Mammalian Critters

Like I said not a great set, but pickings have been slim. That whole graduate school thing getting in the way of fun.

Woodrat using the trees branches as a highway

Bobcat butt

Bobcat Shoulder

I just cannot seem to get the bobcats to look at the camera right now.  Going to have to try a new approach.

Sniff and Run

It has been a slow start to camera trapping in 2012 for both of us here at Camera Trapping Campus, so I thought it was time for a Sniff and Run to get back on track.

sniff and run   |snif and rən|
verb
a quick intake of something that intrigues the senses before continuing on

The first location that entered my mind for such an endeavor was Fox Nap Rock, Kent Lake. The possibilities for another set here seemed varied, interesting and guaranteed -- thus a return visit was made.
Over a span of nine days (two soaked by much needed rainfall), four species visited, with seven unique visits total.

The Participants:

Additional (Partially Obscured) non-Sniffer:

and this one just makes me laugh

The Sniff and Run did its job perfectly: providing a feeling of success along with an itch to unveil more.

As a teaser, excitement is brewing regarding planned or potential sets involving:

- urban visitor studies
- Put a Bird On It (raptor nests, Sapsuckers and the bird communities around them)
- a partnership in my classroom with Felidae Fund

Mt. Lion talk on UCSC campus

Upcoming talk at UCSC open to the public. Classroom Unit 2 holds a couple hundred people so there should be plenty of room.

Do you want to know more about mountain lions, our large feline
neighbors that have been in the news recently with several reported
sightings near campus?

Environmental Studies Professor Chris Wilmers, who has been tracking
and studying mountain lions in the Santa Cruz Mountains for three
years, will discuss his research at an informational seminar "Mountain
Lions and People in the Santa Cruz Mountains,"  7 p.m. Monday,
February 13, in Classroom Unit 2.

All are welcome and bring your questions.

Wilmers will explain what he and his colleagues are learning about
mountain lion travel, habits, and behavior as part of  the  Santa Cruz
Puma Project.

A Cast of Critters

I did not get very many good pictures on my last set of 2011, but I am going to post a few anyways. We cannot just have a bunch of link dumps and no original content.

So I present some birds of YLR. All images have been cropped.

The Hermit Thrush (Catharus guttatus)
Pale eye-ring, pale chest spots on throat and smudged spots on breast

Good look at the eye-ring and pinkish legs

Brown head and back with "distinctly warm, reddish tail"

American Robin, Turdus migratorius

Another American Robin

California Quail Callipepla californica

Unidentified flying critter

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Cornell Ornithology Lab Links:

Hermit Thrush 
American Robin
California Quail

Link Dump

Rainbow Trout eggs in our classroom !

Coho Salmon are returning to Lagunitas Creek in Marin. I (christian) had a chance to see the coho last weekend -- a wonderful experience.

Totally sweet time-lapse video of Yosemite.

The always great BibliOdyssey offers up turtle anatomy engravings.

CA WOLF
Twitter (hobbies: wandering, ungulates)
NY times piece

California Condor Webcam

Love the perspective on this horned lizard photograph

Even Talking Points Memo (a political news site and blog) is on the Camera Trapping Bandwagon.

Fruitfly Genome 3D map.  This is the type of stuff I (JK) study.

New smallest vertebrate in the world. An adorable little frog.

Further cute alert ! Baby sea otter at the Seattle Aquarium.