Hi Scott,

Short-horned lizards (Phrynosoma douglassii) are actually pretty common in
the grasslands fringe of the Columbia Basin, also (I think less common) in
the sagebrush center of it. There's a site about 10 mi. E of Ellensburg on
the old Vantage highway where there are big gravel pits that I used to take
my UW vertebrate natural history classes to, where I almost never missed
finding them. Another good area, about in the same habitat zone, is along
Umtanum Rd. on Umtanum Ridge, where there are lots of Sage Thrashers and
Brewer's Sparows. I stopped there with a bird class in May this year and
found a couple each day. In both cases, the number of eyes in a group of 20
or so people probably contributes to finding them, while it's a lot easier
to miss them whe you're by yourself. Having kids look is a great idea.
They are widespread; we have a number of specimens of them in the Slater
Museum, from 10 eastern Washington counties. And they are a cold-adapted
horned lizard, occurring high in the mountains (to >10,000') in the
southwest.

I too enjoy herps a lot, although I moved here from Florida (actually Costa
Rica right before I lived here) so had a substantial come-down!

Dennis