nature of a man

Battles Under the Bay Laurel

2012-01-29T10:42:00.000-08:00

In general, I'm not a fan of animal anthropomorphizing. While it can help people emotionally connect to some species, it also does a disservice to animals that aren't easily humanized.

That said, I find it charming how similar some aspects of dusky-footed woodrat life is to our own.

Not only do they build houses and stock their pantries with fave foods - they also have small territories they defend fiercely (ala the yard around your home), and live in neighborhoods with other woodies, with whom they interact with on an almost daily basis.

I.e., they live in loose communities and have an active social life. Especially this time of year, as the females are selecting their mates.

So, in our first episode of Woodrat Theater, we're going to explore that day-to-day with Ms. & Mr. Most-Interesting - our cutest couple from The Coast Packrats.

First off, let's talk about woodrat home life.

The female woodrat is a truly self-sufficient lady. Not only does she build and maintain the house, she lives solo and raises the pups on her own - doing all the foraging and food caching. I.e., the male is pretty useless - being only good for genetic material and chasing off sons when they come of age. And, since he also lives alone in his own separate house, he pretty much only comes around when he's looking for love. And when football season is over.

Our Ms. Most-Interesting's stick house is strategically built in and over some cracks and crevices among a tall cluster of rocks, under a bay laurel and a small live oak or two.

Neotoma fuscipes annectens stick house among rocks, and under bay laurel and live oak

Being a wise woodrat, she's no layabout. She spends much of her time packing her pantries, and repairing her fortress...

Ms. Most-Interesting bringing home a live oak sprig to cache. Live oak is one of the top foods of the dusky-footed woodrat, a herbivore with a taste for tough leaves

Adding sticks to her house. Woodies maintain and fuss over their houses pretty much year round. A dumpy house is often a sign of vacancy

But sometimes, neighborhood males come poking around...

Big gray-faced male stopping by. A dusky-footed woodrat's home range is typically about a 50-100 foot radius around their house, depending on topography, forage & safety, and will overlap with multiple other woodrat houses and home ranges (the neighborhood)

So she comes out to chat with them...

Ms. Most-Interesting confronting Grayface

And chase them off if they don't measure up...

Grayface getting run outta town. A woodrat's territory is right around its house

Why? Because she's already chosen her mate - Mr. Most-Interesting.Quite the handsome gent too - that eye ring is way cool, and the 1/2 ear - very tough.

Mr. Most-Interesting - the male she's selected as her mate. Woodrats typically breed in late winter through spring. In drought years she may not have pups at all, and in oak mast years she may mate 4 or 5 times in a year (they only have 2-3 pups per)

Doesn't get much more dusky-footed than that. Also note the softness of the pelage, and the almost equal proportion of his tail and body - classic Neotoma fuscipes features

And, as the gray-faced male later learned, she takes her selections seriously.

Grayface coming around once more. Maybe there's a shortage of females in the 'hood?

Ms. Most-Interesting slapping around Grayface for coming into her territory. Showing that she ain't no desperate housewife, and he better keep his genes on.

Hmmm... Maybe I'm not anthropomorphizing woodrats.

Perhaps I'm really just Neotomapomorphizing humans.

Next up - the Ecotones, and their cold-blooded secret...

====
References:

Numerous amazing papers by Marjorie D. Matocq, Museum of Vertebrate Zoology and Dept. of Interpretive Biology, UC Berkeley, and Dept. Biological Sciences, Idaho State University (and now University Nevada, Reno) - including the following:

Reproductive success and effective population size in woodrats, Molecular Ecology
Morphological and molecular analysis of a contact zone in the Neotoma fuscipes species complex, Journal of Mammalogy
w/ Eileen A. Lacy - Philopatry, kin clusters, and genetic relatedness in a population of woodrats, Behavioral Ecology

Roberta Fargo, William F. Laudenslayer, Jr., USDA Forest Service - Are house counts reliable estimators of dusky-footed woodrat population size?, Transactions of the Wildlife Society
Howard F. Sakai, Barry R. Noon, US Forest Service - Between habitat movement of dusky-footed woodrats and vulnerability to predation, Journal of Wildlife Management
The American Society of Mammalogists, Nov 1991, No. 386 - Neotoma fuscipes
Dr. C. Hart Merriam - Abstract of a study of the American wood rats, with descriptions of fourteen new species and subspecies of the genus Neotoma, Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington
E. W. Jameson, Jr., and Hans J. Peeters, UCPress - Mammals of California
Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History - Neotoma fuscipes
Wikipedia - Neotoma fuscipes
Nature of a Man (this blog) - The Coast Packrats

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The Coast Packrats

2012-01-25T14:09:00.000-08:00

Happy 2012 all. With the holidays over, it must be time to get back to exploring & storytelling.

For those folks that are rodent-phobic, or just don't care about the little scurries, I'm sorry to say, but you might wanna ignore my blog for a few posts.

Because it's about to get all woodratty up in here, as I lay down the natural law on one of my fave California characters, the San Francisco Dusky-footed Woodrat, Neotoma fuscipes annectens.

But, if you are a fan of the ole Cal packrats, stay tuned, because this is gonna be fun.

As a teaser, let me introduce you to the cast of players you'll be seeing during these next several episodes of Woodrat Theater...

First up - The Most Interesting Couple in the World:

"I don't always collect bottle caps, but when I do, I prefer Dos Equis"

"If you keep leaving your bottle caps lying around, I'm gonna slap you silly"

Joining them are The Ecotones - that couple always on the edge:

"What?"

"Huh?"

The mysterious Madam Toyon (and the woodie who loves her, blind eye and all):

"I see a long, dark-faced stranger in your future - oh hold on - that's my future"

"Isn't her blue eye the coolest? Reminds me of the first marble I found..."

Lady Prunus - owner of the most popular boarding house on Berry Lane:

"I'm not showing yet, am I?"

And Miss Moss - who may not have a suitor yet, but has many friends:

"Hey cutie - how about you come up to my stick house and I'll show you my etchings"

Coming soon: Episode One - Battles Under the Bay Laurel.

====
References:

E. W. Jameson, Jr., and Hans J. Peeters, UCPress - Mammals of California
Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History - Neotoma fuscipes
Wikipedia - Neotoma fuscipes
The Nature of a Man (this blog) - Mama Homemaker

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Fave Flora of 2011

2012-01-02T10:28:00.000-08:00

Being a relatively newbie CA naturalist, I still have quite the laundry list of native species yet to see and get to know. Including thousands of species of Cali's prolific plant life.

But, I seem to be on a good pace. My 2011 surveys and explorations allowed me to make the acquaintance of over 400 new-for-me species. A number being true rarities or surprise finds.

Here, in order of seasonal appearance, are 20 favorites.

California Pipe Vine, Aristolochia californica, on San Bruno Mountain

Tuolumne Fawn Lily, Erythronium tuolumnense, along the Stanislaus River

Scarlet Locoweed, Astragalus coccineus, in the Alabama Hills off hwy 395

Charlotte's Phacelia, Phacelia nashiana, near Indian Wells off hwy 395

The previously adored Calico Monkeyflower, Mimulus pictus, from the Tehachapis

Yerba Amarilla, Mentzelia multiflora ssp. longiloba, on the Kelso Dunes

Desert Mariposa, Calochortus kennedyi, in the eastern Mojave

Lilac Sunbonnets, Langloisia setosissima, in the eastern Mojave

Tacky Phacelia, Phacelia viscida, on the Chimineas Ranch

Hoffman's Jewelflower, Streptanthus glandulosus var. hoffmani, in The Cedars

California Lady Slipper Orchids, Cypripedium californicum, in The Cedars

Serpentine Milkweed, Asclepias solanoana, in The Cedars

Limestone Liveforever, Dudleya calcicola, in the Tehachapi Mountains

San Mateo Thornmint, Acanthomintha duttonii, in Edgewood Preserve

California Groundcone, Boschniakia strobilacea, in the Santa Cruz Mountains

Scarlet Fritillary, Fritillaria recurva, in the Tahoe National Forest near the Yuba Pass

Bach's Calicoflower, Downingia bachigalupii, in Sierra Valley

Milkwort Jewelflower, Streptanthus polygaloides, near Mariposa

Fringed Pinesap, Pleuricospora fimbriolata, SFSU Field Campus, near the Yuba Pass

Inyo Green Gentian, Swertia puberulenta, south of Mono Lake

I sure hope we start getting some good rain soon. Else, 2012 might not be nearly as colorful.

====
References:

Roger's Ramblings - Roger Raiche's posts on The Cedars in Sonoma County
Friends of Edgewood - Edgewood Nature Preserve
San Francisco State University - Sierra Nevada Field Campus
Nature of a Man (this blog) - posts on the Chimineas Ranch
Nature of a Man (this blog) - In the Lands of the Mono
Nature of a Man (this blog) - The Importance of Reading Ernest

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Forever Foxing Around

2011-12-23T07:59:00.000-08:00

Remember Stephen Colbert's Nightmare?

Well, before the bear savaged the cam, the local foxes came out to play.

Tehachapi log set before Stephen Colbert's Nightmare - that's cam #s600CF in the center

The first gray fox to the scene wasn't very gray at all. Kind of bronze, in fact. Also note that the normally black tail crest and tip is much reduced, and more coffee in color. Interesting.

Gray fox color morph that's more bronze and brown, than gray and black

Bronze fox up on the log

Foxes came by the log 10 of the 12 nights before the nightmare-bear hacky-sacked the camera. They accounted for 85 of the 233 total photos.

Typical gray-gray foxes visited most of the time. The skunky scent I had sprayed in the log and on the ground seems to really make 'em bouncy. Or, perhaps they're always that way.

Sniffing the scent in the log

Checking out the camera

Boing!

Listening... (remember - it's quite dark - ears and noses are their true eyes at night)

Tracking...

Tag! You're it! The quick gray foxes jumping over the lazy brown log

Much more typical coloring on these two

Even playing in the rain

And mugging for the camera

Have a very Merry Christmas, and happy holiday week, all.

====
References:

Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History - Urocyon cinereoargenteus
Wikipedia - Gray Fox
Nature of a Man (this blog) - Stephen Colbert's Nightmare
Nature of a Man (this blog) - posts on cam trapping the Tehachapis

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Glimpses of Goodness

2011-12-18T10:33:00.000-08:00

Speaking of Mono Basin sagebrush voles - a cam did, in fact, get a glimpse of one.

But only 1 glimpse.

Shy sagebrush vole giving the camera a suspicious glare

Funny thing - it just happened again, when I tried to short-set what I think are montane voles up in the western Sierra Nevada foothills.

The burrow was obviously active, but the cam only caught a single shot in 3 days & nights:

Shy montane vole also playing peek-a-boo

I'm not exactly sure why they're acting shy, but I have a couple of hypotheses:

voles are commonly hunted just outside their burrows by ambush-style predators, such as bobcats and coyotes, so are sensitive to the addition of an object that looks like it could be a waiting fang-forest. I.e., it might take longer than a few nights for them to habituate to a cam, and I might want to disguise it better.
my smelly seeds aren't impressing them. Sagebrush voles evidently don't eat seeds often, relying mostly on sage and rabbit brush leaves, flowers and cambium for their diet. And the montane vole eats grasses, sedges and flowers.

So, I'm going to have to change tactics in 2012 to get some good photos of these characters.

But that's ok, I have a feeling that, like the mighty minimus, they'll be worth it.

====
References:

E. W. Jameson, Jr., and Hans J. Peeters, UCPress - Mammals of California
Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History - Lemmiscus curtatus
Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History - Microtus montanus
Nature of a Man (this blog) - Becoming Size Wise
Nature of a Man (this blog) - posts on cam trapping the Mono Basin

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Becoming Size Wise

2011-12-10T07:17:00.000-08:00

On my final trip of 2011 to the Mono Basin survey site, I once again tried short sets in specialized habitats, in hopes of catching a few small species that have so far eluded the cam traps, but should be around. Species such as sagebrush voles, pygmy rabbits, and Inyo shrews.

As well as a too-cute nano-mammal that I had glimpsed a few times, so knew was there, but was still playing shy and hard to get.

Tamias minimus, the Least Chipmunk.

But, since I had seen roughly where some were living, I figured it just had to be a matter of time, and smelly seeds, before a properly-placed camera did nab one.

2 day short set in pumice rock tumble near wetland

The cautious yet curious approach - "What's that new thing in our territory?"

Bingo! Least Chipmunk, Tamias minimus. The smallest of California's
~ 13 species. The soft gray and yellow-ochre perfectly match the habitat

Just how "least" are they?

A similar short set in pinyon pines also caught a minimus, along with several other small species, thus allowing for a nice size comparison...

Mighty minimus checking out the seeds among the pinyon shreds

Pinyon mouse in nearly the same spot

Kangaroo mouse - bit different ears, huh?

Desert woodrat

Western fence lizard

So, slightly larger than a mouse, not nearly as big as a woodrat, and about as long as a typical blue-belly lizardo. That's pretty minimus.

This micromunk brings us to 20 mammal species confirmed by camera traps for the Mono Basin project this season. A solid start. Wonder what new species 2012 will hold?

====
References:

E. W. Jameson, Jr., and Hans J. Peeters, UCPress - Mammals of California
Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History - Tamias minimus
Nature of a Man (this blog) - posts on cam trapping the Mono Basin

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Big Boulder Studio, Apres-Bear

2011-12-05T18:24:00.000-08:00

Unlike other Tehachapi bears, the bear that visited the Big Boulder Portrait Studio only made minor adjustments to the camera.

And, as we've seen in the past, critic bears can sometimes have a good eye.

In this case, the bear tilted the camera back, pointing it up at a large crack in the boulder.

The cam then caught the woodrat, that apparently lives in said crack, doing some home repair:

Woodrat doing a little nest building - looks like dried algae from the creek

Bringing back a stick

And another face full of scruffy fluff

Deer mouse that's likely a housemate of the woodrat

By day, the crack, and perhaps the woodrat midden, saw several other species too...

California ground squirrel chilling in the crack (and perhaps looking for a snack)

Desert cottontail doing a little rock climbing

California towhee looking for lost insects and loose seeds

Western fence lizard retaining enough heat to trigger the camera

Sure hope my cameras don't start developing Post-Traumatic Bear Disorder (PTBD). Psychoanalyzing electronics can be such a pain.

====
References:

Nature of a Man (this blog) - The Big Boulder Portrait Studio
Nature of a Man (this blog) - Stephen Colbert's Nightmare
Nature of a Man (this blog) - Serendipity Squirrel
Nature of a Man (this blog) - posts on cam trapping the Tehachapis

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The Big Boulder Portrait Studio

2011-11-28T08:45:00.000-08:00

Back to the Tehachapis...

When I sent this first photo to my friend Paul, he replied: "That bobcat looks like it was showing up to have its portrait taken!"

