Native Animals Of The Northern Willamette Valley

My favorite animals of the Pacific Northwest are as follows:

Snapping Turtle, Chelydra serpentina
This is my favorite type of turtle because it has a very strong jaw and can use that power to catch prey. Hence the name "snapping turtle." Chelydrids are large freshwater turtles with massive heads. Their head is indeed so big that it cannot be retracted fully within the shell. The same is true for their limbs. The carapaces of chelydrids are flattened, triridged, and nearly rectangular in outline, and the plastrons are reduced. The three species have unusually long tails, almost equaling the length of their carapaces. Chelydra serpentina eats mostly meat, such as fish, mollusks, worms etc. Occasionally, the turtles will eat some plant matter. Chelydra serpentina has a very interesting way of catching its prey. The turtle's tongue pretends to be a worm, luring the prey directly into the turtle's mouth. Chelydra serpentina hunts mostly at night.

Wood Duck, Aix sponsa
The Wood Duck is easily my favorite bird because of its colorful plumage. They are very beautiful ducks as you can see in the picture, and are always a nice sight to see in your local pond. The Wood duck eats seeds, fruit, nuts, and plant matter, as well as the occasional bread piece from a park visitor.(DO NOT FEED ANY DUCKS BREAD) Sometimes they also eat insects and aquatic invertebrates. Below are pictures of the male and female Wood Duck. The male is on the left and the female on the right, respectably.


Oregon Red Tree Vole, Arborimus longicaudus
The Red Tree Vole is at the heart of an extremely controversial topic: How do we balance our need for wood and the need of the animals that live in the forest? This problem is very important; in fact, the California version of the Red Tree Vole is an endangered species. This is due to deforestation, or destruction of the forest, which is the Tree Vole's habitat. The Red Tree Vole spends its entire life in the trees, feeding off their needles. The Voles especially like the needles of the Douglas Fir tree, but they will also eat needles from other trees such as the Western Hemlock, Sitka Spruce and Grand Fir. The Red Tree Vole spends its life high in the trees alone. The only time the male and female voles meet is when the female is fertile. The voles build their nest high up in the canopy to get the freshest needles for food, and to avoid the possibility of the branches breaking off as the lower ones usually do, from lack of sunlight.


Raccoon, Procyon lotor
This animal very ingenious animal makes periodic visits to my house, showing that he is not only ingenious, but also slightly stupid. Let me explain. At my house we have a cat, with his own room, an extension off the kitchen. His food is kept out there in an open bowl, and the only entrance, other than through the house, is through a small cat door. One night, our furry raccoon friend and his buddies decided they were hungry. The three raccoons managed to barely fit through the cat door and eat all of the food. However, they forgot a very important fact: they barely fit through the cat door coming in, and now they had eaten a lot of food and were much fatter, thus blocking them from exiting the cat's room. Lucky for them (and our cat), my family and I came home and shooed the raccoons out. They have never tried that stunt again. While in the wild, raccoons are omnivores, eating grapes, nuts, grubs, crickets, small mammals, bird eggs and baby birds. However, in the city, they will eat anything they can get their hands on, which usually means digging through people's trash. Raccoons will go to great lengths to get to food, and they often have to when they live in the city.


http://seattle.about.com/cs/animalsnw/
Website about reptiles!
More information on the wood duck
Red Tree Vole info
Raccoon information
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