Trail Cam Pic of Puma Stalking Moose with Calf

Ok, so this isn't Marin.  But it is just such a great series I had to share it!  

Steve Bromley got this amazing series of images, showing a Puma stalking a Moose and calf at his set in Montana.  If you check the date/time stamp on the bottom of these photos, you will see that the Puma crosses the cameras path less than a minute after you see the Moose glancing tensely over her shoulder.

Credit: Steve Bromley 

Credit: Steve Bromley

Thank you Steve for letting me share these, and thanks Vic for telling me about them!

The fledglings Part Deux

Yesterday I heard some very frantic peeping coming from behind the house, followed by some very urgent gobbling, followed by peeping, then gobbling, repeat (you get the idea).  I ventured out to see what the ruckus was, and it appears that the newest addition to the flock of wild turkeys has hatched, and at least half of the batch had managed to fall over our 5' retaining wall and get stuck between the wall and the house.  Granted there is a wide opening where almost anything except a day old turkey poult could easily figure out an escape.  They couldn't have been more than a day or two old.  Their Mamma was pacing back and forth just upslope of the wall calling to them, which was very effective at keeping them from wandering along the wall to the exit.  As they continued their serenade for the better part of an hour, all of the neighborhood cats were being called in from all directions.

I know that the turkeys are non-native (although there is some debate about that) and not good for the local ecosystem (although there is debate about that also) - but babies are babies.  I walked out back and tried herding them towards one exit, but that just caused them to scatter.  So I reached down to pick them up one at a time to deposit them back over the wall, not fully thinking through that Momma Turkey would not understand I wasn't picking them up for bit-sized snacks.  Because I was standing behind the 5' retaining wall, that means Momma Turkey was just about at head level.  I picked up the first baby, and snapped this shot,

seconds before the 20 lbs of crazy mad Momma Turkey made a claws out wings spread rush for my head.  Let me tell you, if I had been about to chow down on her baby, that sure would have been effective.  As it was, it got me to not-so-gently-as-I-would-have-liked-to toss the baby in her direction.  She was obviously not expecting this, as she didn't notice, and continued her very impressive display despite the happy baby peeping by her tail feathers.  At which point I realized that I was now trapped between the house and the retaining wall, barefoot, and that push come to shove, a mad Momma Turkey is much tougher than me!  Luckily for me, it was mostly show, and she had no desire to actually touch me if she didn't have to.  I was able to deposit the remaining babes back over the wall, and she got a tiny bit less aggressive each time - although I think she may have just been catching her breath.

Teenage Drivers - a.k.a The fledglings

The first crop of songbird fledglings has taken to the air.  My first clue was the bird at the feeder with the residual fluff of downy feathers around it's crown, making it look a bit Einstein-ish.  This is inevitably followed by the occasional thump on our windows.  We live on the edge of the wildland interface, and I think that our small windows are the first glass many of the young birds experience.  We have feeders mounted on the windows, and markings on the windows, in attempts to make them more visible.  And even the cat plastered eagerly on the inside of the window is apparently no deterrent.  Although most fly off afterwards with little more than their bell rung, sometimes their fate is more tragic.

For one "lucky" young flier this week, we happened to have left the front door open.  Much to everyone's surprise, a young House Finch flew into the living room, just hours after it's compatriot met it's end at the front window.  The young bird was determined to escape by flying up, despite the presence of a ceiling, and ceiling fan.  We turned off the lights and attempted to usher the bird out towards the sunlight, with no success.   I was getting concerned that the young bird would hurt itself permanently, as it kept flying into the ceiling and it was loosing many of it's newly acquired feathers.  Therefore, I thought it would be less traumatic to catch it and release it outside.  Then there was reality.

The next scene is of me chasing the poor bird around the living room with a butterfly net, with the baby bouncing gleefully in the carrier (because I didn't want to set him somewhere the bird would fly into), and a toddler screeching with delight at the absurdity of the sight.

Despite the obvious imperfection of the capture plan, I did actually manage to net the bird, and much to it's relief, let it out the door after prolonging the experience for just a few photos.

Camera Trapping in Marin

I'm finally getting to some camera trapping results!

After some serious inspiration by the Camera Trap Codger's class last year, I got permission to set some cameras up on a few local public and private local properties.  I've got a little over a year's worth of results, and there are some fun shots that I want to share.  

The first set is "Location B".  Location B is on a property in the middle of densely wooded suburban development.  There is a small adjacent open space parcel with a seasonal water source.  Most properties in the region are not fenced, and there is extensive open space within range of many species.  The habitat is dominantly oak woodland, grassland, and riparian.   

This is one of my first nice Bobcat images from that site from last year.

  I just pulled this video from the camera yesterday.  It was taken roughly 3 weeks ago.  Watch until the very end of the clip for a surprise.    

Screech Returns

The little owl made it!  After keeping the screech owl in veterinary care for roughly a week, Wildcare called my neighbors to come pick it up for release.  This photo was taken through a hole in the transportation box.

I've got my eye on you

That brave little owl looks very tough for what a weird experience it must be having.  It was obviously missing a few tufts from the top, but otherwise appeared healthy.  My neighbor said she could see the owl's piercing gaze watching her on the whole drive home.

