Extra-terrestrial Sheep

Last week I found myself driving down a lonely Nevada highway listening to a boring audio book (by Sigmund Freud) when my eye wandered to a bright white mineral heap by the side of the road.  As I looked closer I discovered that there were over a dozen bighorn sheep resting on top of it idly chewing their respective cuds.

I came to a belated stop, turned the truck around and pulled off the road to have a closer look. Surprisingly they didn't seem to be all that troubled by my presence. I wondered if perhaps they had been accustomed to stop at this place for water or some other human hand-out.

As I got closer still, they did become a little agitated and I heard a few half grunts and half bleats from the ewes and watched as adolescent rams came into line. They were all quite beautiful with their brown and white contrasting colors and a couple of the rams were old enough to have sizeable horns.

When I got back in my truck I realized that I was at the western end of the somewhat famous Extra-terrestrial Highway (ending at the Warm Springs crossroads) where the sheep were resting. Who knows, maybe they were quite used to the scenery and were just waiting for the show to start.

Central American Squirrel Monkey

The Central American squirrel monkey (Saimiri oerstedii) is designated a vulnerable New World monkey. It doesn't seem to be so uncommon in the places it lives. It's just that there aren't many places where it does, actually, live.

Steve, Michael and I ran into a small machination of the monkeys on the Osa Peninsula in Costa Rica a couple of years ago. They were jumping through the trees right along the single dirt road that winds through the peninsula.

The monkey-crossing sign was actually photographed at the Wilson botanical area closer to the Panamanian border. You have to love a place that troubles itself about such things.

Freeman Creek Bears

I had my first really good look at a wild bear yesterday morning in the Freeman Creek Grove east of Porterville (California). I was by myself (probably not the best thing) enjoying a short backbacking trip into a forest conataining many sequoias. The entire area is very impressive. There is a nice diversity of trees (besides the sequoias) and the forest is managed to leave many old snags alone. This makes for a habitat rich for bears. The undersotry contains a lot of fallen trees in various stages of decay (harboring bear food).

 Just before bedding down for the night, I discovered a fresh bear scat near a copse of sequoias conatining very suitable sleeping places for bears. I was impressed enough with the area that I decided to move elsewhere to sleep. I also made sure all my food was in a bear canister (which is required by law) that I kept a distance from my camp. Early the next morning I woke up and was enjoying the fresh day in my sleeping bag when I heard the sound of breaking branches and of bark being stripped off of dead trees. I also realized that the sound was not coming from the direction of the trail. I put my shoes on, gathered my camera, and quietly got out of bed. I was a little bit nervous.

I saw the bear before he saw me (I'm assuming it was a male - since I'm guessing it weighed close to 400 pounds, which is bigger than females are known to get). He was light brown and only about 70 feet away. Fortunately there were two fallen logs between him and me. My adrenalin started to take control of my judgment at this point (hence the poor quality of the pictures). Fortunately, I didn't run. I did, however, remember that black bears are not normally aggressive to humans - especially if the humans appear big enough and aren't threatening their cubs.

Just as I thought this, the bear discovered I was nearby (probably cought my scent) and hopped over the first log in my direction. This definitely got my attention. In fact it was a real rush. I was certainly a bit scared (maybe more than a bit). Acting on instinct, I stood up next to the fallen log in front of me and tried to look very big. The bear stopped and looked around. Then it saw me and we watched each other for several seconds. At this point it was only 40 - 50 feet away (I measured the distance later). After a few clumbsy attempts at taking a picture, I watched in releif as he gave me a grunt and then climbed back over the log and hopped away. 

I was stunned and very impressed. I also decided that it was time for me to pick up camp and head on my way. I had only just started to do so when another bear, this one a bit smaller and darker brown, bounced into my camping area. I'm guessing that this was the big boy's girlfriend. We were both startled by each other's presence at the same time. When I reached for my camera, she got spooked and ran away - at least partially. Some 30 feet off, she turned to look back my way. I tried to make my camera work but only got a poor picture. She then left with a huff and I never saw either one of them again. I have, however, been thinking of them a lot. It was a magnificent, yet frightening, experience. Next time, however, I am going camping with a bear-sized can of pepper spray. Just to be on the safe side.   

Yosemite's Tame Coyotes

There are a couple of tame coyotes in Yosemite National Park these days. Kathy and I came across a pair a couple of weeks ago as we were driving north along Highway 41 about 30 minutes north of the park's southern entrance. I've learned that it pays when travelling in national parks to pull over immediately when confronted with a traffic jam (something I've learned from my friend Steve). People are often stopped to take pictures or just to look at some interesting natural phenomenon. This time it turned out to be a big dog (two actually): Canis latrans, commonly known as the coyote.

I've seen a number of coyotes in my life and when I saw this one, I was impressed by its size. For a second I wanted to believe that it might just be a small wolf. Maybe California introduced a pack of wolves, I thought. But the longer I watched the creatures, the more I realized that this wasn't likely. These two animals seemed almost tame. They made no attempt to leave the line of clicking cameras and seemed to be all but asking for hand-outs.

After spending a lovely day in Yosemite Valley, we returned and found the same animals on the same stretch of road as before. At this point I was certain that we were looking at tame coyotes. More cars were stopped and tourists were taking pictures. The thought went through my mind that this animal is known to be the bane of ranchers. People are willing to pay money for their pelts. But you have to admit that they're attractive animals and make for a nice show. Yosemite could do worse.

 

 

 

Brown-Throated Sloth

The brown-throated sloth (Bradypus variegatus) is one of the most unusual creatures I have ever seen. It is a 3-toed sloth that occurs from Honduras south into the Amazon rain forest. Steve, Michael and I ran into a couple of them last spring while visiting the Osa Peninsula in southern Costa Rica. We were not expecting to see one - in fact we had insects and birds on the mind instead. Fortunately Steve has sharp eyes and we got a great look at this one pictured. It looks like it's playing peek-a-boo.

My search image for insects and birds relies primarily on movement (unless I'm looking for something at close range). I expect that this might be the case for other predators as well (yes I suspect that all entomologists are predators in some sense). That's why sloths can be so hard to see. They hardly move at all. All this individual did during a period of maybe 20 minutes was raise and lower one of its arms. They must be pretty common, though, in certain parts of Central America if we could come across two in less than 12 hours. This individual was right by the main road on the peninsula. And I must say that the road is ideal for seeing wildlife. It isn't paved and is only two lanes wide with forest canopy extending over the top for much of its length. Patient photographers and birders can often be seen off to the side waiting for a good shot or siting.

The down-side of the peninsula is that its hard to find reasonably priced lodging. We ended up hoping to find a side road where we could put out a small tent, but without any luck. In the end we had to pay much more than we could really afford at an ecolodge (several hundred dollars for one night). But the scenery was impressive and the beach was just a bit of a hike away.