At a family picnic, Sister Sue (Vance) caught this shot of a buck in velvet
Everywhere you look, deer, birds and other wildlife seem to be in a population explosion right now.
I was at Clear Lake this week and I can’t remember seeing so many swallows, grebes and ospreys. Deer numbers are way up everywhere.
The key is food. The wet spring and high soil moisture has given rise to an explosion of wild grass, budding plants and hardwoods and other browse. This provides unlimited eats for deer and other wildlife. What a great time to be alive!
Look for an incredible year for ground squirrels. A spectacular snake year. Wild turkeys, songbirds, geese and ducks. In the East Bay hills, lots of nesting prairie falcons and golden eagles.
Hatches of quail, grouse, wild turkey and other upland game birds are linked directly to soil moisture. In a year like this, quail can have double and triple hatches from now through summer.
The high numbers of ground squirrels, rabbits, voles and mice is great news for raptors. Golden eagles, falcons, hawks and owl will have high nesting success because of the ease in providing food at the nest to their
hatchlings.
Wherever you go, whether to local parks or beyond, bring your camera and be ready.
Feel great in the next 24 hours: Hike. Bike. Camp. Fish. Boat. Wildlife watch. Explore.
For my book California Wildlife, go to http://74.220.215.219/~tomstien/books/california-wildlife/
On July 4th, @ dusk on Skyline Blvd in San Mateo County near Woodside, I saw a very large shaggy dark brown and black animal that I thought was a bear at first. Later I could see that it was too dog-like to be a bear. It had an extremely bushy tail. It looked like a wolf……It seemed to be friendly (or at least neutral) towards a smaller dog-like animal that was lighter in color, so then I thought it might be a coyote. But the first animal I saw was much larger, shaggier and darker than a coyote, much too shaggy to be a domesticated dog. Could it have been a wolf? Are there wolves in San Mateo County?