I have to chime in that Western Fence Lizards, often called blue bellies, are really pretty limited
in distribution here in western Washington. They are mostly associated with marine shoreline areas,
particularly in association with large accumulations of driftwood. They occur on quite a few upper
beach areas of south Puget Sound but they occur at least to Port Townsend on the west side of the
sound and to Chuckanut Beach south of Bellingham (introduced there). Their northern-most native
range on the east side of Puget Sound may be near Tulalip (I working from memory of their
distribution).

I have seen Western Fence Lizards in a few areas that are a half mile or so from the marine shoreline.
One was a gravel pit near Belfair, another near a cemetery north of Steilacoom. I'd be more than a
little interested in other sites in western Washington where they are found away from the marine
shoreline. In the Puget Sound region, I think this species is vulnerable due to its limited range
and specialized habitat associations.

Kelly McAllister
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
Olympia, Washington
Reply to: mcallkrm at dfw.wa.gov

On Fri, 7 Oct 2005, Scott Atkinson wrote:

> Date: Fri, 07 Oct 2005 10:06:04 -0700
> From: Scott Atkinson <scottratkinson at hotmail.com>
> To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
> Subject: [Tweeters] Re: Off topic; herp question [Bryan Owens ]
>
> Interesting, I too had real good luck on N. Alligator Lizard as a kid down
> near to Pt Defiance. I caught them in the area known as Twin Lakes, they
> were locally abundant in dry, cutover or edge habitat. They were fast as
> lightning and other than the nasty bite, they have another defense, the neat
> detachable tail that grows back with time. Swifts seem pretty local in wWA,
> but I recall seeing those near the s. tip of the Toandos Peninsula near
> Quilcene.
>
> Scott Atkinson
> Lake Stevens
> mail to: scottratkinson at hotmail.com
>
>
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