Apparently, I don’t get out much. Grey Foxes are nocturnal for the most part and I’d never ever seen one until driving home late one night. It jogged across the canyon road. I realized my nighttime activity is almost entirely done without headlights, headlamps, or flashlights. So, I do get out, but I don’t see animals like this small and delightful mammal. I’m sure it’s trotted out of sight, well away from the dogs and my unassisted human vision. Read the Case Against Dogs.
On another late night drive, I saw another first: a Western Screech Owl (also small and delightful). Those two additional to the species parade hardly counter the sharp dip in numbers. Animals have burrowed deep for the winter or flown south. Just 42 species.
Mammals:
Coyote
Grey Fox
Mule Deer
Cottontail Rabbit
Brush Mouse
Rock Squirrel
Skunk
Western Screech Owl
Raccoon
Porcupine
Elk
Abert’s Squirrel
Birds:
Brewer’s Blackbird
Chipping Sparrow
Downy Woodpecker
Nuthatch
House Sparrow
Red-Winged Black Bird
Canada Goose
Mallard
A cold Townsend’s Solitaire
Townsend’s Solitaire
Red Shafted Flicker
Steller’s Jay
Black Capped Chickadee
American Crow
Common Raven
Scrub Jay
Magpie
Turkey
Dark-Eyed Junco (and its many varieties)
Ringed Turtle Dove
Junco
Rock Dove
Meadowlark
American Kestrel
Turkey Vulture
Red-Tailed Hawk
Cooper’s Hawk
Starling
American Robin
Great Horned Owl
Western Screech Owl
Rufous Sided Towhee