Ah, Lydia, I have a good hunch on the birds and a definite answer on the
salamander (nice picture, by the way). Your descripton of the birds make
only one bird come to mind, the Wilson's Snipe. The salamander is a
Long-toed Salamander, Ambystoma macrodactylum.

Kelly McAllister



----- Original Message -----
From: "Lydia Bishop" <gizacat at mac.com>
To: <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Sent: Saturday, November 14, 2009 2:29 PM
Subject: [Tweeters] Bird and Herp Questions


> Hello Tweets!
>
> First is my bird related question.
>
> We are enjoying watching our winter - spring wetland filling up and
> awaiting the ducks, geese, and heron to fly in for rest stops. Something
> is already living in the wetland and I've not gotten a good look at them
> to make and ID. Our property is just outside of Snohomish. The birds
> seem to be hunkered down deep in the shrubs and wetland grasses (no
> cattails). There are quite a few of them and when I've been out mooshing
> around in the mud taking photos I spook them and they fly out making an
> annoyed "scraaaaach." I think they may killdeer or some other shorebird.
> They don't really sound like killdeer. When they fly off they seem to be
> gray, beige and dark gray in color. Their wings are a bit angular when in
> flight. They just fly from one part of our wetland to another. I don't
> recall seeing or hearing killdeer this past summer either. Any idea what
> sort of birds they are?
>
> And now my herp question:
>
> While slithering around under the house in the crawlspace my husband found
> a strikingly marked salamander. It was a deep, dark reddish brown with
> one very yellow stripe going from the back of it's head all the way down
> the tail. Here is a link to a photo I got of it:
> http://www.flickr.com/photos/gizathecat/4103505409/
>
>
> Thank you,
> Lydia Bishop
> Somewhere near Snohomish, WA
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