For those interested in herp distribution in washington , a good place to check out is washington fish and game' s website and checkout the vertibrate distribution maps ( also breeding bird maps, and mammal dist.)- it can also be linked to from seattle audubons website under "science".

My family has property on Wildberry Lake in mason co. in the same general area of Woods lake and the tahuya river (as mentioned by other lizard watchers). This whole area, a 'plateau' that forms the inside of the hood canal 'hook' is a wonderfull area for nature nuts of all sorts, and much of it is state land (tahuya state forest). I have spent hundreds of hours searching out various spots out there, and Western Fence lizards are regularly found, - the area is largely of very dry well drained soil and much of it is kept permanently cleared for the growing of christmas trees which allows plenty of sunny banks for the critters.

As there are many lakes, bogs, beaver ponds ect. on the plateau, its also great for amphibians. On a trip there last september I came across a phenomenon I'd read about ( in Robert Pyles "Wintergreen") but had never seen myself - a huge 'pile' of newts. I was walking across a floating log above a nearly dried out beaver pond, when my eye caught a small movement- a newt coming up for air. Looking at it thru binoculars I noticed more movement down below it in the water - a huge mass of newts ! This mass was three or more feet across, of solid newt, in a pig pile on the bottom of the shallow pond. By counting a small section of the pile, and extrapolating, I figured about 750 to 1000 of them . They were piled quite deep and all appeared to be just snoozing. Once and awhile one or two would emerge up through the depths of the pile up for air, then gently settle down to the top of the pile. No mating going on, and they were'nt in mating mode (widened tail fin's ect.) anyway.

Aside from herps this is also an area of interest to birdwatchers and botanists. Gray Jays are found here year round ( at just a few hundred feet above sea level) and other birds not so common in western washington lowlands are here , like chipping sparrow. And not in too many places can you find Bear Grass, Rhodedenrons and Manzanita all growing in close proximity.



Happy Trails
Jeff Gibson
Everett Wa.
gibsondesign at msn.com