About Urban Edge Wildlife

About Urban Edge Wildlife

Urban Edge Wildlife is a collection of studies and observations about the behaviors of wildlife living on the fringes of urban and suburban areas in the San Francisco Bay Area. These observations document the interconnectedness of living beings as well as the increasing vulnerability and fragility of the local ecosystem as human expansion fragments habitats and encroaches on the shrinking wild lands.

I’m maintaining trail cameras, documenting and writing about the local wildlife as it adjusts to an increasing human population. Originally my focus was on the local mountain lions and bobcats, but after following individual animals of a variety of species it is clear that there’s a richer story to tell.

While Urban Edge WildLife is about how urbanization is affecting wildlife throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, a specific trail is particularly inspiring. This trail is an animal expressway that accommodates a variety of wildlife, including deer, packrats, coyotes, bobcats, an occasional puma as well as many other surprising residents, including humans. It’s sandwiched in a canyon with homes perched at the rim and it’s hemmed in by roads and businesses. Because the cameras have been stationary for almost two years, I recognize individual animals and am privileged to observe them living their lives as they hunt, mark territory and raise their young. It’s an exciting trail to watch—animals, including apex predators have learned to live and thrive here while most of the humans who walk it are unaware of the rich wildlife around them.

Bobcat family--photo by Marilyn Krieger, CCBC