Monday, February 21, 2011

The Meek and the Mighty

As for the other visitors to the little Tehachapan side canyon of the Clockwork Cougar, a nice range of Rodentia also showed. I guess where there's cats, there's mice.

Photos are rarely good enough for positive IDs, but I'm happy to speculate wildly. :)

mouse
Peromyscus mouse - Brush (boylii) or Pinyon (truei)?

mouse
Another Peromyscus, but bigger - maybe a California Mouse (P. californicus)?

woodrat
Big-eared woodrat, Neotoma macrotis

pocketmouse
Pocketmouse - but Perognathus or Chaetodipus? And which species? Could 
be one of the local species of special concern...

chipmunk
Merriam's chipmunk (Tamias merriami)

After the meek, came the mighty, as these 2 "black" bears trundled into the scene.

Young siblings by the looks of 'em. And obviously down playing in the crick...

bear
Wet chocolate black bear checking the cottonwood - I probably had my hand there

bear
And inspecting the camera - gotta love that curious gaze

bears
Sibs together sniffing at the scent-mark

bears
Parting ways

bears
But there's always time for one last camera adjustment

Sure glad these Tehachapi bears haven't picked up the nasty habit of cracking open cams like walnuts. They just seem to nudge them around a bit.

That's one camera down, 3 to go. Next, we'll head higher up - to 4,500 feet - where the live oaks canopy, and a granite-strewn creek caught our eye.

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4 comments:

  1. Loved these! Love the mice as well as the bears!

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  2. Nice cooperative bears and I hope they stay that way.

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  3. Very cool. Camera well-placed! And the progression of images makes me glad I am not a mouse, whether or not easily identified.

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  4. That's a very good collection for one set. I hope the others are even better :)

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