Hi Dennis,

I am surprised you haven't seen beaver, muskrat and river otter at the Montlake Fill, in addition to the invasive nutria. They are all definitely there. I have also seen house mice there. Staying with mammals, I have seen red fox (granted, this was at least 10 years ago) at a park in West Seattle that still contains old growth forest habitat. And don't forget the jillions upon jillions of "easter" bunnies at Woodland Park.

I have also seen garter snakes (not 100% certain of species) near 19th & John in Seattle (I also saw some species of vole and some type of mole there - I can't remember the name of the park off the top of my head). I have seen Spring Peepers near in Thornton Creek.

The numbers of native mammals and herps is probably in decline. Many of the places I have seen these animals are now covered in frigging pavement or condos. However, if one walks around this city enough, they will see quite a bit.

One last thing - I have seen tons of Douglas squirrels near Shoreline CC (granted, it's outside the city limits), and I wonder if folks have this species in little pockets around the city? Excellent question Dennis!

Brett A. Wolfe
Seattle, WA
m_lincolnii at yahoo.com

Dennis Paulson <dennispaulson at comcast.net> wrote:
Hi, tweeters.

The discussion of slug-eating garter snakes reminded me that I had wanted to ask this question of the tweeters group. I've been interested in urban biodiversity for a long time (although I spend as much time as possible out of the city!) and have often asked this question of myself.


How many species of herps (amphibians and reptiles) and mammals now live within the Seattle city limits? I think this would be a good indicator of biodiversity in a large city with not a whole lot of native habitat remaining.


I'd be interested in hearing about what native species of these three vertebrate classes have been seen within the city in the last, say, ten years. I'm not interested in what someone has seen in downtown Issaquah or Snohomish, just within Seattle city limits. In my yard in Maple Leaf, the only native mammals that are resident are Raccoons. I have also seen Big Brown Bats and one or more species of myotis (bats) overhead, but bats are less evident than they were when we moved to this address in 1991. When we first moved in, there were Coyotes in the neighborhood, but I haven't seen/heard one in a decade. No other mammals, and no amphibians or reptiles.


We have E. Gray Squirrels, Virginia Opossums, and Norway and Black Rats among the non-natives. When I go to Montlake Fill, I typically see Nutrias, Bullfrogs, and 2-3 non-native turtle species but no native herps or mammals. The conclusion is inescapable that we are replacing natives with non-natives (I guess that's been the case for our own species).


Feel free to respond to me and/or the tweeters list. I will compile a list of species and share it. Perhaps Gene Hunn knows how many species of birds have been reported in the city in that same time interval!


Dennis
-----
Dennis Paulson
1724 NE 98 St.
Seattle, WA 98115
206-528-1382
dennispaulson at comcast.net



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