Unfortunately, the bob didn't leave me an email address.

"See these eyes so green? I can stare for a thousand years..."

The cam trap was set under a big overhanging boulder by the creek, which was just drying up for the year. This afforded several interesting opportunities:

to see what might go under the rock to get out of the sun
to see what might come to the last of the summer mud puddles
to do so with a 24-hour per day set, without worries of false triggers

That last point alone made the set. If not for the well-shaded sanctuary, I would have programmed the cam for night only, and we would have missed that beauty bob, and more.

The big boulder by the creek - plus mulefat, goldenbush, foothill pine and Tucker oak

The studio under the big boulder - note the camera trap on the left

Aside from the bobcat, the 3 local squirrel species also came by the studio for daytime portraits.

California Ground Squirrel trying to look tough (and not tasty)

Merriam's Chipmunk trying to look cute and coy (and succeeding)

Western Gray Squirrel with face full of mud: "What? It's picture day???"

At night, the woodrats and bats came out to play...

Ready...

Jump!

Big-eared, dusky-footed woodrat poses for a portrait

Woodrat spots bat - likely Myotis evotis, the Long-eared Bat

Another bat swoops through - could be Myotis ciliolabrum, the Small-footed Bat

And then...

Uh oh. The local muscle.

====
References:

David Bowie - Putting Out The Fire (Cat People)
Nature of a Man (this blog) - posts on cam trapping the Tehachapis

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Who Chews? IV

2011-11-22T08:39:00.000-08:00

Ok, I won't drag this set out any longer.

The cam just caught so many nice photos, that I thought each critter deserved its day - or two.

But, as mentioned in the opener, one animal the camera didn't catch is the actual tree biter. No, John guessed correctly - the pinyon chewer has to be the infamous spiny pig, Erethizon dorsatum. And I sure hope one does trundle into a scene soon - they'd be a fantastic rodent to write about. One that is rarely heard of, or seen, in 21st century California.

Now on to our 4th photogenic friend. While it doesn't have quills, it is rodent-like and has quite an overbite. Just not one that's used for chasing cambium layers. It's Nuttall's Cottontail, Sylvilagus nuttallii, also called the Mountain Cottontail:

Mountain Cottontail, Sylvilagus nuttallii, tip-toeing into the scene

They're closely related to Desert Cottontails, Sylvilagus audubonii, but nuttallii stick to east-side canyons & creekbeds, ranging into CA from the Great Basin to the Mojave

Look at those fuzzy ears! Desert cottontails have longer ears with much less interior fur

The overall brownish tone of nuttallii is also a key differentiator - audubonii is more gray

And outta here. Definitely a cottontail. Those extra furry feet are also a Sylvilagus nuttallii characteristic - helps insulate them from the cold ground and snow

Nice bunny.

Oh - if you're wondering about the 5th species that visited the scene, it was the dweller under the rock the bobs 'n yotes wanted a taste of - a kangaroo rat. And it only popped up once:

Fun set.

====
References:

E. W. Jameson, Jr., and Hans J. Peeters, UCPress - Mammals of California
Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History - Sylvilagus nuttallii
Wikipedia - Mountain Cottontail
Nature of a Man (this blog) - Who Chews?
Nature of a Man (this blog) - Who Chews? II
Nature of a Man (this blog) - Who Chews? III
Nature of a Man (this blog) - posts on cam trapping the Mono Basin

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Who Chews? III

2011-11-20T08:58:00.000-08:00

Next onto the scene was the trigger-happy Mr. Spot.

Funny - the camera took a dozen photos of him in all, and 1/2 way through he decides he needs to show it who's the boss. Here's the best four pics...

Mr. Spot sniffs in from stage left - if you look close, you can see he is indeed a mister

Like a secret agent - sleek, smooth, debonair, dressed-to-impress...

...and always ready for action - bang! Those small spots are flecks of le pew

This photo is 32 seconds later - did he hold the handstand the whole time?

Obviously, El Quick Draw didn't chew the tree. He's looking for mice & beetles. And a fight.

But, our 4th visitor is a known gnawer. Perhaps it has a taste for pinyon.

====
References:

Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History - Spilogale gracilis
Wikipedia - Spotted Skunk
Nature of a Man (this blog) - Who Chews?
Nature of a Man (this blog) - Who Chews? II
Nature of a Man (this blog) - posts on cam trapping the Mono Basin

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Who Chews? II

2011-11-18T07:15:00.001-08:00

It appears y'all are better at wildlife riddles than I am.

But, we do have 4 more suspicious scene stalking species to interview. So we best not jump to conclusions.

If not the coyotes, perhaps the local bobcats are to blame? Maybe pinyon scratching posts are all the rage in the Mono Basin? Here's the 2 kitties the camera saw...

Classic bobcat-in-the-headlights pose

Just sneakin'

"Dude - your camera flash is totally wrecking my slink"

Checking out the burrow

And up the rock

Then back around, and out of here

As with the coyotes, a second bobcat traipsed through too. This one also ignored the tree and sniffed around for the dweller under that flat rock.

Silvery bob also checking out the burrow

Sneaking up on the camera

"Oh - it's just one of those"

Looks like the native dogs and cats are innocent. Who's next?

====
References:

Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History - Lynx rufus
Wikipedia - Bobcat
Nature of a Man (this blog) - Who Chews?
Nature of a Man (this blog) - posts on cam trapping the Mono Basin

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Who Chews?

2011-11-16T11:03:00.001-08:00

On the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada, someone has a taste for pinyon pine.

Pinyon with a chunk of bark missing

Even larger and older de-barked area

After finding marks on a 1/2 dozen trees, the mystery had me hooked, so I set a cam on one.

Camera set with chewed pinyon pine and suspicious burrow under small rock

4 weeks later, I had pics of 5 terrific species. But, I didn't think they answered the riddle.

So, I showed all the photos to bio-bud Craig to discuss the possibilities. Of course, he knew the "who chews?" immediately. And, I have to say I was surprised - it wasn't something I thought existed anymore in our nape o' the American way.

I'm sure some of you fine folks from lands further east knew right away too.

But, for those still wondering, let's take a look at the 5 species the camera trap saw. If even just to rule out the innocent suspects.

Two character coyotes stopped by the scene. Perhaps, in these arid lands, their urine is extra caustic, and they're burning the bark off the trees? :)

Coyote digging and smelling

Listening

Listening and smelling and looking at camera

Coming to check out camera (be nice!)

Back to listening

More digging and smelling

Plunge

No luck

The second coyote dropped in for a bit of the same. Looks like both were much more interested in whatever lives under the rock, than in the pinyon tree, huh?

A silvery song dog sniffs the burrow under the rock

Listening - note the notch in the ear

Listening

Offers paw for truce hand shake

Poses regally

A couple of fine looking yotes, that's for sure. But they aren't our bark biters, of course.

We'll look at the next of our fab five furry candidates this Friday.

====
References:

Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History - Canis latrans
Wikipedia - Coyote
Nature of a Man (this blog) - posts on cam trapping the Mono Basin

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Short Set Surprises

2011-11-03T09:00:00.000-07:00

As readers know, I like short sets (both in height and duration). 2 nights and days, and a few seeds, and you can get a good sense of the local Rodentia.

But, sometimes these shorties yield interesting surprises that aren't the usual micro-furries.

Here's 3 not-what-I-expected-to-gets, from my Mono Basin summer short sets...

Sage Thrasher
On a burrow set in big sagebrush, that was targeting night time foraging voles, k-rats and like, this charming Sage Thrasher, Oreoscoptes montanus, showed up. First time I've "seen" one.

Pinyon Jay Family
At a similar set to the one above, but on a gravelly pinyon pine slope with expectations of chipmunks, desert woodrats, and kangaroo mice, this family of Pinyon Jays, Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus, stopped by to enjoy the sunflower seeds:

The Velvet Buck
On a muddy pond bank, where I was hoping for micro-mammals, such as shrews, this big boy mulie wandered through to smell the set and check out the cam:

Gotta love curious and cooperative animals.

And short set surprises.

====
References:

Nature of a Man (this blog) - posts on cam trapping the Mono Basin
Nature of a Man (this blog) - Counting Toes
Nature of a Man (this blog) - Deer vs. Kangaroo
Nature of a Man (this blog) - Cirque de No Soleil

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Stephen Colbert's Nightmare

2011-10-29T16:52:00.000-07:00

Watchers of the amazing Mr. Colbert know that one of Stephen's biggest faux fears is bears.

Tongue-in-cheek, he has often warned viewers about these "godless killing machines," which, of course, include zombie bears, bear terminators, armored bears with nun-chucks, and sanctimonious enviro-bears out to spread their radical bear agenda (from a story about a CA black bear that accidentally rolled away in, aka "stole," a Prius).

They've made many a list and laugh.

In a Halloween tribute to the guffaws he's given, I present to you:

Stephen Colbert's Nightmare - as experienced by Tehachapi camera trap #s600CF

It all started one quiet late-August afternoon, while #s600CF was taking a well earned siesta. It was well-earned because s600CF had already been in the field for 2 weeks, and had snapped 155 photos, catching 5 different mammal species.

And then, something snuck up and smacked s600CF so hard, it sheared its mounting bolt clean, and launched the cam 6 feet. Where, lying on the ground face up, s600CF slowly awoke...

An aspect about the above hilarious series I really can't explain - the camera was set for night only. So how/why did it wake up at 2:46pm, in full sun, and take photos of a bear mauling?? To record what might have possibly been its last moments?

After that, s600CF went back into normal night-only mode, waking to take the occasional night time shot of tree branches and whiskers for a week and a half.

Then, 11 days after the bear brutality, to truly add insult to injury, a gray fox came along at 9:39pm and peed all over helpless little s600CF's face...

Which led to s600CF getting peed on by gray foxes at least 2 more times over the next 2 weeks. But it kept working like a champ, taking photos...

You gotta love good humorists - be they human, bear, fox - or camera trap.

Epilogue: s600CF took 233 photos, and ran for over 7 weeks, including 5 weeks of activity and 61 photos after the bear encounter. The very sticky camera has since been de-urinated, glued here and there, and is happily back out in the field.

====
References:

The Colbert Report - Bears
Nature of a Man (this blog) - posts on cam trapping the Tehachapis

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In the Lands of the Mono

2011-10-20T10:26:00.000-07:00

On the east side of the Sierra Nevada, in the lands of the Mono, I've also seen some incredible flora while surveying this past spring and summer.

The area overlaps 2 floristic provinces: Sierra Nevada and Great Basin. The Sierra flora is familiar to me, as are the Great Basin plants that also occur in the Mojave. But the GB species that flow in from Nevada, and just touch CA - those I have no experience seeing or IDing.

Which is a big part of the fun.

Unfortunately, I haven't yet found a local guide like Ernest, so I'm stumbling along with the help of friends, Jepson and the intertubes.

Which can also be fun.

But before the flora, a few photos of the lands and habitats...

Looking east, and out of the little Mono Basin valley - altitude is just under 7,000 feet

Looking west, up the valley and towards the Sierra Nevada and Yosemite

Habitats include ponds, creeks, wetlands, and sagebrush scrub

And wet mountain meadows bordered by rocky, volcanic rims

Aspens and willows wrap the waterways, and pinyon pines pepper the ridges

Where many of the rocks and outcrops are as spectacular as the plants

Now on to this season's flora, which included over 120 found species. Of those, about 50 were new to me, along with 8 new genera.

And, while most species I/we could key and ID, there are still a number of uncertainties on the list. I just don't like to call an ID on unfamiliar flora until I feel there's no other options, or a plant geek who really knows the species gives me a solid confirmation.

And even then, I still make mistakes. All botanists do. Plants can be highly variable, and all keys are not created equal.

So, if you see a pretty below that I might not have right - give a shout.

Otherwise - on with the show...

The crazy cool Inyo Green Gentian, Swertia puberulenta

Giant Blazing Star, Mentzelia laevicaulis, with 4" diameter flowers

A pink Camissonia - Shockley's Evening Primrose, Camissonia heterochroma

Beaked Penstemon, Penstemon rostriflorus, a hummingbird fave

Sierra Gentian, Gentianopsis holopetala, the purple polka-dots of wet mtn meadows

Masses of Castilleja miniata, Giant Red Paintbrush, parasitizing willows

Yellow Owl's Clover, Orthocarpus luteus

Flat Top Broomrape, Orobanche corymbosa, parasitizing sage and rabbitbrush

Wavyleaf Thelypodium, Thelypodium crispum, a mustard that looks lily-like

Transmontane Sand Verbena, Abronia turbinata

The popping pink Dwarf Monkeyflower, Mimulus nanus

Prickly Poppy, Argemone munita

Lanceleaf Browneyes, Camissonia claviformis ssp. lancifolia

And, as before, I'll finish with a shotgun blast of 17 more fine species:

Western Blue Flag Iris, Great Basin Rye, and Ranger's Buttons

Primrose Monkeyflowers, Alpine Shooting Stars, and Desert Fernbush

Elk Thistle, Hairy Wild Cabbage, and Yellow Popcornflower

Wilcox's Woollystar, Brewer's Cinqfoil, and Jacob's Ladder

Grass of Parnassus, Bog Mallow, and Clustered Blazing Star

Tansyleaf Suncup and Two-colored Phacelia

What a place.

Can't wait to start scouring it again next spring.

====
References:

The Jepson Manual: Higher Plants of California
Nature of a Man (this blog) - posts on cam trapping the Mono Basin
Randomtruth on flickr - my collection of Mono photos

==========

The Importance of Reading Ernest

2011-10-09T08:07:00.000-07:00

It's well known that exploring a new area is always better with a local guide.

They know the short cuts, hidden gems, dives and hot spots that take total-immersion to learn.

Well, the same adage holds true for botany.

For the Tehachapi Mountains, the local guide I carry is Ernest C. Twisselmann - in the form of his book, A Flora of Kern County, California.

Published in 1967, and well out of print, many of the details are also a tad out of date. You see, much has changed in the world of botany in the 44 years since Ernest's Flora appeared in the Wasmann Journal of Biology. New species have been found, others lost, and a whole lot of taxonomic twists & turns have been made.

And, the taxonomy isn't all that's out of date. Flora is printed all in black and white, and doesn't have a single flower photograph, illustration or plant ID key in it.

So why is it an indispensable resource?

Because ranch-born Twisselmann was a local, and he really knew how to write reference.

Not only does he eloquently cover geography, geology, climate and natural history of the area, he gives plant associations (what grow with what), and range limits (what species start or end in the county). He also covers the history of botanical collecting in Kern, and his Catalogue of Plants - his species accounts - are excellent, giving solid details on habitats and exposures, abundance, bloom time, where in the county to find each species, and where it was collected.

All precious fodder for the flora-finding naturalist.

