Mallard Duck Tracks at Miramar Lake

Recently while at the lake, I stopped to video these mallards that were busy wandering around near picnic tables and people areas. In the soft dusty soil, bird prints abound, and in the attached video you can see them being made by two birds out for a day together.

Tracking A Wild Beetle at Border Field State Park

Mother Moose with Offspring, Pinedale, Wyoming

This summer we discovered by accident the CCC camp outside Pinedale, Wyoming, en route back to Salt Lake City, Utah. This wonderful park (Fremont Camp) has several short trails that go around various pond settings. Because I was not familiar with a marsh habitat, I chose to walk the Marsh Trail. In June, it was a bit buggy with mosquitoes, but it was well worth the itchy bites. The highlight came at the end of our walk when my husband and I were almost to the parking lot area. Above you can see our prize view of a mother moose with her youngster feeding in the Marsh Pond!

After creating my own YouTube video, I found another very informative one on Sublette County and Pinedale, Wyoming. This area is definitely worth a return visit - and you might even want to skip Yellowstone's crowds and instead go hiking and fishing in "real" cowboy country.

Bighorn Sheep at Anza Borrego - Walking Gait and Foraging

In my focus on tracking wildlife, sometimes I forget to look for the living animals that make the signs I look at. These days I pause much more to listen for unusual and identifiable sounds (in Palomar Mountain State Park recently, I was able to hear wild turkeys calling though I couldn't see them across the valley) and to see some of the wildlife I've never seen before. I previously posted some views of Bighorn sheep, and here are a few other videos of the sheep in action by the parking lot at Anza Borrego State Park. This one is of the walking gait of Bighorn Sheep on the desert floor, and the following one is of bighorn sheep foraging. Hope you enjoy these views - my first at close range.

After the sheep left, my husband and I did try to make out tracks in the sand, but other than having just seen the sheep walking there, it was virtually impossible with our still unskilled eyes to recognize the sand indentations as sheep vs. any other kind of animal. I'll keep practicing, though.

Even the Sure-Footed Slip…

Here is some footage I was lucky to capture. A tired mama bighorn sheep comes back from a foraging bout to feed her lamb. She was clearly laboring as she zigzagged up the canyon wall to a safe location where her lamb bounced down the slope to nurse briefly.

On the Trail of Bighorn Sheep

Anza Borrego Desert State Park has long been a favorite outdoor site to visit in March. Though I've been going there every spring for decades, I have never seen the famous bighorn sheep. Usually I am more focused on the smaller wildlife and spring wildflowers. However, recently, I was treated to an up-close and personal encounter with a small herd of these endangered animals (Ovis canadensis nelsoni) plus viewings of two other herds at different locations along the Palm Canyon trails.

Where are the Waldos?

Vigilant but habituated to people

Yum…  

This shot was taken facing the eastern canyon wall of the park. The sheep were resting high up the slope. There are at least five youngsters clearly visible in this shot (Kodak Easy Share Z1012 IS, 12X). The occasional ear twitches were the primary way that park visitors were able to locate them. Mother Nature did a great job of camouflaging this species.Down below in the lower parking lot for campers and visitors to Palm Canyon (the west side), my husband and I saw a few sheep coming down the slope to feed. I took a position with my camera and waited to see if the sheep would come my way.  They did!  These two rams came within 25 to 30 feet of my position. They kept an eye on me, frequently pausing between chews to look straight at me.As more of the herd came to the canyon bottom to feed, I began to fear that one would come up next to me without my spotting him/her. I determined that I should not move or react suddenly at any time. After several minutes, the herd of about 10 animals took off in a gallop across the parking lot through some high bush.Truly an amazing experience!

Enjoy!

Palomar Mountain State Park, California - The Weir

The Weir (1)

I've been collecting photos of my favorite local mountain retreat over several years. In 2012, Palomar Mountain State Park was scheduled for closure by the state of California. I am so grateful that with the help of many individuals like my family who were willing to put up funds to keep the park maintained, Palomar Mt. State Park managed to stay open.  Then there were the "discovered" funds that helped to bring back all the state parks. Today, we can continue to visit this special spot nestled in the forests of San Diego County. 

