Tracking Weekend in the Anza Borrego Desert

Last Friday, we headed to the desert for two nights of camping. We did two surveys with the San Diego Tracking Team, one on Saturday, and the other on Sunday.

 Friday afternoon, we hiked across the flats over to Bighorn Canyon where we put out our two trail cams. When we went back for them on Sunday, we found nothing on them. We think there was much more evidence of wildlife down on the flats where we camped.

 This spider hole was lined with webbing and vegetation.

 We still have to figure out this sock-like bird nest with its opening on top.

 Our campsite in Pinyon Wash.

Both nights, this Desert Pocket Mouse scurried around our table and was fascinated by my boots. I was really afraid I might step on it!

 At 7:30 A.M., we met up with fellow members of the San Diego Tracking Team to do a survey of Grapevine Canyon. Data is compiled quarterly for use by different agencies. The survey lasted six hours and covered four sections of the canyon.

The group is an interesting bunch, and we laughed a lot. It was great to be around folks who shared their science knowledge and particular interests.

Kangaroo Rat tracks showing the back two feet from a bipedal hop.

At one point, as we squeezed through some bushes, Gail said to me, "Do you smell that?  I smell urine."  A few second later, someone ahead of us spotted a Mountain Lion track.  It was not very obvious, but this was backed up by a couple more nearby.

I spotted this one later.

After a bit of a rest, we took an evening hike around the area.  Because of the hills, the sun set around 4:00, making for a very long night. The Super Moon, however, lit up the desert sands, and it never got very cold.

 The next morning, we started our survey of the Narrows.  Up on the ridge above was a group of Bighorn Sheep.

Gail got some acclaim for spotting this bighorn skull.  She also found three desert woodrat nests after our group leader said they haven't seen them in this survey area.  Gail has the eye!

When we hiked back to get our cams on Sunday afternoon, we came upon what might be burrows used by badger or kit fox. 

 There were these tracks that might be badger.

You could see the claw striations on the sides of the tunnel.

We saw a number of  Phainopeplas making there distinct "whup" call.

Thanksgiving Day Hike: Caliente Wilderness

Yesterday, Thanksgiving, we did a 12 mile hike in the Caliente Wilderness outside of Warner Springs. This is considered the most remote stretch of the Pacific Crest Trail in San Diego County. Even though it was a picture perfect day, we did not see another person from start to finish.

There were many granitic outcroppings along the way.

This one looked like some fantasy animal.

This area has no sign of humans other than the trail itself.  Even the sound of aircraft was absent.

We loved the boulders!

The elevation gain was 1,700 feet, but fairly level on this stretch.

It was sort of like having our own Joshua Tree N.P. a lot closer to home...

... and our own Stonehenge!

We explored dune-like areas of decomposed granite,  They presented a lot of deer tracks.

Gail models her mono-antler.

An Acorn Woodpecker granary.

Gail spotted this juvenile California Striped Racer next to the trail.

It stayed still for a few pictures, which is uncharacteristic, before streaking off.

We are thankful for this area, its solitude, rock formations, and unlimited areas to explore.

Boden Canyon Cams: Two Lions, Hunters, and Motorcycle

We checked our two cams in Boden Canyon yesterday.  The Stealthcam, set to trigger 6 photos, took over 1,800 photos.  It wasn't the wind blowing branches this time, but rabbits!  More than 1,700 pictures of rabbits!  Apparently there were burrows right in front of the camera, as the rabbits seemed to pop up and down like in the game Whack A Mole.  We did get two mountain lions together, and at least one of them looks like a cub, which would make sense because mountain lions are not social animals.

Unfortunately, we had several days in which hunters passed by, even though the cams were well off the trail. A motorcyclist also purposefully spun his rear wheel to send dirt at our camera.  Motorcycles, bicycles, and dogs off leash are not permitted on this ecological preserve, but there is no enforcement that we've ever seen, and disrespect for the rules. Game bird hunting is allowed, but not deer hunting.

We decided to not leave the cameras out in this area for the next couple of months - just too many people all of a sudden.

Sequence of Two Mountain Lions 

 This one in particular looks cub-like to me.

Three rabbits in this photo.  Unfortunately we ended up with over 1,700 rabbit pictures to have to go through.  Luckily I did, because in that mess was the mountain lion photo capture.

Videos from our other cam about a third of a mile from the above cam

This mountain lion passed by, then seemed to scratch or rub on the camera post from behind.

This illegal motorcyclist purposefully spewing dirt on our cam.

Not sure if this is one or two mountain lions.

Nutmeg Mannikins

This past Tuesday I looked out the bedroom window to see a small flock of six or seven birds feeding in the lawn. I had never seen this bird before, so I grabbed my small camera and got a few shots through the glass.

 They were about the size of House Finches.

It turns out, after consulting my Sibley's, they are exotic finches from Asia.  They were, and are, sold as pets, and escapees in Southern California have established small populations.  It is thought that because they are so social, and stay in tight flocks, they are able to establish these populations rather than just disappear as loners. They are also called Spice Finch, Spotted Munia, and Scaly-breasted Munia. Whatever, they are beautiful birds!

Critter Cams Update

We hiked to our two cams yesterday, as they have been out for the past two weeks up Boden Canyon. We had them positioned about 200 yards apart.  Deer seemed plentiful, but we believe we are seeing some of the same ones over and over. We were surprised to see two men dressed in hunting clothes, but without long guns or bows, approach the cameras. Thankfully, they didn't mess with them.  We have re-positioned the cameras in new spots.

Here are a few of the critter cam highlights:

"What's this thing?"

"Hmmm... it has one eye!"

"I'm out of here!"

Rare intruders into "our" special place.  

"Our" mountain lion making the rounds.  She (we think) seems to pass by about once every week or so. That's about how often they make a deer kill if deer are available.

Four minutes later she passes the video cam.

Watch the deer zoom by in the background.

We wished this striped skunk had shown its face!

Gray fox

 This Virginia opossum showed up twice.

 We had about 350 pictures of deer!  Handsome buck, here.

 Young buck.

This gray squirrel ran back and forth on the same path numerous times.