Here's some of the flora of Kern County that I've had the pleasure of seeing this year on the stunning lands I'm helping to survey. Many were found and/or identified with the help of Ernest.

Spanish Needle Onion, Allium shevockii - a CNPS List 1B.2 rare species endemic to Kern County and CA - one of the prettiest native onions for sure

Limestone Liveforever, Dudleya calcicola - a List 4.3 uncommon succulent

Brandegee's Woollystar, Eriastrum brandegeeae - a low-key List 1B.2 rare endemic

3 new monkeys for me - and I love the monkeys...

Calico Monkeyflower, Mimulus pictus - also a List 1B.2 rarity

Perky and pink Parish's Monkeyflower, Mimulus parishii

The furry Mimulus pilosus, or Downy Monkeyflower

Other lippy lovelies:

The big perennial Grinnell's Beardtongue, Penstemon grinnellii

Child's Blue-eyed Marys, Collinsia childii, hiding in the shade under canyon oaks

Caulanthus coulteri, Coulter's Jewelflower

3 farewell-to-springs, named in tribute of William Clark, of Lewis and Clark:

Clarkia cylindrica, also called Speckled Clarkia

Clarkia speciosa, also called Redspot Clarkia

Clarkia xantiana, also called Gunsight Clarkia

Two Venus-monikered beauties bloomed in the Tehachapi summer:

Butterfly Mariposa, Calochortus venustus - the venustus of the area tend towards stark white petals, dark red markings, and very hairy nectaries

Venus Thistle, Cirsium occidentale var. venustum - a statuesque and stunning native thistle that likes to grow solo and not in dense monocultures like many non-natives

Flowers with stalks were well represented:

Our Lord's Candle, Hesperoyucca whipplei ssp. caespitosa, which truly
lights up the rocky mountain sides

A random Coast Rein Orchid, Piperia elegans - not rare in CA per se -
but not supposed to be in the Tehachapis - not much coast in the mountains...

A couple of species with lots of stamens caught my eye too:

Veatch's Blazing Star, Mentzelia veatchiana

Big and showy Beavertail Cactus, Opuntia basilaris

All-in-all, we've documented almost 300 species of flora on the Tehachapi survey lands this past season. WAY too many to ever show on a single blog post.

But here's 16 more cool ones. :)


Kern Larkspur and Kern Brodiaea


Oak Gooseberry and Rattlesnake Weed


Pale Suncup and Foothill Poppy


Bush Woollystar and Ashy Silk Tassel


Grass-leaved Death Camas and Grape Soda Lupine


Slender-flower Gilia and Cotton Thorn


Ithuriel's Spear and Golden Stars


Golden Eardrops and Indian Pink

Thanks Ernest. And muchas gracias to the other botanical ninjas that guide my way too, such as my wise mentors Paul and Ken, and the ever-amazing Jepson Manual.

====
References:

Ernest C. Twisselmann, Eben & Gladys McMillan - A Flora of Kern County, California
The Jepson Manual: Higher Plants of California
Kern County Cattlemen's Association - The Twisselman Family Home Page
California Native Plant Society (CNPS) - CNPS rare plant ranking system
Nature of a Man (this blog) - posts on cam trapping the Tehachapis
Randomtruth on flickr - my collection of Tehachapi photos

==========

Counting Toes

2011-10-01T19:55:00.000-07:00

In California, there are 14 species of kangaroo rat.

A distinguishing feature separating species is the number of digits on their hind feet. Seems about 1/3 of the species have 4, and 2/3 have 5.

In the Mono Basin, there's 2, maybe 3, species of k-rats, and all should have 5 rear toes - Dipodomys ordii, panamintinus and maybe microps (but probably not).

So, I thought I'd try some short-distance overnight sets with my 10 mega pixel Pentax homebrew, to see if I could resolve that infamous fifth appendage.

Here's the cam trap's photos...

Dunno about you, but I'm not seeing any 5th toes.

Which led me to check with CDFG biologist-bud Craig, at the Chimineas Ranch, who's had many a k-rat species in-hand. He reported that, yes indeed, the 5th toe is a tiny, interior dew-claw on all of the species, and it would be a surprise to be able to see it in a photo.

Comforting to know the cam traps are not to blame, but it does still leave us in the lurch on the specific epithet of the Dipodomys above.

So, let's see if we can sort it out. The 2 most likely species are ordii and panamintinus - Ord's and Panamint kangaroo rats. Dipodomys microps, the Chisel-toothed, is also a sagebrush scrub inhabiting k-rat of the east side, but I'm pretty sure its range ends south of the Mono Basin.

Collating size, pattern and color descriptions from multiple references, here's what I find:

Feature	Dipodomys ordii	Dipodomys panamintinus
Back	yellowish buff w/ a few black hairs down center	ashy gray to dark brown
Sides	buff sides and white belly, diagonal line across hip	cinnamon sides and white belly, diagonal line across hip
Face	white spot above eye and behind ear, blackened whisker base	white eyebrow, white spot at base of each ear, pale cheeks
Feet	5 toes on extremely long hind feet	5 toes on normal size hind feet
Tail	long, tufted tail with dark dorsal and ventral stripes	tail over 60% of length and strongly crested with dark hairs dorsally, ventrally and at tip

Not exactly apple-to-apples in their descriptions of the key characters, but not bad. Makes me lean towards ordii for our foraging friend, but just barely.

What about you? Anyone out there have either species in-hand before?

Whichever - they sure are adorable. I gotta say that whoever gave them the moniker "kangaroo rats" really did 'em a disservice. "Rat" evokes such a negative image, and these little joys are nothing of the sort. Should have been named "kangaroo gerbils" for their gentleness.

Here's a few Dipodomys heermanni I had in-hand on the Chimineas Ranch - the first with his cheek pouches full of seed from the live trap, and proudly showing us those 5 toes that Heermann's also has on his furry feet. As Craig said - the 5th is a wee piggy, for sure:

Adorable, absolutely adorable.

====
References:

E. W. Jameson, Jr., and Hans J. Peeters, UCPress - Mammals of California
Tamara Eder - Mammals of California
Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History - Panamint Kangaroo Rat
Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History - Ord's Kangaroo Rat
Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History - Heermann's Kangaroo Rat
Wikipedia - Gerbil

==========

More from the Aspens

2011-09-24T09:44:00.000-07:00

Of course, those 2 collared cougars weren't the only visitors to the aspen grove.

In all, 10 mammal species and 4 bird species stopped by in only 30 days.

Here's the roll-call:

Collared cougars
Bobcats
Striped skunk
Spotted skunk
Nuttall's cottontail
California ground squirrel (huh?)
Least chipmunk (probably least)
Bushy-tailed woodrat
Desert woodrat
Deer mouse

Northern flicker
Spotted towhee
American robin
Winter wren

A bountiful habitat, to be sure.

But I'm not too surprised. That aspen grove is harboring all sorts of tasties that should attract and maintain a food chain. I saw serviceberry, desert and mountain snowberry, wild roses, wax currants, gooseberries, nettles, and sierra onions. The latter all along the backside of the log.

Below are a photo and flipbook for each of the more interesting visits.

A second angle of the aspen grove set

Bobcats visited 4 times. 3 sniff-throughs are below. Might all be the same bob. First 2 seem to be. Note that while the collared cougars entered boldly from the open field to the left, the bobcats always snuck through from the thickets on the right.

Bob #1:

Bob #2 - same as above?:

Bob #3 - too bad the cam didn't catch the scratching in full frame...

A spotted skunk came through too. Watch how fast and furious their foraging is:

And a striped skunk snuffled the same log. Since stripe nicely stopped on the same end as spotty, you can get a good sense of the big difference in their size - over 2:1.

Last, a Nuttall's cottontail, Sylvilagus nuttallii, hopped up on to the log for some nibbles and a nice pose. At least I'm pretty sure it's a Nuttall's (also called mountain cottontails). The problem: Nuttall's and Audubon's cottontail, Sylvilagus audubonii (also called desert cottontails), are notoriously hard to tell apart. Per Jameson & Peeters:

Feature	Nuttall's cottontail	Audubon's cottontail
Dorsum fur color	brownish	generally gray
Ears	shorter, round tips, with fur inside	larger, sparsely furred
Back feet	not particularly slender	slender, sparsely furred

Based on my experience seeing desert cottontails, I'd say the rabbit in the pics below is more brown than gray, and has shorter ears that are furrier inside. Making it nuttallii.

But... while Jameson & Peeters also suggest that this area is out of the range of audubonii, some habitats are right, and I've seen some bunnies while out hiking that DO look very much like desert cottontails. Plus, J & P also say the area should be out of the range of the desert woodrat, Neotoma lepida, and I've caught them on cams and seen middens.

So, I can't call it for sure. Perhaps both nuttallii and audubonii are there, living sympatric.

Gotta love aspen groves.

====
References:

E. W. Jameson, Jr., and Hans J. Peeters, UCPress - Mammals of California
Nature of a Man (this blog) - Always Put Collars On Your Kitties
Nature of a Man (this blog) - posts on cam trapping the Mono Lake Basin

==========

All Ears

2011-09-19T10:58:00.000-07:00

In the high Sierra, near Mono Lake, Lepus townsendii, the white-tailed jackrabbit can be found.

But, unfortunately, I haven't caught that species yet.

Instead, I'm getting black-tailed jacks. And, since white-tails and black-tails don't seem to like to intermingle, this might not bode well for my desire to cam trap the whites.

I.e., even at 7,000 feet, my Mono Basin survey area might not be high enough. I may need to push further up into the Jeffrey pines.

That said, there are some fine looking black-tails over there, such as this jack, that stopped to hang out with the camera several times...

Lepus californicus, the black-tailed jackrabbit, pauses to one-eye the cam

Slow crawl

Hop

I think it's pretty well known that aside from great hearing, the jacks aerials are also used for heat dissipation (dilate and fill your ear's blood vessels, stick into a cool breeze - ahhhhh). They even wiggle them to increase the vasodilation radiation.

But did you know their ears are also used for silent communication? Yep - research is showing that they flash and turn the black tips to create a kind of "jackrabbit ear semaphores."

"Hey - look - Jack is earing us a message."

"What's he saying?"

"There's either 2 coyotes coming, or he has an itch."

And that's not all... they also use their fabulous flappers to confuse chase predators. No - they don't signal a fake left turn and then go right ala Bugs Bunny - they keep them up, run into a brushy area, drop them flat to their back, and then turn and dart down a different path. Slick.

Ears on high alert

Showing off its keep on truckin' strut

Plopping down for a groom in the glow of the camera flash?

Notice that there's no ticks in those ears at all - that is one healthy looking jack. And the fur color is much lighter than any I've seen on the west side of the Sierra. Matches the habitat perfectly.

Now if I can just find a white-tailed as photo friendly...

====
References:

Kamler, Ballard - Texas Tech University - Ear Flashing Behavior of Black-tailed Jackrabbits, The American Midland Naturalist, April 2006
Stoner, Bininda-Emonds, Caro - UC Davis and Leiden University - The Adaptive Significance of Coloration in Lagomorphs, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2003, #79
Wikipedia - Black-tailed Jackrabbits
Wikipedia - White-tailed Jackrabbits
Nature of a Man (this blog) - posts on cam trapping the Mono Lake Basin

==========

Always Put Collars on Your Kitties

2011-09-14T09:51:00.000-07:00

Before letting your cats roam, it's always best to make sure they're wearing their ID collars.

Because you just never know where they might pop up. :)

Such as in this little grove of high-meadow aspens in the eastern Sierra Nevada:

Where I had set my trusty and fast Reconyx:

Reconyx in aspen grove at edge of sub-alpine meadow

The first collared kitty to the scene arrived on July 21st, at 4:49am:

Mountain lion slinking into small clearing in aspens

Nice looking collar

Pausing for a little log sniffing and marking

Shake, shake

And off to the next episode

Being a Reconyx trail camera, the quality is obviously not great. But... it is amazingly fast - taking photos once per second - which can make for fun flipbook-style videos:

Full 30 shots caught of b&w collared cat as it checked out the clearing and log

8 days later, at 6:43pm, another cougar strutted in from the meadow. At first, seeing the collar, I thought it was the same lion. But, the faces and collars are quite different.

Collared cougar #2 comes into the clearing - note the torn up nose and right ear

Sniffing the scent marks left by previous visitors, such as b&w cat

The collar is reversed from b&w cat, which has the bulkier battery pack (?) on the right of the flatter, square box (holding electronics/antenna?)

Them some serious shoulders

That collar is looking a little beat. Is that a USB connector?

And off color cat goes...

Day kitty didn't hang about for as many frames, but here's the flipbook vid of its pass through:

12 still flipbook vid of the collared color cat exploring scene

Come to find out, the collars are likely part of the Sierra Nevada Bighorn Sheep Recovery Program, being managed by Cal Fish & Game. Limiting predation while the herds are trying to get established is typically an important part of these kinds of re-population programs.

In fact, I've heard from local biologists that it'll be surprising if I get many pumas w/o collars. That sounds like a challenge... :)

Also, 2 kitties 8 days apart on the same spot is generally no coincidence, of course. Cougars don't casually cross each others ranges, so we can speculate that it's likely these 2 are related, such as sisters, or one is a female and one is a male, and this is a territory overlap.

My gut leans towards the latter - with the stocky, split-nose color cat being the male.

Whaddya think?

====
References:

California Dept. of Fish & Game - Sierra Nevada Bighorn Sheep Recovery Program
Monolake.org - Mono's Wildlife

==========

Double Double Trouble

2011-09-09T08:33:00.000-07:00

Not only is it bear cub season near the Yuba Pass - they're also out in the Tehachapis.

Under some shady canyon oaks, near a still-summer-trickling creek, at 'round 9pm, these fluffy future mischief makers came to explore my scented scene...

And at 11am the next day, just 3 miles and a canyon away, another cam had a similar show...

Of course, black bears shouldn't be in the Tehachapis. These were the lands of the grizzly - the true brown bear. But, the last of Tehachapan grizzlies was killed in Kern County in 1918, opening the way for opportunistic black bears to immigrate and spread out - much like us.

And, much like us, they seem to be doing pretty darn well.

Let's just hope they keep playing nice with my cameras. :)

====
References:

Nature of a Man (this blog) - 3 Goldilocked Bears
Nature of a Man (this blog) - posts about cam trapping the Tehachapis
Wikipedia - Black bear, Ursus americanus
Wikipedia - Brown bear, Ursus arctos

==========

3 Goldilocked Bears

2011-09-05T09:30:00.000-07:00

It was a hollow tree, and a slim fit - even for the slim and fit, such as the Codge:

Codger in a tree

But, since we'd talked seriously about setting a cam on our first visit, it didn't take much of a nudge from the class on our 2nd stop by to get me to give a homebrew a try.

