An Academic Resource of the Claremont Colleges
Posted in News, Sightings, Web Updates on Oct 25th, 2009
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 wingbars, […]
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 either […]
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 position […]
Mother Bobcat looking for squirrels Tuesday, June 23. Photos by Stephen Dreher:
BFS Manager Stephen Dreher reports the following: We’ve had an extraordinary event at the BFS (or what I also like to call the Claremont Colleges living natural history research center). First, a little background. For the past two or three years a bobcat has made its presence known to many, not only at BFS, but […]
Some of this year’s bird chicks are now fledging, and around the BFS you can see a number of these ‘big babies’, which are adult size (or nearly), but still want their parents to feed them. Here are two recently spotted calling “Mom, Mom!” (or maybe “Dad, Dad!”):
Just in case you were fantasizing about nature’s creatures living in perfect harmony, you can get a dose of reality from two recently-spotted BFS denizens, who are clearly looking out for #1… Exhibit 1 is the Brown-headed Cowbird: Brown-headed Cowbirds, Molothrus ater, are small blackbirds that do not build their own nests. Instead, females lay […]