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olderthanIusedtobe
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olderthanIusedtobe
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PostFri Sep 11, 2020 7:38 am 
Found a dead rodent at Boeing Creek Park last week I didn't recognize. Looked at some images on line. Maybe a mountain beaver. I've never seen one before. It had rather large paws and freaking huge claws for its size. Fairly thick bodied, no discernible tail, kind of a blunt nose rather than a long pointy snout.

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Mike Collins
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PostFri Sep 11, 2020 1:06 pm 
olderthanIusedtobe wrote:
It had rather large paws and freaking huge claws for its size. Fairly thick bodied, no discernible tail, kind of a blunt nose rather than a long pointy snout.
Sounds like a mountain beaver. MB will have pronounced long whiskers. The incisor teeth of the MB will be curved with a orange color to the exterior portion while ivory colored on the inside aspect. The orange substance abrades at a slower rate than the ivory colored portion allowing for the curvature seen. Mountain beaver always live near water. They are not able concentrate their urine and rely upon a water source to keep from dehydrating so being found near the creek agrees with that need.

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Brushbuffalo
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PostSun Sep 13, 2020 7:14 am 
olderthanIusedtobe wrote:
Maybe a mountain beaver
When I was a kid growing up in Tacoma my buddies and I tramped around in the North End gulches. We encountered these little burrowers and eventually called ourselves The Royal Order of Mountain Beavers ( I was 'president'😏). They are cute but feisty little fur balls.

Passing rocks and trees like they were standing still
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DWB27
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PostTue Sep 15, 2020 10:10 am 
What I call a Waterdog but I think is technically a Western Green Salamander. Location not unusual but was taken in June at 5,500 ft below Tomyhoi. It was crawling toward the tarn in the background and would pause every 10' and raise a hind foot and front foot to keep it warm and away from the snow. I thought they buried themselves in the mud until the snow melted. Apparently not!

“Let the refining and improving of your own life keep you so busy that you have little time to criticize others." - H. Jackson Brown
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coldrain108
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PostTue Sep 15, 2020 10:29 am 
Brushbuffalo wrote:
They are cute but feisty little fur balls.
I accidentally got between one and it's lair...it almost knocked me over trying to get by. Startled me pretty good. This was along the Canyon Creek trail to Deer Lake in the Oly's. There is a stuffed specimen at the Discovery Park visitor center. =AZX6Z1nsAjS1_sEhmnZpSc7GNjmN3vsXwGhYNJpjDtQngxDMpxIVRf2G3HCsK1BkWn9hXjwnU7jGVbDDiaAEFHIdQooxxypIQXdxv7Ya_-l5cujT_zY5PUlGrRmhy6T4lEwVKgXGrzl7eRLl-9WPEcNATzd-6hmmcqTkGsc-LJloFjJ2b5oEqaxRfIVUg0TwvkQ63e3i82VEcB-yA02zmVvR_pzOtQSlm-T6XCgCV7kk3w&__tn__=EH-y-R]Mountain Beaver

Since I have no expectations of forgiveness, I don't do it in the first place. That loop hole needs to be closed to everyone.
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coldrain108
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PostThu Sep 17, 2020 9:03 am 
I ran into this little guy out on the Olympic High Divide loop:
It hung around us, set up its camp right next to ours.

Since I have no expectations of forgiveness, I don't do it in the first place. That loop hole needs to be closed to everyone.
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olderthanIusedtobe
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PostThu Sep 17, 2020 10:39 am 
coldrain108 wrote:
I ran into this little guy out on the Olympic High Divide loop:
It hung around us, set up its camp right next to ours.
Chukar. Non native game bird. Beautiful, aren't they?

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coldrain108
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PostThu Sep 17, 2020 11:30 am 
olderthanIusedtobe wrote:
Chukar. Non native game bird. Beautiful, aren't they?
Funny, it seemed almost domesticated. It followed us around and in the morning it was sleeping right next to our tent.

