Animals
Animals in the watershed are hard to capture on film but they are everywhere.
What are some of the critters you've seen around the canyon?
What are some of the critters you've seen around the canyon?
This summer I put up a wildlife camera near a game trail by the house, hoping to see a lot of critters. This particular doe set it off more than anything else. This time however, it was strange. This is a series of three shots. In the first, her eyes appear at the far right. Next she appears to be running. But just before she leaves, on the third photo in the sequence you can see another pair of eyes gleaming behind her. Was something chasing her?
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Last year after the heavy rains in December, all that water took a toll on the brambles and thickets surrounding the meadow by the Skyline bridge. Not long after the water had gone down, the neighbors started seeing these little houses forming. Wood rat houses! These rats create fortresses several feet high made of the twigs and canes they cut, thinning out the blackberry and poison oak quite well. A single rat occupies a house but they often create 'villages', homes near each other connected by paths. At last count, there were 21 wood rat homes counted in the Hobson Creek village.
Other animals in the watershed that I've seen have been foxes, so many that I call one area Fox Alley. When I come home at night I'm almost guaranteed a sighting. One night a pair of kits were on a log by my neighbor's car. I got out with a flashlight to see them better but the light didn't scare them off. I seemed hidden behind the bright light and they jumped up and down in front of the light, cocking their heads and coming closer before turning back. They played that way for ten minutes before disappearing into the creek. I've seen several foxes on walks with my dogs and one brave soul, followed us at a safe distance for the length of the meadow.