October 9, 2020

Barn owl after sunset

10.8.20. 7:53 am. 56 degrees. Damp. Turkeys (5) on hiker hill past the gateway oak.

12:30 pm. Galindo Creek. A few bones. Lots of trash, probably a few different homeless encampments. Another mylar balloon. And more golf balls (3). Lots of ground squirrels. Maybe some wood rat nests. No sign of the badger. Huge ground squirrel complex. One hole with a big throw mound but the hole is not badger size. Possible badger scat, but could be something else.

7:15 pm. Striped feral cat. Black kitten. Barn owl way out in the distance closer to Mitchell Canyon. Deer on hiker hill takes off running.

Posted on October 9, 2020 03:16 PM by bruin_mike bruin_mike

October 8, 2020

Galindo Creek

10.7.20. Galindo Creek. 1:46 pm. 77 degrees. Turkey and 2 deer.

1:49. 4 more turkeys and then 9 more turkeys.

2:01. Another animal (ground squirrel? Wood rat?) amongst the thicket near the creek. Water is flowing in the creek.

2:20. Four turkey vultures flying overhead.

9:11 pm. Skunk smell extremely strong. No sight of it in the back field.

Posted on October 8, 2020 05:34 AM by bruin_mike bruin_mike | 1 observation

October 7, 2020

Mylar balloon

10.6.20. 7:45 am. 55 degrees. Smoky. Turkeys (2) on north fire break. Loud roar from the Cemex Quarry.

8:09 am. 57 degrees. Turkeys (5) near Bruce Lee trail closest to Mitchell Canyon.

8:13 am. 2 black feral kittens come out from the bushes then retreat back. Then a few minutes later they make it all the way to the field.

1:30 pm. Mercury Mine. Lots of raccoon tracks that weren’t here last week. Somewhat fresh deer tracks and a lot of other older tracks. Mylar balloon up on a hill.

6:50 pm. A couple bats flew by.

Posted on October 7, 2020 02:05 AM by bruin_mike bruin_mike | 2 observations

October 6, 2020

Sunrise red tailed hawks

10.5.20. 7:20 am. 53 degrees. Roar from the Cemex quarry shattering any silence. No signs of life except for the orange feral cat.

7:33. First signs of birds. 7:35. Black feral cat out in the field. 7:38. Gray striped feral kitten joins the black cat in the field.

7:40 am. As the sunrise lights up the field the sounds of birds come alive.

7:44 am. Black feral kitten comes out to chase gray striped kitten.

7:46 am. Red tailed hawk at top of the hawk oak with a juvenile red tailed hawk flying circles around and dive bombing the hawk for practice.

7:54 am. California quail in the tree. Then flies off fast once it knows it’s been spotted.

7:59 am. Turkeys on the north fire break.

4:48 pm. 93 degrees. Striped feral cat in the field. Turkey vulture closer to the quarry.

5:08 pm. State Park patrol truck on Bruce Lee Trail.

7:10 pm. Looks like one of the earth movers left their headlights on over at the quarry.

7:15 pm. Bicycle night riding with headlamp on through Coulter Pine Trail (no, bikes aren’t allowed on that trail). And striped feral cat is back in the field.

Posted on October 6, 2020 03:33 AM by bruin_mike bruin_mike

October 5, 2020

Two Red tailed hawks

10.4.20. 10:15 am. 76 degrees. Red tailed hawk in the sentinel oak overlooking oak canyon. Feral cat walking down coyote scat trail. Fox squirrel sounding the alarm. Squirrel alerted everyone earlier when a quail flew over the fence.

11:00 am. 81 degrees. 2 red tailed hawks circling the field. Settle over in the twin oaks by Bruce Lee trail up from the pond.

11:20 am. Red tailed hawk flying over the field again.

2:55 pm. 2 turkey vultures circling the field.

4:32 pm. 94 degrees. Red tailed hawk flying over the field again. 4:54.

Posted on October 5, 2020 03:25 AM by bruin_mike bruin_mike

October 4, 2020

Deer, coyote, turkey fight, and 6 feral cats

10.3.20. 9:07 am. 66 degrees. Smoky. Turkeys (6) on the coyote scat fire break.

9:35 am. Red tailed hawk in the hawk oak.

9:40 am. Striped feral cat in the field. There’s coyote scat up and down this fire break, in some places it’s hard not to step on it. There are also feral cats out here constantly. The coyotes are not eating people’s cats. They’d have plenty of opportunity. There’s one somewhat recent turkey kill site nearby, but overall the turkeys seem to be doing fine, too.

10:06 am. Turkeys (5) on hiker hill headed toward the gateway oak.