Since I have no expectations of forgiveness, I don't do it in the first place. That loop hole needs to be closed to everyone.
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olderthanIusedtobe
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PostThu Sep 17, 2020 12:25 pm 
coldrain108 wrote:
Funny, it seemed almost domesticated. It followed us around and in the morning it was sleeping right next to our tent.
Very possible. People do raise them. Just glancing at some stuff online, sounds like they don't get as domesticated as chickens but can tolerate human presence.

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Kascadia
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PostWed Sep 23, 2020 11:00 pm 
Saw an alligator lizard hiking Bare Mtn/N. Fk Snoq trail, up toward the head of the valley. He? scurried under a rock when I moved to get the camera. It was large, with a notably long tail. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_alligator_lizard#/media/File:Elgaria_multicarinata-3.jpg

It is as though I had read a divine text, written into the world itself, not with letters but rather with essential objects, saying: Man, stretch thy reason hither, so thou mayest comprehend these things. Johannes Kepler
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Brushbuffalo
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PostThu Sep 24, 2020 6:50 am 
Interesting! Thanks for this one. I hadn't known about this reptile until your post. It seems that your sighting is about as far north as the 'southern' alligator lizard is found. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_alligator_lizard

Passing rocks and trees like they were standing still
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Kascadia
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PostThu Sep 24, 2020 10:40 am 
Brushbuffalo wrote:
Interesting! Thanks for this one. I hadn't known about this reptile until your post. It seems that your sighting is about as far north as the 'southern' alligator lizard is found. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_alligator_lizard
Yes, it was a bit of a surprise. I would not have recognized it as an alligator lizard if not seeing a reference on this site in a follow up to Puzzlr's post by Fred V in 2019. And in going back and looking at this post this morning and range/habitat possibilities (via wiki, lol), although they are both of the genus, I'd make a guess it was actually a Northern, of the subspecies principis, obviously. Regardless, it was cool! https://www.nwhikers.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=8029444 Northern: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_alligator_lizard#/media/File:Northern_alligator_lizard.jpg Southern: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_alligator_lizard#/media/File:Southernalligatorlizard2.jpg

It is as though I had read a divine text, written into the world itself, not with letters but rather with essential objects, saying: Man, stretch thy reason hither, so thou mayest comprehend these things. Johannes Kepler
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Exmoor
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PostSat Sep 26, 2020 9:48 pm 
olderthanIusedtobe wrote:
coldrain108 wrote:
I ran into this little guy out on the Olympic High Divide loop:
It hung around us, set up its camp right next to ours.
Chukar. Non native game bird. Beautiful, aren't they?
Typically when these turn up in western Washington it's the result of bird hunters who use them to train their hunting dogs. Doesn't explain one in this location though.. They are an established bird over in eastern Washington and hunted there.
Anne Elk wrote:
I was just due east of Skykomish on private property last week and spotted two soaring turkey vultures. Had no idea we had those in western WA. Only place I'd ever seen those was in upstate NY.
Old post, but Turkey Vultures are actually fairly common in western Washington in the right habitat. They like the foothills and agricultural areas. I see them daily at my house in Snohomish if I spend time outside. They migrate south in good numbers on sunny days in late September. If you spend enough time outside your house looking up in the early afternoon on those days you will very likely see one pass over no matter where in western Washington you live.

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Mike Collins
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PostSun Sep 27, 2020 7:14 am 
Exmoor wrote:
Turkey Vultures are actually fairly common in western Washington in the right habitat.
While on a bike ride in Snoqualmie Valley I saw three vultures eating the afterbirth of a recently thrown calf.

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Pyrites
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PostSat Oct 03, 2020 1:35 am 
Atop neighbor’s roof in suburbia. Mature bald eagle eating a possum. I didn’t know anything ate possum.

Keep Calm and Carry On? Heck No. Stay Excited and Get Outside!
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