So, we spiked it up in the cavity, pointing down, to see what might come a calling:

July 20th - camera set in the hollow tree

And, come to find out, that slim fit might have saved the cam some abuse.

It took almost a month for the first bear to stick a head in. More than enough time for some
serious spider webs to build up.

August 16th at 7:40pm - a redhead with blond highlights peeks in

And sees the cam

And tries to get at it, taking a face full of spider webs

If cameras had emotions, this one would be wetting itself

A close call.

Two days later, "black" bear #2 arrives. At first I thought it was the same bear, but now I'm not so sure. These locks look more Ann Margret than Raquel Welch...

August 18th at 4:00pm - another bear peeks in

Checks out the scene...

And paws around

Also unable to reach the camera, this mom calls in right-sized reinforcements...

The 3rd bear - just right

Little goldie checking out the cam - note mom's flank outside

Climbing up... ?

"Hey - what's that down there?"

"Hey - what's mom doing?"

Climbing again...

...onto the outside of the tree

And that's the last we saw of the goldilocked bears.

August 20th at 4:40pm - the cam trapping crew arrives

Really glad we didn't pick up that camera 4 days earlier.

====
References:

Camera Trap Codger - Camtrapper's rendezvous
Nature of a Man (this blog) - posts on cam trapping around the Yuba Pass

==========

Spots and Stripes

2011-09-01T08:19:00.000-07:00

What's your preference? Small and spotty, or big and striped?

Fortunately, we have both in Cali, and they cover pretty much the same ranges - except Stripes tends to woods and suburbs, and Spots prefers chaparral. Neither likes deserts or plains.

Both have "le pew," are smart, quite friendly, and make good pets.

They also eat the same stuff - everything. As true omnivores, both hunt for insects, berries, bulbs, mice, birds, eggs, bee hives, wasp's nests, frogs, fruit, nuts...

But, Spots and Stripes seem to coexist just fine.

As is shown in the Tehachapis, in a small Tucker oak and silk tassel studded drainage, where these two characters came by...

Western Spotted Skunk, Spilogale gracilis, on August 8th at 1am

Striped Skunk, Mephitis mephitis, on August 11th at 4:40am

So, which is your fave formal wearer? Spots or Stripes?

I'll leave you with this classic...

Bele: It is obvious to the most simple minded that Lokai is of an inferior breed.

Spock: The obvious visual evidence, commissioner, is that he is of the same breed as yourself.

Bele: Are you blind, Commander Spock? Well look at me. Look at me!

Spock: You are black on one side and white on the other.

Bele: I am black on the right side!

- Star Trek - Let That Be Your Last Battlefield

====
References:

Wikipedia - Spotted Skunk
Wikipedia - Striped Skunk
IMdB - Star Trek - Let That Be Your Last Battlefield
The Nature of a Man (this blog) - posts about cam trapping the Tehachapis

==========

Deer vs. Kangaroo

2011-08-27T16:24:00.000-07:00

On the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada, in the lands of the Mono, the native deer and kangaroo sometimes have late night encounters...

11:15pm - deer mouse, Peromyscus maniculatus, finds and starts collecting seeds

11:17pm - kangaroo mouse, Microdipodops megacephalus, hops in while deer's away

11:27pm - deer versus kangaroo!

11:36pm - to the victor go the spoils

11:39pm - kangaroo stuffs the last of the seeds into its pouches

The next night at 12:08am - deer returns to the seedless battlefield

The mousy moral to this story?

Don't mess with kangaroos, man - they know them crazy Matrix-style moves.

====
References:

Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History - Dark Kangaroo Mouse
Hafner, Reddington, Craig - Journal of Mammalogy Vol. 87, No. 6, Dec. 2006 - Kangaroo Mice of the Mono Basin: Phylogeography of a Peripheral Isolate
O' Farrel, Blaustein - American Society of Mammalogists, June 1974 - Microdipodops megacephalus

==========

A Fossorial Living Fossil

2011-08-23T08:40:00.000-07:00

Mountain Beaver.

Boomer.

Showtl.

Aplodontia.

PC (Pre-Codger), I had only vaguely heard of these elusive, poorly monikered rodents.

But when we pulled Codge's preset cams during last year's cam trapping class, and saw photos of the marvelous beastie, I knew that I too wanted a crack at catching their grin.

So, this year, as part of Codger's pre-class sets, I sunk a cam at a highly likely burrow:

Cam trap on aplodontia burrow in alder grove along Yuba River

They eat and collect bark and twigs - hence the "mountain beaver" nickname

The term "living fossil" is soooooo wonderfully exemplified by these fascinating rarities. The oldest living rodents, and the only members of their family and genus sill alive, molecular biology and fossil records are showing that the Aplodontidae split from the squirrel family about 40 million years ago, during the Eocene epoch.

Yes, the squirrel family. They're big, shaggy, mud-loving, slow-shuffling, nocturnal ground squirrels. Or, perhaps marmots, which are also old and related to squirrels, are a better comparison. But they're definitely not beavers.

My shy showtl did show - but only 3 times in 30 days, and not until the 6th night...

That ain't no beaver tail...

Bingo! An adult Aplodontia rufa is 16 inches long, and weighs about 1-1/2 pounds

Check out those human-like ears and tiny, heavy-lidded eyes

Burrow full of water? No prob for a rodent that builds chambers that trap air

20 days later - its natural privacy screen is fully up

A good first try at these shy guys.

I'm looking forward to another go next year.

====
References:

Wikipedia - Aplodontia
Wikipedia - Eocene
Wikipedia - Marmot
Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History - Aplodontia rufa
Camera Trap Codger - Annual Aplodon Photos
Camera Trap Codger - posts on Aplodontias

==========

Where the Dear Lil Antelopes Play

2011-08-14T20:43:00.000-07:00

Along with the stint of trapping near the SFSU Field Campus, I also started a new survey that I think y'all will like - it's on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada, south of Mono Lake, where an amazing volcano-designed landscape is being re-sculpted by water and wind.

On my first visit in late March, the region was still mostly snowbound.

But, when I returned in July, it was green. Very green...

Eastern Sierra Nevada pond and wetland at near 7,000 feet

Carved valley basin with streams that feed into pond

Small groves of aspens and willows hug the valley border

Pinyon pines, rabbitbrush, pumice and obsidian speckle the steep slopes

Jeffrey pines and dramatic outcrops line the ridges

One of the first mammals I glimpsed on my return was a small, gray chipmunk-looking tiny that bounded about in the mazes of sand and sagebrush.

But, I knew a way to get them to stop and smile for the cam.

As it turns out, they weren't chipmunks at all. They're white-tailed antelope ground squirrels, Ammospermophilus leucurus, a fixture of the desert scrub.

Antelope ground squirrel finding my friendship offering. The small ears, ashy gray fur and distinctive white side stripe are key characters for IDing the species

Groundie grabbing a cashew 1/2 the size of its head

"Burp"

Doing a little cheek stuffing

A final face full

And this is just one of more than a dozen mammal species in this region that I've not had the opportunity to trap on the other side of the Sierra Nevada.

Really looking forward to seeing what else shows up.

====
References:

Wikipedia - Mono Lake
Wikipedia - Ammospermophilus leucurus
Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History - White-tailed Antelope Squirrel

==========

Just Another Manic Marten

2011-08-08T08:44:00.000-07:00

Us "grad students" love it when we get the call from prof Codge for a cam trapper's jamboree.

Because we know that fun will be had, and great critters caught.

In this case, around the SFSU Field Campus in the Tahoe National Forest, next to the Yuba River, and near the Yuba Pass, as primer eye-candy for his yearly camera trapping workshop.

A class we-who-gathered had all taken last year and thoroughly enjoyed - the curriculum, the Codge, the classmates, the campus and the countryside.

So going back to trap around that beauty area was a treat not to be missed.

Like the Codger, I too set on the slope where the elusive Martes americana had been glimpsed.

Taking a slightly different approach to his extremely cool l o n g log set, I planted my cam in tight to the scene, using a jumble of rocks to create a theater of focal area.

Set on outcrop for marten

The rock theater forces the focal plane

And then I dabbed a smelly scent in the cracks and crevices.

My marten visited 3 nights to frenetically search for the source of the stench...

5 nights after we set at 3:34am

5 nights later at 12:45am

"Is it in there?"

"Under there?"

"Over there?"

8 nights later at 9:20pm

One more try

Off to the next episode...

Hard to tell for sure if it's just one, and the same one as visited the Codge's set.

So for now, it's just another manic marten.

====

References:

My trip photos from visits to the campus - 2010 workshop, this quick trip
Camera Trap Codger - Marten at dawn
San Francisco State University - Sierra Nevada Field Campus
Wikipedia - American Marten

==========

Just Add Harmonica

2011-08-03T20:05:00.000-07:00

As soon as I saw the area around this Tehachapi spring, I knew I had to set it.

The scene was just so scruffy and western and full of California character.

I scrambled up the rocks and set the cam just above the seep, where the post could grab some dirt, and a well-worn game trail trickled down from the hillside.

Unfortunately, it lasted only 3 nights. When I picked the cam up, the post was 1/2 out of the ground, bent back, and the cam facing the sun.

A neat trick too - since I had pounded the long post in 12 inches, and had piled large rocks around it. Oh - it was also tucked into a yucca - the plant lovingly called "Spanish Bayonet."

So whatever got it, did so with stealth, or by day, because the camera was set for night only, and no photo was caught of the assault.

Yet, in just 3 nights, some fun photos were caught.

As usual, the gray foxes were the first to show, scratch and sniff the scene:

I believe the laid-backed ears and pointed down tail is a sign of submissiveness. I.e., foreground fox is saying "hey - when you're done - I'd, ya know... like a sniff too, ya know..."

On night 2, this brownish black bear showed to also enjoy the scents of the scene. Perhaps this is the brute that bear-handled the camera? That grin seems to foreshadow such mischief...

And, on night 3, this sleek bob strutted through...

And that's all she wrote. After that the cam stared into the sky, and the eneloops slowly died.

But I'm definitely gonna give this spot another try.

This Tehachapi mystery needs a sequel.

====

References:

The Nature of a Man (this blog) - posts about cam trapping in the Tehachapis

==========

Return to the Bat Cave

2011-07-30T17:00:00.000-07:00

Aside from trapping small, crawly mammals, I'm also interesting in the kind that fly - bats.

And, I'd also like to move the cam trapping ball forward on them. I know perfect photos of flying bats can be captured - the amazing Michael Durham does it with his eyes closed. But, I'd like to see if it can be refined using $200 homebrew cam traps, instead of $2,000+ pro setups. I've seen the Codge show some success, so thought I'd give it a go too.

Thus, once the bats returned to the bat cave down in the Tehachapis, I set another cam.

Here's the few serendipity shots it caught. Nothing good, but showing some potential. I say "serendipity" because most are photographed somewhat incidentally - the photographed bat happens to be in the scene 2 seconds or so after a bat or rodent triggered the waking of the cam trap. The cam is way too slow for direct real-time photography, so density or frequency of bats is a must if you hope to have one in the scene when the shutter finally snaps.

In this case, the mouth of a bat cave, as they're coming and going.

These first 3 shots seem to be a Myotis (thanks Codger for your help). Might just be Myotis californicus, the California Myotis. But, it could be Myotis ciliolabrum, the Western Small-footed Myotis. Like the Codge, I lean towards ciliolabrum - a Species of Special Concern in CA.

Buffy body, dark wings and mask, and medium ears suggest Myotis ciliolabrum

Side of what I think is the same species

Butt shot of what I think is the same species

This might be the same Myotis species too, but the head looks rustier, and the ears smaller:

Perhaps a different species? Body looks pale, head rusty and ears small and dark

This last lame pic seems to definitely be a different, perhaps 3rd species. Maybe a long-eared bat, such as Myotis evotis, the Long-eared Myotis, or Corynorhinus townsendii, Townsend's Big-eared Bat - both are also Species of Special Concern and range into the Tehachapis.

Bat that appears to be brown all over with big ears

The technique definitely needs a lot more work.

But as I said, it shows some potential.

====

References:

Camera Trap Codger - Night Roost
Camera Trap Codger - Poison Water Guzzlers - Predators
Camera Trap Codger - Spooks in the Rock Pile
Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History - Townsend's Big-eared Bat
Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History - California Myotis
Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History - Western Small-footed Myotis
Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History - Long-eared Myotis
Michael Durham Photography - Bats / (also on flickr)
California Department of Fish & Game - Species of Special Concern
The Nature of a Man (this blog) - The Bat Cave

==========

Cirque de No Soleil

2011-07-26T13:47:00.000-07:00

Regular readers of my musings may remember that one of the personal projects I've undertaken, as an apprentice cam trapper, is to refine my skills and technique for getting micro mammals - the little warm fuzzies that most people just refer to as "eeeek - kill it!!!!"

Yes, rats and mice. But, more specifically, the wonderful panoply of gnawing natives we have here in California - the deer mice, jumping mice and pocketmice, the woodrats and kangaroo rats, and even the voles, moles and shrews.

And, extra more specifically, I want to be able to consistently photograph them well enough to determine their species, and hopefully the different individuals within a scene/set.

Several great rationalizations I use for this project:

- I like the little critters, and think they deserve some love and attention. It's a hard life sneaking around at night, spreading seeds all over, and then ending up the cornerstone food and livelihood for a local flying or fleet-of-foot predator.

- I think it could be an interesting complement to "classical" small mammal trapping survey methods that use buckets and drift nets, and/or sherman live traps. While you don't get weight or sex or population density, it has potential for pure presence/absence detection, and is much easier to manage - you don't have to worry about the animal's safety and health, nor set your traps at sunset, and check at sunrise, which can be really tough in remote areas.

- It works well with "short sets" - a term I use for sets of 1-3 days/nights. Such as during a weekend camping trip. Put out a few seeds where you see signs of activity, and you'll generally get shots of the local Rodentia in a day or 2. You don't need to leave the cam out for a month.

So, here's some short set shots of 5 species, from various places, using my Pentax 8 and 10 mega pixel homebrew cam traps. They include a variety of experimental tweaks, such as: scene setup, distance to scene, height of cam, zoom use, and adjustment of exposure value.

First, a couple I just caught near Mono Lake:

Desert Woodrat, Neotoma bryanti, near Mono Lake

Dark Kangaroo Mouse, Microdipodops megacephalus, near Mono Lake

The above cute k-mouse should not be confused with k-rats, of course...

