My favorite canyon is only 90 acres in size; it’s surrounded by buildings, roads and all the trappings of urbanization. Despite its tiny size and suburban location, it is rich with many species of wild animals and native plants—it is a complex, working eco-system where all the players are interconnected. Three trail cameras faithfully document […]
It isn’t a coincidence that there are a number of small mounds of leaves, twigs and soil grouped in a clearing surrounded by tall redwood trees and oaks. They’re not random; the piles, called community scrapes, were intentionally made by mountain lions. These unobtrusive clumps of forest detritus can be vital for mountain lions to […]
I owe all of you an explanation. For understandable reasons I lost my writing mojo for about six months. Covid-19 didn’t help the situation and neither did the recent devastating fires that caused me, along with thousands of other people to evacuate out of our homes in the mountains. I’m thankful that the gorgeous redwoods […]
Coyote 09M, like others of his species, is extremely smart. He’s beaten the odds and is thriving in a dangerous and competitive environment. 09M’s one of the lucky ones; in fact he’s now the only confirmed living member of his natal family. Despite being highly intelligent and quick learners, only 50% of coyote pups live […]
Adapting for survival The wildlife in the little canyon, like in other open spaces that are squeezed in by urbanization, must adapt and adjust to shrinking habitats that are increasingly fragmented by highways and buildings. Predators, being territorial, need lots of open, wild acreage to live and hunt in. Additionally, some predators, such as mountain […]
Life and Death in the Canyon Despite the canyon being only 93 acres, hemmed in by homes and roads, it’s a complete eco-system where plants and animals are interdependent. The death of one organism means many others will live. The lesson hit home a couple of weeks ago when a small deer was killed by […]
There seems to be less wildlife in the canyon this month. It could be a natural cycle or it might be caused by destruction that is occurring in part of the habitat. Mountain lion This large male puma is a regular visitor to the canyon–he shows up about every two to three months. This time […]
Today’s a sad day. Another mountain lion died, hit by a vehicle not too far from the canyon. I’m worried that the victim may be the big male we’ve been monitoring on the canyon trail since early this year. The one who died tried to cross the freeway at 10:00 Friday night. Perhaps the lion […]
The trail cameras do a great job of documenting the seasonal changes. It’s hot and water is becoming scarcer. August wasn’t as active in the wildlife department as in previous months, but we did film some bobs, Coyote 09M and deer. Along with the reduction in predators, the cameras have only caught a couple of […]
It’s hard to describe the anticipation I felt last summer as we waited for the wildlife cameras to finally catch glimpses of adorable bobcat kittens trailing closely behind their mum. We knew that we would soon see them because a couple of months before the cameras had recorded a resident bobcat going through stages of […]