Posted in News, Sightings, Web Updates on Nov 16th, 2009 Comments Off
We have a new addition to the BFS Bird List! On Saturday, November 14, and Monday, November 16, a Virginia Rail (Rallus limicola) was seen among the cattails on the south side of pHake Lake. This small, chicken-like shore bird frequents freshwater marshes, where it most often remains hidden in dense vegetation. [...]
An injured Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) has apparently taken refuge at the field station lake. Whether this is a past visitor (Cathy McFadden at Harvey Mudd College has sighted one somewhat recently) or a new arrival is unknown. I first noticed it last Friday, October 30th while conducting brush and cattail clearance [...]
I previously posted several photos of a California ground squirrel (Otospermophilus beecheyi) interacting with one of our ground-based remote cameras. The two photos below show a California thrasher (Toxostoma redivivum) exhibiting the same curiosity. Perhaps it is the shape of the camera or minor light reflection off the lens glass (actually plastic). [...]
Our hidden trail camera captures a Great Egret (Ardea alba) fishing off one of the islands in pHake Lake.
Posted in News, Sightings, Web Updates on Oct 25th, 2009 Comments Off
We have a new addition to the BFS Bird List! On Sunday, October 25, a Sage Thrasher (Orescoptes montanus) was seen hopping down the road on the eastern side of pHake Lake (photo below).
The Sage Thrasher is the smallest thrasher. It has a brownish-gray back, prominent dark streaking on white underparts, thin white [...]
The lowly California ground squirrel, more closely related to the American prairie dog and woodchuck, not to tree squirrels. is admired at BFS. These mammals live in underground colonies, are quite social, stand upright when warning of predators, estivate during the rainy months and work like crazy to reproduce during a spring and early summer [...]
The proliferation of digital trail or scouting cameras now makes remote photography an affordable tool for wildlife research. Primarily serving hunters, this cottage industry offers choices from $70 to $500 depending on image quality, speed, video capability, standard or infared flashes and ruggedness. BFS seems like such a logical place, given its size and boundaries, [...]
Right now our BFS resident mother bobcat is out frequently with her cubs. If you’re working at the BFS this summer, there is some probability that you will encounter the bobcat — I’ve seen an adult bobcat three times in the past week! Because some of the trails are narrow with high brush on [...]
Well, I hope you haven’t completely overdosed on bobcat pictures because here are some more!
First, Manager Stephen Dreher has deployed a couple of digital scouting cameras, and one captured the mother bobcat with her cubs on the trail that cuts across from the entrance road to the south side of the lake. In the [...]
Today I photographed this Bobcat walking along the path on the west side of pHake Lake. As I was standing at the boat landing, I had spotted it walking east to west through the clear area on the south side, so I was able to hurry up the path on the west side and [...]