Heermann's Kangaroo Rat, Dipodomys heermanni, on the Chimineas Ranch

Sometimes you can easily tell individuals apart. These 2 are obviously different woodrats - the first the midden owner (with ear notches), and the second a visitor, and perhaps relative:

Big-eared Woodrat, Neotoma macrotis (formerly fuscipes), near Mariposa

Good clear close ups of mice allow you to compare tail and body lengths - key characters for determining many species. Sometimes you even get a showoff that makes it quite easy:

Juvenile Pinyon Mouse, Peromyscus truei, in perfect pike - with
sunflower seed in mouth for extra degree of difficulty

Adult Pinyon Mouse, Peromyscus truei, with big ears and buff stripe on side

Getting multiple species at a single set can be helpful for determining relative size and proportions, and thus species. Or, you can include a ruler in the scene. :)

Big-eared Woodrat, Neotoma macrotis (formerly fuscipes), near Mariposa

Juvenile Pinyon Mouse, Peromyscus truei, w/o buff stripe, near Mariposa

I seem to be becoming a better mouse trap.

====

References:

randomtruth on flickr - my set of small mammal trapping "short set" photos
The Nature of a Man (this blog) - The Artist Formerly Known as Lepida
The Nature of a Man (this blog) - Mama Homemaker

==========

Herp Holiday 2011

2011-07-12T17:53:00.000-07:00

When I returned home from our May herp holiday in the east Mojave, I thought about writing a post to showcase the gang's incredible finds.

But there were so many, I couldn't figure out where to start.

17 herp species - 16 reptiles and an amphib - in 3 days. 10 of the species first timers for me, and a few of those total lifelisters.

But, as I've now learned this year - go to the Mojave with a bunch of plant geeks, and you see more amazing flora than you'd ever think could exist in a desert.

Go to the Mojave with a bunch of herpers, and...

Well - you be the judge.

Here's what we saw...

Our main camp was in the Granite Mountains

The beautiful Kelso Dunes was also a hot spot (argh - sorry)

Desert lawnmower with creosote-stained lips

We admired 3 of these gentle souls from telephoto distance. As a threatened species,
it's a must to give them that respect

The Prey - Fringe-toed Lizard, Uma scoparia

The Predator - Leopard Lizard, Gambelia wislizenii

Chuckwalla, Sauromalus obesus, a handsome herbivore

Another grazer - Desert Iguana, Dipsosaurus dorsalis

Beauty Desert Horned Lizard, Phrynosoma platyrhinos

Tiny Desert Night Lizard, Xantusia vigilis

Yellow-backed Spiny Lizard, Sceloporus uniformis, just before he ravaged my finger

Mr. Attitude: Western Banded Gecko, Coleonyx variegatus

Gilbert's Skink, Plestiodon gilberti, in full mating cheekiness

The five slithers...

Glossy Snake, Arizona elegans

Lovely Long-nosed Snake, Rhinocheilus lecontei

Shovel-nosed Snakes, Chionactis occipitalis - 2 color morphs (white is uncommon)

Mojave Green Rattlesnake, Crotalus scutulatus

Sidewinder, Crotalus cerastes

And, the too cute phib we were quite surprised to find...

Red-spotted Toad, Bufo punctatus

Incredible, huh?

Thanks again Jake, John, Sean and Dave - that was a tour worth far more than the cost.

Can I book a seat on next year's trip yet?

Here's the full set of 162 photos, with many more of each species, and all the wildflowers.

==

References:

Camera Trapping Campus - Camera Trapping Campus
Camera Trapping Campus - Phibs in the Desert

==========

The Artist Formerly Known as Lepida

2011-07-04T08:37:00.000-07:00

Speaking of woodrats...

While on an amazing east Mojave herping trip with my friends at Camera Trapping Campus, we decided to try some single night sets to see if we could get good pics of the region's Rodentia.

Which, as any Cali camera trapper who does his research will know, includes woodrats. In this case the desert woodrat, formerly called Neotoma lepida, and now, through the magic of molecular biology and classification condensing, called Neotoma bryanti.

And I like woodrats.

Landscape around our camp site in the east Mojave's New York Mountains

Cam trap set for woodrats (and k-rats)

Similar to the big-eared woodrat, Neotoma macrotis, and the dusky-footed woodrat, Neotoma fuscipes, desert woodrats live solo in fortress-like middens they build in almost any crack, crevice or hidey hole they can find.

And, while these species' ranges can often overlap, with good cam traps you can actually tell them apart in photos. Compared to macrotis, Neotoma bryanti are smaller, more compact, lighter and grayer in color, and they have a two-tone tail. But they're still wonderfully cute, of course.

Here's a desert woodrat (or 2) cleaning up the sunflower seeds I sprinkled in the scene:

Midden design is another key difference between the species. And, like macrotis, desert woodrat's dens show how resourceful and artistic they are. But, while macrotis are fans of sticks and leaves, bryanti collect stones, cacti and yucca for their midden art.

Midden in rock jumble with fortress of chamise branches, small rocks, coyote turds
and cow pies, and even a couple of shotgun shells

Midden in Yucca whipplei, made from rocks, chamise and dried yucca stalks

Cave midden with fortress made just of small rocks

Middens are often used by multiple generations, and aside from protection from predators,
they also regulate heat and humidity, and repel rain.

Here's 3 pics of a terrific crevice midden we found in the Granite Mountains in the east Mojave. It appears to be very old - as you can see by the many, many layers of built-up debris...

Large (left) end of rock crevice midden filled with cholla and sage brush

Smaller end of crevice - what was once a 12" high crack is now 3/4 filled in

Layers of built-up poop and plant matter, along with fresh juniper twigs

The artist formerly known as lepida - gotta love 'em.

====
References:

Camera Trapping Campus - In the Land of Chollas
The Nature of a Man - Mama Homemaker
Wikipedia - Neotoma lepida

==========

Beauts and Beasts of Calico Spring

2011-06-26T12:25:00.000-07:00

On the south side of a sizable Tehachapi peak, that seems to be riddled with old limestone deposits, caves, and mines, is a natural seep I call Calico Spring.

I chose the name because these beauties can be found at the bases of its boulders:

Calico Monkeyflowers, Mimulus pictus - a rare, endemic species
of the southern Sierra Nevada and northern Tehachapis

In April, while visiting to do a little photo-worshiping of these CNPS List 1B.2 funky monkeys, I noticed, without surprise, that above the spring is an animal track leading down to it.

I.e., a good spot for a cam trap.

Path between trees and boulders down to calico spring

The set caught our first Tehachapi coyote. We've known they're around - we see and hear them. But, we hadn't yet gotten them on the cams. Guessing that means the locals have some well-established wariness of humans - perhaps from past hunting and trapping.

Coyote smelling its way into the scene

A bobcat also came down the path and stopped for a good whiff.

Bobcat sniffing the scent mark

And several big-eared woodrats, Neotoma macrotis, scurried the boulders. Based on size, tails and fur color, I think there's 3 individuals, maybe 4, in these four pics. Although, I would add that the last one looks a little desert woodrat-ish to me too, and may very well be.

They're also likely what the 'yote and bob were hunting.

If the seep water flows into summer, we may have to try this spot again.

Plus, it'll give me an excuse to see if any other beauts are hiding amoung the boulders.

:)

====
References:

calflora.org - Mimulus pictus
California Native Plant Society (CNPS) - CNPS rare plant ranking system
IUCN - Big-eared woodrat range map
The Nature of a Man (this blog) - posts on cam trapping the Tehachapis

==========

Thrills on Gooseberry Hill

2011-06-20T12:27:00.000-07:00

Tehachapi set #12 was next to an Oak Gooseberry, Ribes quercetorum.

Oak Gooseberry, Ribes quercetorum, in bloom at the time

Like ceanothus, it's a common shrub of the area.

It's also a key "safe zone" plant for small ground foraging mammals and birds, such as rabbits, squirrels, voles, mice, woodrats, k-rats, quail, thrashers, towhees... All foragers that spread seeds around, and help cultivate healthy ecosystems.

And, these small critters themselves are targets for many mid-size predators: badgers, weasels, skunks, ringtails, bobcats, foxes, coyotes... Not to mention owls, hawks, eagles, snakes...

I.e., w/o these kinds of dense hides, the animal count drops dramatically.

Saw an example of this first hand not long back. A friend up near Mariposa asked me why his property didn't seem to have the same diversity of mammals and birds we were seeing on our family property, which is close by. Deer came though, and turkeys, but not a lot of small mammals, like foxes and bobcats or chipmunks. And even quail rarely poked about.

His land, unlike ours, had been mostly cleared of all the "brush" - the mid-size shrubs and bushes, such as gooseberry, ceanothus, manzanita, toyon, coffeeberry and like - leaving mostly just the large trees, and grasses & wildflowers.

Park-setting pretty, but no cover, no animals.

Set #12 also shows this first hand.

Set #12 - the gooseberry and ceanothus trail

Like most of the sets in the Tehachapis, the local always-on-the-prowl gray foxes and bobcat showed up for sniffs and sprays:

Gray fox coming in for a sniff of the scent mark rocks

Bobcat marking rock

Some unidentified flying k-rats (UFKs) were also caught:

Unidentified Flying K-rat at 8:12pm

UFK zipping through scene

UFK coming in for landing on rock

Our best guess: they're hearing the camera turn on, and are jumping just as the flash goes off.

A couple of other Rodentia stopped by the scene too:

Poser Merriam's Chipmunk, Tamias merriami

Curious Cal Ground Squirrel, Spermophilus beecheyi

And last, ground foraging birds also came out of the gooseberry to work the trail:

A California Thrasher, Toxostoma rediviva, giving the cam a look-see

Two Thrashers squawking

American Robin, Turdus migratorius

Spotted Towhee, Pipilo maculatus

Biodiversity by (and by) bushes. Cool.

====
References:

The Nature of a Man (this blog) - posts on cam trapping the Tehachapis

==========

Lynx rufus Redux

2011-06-10T08:21:00.000-07:00

Remember that Santa Cruz Mtns bobcat that spritzed the rock & rubbed the cam in Smell-o-vision?

Seems bob wanted a curtain call...

Bobcat smelling a rock

Coming to check out camera after marking the rock

"Oh - you again"

This set was only about 1/4 mile from the Smell-o-vision set, so it's not surprising that we caught the same kitty. Does suggest that it's a resident though, which is nice to see.

A couple of lady black-tails stopped to marvel at my homebrew too...

Deer in the headlights

"Is this thing on?"

And, this deep woods set caught the first raccoons in the area. Funny, but raccoons are much more common in the cities and 'burbs among the houses than in the parks. There's a lot more water and food options living with us. And fewer predators.

These coons probably trundle this trail because there's a small creek nearby that runs for a large part of the year. They just can't resist the call of a babbling brook...

Young raccoon

Older raccoon

This location also appears to be a front in the gray squirrel species reshuffling that is currently underway in much of western California.

As mentioned previously, western grays are on the decline in the bay area, and easterns are taking over - first the cities and suburbs, and now out into the parks and open spaces.

Non-native eastern gray squirrel, Sciurus carolinensis

Native western gray squirrel, Sciurus griseus

I wonder how long it takes for easterns to drive out the westerns in a given area? And, is it only because they're more aggressive, or are there other factors? Do they have more young? Are they better at avoiding predators?

Hmmmm...

====
References:

The Nature of a Man (this blog) - Smell-o-vision
The Nature of a Man (this blog) - posts on cam trapping the Santa Cruz Mountains

==========

An Owl That's No Pussycat

2011-06-02T08:01:00.000-07:00

After our terrific Codger-led success calling 'n cam trapping a fiesty great horned owl at the Chimineas Ranch - with just a plastic owl and my iphone - I thought I'd try the trick again and check out the GHOs around our family lodge near Mariposa, CA. We see and hear great horned, and know they nest in the woods around the house, but don't know specifically where.

iOwl - my handy owl caller

So, I set the scene in a clearing where we've seen them before - at the corner of two trails named main street and lakeside cut. I stuck our old plastic owl (doesn't every farm have one?) on the end of a broken branch, and wedged it into a cluster of winter-fallen limbs - anchored just well enough to not be a casual pushover. Then I clamped the cam trap to a nearby branch, and hid the iphone-driven caller on the ground, between the cam and fake GHO:

Faux owl and my new Pentax 10 mega pixel homebrew cam trap. The iphone and speaker are hidden on the ground between and below

The view from the cam trap camera at 7:59pm

It didn't take but 16 minutes of calling after I left the scene before our local territory holder answered the challenge and downed the plastic intruder:

8:15pm - 16 minutes later - no more fake owl

Our victor returned after 13 minutes more for a photo, and to give the fallen foe a "What? You want another piece o' me?" stare down for still hooting:

8:28pm - the "How-dare!" glare

And, much like at Chim, the repeated calling afterward from the hidden iphone definitely caused some serious confusion, consternation and frustration.

But, it also allowed us to get a solid look at this beautiful death-from-above beast, as it kept returning to inspect the iphone, and search the darkness for the ghost competitor-owl...

Notice - our local búho has 1/2 an ear tuft on one side. Perhaps from fighting? We've seen the GHOs get in scraps with the local red-shouldered hawk from time-to-time. Also with Steller's jays.

The position of this last shot seems to be a calling posture. Tail up, wings back, neck out... But Half-Horned's beak isn't open. Hmmm...

Great horned calling?

I don't know if the owl is male or female. The male Bubo virginianus usually defend the territory. We do know there's a resident mom around - we enjoyed one of her branchers back in 2008 - at this very same corner-in-the-woods.

And like that, poof. Half-Horned was gone.

What a stunner.

I mighta gotten lucky my iphone was there, and whole, the next morning.

How many bites does it take to get to the center of an iphone?

====
References:

Camera Trap Codger - Back to the ranch
My flickr account - photos of brancher great horned owl

==========

Still Life on Mossy Log

2011-05-24T08:13:00.000-07:00

What rolls down stairs alone or in pairs and over your neighbor's dog?
What's great for a snack and fits on your back?
It's Log, Log, Log...
It's Log, Log, it's big, it's heavy, it's wood.
It's Log, Log, it's better than bad, it's good.
Everyone wants a Log! You're gonna love it, Log!
Come on and get your Log! Everyone needs a Log!

- Log, a fake commercial from Ren & Stimpy

As noted before, sideways trees and fallen logs make good sets. Not only can they be quite photogenic, but as interesting features of the landscape, they often draw in animals looking for food and shelter. I.e., if they attract your curiosity, you can bet they'll do the same for wildlife.

Up in Mariposa County, on our family's property, is just such a charismatic log. It rests by the seasonal creek, under a dense canopy of canyon live oaks and pondy pines...

I set the cam's post in one of the cracks along the log, and dabbed a touch of scentmark about 10 feet down from it. The rub-happy gray fox found it first, of course.

Brush mice and big-eared woodrats trekked the log too. Perhaps to go for water.

This dainty, dilated bobcat also jumped up to check out the log and camera. Maybe looking for those mice and woodrats. Not sure the white flash excited her much, though - she showed that same "ouch - bright light" cringe that we get when someone surprises us with a flash in the face.

A gray squirrel, an opossum and some wild turkeys rounded out the show.

