More Cougar, Fox, and Deer this Week

Yesterday morning, we hiked up to our cam in Boden Canyon to see what we got this past week.  We also took the opportunity to try and get into backpacking shape by loading up our packs for a little stress test.

These are the videos we captured:

Mountain Lion, Saturday, July 29, 2:10 AM.

Mule Deer, Saturday, July 29, 10:53 PM

Gray Fox, Sunday July 30, 4:24 AM

Mule Deer, Tuesday, August 1, 2:21 PM

Mountain Lion, Tuesday, August 1, 6:54 PM

Mountain Lion continued, August 1, 6:54 PM

We came upon this Southern Pacific Rattlesnake warming up on the trail early in the morning.

We repositioned our cam slightly and will leave it for at least a week. To be continued!

Two Weeks of Boden Canyon Trail Cam Videos

We hiked up to our trail cam this morning after leaving it out for two weeks.  Apparently, we picked a good location as we captured deer, turkey, bobcat, mountain lion, gray squirrel, gray fox, and striped skunk.  Unfortunately, partly because of placement and a possibly cheap camera, some of the animals had practically passed by before the camera started.  We re-positioned the camera in a different place so that animals will be in view longer next time - we hope!

The videos below are in the order taken.  Numbers 1, 11, and 12 are the most dramatic.

Mule Deer checks out camera

Wild Turkey

Western Gray Squirrel

Bobcat

Mule Deer

Gray Fox

Mule Deer

Gray Fox

Striped Skunk

Mountain Lion

Mountain Lion

Gray Fox

Stay tuned, the cam is still out there!

Cuyamaca State Park

Yesterday, Gail and I did an all day hike at Cuyamaca State Park. We took the Harvey Moore Trail about 4 miles to Granite Spring, looped around a little peak and then headed off to Dyer Spring to finish off a bigger loop. It was so untouched and beautiful back there, plus we saw no other humans on the whole hike.

Birch Leaf Mountain Mohagany, I think.

 Acorn Woodpeckers - always photogenic!

Phainopeplas make a distinctive "whup" whistle.

 Interesting Coyote scat that included a skull as well as fur.

 Mountain Lion track.

 In 2003, The Cedar Fire destroyed 95% of the park's 25,000 acres.  This area was lucky, as there are patches of  mature trees that survived.

 We detoured to a large rock that was topped with bird guano. At the bottom was part of a skeleton, which my best guess says Gray Fox.

 Top of skull.

Gail spotted this Blainville's Horned Lizard. Can you see it?  She makes the most incredible sightings of things I can't see when she is pointing right at them!

A better view.

We spotted 5 in about a half mile stretch.  There were millions of small grasshoppers in the area which they may have been feeding on.

A San Diego Tiger Whiptail, doing its Komodo Dragon impression.

 Granite Spring has a great shady rest spot where we had lunch.  The springs in the area are running, as well as Juaquapin Creek.

Burned tree and buckwheat.

 Kingbird

The End

Boden Canyon Again

We set the alarm for 4:00 AM this morning to hit the trail early, hoping to avoid the heat.  Our hike was up Boden Canyon again, to place the trail cam, and see what was moving around.  We saw several deer, loads of animal tracks, and no signs of recent human activity.  Here are a few pics we took along the way.

A baby Blainville's Horned Lizard.

 A Brown-headed Cowbird.

 One member of an Acorn Woodpecker colony that was catching insects.  From a distance, we first thought they were swallows!

 A California Sister butterfly.

There were immense swaths of California Buckwheat in bloom.  This is California's largest natural source of honey.

Dog Rescue!

This morning, we were doing an early morning hike at Calavera Preserve when we happened on a dog walking toward us without a human.  He was tired and hot, so we slowly walked him up to the trailhead, tried to give him water, and brought him home.

 At the house, we gave him cat food and water.

 We knew we had to make a good effort at finding his owners, but we were already falling in love with him, even naming him Curly.  He had an Oceanside Humane Society tag, but when we entered it in their database, the number came up as invalid.  Curly was well mannered, affectionate, and liked retrieving a ball and dropping it at our feet.  We both felt that this was a well cared for and loved pet.

We next started searching the internet for lost dogs, and Gail hit pay dirt on Craig's List.  It turned out that his name is Paco, and he lived in Oceanside, about 5 miles away from where we had found him. He somehow had crossed the I-5 and the 78!  The Craig's List notice wouldn't let us get a phone number, but did show the address.  We drove to the home with Paco who sweetly placed his head in Gail's lap.

 The happy reunion!  It was a pleasure to see how happy the family was to get Paco back.  We learned that Paco is a Spanish Water Dog. Someone had set off fireworks last evening (the 8th of July) and Paco freaked out and broke through the fence.  We had a nice visit and learned more about the Spanish Water Dog - the Lind's have two.

Isabel Lind is a portrait photographer and brought out her 1st place award shot of Paco, all coiffed and duded up.  She offered to do a free portrait of us sometime in the future.  We love happy endings!

The Past Couple Weeks

June 16, we hiked to the top of Bernardo Peak near Lake Hodges and were met by a swarm of mating harvester ants. I read the queen can live up to 40 years!  They have a nasty sting.

Major disruption! On the 20th, we had our house tented for termites, which meant Gail and I and the cats had to hole up in a motel in Oceanside for 3 days (2 for me).

Continuing the vicious insect theme, on Friday, I got stung under the left eye and on the side of my head by a yellow jacket or wasp while hiking at Calavera.  It chased me for about 30 yards while I was swinging wildly at it, the little bastard.

 On Saturday, we went to Summer Fun on the 101 in Leucadia.  It was an afternoon of a number of bands - very family and local.

We got to hear The Matson 2 again, after hearing them at In-Ko-Pah.  They are identical twins, Jared on guitar, and Jonathan on drums. they live close by in Cardiff.

Sunday, we saw this young Southern Pacific Rattlesnake at Calavera, the first in several weeks.

The girls, Gail and Wanda, goofing around.  Our dear friends Jerry and Wanda had us over for happy hour and light dinner to show us pictures from their fantastic transatlantic trip on the Queen Mary II, to England and Wales.  Wanda starts chemo this week.  She is a fighter, and we expect she will beat the Big C into remission with the help of some of the best medical staff in the country.

I finished on owl "sculpture" today, made from an old shovel, rebar, and odds and ends.

Stubby

About a month ago, we spotted an odd looking bird in our yard that had a short, round body. A day or two later we saw it begging from a Mockingbird and realized that it was a tailless Mockingbird. After seeing it often, we started calling "him" Stubby.  We usually see him several times a day, making the rounds through our yards and up to the surrounding roofs.  We don't know how he lost his tail.  Was he born without it, or did he lose it during a narrow escape?  He seems to be doing well, maybe flying a little slower and less gracefully than the other Mockingbirds we see.