10:32 am. Black feral cat on north fire break.

11:47 am. Red tailed hawk flying circles over oak canyon.

5:36 pm. 96 degrees. Orange feral cat in the back field.

6:15 pm. 2 male turkeys fighting over a female standing nearby. At least a 15 minute fight.

6:22 pm. Small male coyote investigating the scene of the turkey fight. Scared one turkey up into a tree, the deer oak. The other turkey got scared up to near the top of the oak. Now the coyote reappears down the trail in the other direction. Laying in the grass above the trail to the pond.

6:40. Red tailed hawk flying. Now in the sentinel oak.

6:45. 3 black feral kittens head out to the field. Now they are back hiding under a tree near the fire break. Scrub jays are alerting everyone when the black and gray striped kitten goes back out.

6:57. 87 degrees. 4 deer at the base of Mt. Zion under southern most quarry.

7:01 pm. 2 turkeys walking out of the canyon toward residential area.

7:06. Striped feral cat is out hunting with a kitten watching.

7:11. Hikers’ headlamps turn on in the hills coming down from Mitchell Rock.

Posted on October 4, 2020 05:02 AM by bruin_mike bruin_mike

October 3, 2020

Los Vaqueros Reservoir & Oak Canyon

10.2.20. 78 degrees. 8:30 am. Smoky. Turkeys (13) along coyote scat trail. Under the protector oak. Down into the canyon.

In this area of the park they seem to spend a of their time close to the fire breaks. But they also make use of the hiking trails and the animal trails into the canyons. There’s another smaller group of turkeys under the large oak on the next hill (already 80 degrees now). They came down this fire break this morning then moved under the oak when they saw me. Now they are moving down into the canyon as they’ve spotted a feral cat in the field nearby.

2:00 pm - Los Vaqueros Reservoir. 2 adult red tailed hawks. 2 juvenile red tailed hawks. Turkey vulture. Blue Heron. Deer bones. Deer and coyote tracks and scat. So many mylar balloons laying around.

4:00 pm - Marsh Creek Rd. Dead coyote by the side of the road. Almost every car is speeding on this stretch.

5:00 pm. Oak canyon. Turkeys (13) now are down at the north end of the canyon close to the fire break. Go around not to disturb them. California quail amongst a fallen oak. A lot of chunks of mistletoe down on the forest floor. Whole branches snapped off that had mistletoe attached. 3 golf balls found. Snakeskin going into a hole. Large ground squirrel. A lot of animal activity down in the canyon. Maybe rabbit? Rabbit sized animal trails, possible scat. Bones I’ve seen here before have been moved. I’ve seen a bobcat down here a couple times. Definitely deer, coyote, turkey.

6:09 pm. 90 degrees. Smoky. Red tailed hawk in the hawk oak

Posted on October 3, 2020 02:27 AM by bruin_mike bruin_mike | 6 observations

October 2, 2020

Extreme smoke

10.1.20 - 8:36 am. 74 degrees. Very smoky. Very few birds. Very little activity.

12:32 pm. 89 degrees. Very smoky. Turkeys under the gateway oak.

2:15 pm. 93 degrees. Very smoky. No animals.

4:00 pm. 93 degrees. Very smoky. A few birds. Scrub jay, Anna’s hummingbird

5:07 pm. 95 degrees. Very smoky. Turkeys on the north fire break. Then walking down the crest of hiker hill.

7:30 pm. 81 degrees. Extreme smoke.

Posted on October 2, 2020 02:42 AM by bruin_mike bruin_mike

October 1, 2020

No mammals today

9.30.20 - 6:04 pm. 93 degrees. Very smoky.

Turkeys on the north fire break. No mammals observed today.

Posted on October 1, 2020 02:19 AM by bruin_mike bruin_mike

September 30, 2020

Coyote and deer

8:45 am. 67 degrees. Smoky. North side of Mt. Diablo.

Coyote underneath the gateway oak that straddles the trail leading to the dry pond. Investigating the little woodpile house built near the north end. Now he’s back on the ridge line south above the trail. Looks like a harrier is flying up from the canyon to take a look. Makes a couple passes around the coyote and is off. And the coyote is down into deer canyon to investigate the area where the harrier was hunting.

1:30 pm. 93 degrees. Three springs trail head. No mammal sightings.

5:10 pm. 92 degrees. Smoky. North side of Mt. Diablo. Red tailed hawk.

Sunset. 80 degrees. Almost full moon. Feral cat.

7:17. 78 degrees. Male deer spotted just over the ridge before it descends into oak canyon not far from the hawk oak

Posted on September 30, 2020 03:00 AM by bruin_mike bruin_mike

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