Log, Log, it's better than bad, it's good.

====

References:

Wikipedia - The Ren & Stimpy Show
IMDb - The Ren & Stimpy Show
Youtube - Log
The Nature of a Man (this blog) - The Lazy Willow
The Nature of a Man (this blog) - California Bayous
The Nature of a Man (this blog) - Backwater Bassariscus

==========

Badger, Badger, Badger, Badger

2011-05-19T08:28:00.000-07:00

Badger, badger, badger, badger, mushroom, mushroom, snake!

Besides the too-cute coyote pups, I recently had another case of set serendipity in the Santa Cruz Mountains when a fine looking American Badger, Taxidea taxus, trundled into a scene.

The stealthy infrared-flash homebrew hack caught 4 photos at 8pm:

A Species of Special Concern in California, badgers are seldom seen in the Santa Cruz Mountains. With ground squirrels a top food source, they're mostly found inland, in Cali's large, open grasslands. And even out there, their populations are spotty.

So, an interesting catch and data point. Hopefully we'll see more.

But, in conclusion...

====

References:

Wikipedia - American Badger
California Department of Fish & Game - Species of Special Concern
Weebl's Stuff - Badgers
Wikipedia - Badger, Badger, Badger

==========

Coyote Cute - The Day After

2011-05-15T18:57:00.000-07:00

You didn't really think those 14 photos were all of the 917 that I'd post, did you?

The true test of coyote cuteness is, of course, how the target of your late night affections looks the next morning and day.

Since the camera on the den lasted til 4 in afternoon, we can now apply that test.

Yep - still sweet as bee pollen.

====

References:

The Nature of a Man (this blog) - Coyote Cute

==========

Coyote Cute

2011-05-13T17:08:00.000-07:00

"And when the man showed the world the photos of the seven beautiful coyote puppies, the humans never needlessly killed a coyote ever, ever again."

"The end."

"Even the ones that accidentally got into the garbage, mommy??"

"Yes, even the ones that accidentally got into the garbage, son. Now you 7 go outside and play."

==

We quietly set the cam trap on the culvert den at near 5pm, but the puppies didn't start seriously piling out until around 7, as it was getting dark.

21 hours later, the batteries in the camera were dead. And probably warm to the touch.

What I foolishly thought would be a daily diary of a coyote family growing up over several weeks, turned into 917 photos of puppies playing and playing and playing and playing. And playing.

But, I'm not complaining a bit. Have you seen anything cuter???

They can fall asleep on my arm any time. Might even let them chew on it a little.

====

References:

Urban Dictionary - Coyote Ugly

==========

Smell-o-vision

2011-05-04T14:14:00.000-07:00

It's a pretty well known fact that in the world of sniffers, us humans are seriously pathetic.

We can't smell sh@t. Not like most mammals.

We just aren't able to discern the dozens of details that are there for the well-developed nose to know. The who, what, when and why of each scent. To, basically, be able to sniff back into the recent history of wherever you are, and know what came and went before you.

Here's two 5-photo series from a set in the Santa Cruz Mountains that show this ability in spades.

The first five are of a cutey bobcat that was caught early one morning while spraying a rock, and then showed its fear of the camera by doing some cheek rubs on it. Yet another behavior that bobs, house kitties, and even cougars do to lay down and pickup scents.

3 days and 4 hours later, this nubby-horned buck came poking along the trail. Notice the spot he sniffs and how he reacts...

Smell-o-vision. Amazing.

====

References:

Wikipedia - Spraying (scent marking)

==========

Backwater Bassariscus

2011-04-23T16:06:00.000-07:00

Ringtail, ring-tailed cat, miner's cat, civet cat, and Bassariscus astutus.

All are noms for the marvelous lifelister I caught while cam trapping with the Codger's wise guidance (or is that wise-guy dance? Hmmmm...).

An oft-elusive raccoon-relative of rocky river canyons, one might not guess ringtails would be found in Sac Valley wetlands. But they are - the Sacto backwaters have become a home.

Perhaps it's because their infamous haven, Sutter Buttes, is nearby. Or, maybe it's the heaps of yummy year-round forage for them in the dense woods and waterways (small rodents, insects, fruits, berries, birds, eggs...).

Whatever their reason for residence, places that make ringtails happy make us Cali-mammal-huggers happy. The seldom-seen ringer is a Fully Protected Species in California, with dwindling habitat and pocket-populations, and thus a species in need of such sanctuaries.

But, instead of waxing all Wikipedia, I'll just offer up these shots to give you a glimpse into the amazing lemur-like coolness, and curious, cute quickness, of the Bassariscus that visited the muddy rootball and late-night latrine of my Sac Valley set:

A good first catch of ringtail. And given their character, I might never get enough.

====

References:

The Nature of a Man (this blog) - California Bayous
Camera Trap Codger - posts on ringtails
Wikipedia - Ring-tailed Cat
Wikipedia - Sutter Buttes

==========

California Bayous

2011-04-20T18:35:00.000-07:00

Some years back, a few friends and I took a Louisiana bayou tour just outside of New Orleans. It was cheesy, but fun. Shared cheese often is.

Aside from the camaraderie, the best part of the cruise wasn't actually the scenery and wildlife - it was the storytelling, deep voice, and gravelly accent of the character Cajun man that gave us the tour. For us, he made the cruise.

"Down here on da bayou, ya got yore possum, yore raccoon, yore squirrel, rabbit 'n rat."

"Or, as we call 'em - da weekday dinnars."

Serious local flavor.

Back on December 2nd, Codger and I started a little wetland cam trapping in the Sacramento Valley that reminded me of that day on the bayou. Maybe it was all the mosquitoes.

Tree and shrub shrouded waterways

Deep, dense canopy and understory

In a tangle of pokeweed, blackberries and poison oak, I set a cam on a large fallen tree.

The tangle where my cam trap was set

The eroding, muddy rootball of the downed-tree was about 4 feet off the ground, and - in a dent in the dirt - had a midsize-mammal latrine on it. Seemed the perfect spot.

As you've likely learned from the Codger and Camera U, we didn't know at the time how fortuitous that 4 feet of clearance would be for my cam.

It survived the December deluges, and ran until the batteries died, taking 273 pics.

And, much like the bayou, it got yore possum, yore raccoon, yore squirrel, rabbit 'n rat.

And, since it's a latrine, it got yore possum and raccoon pooping too.

Plus, yore wet possum sniffin' dem scats.

Of these characters, the cottontail is actually a bit odd. What's it doing up on a downed tree? Even the Codge was perplexed by the behavior.

Wild turkey, spotted towhee and hermit thrush also dropped in - 3 birds you might too see in the backwoods of Louisiana.

Last - this cam also caught me an elusive wishlister that we had heard was around, and the wise Codger predicted I'd get - yet I still almost didn't believe when I saw it.

One that definitely ain't found down on da bayou...

:)

====

References:

Camera Trap Codger - Camera U's final gift

==========

The Cautious Cougar

2011-04-15T18:31:00.000-07:00

An old, well-loved horse had died down in the Tehachapis, and in the fashion of ranches, the carcass was taken out to a "respectful distance" to be returned to nature.

By the time we happened by, the clean up was well underway, but we still wanted to set a cam to see who the late mourners might be.

Unfortunately, all we had was a low-qual Moultrie trail cam. But they do video, so we set it for that, and figured we'd pretty much get lots o' grainy vids of vultures by day 'n coyotes by night.

Camera set on the late horse

Alas, all we really caught was curious cattle and cattle dogs. And the cattle quickly knocked the cam around until it was pointing at nothing but rocks and ground.

However...

As you can see below, we did get one short video that's fun and educational.

Seems kitty, who came up from the creek (stage right in scene), didn't like the smell of the humans and dogs, and decided to exit the scene cautiously yet quickly...

Probably not a bad quality to have in mountain lions.

That, and a taste ONLY for deer...

:)

====

References:

The Nature of a Man (this blog) - posts on cam trapping the Tehachapis

========

Marauders at the Mini Mine

2011-04-11T08:10:00.000-07:00

As we just saw, those sibling black bears are really getting around.

Here's the story of a 3rd location, and another adventure in camera trapping...

Over a mile up the creek from where we first saw Chocolate 'n Sable, and not quite 3 from The Lazy Willow, there's a notch in the hillside, and a mini mine, that appears to be in limestone.

It's about 3-foot high and 4-foot wide, and I have no idea how far it goes back - being crawling height, we didn't much wanna sort it out during bear denning season.

But us cam trappers love mines and caves and nooks and such. They attract cool critters, and can yield interesting, photogenic scenes.

So, we couldn't help but set a cam - outside, pointing out - to see what might come in or out:

Camera near entrance to mini mine

In the case of this mine, our "cool critters" turned out to be the sibling bears, and our "interesting, photogenic scene" the rock hillside, as the bears quickly had their way with the camera...

Blasted cute bears.

The sequence kinda suggests they may have come out of the mine, but that could just be a happenstance of trigger timing.

Regardless, we're definitely gonna have to set this mini mine again.

But next time with a much sturdier post.

Haven't I said that before?

====

References:

The Nature of a Man (this blog) - The Lazy Willow
The Nature of a Man (this blog) - The Meek and the Mighty
The Nature of a Man (this blog) - posts on cam trapping the Tehachapis

==========

The Lazy Willow

2011-04-07T14:45:00.000-07:00

Since there's little that can follow that Wowcat, I won't even try.

Instead, we'll move back to the usual suspects - black bears and gray foxes.

But this time with tricks!

Well, not really. But, a little bit.

Down the crick and canyon from our Tehachapan glug, glug set, there's a willow that fell long ago, yet continued to grow. This lazy ole willow seems to have wanted some attention, because it chose the creek-side animal path to lie down across.

And, by the worn track in the grass, the critters are fine with it.

They just seem to howdy and hop over old willow.

So, we set a cam on the scene to see who the bold might be.

We also dabbed scent on the willow, in hopes the crossers might pause and climb for a sniff.

And, as mentioned - like many of our Tehachapi sets - the gray foxes and black bears were not camera shy, or even willow shy.

The grays in particular had no problem tip-toeing up the willow. Being a hooked-claw fox that can actually climb less lazy trees, that's not surprising though. But still terribly cute.

I'm glad we're seeing multiple, healthy-looking gray foxes at each set. They can be a bit of an indicator species for eco-system impacts/changes. Up in the Bay Area, in the Santa Cruz Mountains, they seem to be in decline as humans encroach, and coyotes kill and out-compete them. The eastern red fox also seems to be moving in on them in some regions of California.

Seeing these 2 curious bears at multiple sets is also great, but proving to be a bit tricky as they play with and move our cams, and once again get them water-spotty from their fun in the creek.

Chocolate was first to the scene for a whiff 'n sniff, but sibling Sable wasn't too far behind...

Note that the small, spring-fed drainage, where we caught our clockwork cougar, and met these mighty sibs, is about 2 miles by road and easy-travel path from this lazy willow.

So these 2 are definitely getting around. And, we're not done with them in this round of sets...

Btw - data points such as these can start to give a sense of local bear ranges, and later maybe even an estimate of the regional bear population.

Woohoo! Science!

====

References:

The Nature of a Man (this blog) - The Meek and the Mighty
The Nature of a Man (this blog) - The Clockwork Cougar
The Nature of a Man (this blog) - posts of cam trapping in the Tehachapis

==========

Cool Cat #3 - The Wowcat

2011-04-02T07:36:00.000-07:00

Cool cat número tres was quite a wow when we saw the pic on the 'puter.

Kinda photo that really jumps out at ya, and tickles our fear-of-the-monster-in-the-night genes.

And, one that also screams for a caption contest.

To me, this lion's posture is saying the same thing as that darling spotted skunk's:

"Don't make me use this..!"

The photo also really shows the power of white-flashing, auto-focusing and auto-adjusting homebrews. Checkity-check this tight crop - you can count kitty's whiskers:

And those ear notches and nose scars - badass.

Btw - don't you go thinking that cougars are indifferent to cam traps - this puma stopped for several shoulder shots as it sniffed and rubbed the camera. Here's one:

Maybe memorizing my scent for a future hunt? Hmmm... :)

8 critter photos and 176 false triggers. And those 8 gave us bobcat, polecat and wowcat.

Lucky set, and 3 very cool cats.

====

References:

The Nature of a Man (this blog) - Cool Cat #2 - The Polecat
The Nature of a Man (this blog) - 3 Cool Cats
The Nature of a Man (this blog) - posts on cam trapping in the Tehachapis

==========

Cool Cat #2 - The Polecat

2011-03-30T18:58:00.000-07:00

11 days and 148 false-trigger photos after the bobcat stare-down, two more cool cats strutted through the scene. One at 3:40am, and the other in the evening at near 7pm.

Similar to bob's alert-and-ready-to-run stance, the follow-on 2 cat visits both give us a sense of the defensive postures of each species.

The first of the two was a little 'ole polecat. In this case the wonderful western spotted skunk, Spilogale gracilis - both going and coming:

Spotted skunk tail going away from camera at 3:40am

Spotted skunk doing handstand to look bigger and more threatening

Btw - the nickname "polecat" likely comes from Pepe's habit of raiding chicken coops. "Pol" coming from the Old French for chicken - "poul" - that we use today in words such as poultry.

It's not a perfect pic - tad blown out, and not quite in focus, but it shows the little skunk's defensive behavior well, and us cam trapper / field biologist types love good behavioral shots.

And if the bobcat's defensive posture was looking alert, suspicious, and ready to run, this lil spotty's message seems to be:

"Don't make me use this..!"

Btw2 - I know I'm taking liberties with the word "cat." But, I'm guessing that based on Codger's recent success, many of y'all might have thought we'd gotten a "miner's cat" - or ringtail.

But alas - no. Not yet.

And that clue probably tells you what our 3rd cool cat was...

:)

====

References:

Wikipedia - Western Spotted Skunk
Dictionary.com - Polecat
The Nature of a Man (this blog) - 3 Cool Cats
The Nature of a Man (this blog) - posts on cam trapping in the Tehachapis

==========

3 Cool Cats

2011-03-27T23:37:00.000-07:00

Driving the washed-out, creek-side road to pick up the first 3 cam traps, such as the one near the big sentinel stones, proved to be the shortest and simplest trek of our latest Tehachapi trip.

Because, the next morning we awoke to snow.

Snow-trimmed Tehachapis

Which meant, that if we wanted the cam that was up the canyon at 4,500 feet, we were going to have to go and fetch it old-skool trapper style.

Aka, on foot.

(no - not snowshoes - it wasn't THAT much snow)

Round trip turned out to be 11 miles, with over 2,500 feet of total ascent.

Took us just under 6 hours.

But, much of it was taken up by my gawking...

