Page 1 of 1

any wildlife sightings in the gorge

Posted: July 15th, 2009, 6:43 pm
by obladi
I was just curious about what types of wildlife people have seen in the Columbia river gorge. Although it is beautiful and very rugged I have not seen much in the way of wildlife other than the less glamorous deer, chipmunks squirrels and birds. I did see one bobcat near Multnomah falls and an undetermined sighting that was either a deer, coyote or cougar (most likely a deer but it was in brush and left pretty quickly about 2500 feet up on the Wyeth trail. Although it is nice to see the little critters scurying and hearing the birds singing I always love knowing that I may encounter something less usual and that has not happened on countless hikes high up and deep inside the gorge. Has anyone here seen any of the "glamorous" animals in the gorge? Sorry I can be an "animal snob" when it comes to sightings :? Just curious and hopefully we can get some good stories out of this.

Re: any wildlife sightings in the gorge

Posted: July 15th, 2009, 7:31 pm
by chameleon
I've seen quite a bit of wildlife in the Gorge. Some animals are definately more common than others though. There are lots of critters I'd still like to see...such as a spotted owl, etc... but the things I have seen have been pretty cool. Some of the highlights have been a pygmy owl, what I think was a california king snake on Dog creek, a ring-neck snake on Dog mtn, bears, a spotted skunk near Multnomah falls (that I helped out of a trashcan it had gotten stuck in), etc... Here are a few pics...can't wait to see those that others post!
black bear.jpg
spotted skunk 1.jpg
newt tanner creek.jpg
western fence lizard eagle creek 2.jpg
doe and fawn eagle creek.jpg
harlequin duck pair eagle creek.jpg

Re: any wildlife sightings in the gorge

Posted: July 15th, 2009, 8:13 pm
by obladi
Where did you see the Bears at Chameleon? That would be really cool. I've heard of sightings near Herman creek but not really anywhere else. I actually did see a few rattlers on Dog Mountain. Apparently they are pretty common there. Those are cool picts (the skunk actually looks friendly). Where you afraid of getting sprayed freeing the skunk? Keep the picts coming!

Re: any wildlife sightings in the gorge

Posted: July 15th, 2009, 8:55 pm
by chameleon
That pic of the bear cub I took on Eagle Creek. I also saw this one on Ruckel...
ruckel creek bear.jpg
I also saw one on Harphan Creek, but it got out of sight before I could get a pic. Here's a pic of the ringneck snake...
ringneck snake 4.jpg
I've always been a big fan of turtles too. I hope to cross paths with a western pond turtle at some point. Yet while I havent seen one of those, I have seen a couple of native turtles...but I have to admit, I didn't see them in the Gorge - they were brought in to my work by folks who found them and thought they were pets. They were actually wild turtles, one of the fewy native species we have - western painted turtles...
painted turtle 3.jpg

Re: any wildlife sightings in the gorge

Posted: July 15th, 2009, 9:29 pm
by obladi
that's awesome ... nice job in getting the picts. You give me incentive to pay more attention on my gorge hikes. Thanx :) What time of year did you have the bear sightings? Kudos to your picts and hopefully the start of some more dialogue on gorge wildlife sightings.

Re: any wildlife sightings in the gorge

Posted: July 16th, 2009, 5:34 am
by Stevefromdodge
I saw a cougar once, but I'm kind of cheating; he was crossing the road in front of my car.

I love the Bald Eagles and the Ospreys more than anything else. I see at least a couple of each monthly.

Re: any wildlife sightings in the gorge

Posted: July 16th, 2009, 6:32 am
by cfm
I've only been able to catch a few sightings with my camera.
pika1.jpg
Pika at Multnomah Falls
coyote.jpg
Coyote at High Valley ( below Archer Mountain)
I have seen other evidence of wildlife:
elk poo.jpg
Elk at Bridal Veil
bear poo.jpg
Bear at Hardy Ridge
tracks2.jpg
Mountain lion on PCT near Dry Creek Falls