The "Weir" is my favorite spot to "hike" to - I say "hike," but it's actually a short 1.2 mile up and down walk along a gently flowing stream to reach this historic spot, travelling through pine, spruce, and oak, out into a small sunlit patch of "beach" near a stream crossing, continuing on to a small cove-like area (see above) which perpetually changes with the month and season. 

This shot was taken in November 2009 in the late fall. As you can see, the fish pool was nearly dry.

In the second photo, you can see how the look of the place can vary depending on the year, too. This shot was taken two years later but about the same time of year in the fall. It looks like we got quite a bit more rain in 2011, or it else it just wasn't as hot in the early fall.

The Weir (2)

In the next set of photos (3), you can see the Weir in the winter. There is still color there, but it is subtle. I lucked out because the sky was clear and bright with some wispy clouds. That wonderful light created outstanding reflections in the Weir.

In the last set of photos (4), you can see the Weir in summer green. Verdant. As you view the Weir in different seasons, I hope you will want to visit and  know this small mountain paradise better. Enjoy the photos! Get up here and see it with your own eyes.

I will be putting up some more photos, to give you an idea of the wildlife you might see or encounter on the trail and what other areas of the park look like.
   

         
      

The Weir (3)

The Weir (4)

Encounter between Black Bears and Deer at Sequoia National Park, June 2014

On June 18, 2014 around 4:30 p.m., my husband and I were on the trail from Tokopah Falls near the Lodgepole campground in Sequoia National Park. There was a small gathering of people watching a black bear with her two cubs feeding in a meadow. As I moved up and down the trail trying to get a good angle to take a photograph of the event, my husband elbowed me and said, "Look! There's a deer!" Indeed, the deer was about six feet away from the trail, but the doe was paying no attention to the viewers. Her attention was fixed on the bears, who were now face down, feeding at the base of a large tree. Moments before the deer's arrival, I had heard some soft cries and thought it was the baby bears crying to their mom….

As you can see in the second photo, the adult deer passed very close to the bears as she circled the tree. At first, she was silent, but after a few circles, she started vocalizing. Clearly, she was in distress. Periodically, she would stop looking off to the left of the scene as if she were waiting for reinforcements. No other deer were to be seen during the 20 minutes that we stayed at the site. The next two videos are of the interaction between the bears and deer. Words are unnecessary to sum up this Life 101 event.

Wonderful Webmakers in the Garden

Here are a set of photos (above) shot on the same summer day (2008). A spider captured and bundled up a moth. The whole capture and carry procedure took a few minutes, and I considered myself fortunate to have gotten some good close-ups without a macro lense.


Later in the evening of the same day, I again lucked out in that I was able to capture this hardworking spider. This spider had great markings, but looked distinct from the ones above on the plants. I know little about spiders. Does anyone know if color and markings indicate another species of garden spider? How much phenotypic variation is there, and is it significant?

Reflections on Driving Alaska in Early Summer

In late June and early July, we drove around Alaska for 11 days, using Anchorage as our pivot point. Our itinerary was two nights in Anchorage, three nights in Healy (two days in Denali National Park), one night in Anchorage, three nights in Homer, one night in Anchorage (arriving on June 23, before flying back on July 3).

Anyone familiar with Alaskan distances knows that we must have spent about 24 hours in our rental car; in addition, we spent 14 hours on a shuttle bus getting into and out of Denali on two different days. Fortunately, we had three drivers for our long commutes to/from Anchorage. The Subaru from Avis was supposed to be an upgrade, but it was actually a bit cramped even though we only had one person over six feet. Luckily, we were able to get everything into the small luggage hold area since each of us had only one small suitcase and one backpack.

There was lots of looking, seeing, oo-ing and ah-ing. Next time(?!), however, I will make sure there's more tromping about as we did last year in Alberta's Canadian Rockies. Nevertheless, in our 11 days, we had so much good luck and beautiful weather, we even fantasized about living there (of course, we have no idea what it's like to spend half the year in darkness). Our B&B hostess in Homer explained that either first-timers love Alaska, or they hate it. As long as there are curtains in the bedrooms, I discovered I could fall asleep in the perpetual daylight of an Alaskan summer (22 hours).

Views from around Homer, Alaska in early summer