Hiking up the snow-speckled canyon

Canyon views

Ancient canyon live oak

More canyon scenery

The camera was not far from the Under the Live Oaks and Serendipity Squirrel set. Just down the canyon a bit, and up the dryer, east-facing slope near a rocky outcrop.

We had wanted to set the cam within the jumble, but couldn't find a solid purchase that didn't leave the camera pointing towards the sun for large chunks of the day.

So, we'd settled for a game track leading down to the rocks from the canyon ridge above:

Pre-snow set - rocky outcrop is behind the point-of view

When we arrived at the now snow-covered scene, we pulled the dead camera, popped in new batteries, and with the usual "I wonder what..??" anticipation, we perused our pelts.

Photos #7 and #8 of the 184 pics were this beauty bobcat in full daylight:

"What are you looking at?"

"I've got my eye and ear on you..."

After that, we started seeing dozens and dozens of the same sunny scene - sans animals.

Damn. False triggers.

Appears that each day from around 11am to 2pm, when the sun was high, something was tripping the infrared, and causing the cam to take lots of photos of nothing:

Invisible animals or false triggers?

Since it's no fun looking at lots of nothing hunched over a little point-and-shoot's screen in the glare of sun and snow, we headed back down the canyon, and home.

Little did we know what was hiding among the nothings - near the end of the 184 photos...

2 more cool cats.

====

References:

The Nature of a Man (this blog) - posts on cam trapping in the Tehachapis

==========

Path to the Sentinel Stones

2011-03-20T08:52:00.000-07:00

The first of our next round of Tehachapi traps was along a main creek, on a game track that wanders up towards a striking cluster of big, jutting sentinel rocks - that don't look half bad in the long afternoon light of a late-Feb day...

Creek basin winding through the Tehachapi Mountains

Sentinel outcrop above creek

We set the cam pointing along the subtle path, where it wraps around an old log, cuts through some tucker oaks and foothill pines, and drops down to the creek. The big rock formation is behind the camera, uphill and beyond a few more trees.

The set between the creek and the big rocks

Big bear was first to the scene. Think this is the 4th individual we've caught so far in the survey. The chocolate & sable siblings, the shaggy Ursine Orson Welles, and this broad-faced biggun. Wonder if this might be the mom of the 2 sibs? They were photographed not far away.

"Hmmm... smelly rock"

A 2nd drive by to check out the camera - that's a big bear

An unhappy-after-the-rain bobcat waddled through too:

"Hey man - can you help a cat out with a heater or blow dryer?"

The annoyed shaking-water-off-legs tip-toe through the wet grass

And a desert cottontail, Sylvilagus audubonii, popped up. The region is a crossover for it and the brush rabbit, Sylvilagus bachmani, so it'll be interesting to see if we get that species too. We'll definitely see many more as it warms up.

Rounded ear tips, color, tail and size show this to be a desert cottontail rabbit

There's also this Peromyscus mouse out foraging (left side of frame) - perhaps looking for that millipede on the right side of the scene?

Based on ears, color and tail length, I'd say probably Pinyon, Peromyscus truei

And - oh my - were there foxes. Many and/or often. 14 of the 25 different animal visits (in 25 days), and 53 out of 74 photos were gray foxes. One character hung around for 11 shots!

Evidently, they are thick in the area (and loving the scent-mark). Makes sense - the place is prime habitat and chockers with berries and small rodents.

Here's 8 of the funner photos...

Gray fox standoff

Dance around smelling it...

Then go in for a nice long rub

Guess it's rock-rolling good

The full back roll

Drunken sailor rub

Swishy snake roll

"What?"

A fine start to our new round of Tehachapi sets. But, as we found out, getting to all of the cameras wouldn't prove to be as easy as it was when we set them weeks earlier...

====

References:

The Nature of a Man (this blog) - posts on cam trapping in the Tehachapis

==========

CSI: Edgewood

2011-03-15T21:05:00.000-07:00

Warning: this post has some gruesome going on...

Over the past year + of removing invasive plants with the amazing Weed Warriors, I've seen some really cool flora and fauna. It's one of the many benefits of spending hours off-trail with experts in a beauty park like Edgewood Preserve.

But, we also occasionally find odd artifacts or animal bones. Sometimes sad, but also interesting, for they give us clues into what goes on in the park when we're not, or weren't, around.

Sometimes it's a deer that mighta been taken by a cougar:

Or, an owl pellet under a perch:

Or, even the discards from some forgotten civilization... :)

7-up bottle from 1945 and the Seven-Up Bottling plant in San Francisco

But, often it's a skull and/or partial set of older bones of a smaller mammal.

Which can make for some fascinating forensical and paleontological mysteries.

Because each has a story to tell.

Here's five that we've found. We think we have them sorted properly, but we're no bone experts, so we'd be happy for any thoughts and expertise y'all might have to offer up.

==

The unfortunate doe deer

Pretty sure this lady black-tailed deer ran into the pointy end of a mountain lion. Her bones were mostly all together, and were secreted away under a thicket - typical of a cougar kill.

She was a younger doe or had an easy-chew diet - her molars have little wear

==

Two raccoons

The first raccoon skull we found has quite a bit of character to it. Moss-covered with well-worn teeth, it looks like it might be an older male coon. The sagittal crest is quite heavy, and the post-orbital processes stout, which are tells for raccoons, and are most prominent in males.

This second skull is a bit tougher, but we're thinking a younger or female raccoon. The sag crest and post-orb processes are there, but not as stout as above. Dentition seems right, too.

==

A bobcat with a limp

Based on the size, shape, and contour of the occipital shield (the back of the skull), and what remains of the orbitals, we think this partial skull and leg bones might be a female bobcat.

It has some raccooniness to it as well, such as those mastoid processes, but no distinct sagittal crest. And, the shape of the cranium and orbits look wrong for striped skunk, or any canids, such as gray foxes, coyotes or domestic dogs. And it's def no domestic cat.

So, that leans us towards bobcat.

The most interesting aspect of this find was this leg bone that's been broken and mostly re-healed, but slightly crooked. Maybe a tibia?

Too bad this bobcat didn't meet these guys: Injured Bobcat Back on the Prowl...

==

Little doggy?

This is the skull we're least sure about. Again, no strong sagittal crest of the raccoons. And, the nose is too short for a fox or coyote, but too long for a bobcat. The teeth are also wrong for a felid (molars). And they're also kinda clean and unworn looking - as if it was eating soft food.

So, we think it might be a domestic dog - perhaps one that had gotten away and met an unfortunate end in or near the park, by car or predator. Or maybe natural causes.

If it was a lil pooch - rest in peace pup. Edgewood Park is a fine place for it.

==

References:

Mark Elbroch - Animal Skulls: A Guide To North American Species
The Nature of a Man (this blog) - A Year in the Trenches
The Nature of a Man (this blog) - A Year of Edgewood Park
San Mateo County Parks - Edgewood Park
Edgewood Weed Warriors
Friends of Edgewood

========

The Bat Cave

2011-03-10T14:57:00.000-08:00

While the bats were away - likely hanging in warmer temps for winter - we set a cam trap.

It was a location we figured would surely yield black bears - but the camera saw none.

However, as usual, foxes showed several times to sniff, rub & roll - and inspect the cam:

Btw - you may notice that the floor of this cave doesn't look much like bats have been inhabiting it for long. Caves such as this one were mined out during WWII for the built-up guano. Seems it's very high in potassium, and thus useful for making 'splody stuff.

A big bobcat also spelunked the cavern (catwoman?):

And 2 rodents scampered through the scene (the hunted?) - a California pocketmouse, Chaetodipus callifornicus, and probably a pinyon mouse (but maybe a deer mouse):

A nice cast of characters - and yet another set that might be fun to try, try again.

When the bats return. :)

Species list after latest round of traps: black bear, cougar, gray fox, bobcat, spotted skunk, Merriam's chipmunk, western gray squirrel, big-eared woodrat, a Cal pocketmouse, an unknown pocketmouse, 2-3 Peromyscus mice species, and valley quail.

====

References:

The Nature of a Man (this blog) - posts on cam trapping in the Tehachapis

==========

Pffzzzt - Glug, Glug

2011-03-06T09:44:00.000-08:00

Our 3rd Tehachapi set was in a narrow, rocky side drainage, that's encrusted with buckeye, juniper, yucca, sage, and desert olive.

We set the post for the cam on a flat under a juniper, pointing up the craggy gauntlet.

Our mind's eyes could perfectly picture ringtails scaling the rocks for water and berries.

Cam pointing up a steep slot canyon

Weeks later, when the heavy rains and flooding hit the area, I thought: "Hmmm... I wonder how that cam under the juniper is doing??"

Come to find out, not well.

Glug, glug

But when we reviewed the photos on the dried-off card, we found that the camera had fritzed and taken 170 continuous flash shots soon after we had set it up. The deluge and drowning had not caused its demise. A short in the wiring had.

I.e., it wasn't mother nature to blame, but the nut at the end of the wrench - me.

Too bad too - couldn't you just see a ringtail climbing down those rocks?

1 of 170 perfect pics without ringtails

====

References:

The Nature of a Man (this blog) - posts on cam trapping in the Tehachapis

=========

Serendipity Squirrel

2011-03-01T06:00:00.000-08:00

In our last episode, Ursine Orson Welles had decided that we needed a change of scene, and turned the camera and its post by 90 degrees. This left it facing a pointblank slope under an oak, with seemingly nothing to see but miner's lettuce and old acorns...

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

==========

Under the Live Oaks

2011-02-24T08:13:00.000-08:00

The siblings weren't the only bären we caught on the camera traps during our first round of survey sets in the Tehachapi Mountains.

High up a north-south canyon, above the snowline, and under a dense canopy of live oaks, our cam also had a black bear encounter. But this older, shaggier beast wanted to be director...

Riparian habitat at 4,500 feet with canyon live oaks, granite boulders, and snow

This cam lasted 4 weeks and 52 photos before water crept inside and caused it
to freak out, shoot 370 continuous shots, and run the batteries to death

Our set critic and wannabe director was the first to the snowy scene:

Good size black bear on the boulders

But, for this opening visit, the bear just checked out the set and left it as-is.

Glad for it too - it allowed the cam to catch these two playful foxes:

Fox on the rocks - grays trying to scale, smell and rub a slippery scent-mark

The next night, Yogi B. DeMille came back for his first go at set adjusting:

Moving the camera...

"How about that?"

"No - back there is better..."

A quick cameo after adjusting the camera back to nearly the original position

Fortunately, bear left the cam at that angle long enough for it to photograph this spotted skunk. Not a great shot, but it's nice to know they're around and not camera shy:

Western spotted skunk, Spilogale gracilis, sniffs through

Then director Ursus Scorsese returned for his curtain call, and final set adjustment:

Checking out the granite boulders one last time

Some more heavy-handed camera adjusting...

Final scene - the slope just to right of the camera

This - btw - is a downside of round camera trap posts - they allow for rotation. The wise Codger, of course, has square posts with spade-shaped ends.

But all is not lost!

It seems this Ursine Orson Welles had an eye for sets...

====

References:

The Nature of a Man (this blog) - The Meek and the Mighty
The Nature of a Man (this blog) - The Clockwork Cougar
The Nature of a Man (this blog) - Trapping the Tehachapis

==========

The Meek and the Mighty

2011-02-21T08:34:00.000-08:00

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. :)

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

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

Big-eared woodrat, Neotoma macrotis

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

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...

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

And inspecting the camera - gotta love that curious gaze

Sibs together sniffing at the scent-mark

Parting ways

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.

====

References:

The Nature of a Man (this blog) - The Clockwork Cougar
The Nature of a Man (this blog) - Trapping the Tehachapis

==========

The Clockwork Cougar

2011-02-18T08:49:00.000-08:00

So, what else wandered down that little side canyon?

After almost 2 months, a whole lot of rain, and some major road work, we returned to the Tehachapis to find out.

Needless to say, we were a little worried about the cams we had put near waterways. The downpours and flash floods of the December deluges had been severe.

Little did we know, but a clue to our luck came to the porch light while we unloaded the car...

Pacific Green Sphinx Moth, Arctonotus lucidus

The next morn we went to collect our cam in the fox-friendly wash first.

For the reset, we'd moved it a short distance to a creek-side trail, where a slope and cottonwood tree created a bit of a gauntlet. Glad for it too - the last location would have definitely drowned.

Reset cam along a small drainage, near a cottonwood

This time the cam had worked properly - lasting 3 weeks and taking 67 photos.

As we huddled 'round the LCD, the first strong character to claim the scene was quite a wow:

With the calm, impenetrable gaze of a Sphinx, this lion casually strolls by

In fact, the pretty Puma concolor had wandered the wash 4 times in 14 days.

Unfortunately, our fair feline came down the watercourse every time, so aside from the above passing glance, all the other cameos were booty views:

Walking away after looking at the cam on December 2nd at 11:23pm

December 8th at 6:27am

December 12th at 8:38pm

December 16th at 4:57pm in full daylight

But those tail-up shots do allow for a little sex speculation. Looking at the cat's "genital spot" (yes, that's a tech term) seems to indicate that she's a she. In males the spot is 4-5" below the anus, and it and the scrotum are usually visible. In females, the spot is only an inch or so below, so usually not visible unless their tail is way up.

Of course, I think it's just one mountain lion, but the December 12th photo does kinda look male, and somewhat different from the others...

So - if a lady lion, is this just a standard hunting circuit, or does she have something special stashed up there? Or, is it more than one cougar, and the cut-through a territorial overlap?

Perhaps we should set there again. But, this time we'll face the camera the other direction.

====

References:

The Nature of a Man (this blog) - Trapping the Tehachapis
E. W. Jameson Jr. and Hans J. Peeters - Mammals of California
Wikipedia - Cougar
Colorado Division of Wildlife - Mountain Lion Education & Identification Course

==========

Trapping the Tehachapis

2011-02-15T09:01:00.000-08:00

Late last year, while on a Chimineas trapping trip with the Codge, an up-and-comer biologist-friend of Craig's joined the gang for a day of rough riding & camera gathering. Seems she wanted to learn a bit of the craft, and even knew an opportunity to do a little survey in the Tehachapis.

The Tehachapi Mountains?

That slash of mid-Cal transverse range, just east of Bakersfield, that separates the San Joaquin and Mojave valleys, and bridges the Sierra Nevada and Pacific Coast Ranges?

That biodiversity hotspot, and natural mammal, bird and bug migration corridor - between, across and through said valleys and mountain ranges?

That crazy geologic region of fighting faults, uplifts, erosion and ancient inland seas?

That amazing crossover point for 5 floristic provinces - Coast Range, San Joaquin Valley, Sierra Nevada, Mojave Desert, and Southwestern Mountains?

That historic area of classic "old west" California mining, ranching, spurs and stage coaches?

Those Tehachapis?

