The sleek little Del Norte salamander likes to slither across mossy rocks or under decaying wood, so it's no surprise that southwestern Oregon might be just its cuppa tea. It did surprise biologists, though, to find one of the salamanders recently in the refuge, where it never had been documented.
Bandon Marsh, which consists of wetlands and upland forest near the mouth of the Coquille River, is at the northern end of the salamander's range. The slithering little beast was found along a small stream in a patch of forest during an ongoing refuge inventory of reptiles and amphibians.
About 4 1/2 to 6 inches long, Del Norte salamanders are dark brown to black with tiny yellow or white flecks on their sides and often a reddish-brown stripe down their backs. They eat termites, springtails and beetles. Cool fact: They breathe through their skin.Global Amphibian Blitz, to help researchers track the rapid decline of amphibians around the world.
The project is a partnership between University of California, Berkeley's AmphibiaWeb, a database of the world's nearly 7,000 amphibians; Amphibian Ark; the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute; the Amphibian Specialist Group of the Species Survival Commission; the Center for Biological Diversity; and iNaturalist.org, a northern California social network for naturalists.
Global Amphibian Blitz allows amateur naturalists to submit amphibian photos along with dates and GPS locations. Scientists curating the project will identify and filter submissions, looking for rare species or out-of-range occurrences that might be of special interest to scientific and conservation communities.
LIZARD VS. BIG OIL: The Wall Street Journal this week reports on a 5-inch long lizard that's causing the oil industry to rear back in horror at the possibility the beast might in the future be protected by the federal Endangered Species Act.
Sand dune lizards, also known as dunes sagebrush lizards, live in an unusual sand-dune ecosystem in the Permian Basin of west Texas and southeast New Mexico.
WSJ reports that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is arguing that oil and gas development there is destroying parts of the lizards' home. The industry counters than giving the lizard endangered-species status would spell economic ruin.Siletz Bay National Wildlife Refuge is bird heaven, home at various times of the year to northern pintails, American wigeons, green-winged teals, Canada and cackling geese, great blue herons, whimbrels, western and least sandpipers, dunlins, greater yellowlegs, semipalmated plovers, long-billed dowitchers and, of course, gulls galore.
Beginning next week, the refuge offers a series of 15 guided paddling trips through its wildlife-rich waters. Participants will spend about two hours plying the refuge's waters, learning about wading birds, waterfowl, natural history and how the refuge manages the habitat.
Those who go must provide their own kayaks or canoes, and must register in advance. Don't wait, some dates already are full. Contact Lindsay Raber at 541-961-8715 or firstname.lastname@example.org.Seaside Aquarium announced the birth of a harbor seal pup, born about 1:15 a.m. Monday.
The births are big news for the little aquarium, which until this month hadn't issued seal pup birth announcements in five years.
The first, a female, was born June 7, to 15-year-old mother, Greta. This week's pup was born to Scully.
The aquarium, 200 N. Prom, opens daily at 9 a.m.
- Katy Muldoon twitter: @katymuldoon