The black bear's set selection
But soon after, with a touch of the luck of the sow's-ear serendipity of Codger's crazy barn dance, the camera captured this charming sequence:
Have acorn will travel...
Dig, dig, dig...
Tamp, tamp, tamp...
And off for the next one
4 minutes later... "Hold it - did that thing see me?"
Better just eat it
With all of the prolific canyon live oaks, this isn't a surprise species, of course. And, it appears, another species once harvested acorns here:
Acorn grinder in nearby granite boulder - complete with fox poop
Now, I'm sure many of you might be saying: "but, it's just a squirrel..."
Well, I like squirrels. Especially western grays, Sciurus griseus, which seem to be losing the species collision war in California. Introduced eastern gray squirrels, Sciurus carolinensis, are taking over. On the peninsula of the SF Bay Area where I live, they already control the 'burbs, parks and rurals east of hwy 280.
Don't get me wrong - the smaller, browner easterns are a nice squirrel and all, but I'd surely miss the big, dashing, silver-white and bushy-tailed westerns.
They're a character of California.
====
References:
- The Nature of a Man (this blog) - Under the Live Oaks
- Camera Trap Codger - Barny moves on
- The Nature of a Man (this blog) - posts on the Tehachapis
Awesome captures! We don't see that type here. :)
ReplyDeleteNice sequence of bushy tail doing the squirrel thing. And I'm with you about our California grays -- they are much classier than those runty easterners.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteWhich kind are the black ones that are prevalent near Stanford - and our yard?
ReplyDeleteThanks all. Always a blast to get a full behavioral sequence, and the grays are a kick.
ReplyDeleteMichelle - the black color morphs are eastern grays, as are most/all of the gray squirrels around palo alto.
Are those manzanita fruits in the coyote scat?
ReplyDeleteChristopher - they are manz, but this particular scat is gray fox.
ReplyDelete