I can't say I played hard to get.

View Larger Map
The Tehachapis are the diagonal range between Highway 58 and Interstate 5, which cross the mountains at the Tehachapi Pass and Tejon Pass (also known as The Grapevine)

To kick-off the survey, our Chimineas bio-bud Craig dashed in one Friday afternoon, and set his homebrew up in little a spring-fed side canyon.

I then joined a few weeks later for a 2nd outing to pick up Craig's cam, and set 4 more.

And, while I could see why the local Kawaiisu people (also called Paiutes) named the range "tihachipia," meaning "hard climb," I thoroughly enjoyed the rugged beauty...

Uplifted by the Garlock & San Andreas faults, and then carved by erosion, the Tehachapis range from 2,000-8,000 feet, and are defined by steep slopes and deep canyons

Seams of exposed geology are common in this land of tectonic traumas

The above seam from another angle - so cool

There's definitely no shortage of rock - gold, silver, tungsten, antimony, barite, zinc and limestone have all been mined in the area

Aside from chaparral and grass-covered slopes, habitats also include Foothill, Jeffrey and Pinyon Pines, Juniper scrub, and oak woodlands of Blue, Tucker, and Canyon Live

The little rain/snow that falls in the Tehachapis (10" of rain per year is typical) flows down into meandering creeks that mostly dry up in the long, hot summers

Definitely an area with amazing animal potential. We could almost smell the ringtails. :)

Pulling Craig's cam trap, we discovered it had battery issues - only capturing 20 photos and lasting a week before dying.

Argh.

But, before we started singing the camera trapper's blues, we viewed the pics and saw that in those 20, there were some great shots, and thus an encouraging beginning to the survey...

As usual in California mountains, gray foxes showed early and often

Markings look slightly different - a second individual?

Head up, back straight, tail pointed... best in show!

A Merriam's chipmunk scampered into the scene to scope out a fat pine cone

This mouse also popped up. Looks Peromyscus, but with a long tail - maybe californicus?

And, a covey of valley quail foraged through the set

Quite acceptable for just a week.

Happy with our start, but wondering what we missed, we decided to reset one of the 4 cams in this same little drainage.

In a few days we'll take a look at the critters that longer-lived reset caught... :)

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References:

Wikipedia - Tehachapi Mountains
Wikipedia - Tejon Pass
Wikipedia - Kawaiisu
The Nature of a Man (this blog) - posts on the Chimineas Ranch

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A Year in the Trenches

2011-02-08T13:28:00.000-08:00

A little over a year ago, I learned that there's a war going on in my neighborhood.

Being fought hand-to-hand, against invaders from overseas.

Or, more precisely, gloved-hand to root, stem, stalk, or trunk. Often with pointy, pokey tools. Occassionally with heavy machinery, or biological and chemical agents.

The foreign enemies we're attempting to turn away?

Non-native, invasive weeds - French and Spanish broom, Italian thistle, English ivy, European olive... And the ultimate evil: Yellow star thistle. Which, I think must be from outer space, because it seems to be able to survive nearly anything, and is about as friendly as a Vermicious Knid.

Our defenders are the Edgewood Weed Warriors, a group of fine folks that beat back the encroachers that would otherwise turn a native-nature preserve, into just another scruffy park. Yes, given the chance, those weeds would happily overrun Edgewood's rare flora and fauna, and create uninviting fields of thistles as far as the eye can see. Or, banks of broom, cotoneaster, eucalyptus and acacia, instead of classic California oaks and chaparral.

The Warriors know, because that's how Edgewood Park was 10 years ago, and how the untended parks in the area look today.

So, I volunteered. And, a yearish later, not only am I still having fun and learning a ton, I can really see that this diligent, dedicated, invasive-fighting infantry makes a surprising difference.

Now, I'm sure many are saying: "weeding? Isn't that one of those tedious chores I avoid doing in my own backyard?"

Well, weeding in a park is much, much different.

Not only are you out with a bunch of great people, but you're about with a bunch of great plants and animals, too. Hundreds of species of wildflowers come and go under your nose. Hawks swoop by. You share morning fields with meadowlarks, jackrabbits and deer. Fascinating insects are revealed. Grasses rustle with glances of harmless lizards, snakes and voles.

But enough descriptions - here's the year in photos:

Year-round, sprinkles or shine, and often with great views

Birds and bunnies "accidentally" drop weed seeds in native bushes

"New species?" "I dunno, how many nutlets do you see?"

Our fearless general protects a patch of chia sage that enjoys hillside exposures

Searching for hidden enemies

Grasslands of... grasses (with scattered nature-geeks)

A doomed, but well-defended cul de sac of yellow star (now sprouting arroyo lupine!)

Sweeping for strays before summer seeds spread

Expanding the war into the enemy's home base near the edge of the park

Summer fields of native coast tarplant - and no nasty yellow star thistle

Dead enemies with seeds are removed for mulching

Fans of the weed warriors often stop to show their appreciation

Battling French broom that's infiltrating the oak woodlands

Caution - spontaneous learning is known to break out. Here, our CNPS Fellow
talks toyon and chaparral plant communities.

Dead Italians show the next season has begun. Learning to ID natives vs. weeds
as sprouts is a handy skill you pick up.

New Year's Eve - just can't get enough

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Some flora & fauna we saw through the year:

Yes, there are still weeds in Edgewood. Filaree, pimpernel, European annual grasses, and some yellow star entrenched on the perimeters... But - the park is about as close to native as you can get these days in California. And, it's very nice to prove that restoration is both possible, and that there's wise warriors willing to take it on, and keep at it.

See ya in the field.

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References:

Edgewood Weed Warriors Website - Edgewood habitat restoration info, sign-up, etc.
Friends of Edgewood Park
Nature of a Man (this blog) - A Year of Edgewood Park
flickr/randomtruth - my flickr set of many photos from Edgewood Park
San Mateo County - Edgewood County Park & Natural Preserve
Wikipedia - Yellow star thistle

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The Tell-Tale Foot

2010-12-28T18:08:00.000-08:00

Back in November I was test driving a newly hacked homebrew camera trap on the birds that visit my suburban backyard fountain, and accidentally left the camera out overnight.

When I pulled it the next day to load my "bird" pics, I was surprised to see a night shot in the mix.

Ah, yes. El bandido de la noche. Caught black-footed.

Corollary to the adage that a pic = 1,000 words: sometimes they're worth 1,000 laughs

My friends recently noted that urban & suburban raccoons have been in the news in the San Francisco Bay Area. Guess people are realizing that they like pet food, can go though doggy doors, and aren't easily scared off. In fact, raccoons are more than happy to square off with Felix and Fido, or even you and me.

They're also clever little critters with great hands and noses that know how to search every nook and cranny, and can climb quite well. In some neighborhoods they've even learned to turn up new sod to get at the earthworms underneath. Impressive.

I truly think folks have no idea how often the little rascals prowl their neighborhood backyards looking for dinner. The above isn't the only time I've gotten them in mine, btw. Seems like every time I leave a camera out overnight for a test...

I imagine that my fountain is probably a bit of a draw, even though there's nothing edible in it. They are riparian beasties, and can't stop their endless quest for tasty water-front snacks.

Here's a shot from the new homebrew of said fountain and birds:

Homebrew camera trap photo of finches on the fountain

And here's some more raccoon shenanigans I've caught on my cam traps:

Raccoon swimming - this set was on the edge of the pond to get ducks

A bandit making fun of humans with his friends... "and they all walk like this... dumpty-dee doo, dumpty-dee doo..."

Little bit of red-eye - or they're working on laser vision

Up in the tree fort - of course

"Eating the frogs in the pond? No - I haven't seen anyone eating frogs..."

Their recent jaunt up the apple tree

Now if I could just get some photos of their cousins, the ringtail.

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References:

Camera Trapping Campus - Hide yo kids, hide yo wife
The SF Appeal - Bay Area Urban Raccoons...

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Fenceline Follow-up

2010-12-19T13:42:00.000-08:00

After the fun I caught with the Reconyx on our Fenceline Hill, I decided to go ahead and set there again, but this time with the Moultrie. It's not as fast as the Reconyx, but can take slightly better photos. Besides, the Reconyx was elsewhere, as are my other homebrew cams.

The results were nothing unusual. Many of the same characters as we saw the month before. No skinny mountain kitty though, and the bear and coyotes didn't come by nearly as often - perhaps because the manzanita berries along the trail are mostly finished.

I do like the camera angle and level - it's low to the ground and pointing downhill, which gives it an eye-level point of view for medium-sized animals coming uphill towards it.

Pointing a camera downhill also helps keep the harsh sun off the front, and can reduce false triggers (pointing uphill can open the face of the camera to the sky and sun).

Morning jack showing off his incredible ears

Mule deer traffic jam. Those are some seriously long spikes!

Ole black bear stops to smell the coyote scat I left out (for just that purpose)

Turkeys ignore the scat - like us, they can't smell much

This dashing western scrub jay posed so nicely that I had to include it

Turkeys look cool in black & white too

A foggy night and a pair of bobcats! Maybe we'll get bobkittens next year

Coyote delivering a retort to the calling card, or freshening it up (if it was his to start)

Gonna have to try a homebrew there next year.

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References:

The Nature of a Man (this blog) - Furry Friends of Fenceline Hill

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Poison Oak Passage

2010-12-09T12:54:00.000-08:00

On a late-October walk around the family property in Mariposa, I saw a coyote dart off-trail, into a thicket, and toward the fence.

Since I'm always trying to figure out the paths the critters take to come and go, I investigated.

The thicket turned out to be mostly poison oak. Wily coyote.

But there was a small path there too - an animal track that led through the now-leafless p.o., down into a gully, and up to a rickety section of fence.

Hmmmm, thought I.

Best put the Reconyx on the job. Very carefully.

Over the next 35 days it took 560 photos. About 450 of a foraging woodrat, 50 of a gray squirrel, and a handful of passable pics of a few of our larger forest friends.

Conclusion: don't pet the coyotes, or hug any bears. Unless you're immune, of course.

The big-eared woodrat spent a lot of time in the poison oak. It might have been foraging berries, which would explain why woodrat nests often have Toxicodendron diversilobum growing around them. Unfortunately, the Reconyx doesn't have the quality needed to see that kinda detail, so the question will have to be answered later.

That wily coyote popped up a couple of times. Here with a nice pose.

Black bears seem to know the passage well. Two different Ursus came through before the first snows dropped. They were likely bulking up on acorns - this was a mast year for many of the black oaks and canyon oaks around the lodge, and the acorns were abundant.

Same bear again a week later? Looks like it to me.

This mid-morning cutie has quite the distinctive marking - a white chest. I've never seen that badge around before, so perhaps he/she is a new or infrequent visitor.

The roving banditos scampered by. One of the young-uns must have heard the camera, and stopped to give it a look-see.

Finally, a few mulie bucks also tip-toed the poison oak passage.

Might have to try that spot again in the spring, and with a better camera.

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References:

The Nature of a Man (this blog) - Gullies Make Good Sets

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Under the Apple Tree

2010-11-16T09:29:00.000-08:00

Don't sit under the apple tree with anyone else but me
Anyone else but me, anyone else but me, no, no, no
Don't sit under the apple tree with anyone else but me
'Til I come marching home...

At the end of August, as the apple trees around the Mariposa lodge just started coming ripe, I noticed that Yogi, our local black bear, might be sneaking in for a few:

Does a bear poop in the woods? Not always - sometimes they poop
next to the house, under the apple tree.

So, I thought I'd put a cam trap up in the big garden apple tree - pointing down the trunk - to see if I could catch her in the act when she climbed up for a snack.

For a little over a week, only mulies came and went - hoping for grounded or low hanging fruits. Here's a couple of the season's still-spotted fawns:

September 3rd, 8am - fawn looking for fruit.

Sept 6th, 7pm - another, younger fawn under tree.

Then the pros arrived.

Masked and silent, they moved in and cased the joint in under 4 minutes.

And left showing no signs of loot.

Sept 9th 8:30pm - here come the raccoons.

4 minutes later, they disappear into the night

After los bandidos, it was just deer again for 12 days and nights.

Sept 10th, 8pm - a pair of lady mule deer sniffing about.

Around the equinox, after I checked and moved the camera slightly, the wild turkeys trotted in. They send 1-2 into the tree to knock down apples for all to then fight over.

Sept 21st, 9:50am - upper most turkey is in the tree.

For the next 2 weeks, more deer, and a few jays and robins showed, but no bear. Guess all the ripe acorns, manzanita, coffeeberry, and honeysuckle around were more than enough for her.

October 4th, 10am, after/during the rain - a doe scores!

But on October 12th and 13th, a surprise predator-opportunist did show:

Oct 13th, 3:45am - coyote hunting apples (but dreaming of lazy, fat fawns).

And while I didn't get the yote eating the apples, I did see the evidence when I walked the trails to pick up the other cams. And by then, most of the apples were well gone.

Oct 21st - one of several apple-bearing coyote scats on the trails.

==

References:

Glenn Miller - Greatest Hits (incl. Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree)

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Furry Friends of Fenceline Hill

2010-11-03T12:16:00.000-07:00

Our little "Fenceline Hill" trail is excellent for cam trapping. Especially in early fall.

A 300-foot incline, it has a fence on the right, and a wall of manzanita on the left.

It's a gauntlet, a funnel, a pinch point - a mini slot canyon.

And in September the manzanita berries come ripe, and thus it becomes both a transit and foraging route. A mini snack canyon.

So, aside from last week's skinny kitty, let's see what else the Reconyx saw on Fenceline Hill during those 32 days...

The black bear went by 5 nights, in 2 clusters, with 2 weeks between (if 1 bear)

Black bears eat manzanita berries, and also acorns, termites, hornet nests, our apples...

The bears are foraging like crazy right now to build bulk for hibernation

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Coyotes came through 12 days/nights - roughly every several days

Coyotes also eat manzanita berries (as well as our fallen apples)

Think the local pair of coyotes had a pair of pups earlier this year, and these 2 shots are one of them - seemingly out playing in the rain

One of the parents, me thinks

Don't you just wanna reach out and give him a scratch behind those ears?

Note how much the ground has changed from the shots a few up

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The wild turkeys are regrouping for winter and came by often - these led by a big male

Turkeys forage everything - berries, seeds, bugs, herps... prob why they're so delicious

A striped skunk came and went a few nights

And this crazy black-tailed jackrabbit wandered around the scene twice

The cam also caught deer, a spotted towhee, a chipmunk and a house cat (orange tabby).

No foxes or bobcats though, which is a bit surprising. The foxes eat the berries too. But both are small enough to slink under the manzanita, so maybe they often go a different way.

Here's the full cast of coming-and-going characters in 142 photos and 52 seconds:

==

References:

The Nature of a Man (this blog) - Puma Tales Post Script

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