I was really struck by was a diminutive creature it was.  Intellectually I knew that screech owls are small, but up close, it really looked like a miniature version of a "real" owl.  They are perfectly suited for this area, and because they are dependent on cavities for nesting, they can be enticed by nest boxes.  There is a local organization called The Hungry Owl Project, a program of Wildcare, which encourages erecting owl nest boxes (where appropriate) as a means of natural and sustainable pest control.     They offer owl boxes for sale, and although there are other well-designed boxes available, if you are considering putting a pre-made one up, getting one from the Hungry Owl Project a great way to help support a beneficial local non-profit.

Back to Screech.  That evening after dark, they hiked up the hill with the owl in the box, and released it into the night.  As soon as the box opened, the little owl just shot out and up into the trees, not missing a beat.  Hopefully our local owl has learned his predator, and is able to avoid any future encounters.

Saga of Screech and the Raven

My neighbor called a few days ago to let me know that they had seen a Common Raven take down a Western Screech Owl in their backyard.  They had seen a scuffle in the redwoods, and then saw the Raven on the ground pecking at something and heard peeping.  They debated for a bit on whether to intervene, or if it was just nature taking course, but ultimately decided to do save the peeper.  Much to their surprise, after shooing off the Raven, they came up to a small owl with his head feathers plucked off.

Location of the incident, redwood and madrone

They picked up the little bird with the intent to take him to Wildcare, and the owl just laid there completely still with it's talons clenched and eyes open, not even visibly breathing.  They thought it was dead, but Wildcare said to bring it in anyway.  Sometimes the owls go catatonic (play 'possum) in response to trauma.  Much to my neighbor's surprise, the little owl sprang to life at Wildcare.  Wildcare initially hoped to release the owl the next day, in case it was nesting, but the injuries were to much and it had to stay longer.

Ravens are well established nest predators, and are also know to take adult birds.  This was an issue for the heron and egret colony at Audubon Canyon Ranch, where one year a Raven pair decimated the young of the colony (in full view of tourists none-the-less!).  There was a detailed study of Raven ecology and predation habits that resulted from that (see references below).  I was curious if there was any documentation about how often ravens went after screech owls, but I didn't find anything addressing that specifically.  

As I mentioned in the My Side of the Mountain post, this is the first year that I've seen raven's here.  Given the frequency that I have seen and heard them this spring, I believe they have a nest just over the ridge.  These ravens are not shy around human residences.  I've seen one of this pair walking along my fence, eyeing my cat as he rolled in the sun on the deck.  It quickly departed when I opened the door, and my neighbors said that it quickly departed when they waved to shoo it, even from a long distance away.

Although Ravens have been relatively rare to the developed areas of eastern Marin in post gold rush days, their population here is increasing as they develop a taste for the food humans inadvertently provide (i.e. garbage).  This can be devastating for rare species that are vulnerable to predation by Ravens.   The human supplied food can support the Ravens populations at a higher level than the prey species would otherwise.  This means that Ravens can completely decimate a prey species, without being regulated by it's decline.  This is known as "subsidized predators".  Bay Nature did a very nice article on the Ravens in this area, including covering this phenomenon.  So it's quite possible that by intervening in this predation, they just helped correct the affects of an anthropogenically enhanced predator.

Keep tuned for updates on Screech's recovery.

References and additional articles:
www.egret.org/sci_cont.../Kelly_and_Roth_2001_raven_update.pdf
www.egret.org/sci_cont_pdfs/ACR.../Kelly_2002_raven_mgt.pdf
http://baynature.org/articles/jul-sep-2002/the-raven-returns

Nuttal Neighbor

In the first My Side of the Mountain post, I mentioned that there is a Nuttal's woodpecker who drums on an old oak out back.  Here is a brief video of the habitat, and you can hear the drumming at the start and end of the video.

Although the dominant tree species shown here is California Bay Laurel, there are a few overshadowed oaks in the middle of all that.  Nuttal's is a small woodpecker, with a black-and-white, barred back, confined primarily to the oak woodlands of California.   Interestingly, although Nuttall's Woodpeckers are nearly confined to oak woodlands, they do not eat acorns, instead going for insects and arthropods, and some fruit.


Although I couldn't get a clear photo through the foliage, I was able to glimpse the distinctive features of the Nuttall's, at least enough for identification.  Nuttall’s color pattern is distinct from other woodpecker species in this area, easily distinguishable at a glance due to the barring on the back and the single red patch.  The other two species here from the same genus, Picoides, are the hairy woodpecker and the downy woodpecker.  Although they both also have the single red patch on the rear crown, they also have a broad white patch on their back instead of the barring of the Nuttall's. 

This watershed supports 7 species of woodpeckers, from 5 different genus’s of the family Picidae. Additional woodpecker species seen locally include: acorn woodpecker, Lewis’s woodpecker, red-shafted northern flicker, Red-breasted sapsucker, and a personal favorite - the pileated woodpecker.  There is a pair of pileated woodpeckers which frequent the local area, and I'll have a post on them in the future.   

References:

Cornell Lab of Ornithology - http://www.allaboutbirds.org/

Cornell Lab of Ornithology - The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Ithaca: Cornell Lab of Ornithology; Retrieved from the Birds of North America Online:http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/