Rainstorms returned in early February, after a dry January. Compare the
level of upper Adobe creek in
these two photos from January 30 and February 15, respectively.
Video of several Blacktail Deer measuring the leaping distance and crossing the creek.
We continue to see many skunks, as they are most active in the Winter and
Spring. Here is a still photo of a skunk near the creek crossing,
followed by a video of another skunk which has only one functioning eye.
We have seen that one-eyed skunk in previous months.
This beautiful coyote was photographed at midday on the hillside canyon
trail. We regularly see coyotes on the upper mountain cameras,
but rarely here. They might be feeling safer in these wooded areas
because the mountain lions are scarcer (for unknown reasons).
We saw several bobcats on several cameras, all at night. Here is a Jan.
24 photograph of the young bobcat which, very sorry to say, was apparently
killed by an adult male bobcat a few days later. See
that story here. The second photo, taken the following night, is an
adult male, probably the culprit.
For better or worse, the feral hogs are back, after a three-month
absence. We saw signs of rooting under one oak tree, many hoofprints
in the mud, and the two upper mountain cameras captured several of them.
Here is a still and a video.
A gray fox moving quickly through the mountaintop bay laurel grove:
In the same grove, a yearling spike buck with just one antler remaining.
Docent Lily Roberts found this shed antler, or its twin,
on a camera-tending hike three weeks later.
No mountain lions were photographed this month. They were last seen here in September 2024.
