other North American chickadees by its white eyebrow, gray flanks, and gray undertail coverts and by its drawling, hoarse-sounding chick-a-dee-dee-de call. It is resident in all types of forests from two to 10 miles west of the Cascades summit and east, in the Blue, Siskiyou, Wallowa and Warner mountains and on Hart, Steens and other isolated mountains east of the Cascades. Hear the song of the Mountain chickadee Photo by Simon Wray…

A group of twittering, tiny gray birds streaming through bushes and trees and across openings surely are Bushtits. Females' eyes are pale, males' dark. They are highly gregarious except when nesting. The intricately made sock-like nest is unusually large for the size of the bird. Bushtits show a distinct indifference to humans and regularly nest within residential neighborhoods and establish foraging routs throughout many cities. They regularly take suet at bird feeding stations and visit backyard birdbaths. The Bushtit is a fairly common resident throughout Oregon except in Umatilla, Union, and Wallowa counties and at higher elevations of mountain ranges…

Few birds are as astonishing as the American dipper. This nondescript, dark brown to gray bird is seldom seen more than a few feet from the water's edge. Its elaborate song, which can come forth even on cold winter days, is readily heard above the noise of rushing streams. This bird's ability to dive into a rushing stream to forage on aquatic invertebrates and reappear in the same location has elicited wonder and excitement from ornithologists, naturalists, and birders as well as envy and adoration from fly-fishers. It is an uncommon year-round resident in montane streams and rivers throughout Oregon…

When glimpsed in the deep shadows of its preferred densely forested habitat, this secretive thrush resembles a plump robin. But a clearer view will reveal the distinctive fieldmarks of a dark breast band, orange eyebrows, and orange wingbars. As striking as its plumage is its unmistakable song: a succession of single drawn-out, ventiloquial notes, given at different pitches that pierce the fog and dense foliage of its favored haunts in lush coastal and montane old-growth forests. In Oregon, it breeds throughout the Coast Ranges and in the Cascades. It is a fairly common breeder in low-elevation hemlock and spruce forests…

These small, buff ground-dwellers are often seen in migration as they pass overhead in lisping flocks or as they walk deliberately along a muddy shore, tilled field, or short-grass upland with their tails slowly bobbing. Breeding birds are grayish above and lightly streaked below; winter birds are more heavily streaked below and brownish above. All plumages have cream-buff undersides (brightness varies) and a dark tail with white outer feathers. The American pipit is locally common in lowlands in winter, especially in western Oregon and on the coast. Hundreds of pipits can be found some years in preferred habitat in the…

The Brown-headed cowbird was referred to in early literature as the "buffalo bird" presumably because it commonly foraged on insects flushed under the feet of ungulates. It is a brood parasite, laying its eggs in nests of other species and leaving the rearing of young to surrogate parents. This has had serious consequences for many host species within the cowbirds' range. In Oregon, the Brown-headed cowbird is a common migrant and breeder in open habitats and woodland edges in all parts of the state. It is most abundant in agricultural land, sagebrush and juniper steppe, coastal scrub, riparian zones, and…