Sprucing up the Midden

I stumbled across this midden a few 10s of meters from the Great Highway.  I had no idea it was there and had to tromp through some stinging nettle to get to it, but alas an easily accessible midden at Younger Lagoon.  Now it was time to get some close-ups of a Neotoma with the homebrew.







Christian and I met up a few days after I made this set and thank god for that.  As you can see something moved the camera and had it pointed all in the wrong direction. Luckily Christian and I were able to reset the camera without too many lost days and got some great Woodrat pictures.









The little one then brings in some fresh green branches to spruce up the midden being careful to place them oh so right.

MIDDEN TAILS

Midden has become one of my favorite words since entering my vocabulary about six months ago. However, without supporting stories, it is a rather strange word to randomly throw around in conversation.

It was then with great joy that Jake, our friend Sean and I discovered several significant wood rat middens at the Marin County site. Which made it okay to bring up with random strangers, right???

master of the largest midden

A homebrew camera was set up at one of the smaller midden sites due to accessibility and perceived activity.

After 27 days we discovered several inhabitants and occasional visiting friends.

Dusky-footed wood rat

peromyscus duo

Western Spotted Skunk

The spotted skunk capture was significant. It had been a target species that had eluded cameras going back to the Codger's previous solo surveys of the preserve.

A Midden and a Carcass

I set-up a camera this morning at the new location here in Santa Cruz.  It is a very interesting mix of habitat which should yield some good results.  Habitats includes salt marsh, riparian and chaparral.

On the hike I ran across a dusky-footed woodrat, Neotoma fuscipes, midden made of willow, cat-tail and what I think was dried hemlock stems.

I also found a dead raccoon, Procyon lotor, that was in the middle stages of decay.  Most of the fur was still left on the body, but the skull had been almost completely cleaned.  The carcass did not appear to be disturbed by scavengers.

I set the camera up about 20 meters from the dead raccoon on a game trail that looked to get moderate use.  There were also beds, probably deer, nearby along the trail and predator scat in the immediate area.  Here's hoping for some pictures of the wild cats and dogs.