Northern Pacific Rattlesnake (Crotalus oreganus oreganus)

Created: January 27th, 2015 - 01:44 PM
Last Modified: February 23rd, 2015 - 04:24 PM Entered by: Alan St. John
Record 214762

Country: United States		State: Oregon	County: Marion County	Time: 1965-10-03 12:00:00
Qty: 1	Age: Adult	Sex: --	Method: Visual encounter	Habitat: Rocky south slope in oak savanna.
Body Temperature: -----		Air Temperature: -----	Ground Temperature: -----	Humidity: -----
Sky Conditions: Clear		Moon Phase: -----	Elevation: 1000.00ft	Barometric Pressure: -----

Notes

Contemplating this old record is somewhat sad for me. Beginning at age 16, for many decades I've been visiting rattlesnake den sites that are scattered along the steep south slope of this rocky butte in the mid Willamette Valley. This nice specimen was captured on the westerly portion of the butte in October of 1965 (the year I graduated from high school). The last time I saw a rattler at this particular den was in 1977. Currently, rattlesnakes rarely turn up at only two hibernacula on the far eastern end of the butte, which is more removed from human habitation. This is the most northern surviving population of Crotalus known west of the Cascade Range, but they've declined precariously.

Vouchers

Comments

Posted by Alan St. John on Jan 27, 2015 at 02:07 PM

Yeah, way back then there were lots of beautifully marked rattlers on that butte. Like the one pictured, many had dorsal crossbars that extended from the tail nearly to the neck. That seems to be a unique color-pattern variation of the oreganus subspecies native only to Oregon's mid Willamette Valley---where it's unfortunately now nearly extirpated.

Posted by Marc Linsalata on Jan 27, 2015 at 01:54 PM

That was a sweet looking snake