Eurasian Collard-Dove

It's been over a year since the Eurasian doves began showing up for meals. All the songbirds had a difficult time telling their underbellies apart from Sharp-shinned hawks when they'd come into the feeding area to land. The songbirds would all take off and then the Eurasian doves seeing everyone scatter would think there was a Sharp-shinned and also take off. In time the Eurasian doves would land 15 feet away from the feeding area and walk over. Many of the songbirds have gotten use to it or been able to distinguish the difference but not everybody.

My Plan

My plan a couple weeks ago was to kayak the river on January 1st just to be the first one for the year and maybe do it at night with the moon being so bright. With significant ice showing up today there has been a change in my plan.

Tuesday Afternoon

Checking out Kane Creek Anti-Cline in the morning it was just too slippery going up the side. On the return trip the Hurrah Basin looked like this.

Beware the Fox

As the night began I thought I was going to go through a whole pack of hot dogs. I was in the kitchen putting the first hot dog on the stick and I could already hear a ringtail coming down the pole. As the night grew longer none of the ringtails would even acknowledge the hot dogs being offered. All were nervous, growling, and looking away as I offered up their favorite food.

Kane Creek East Rim (Day One)

Temperature got up into the low 30's, nearly perfect hiking weather, so I decided to start my exploration of the Kane Creek east Rim despite my previous post saying maybe not today. I decided to work my way up the left side of the gap to see if I could get on top. I came across one mine but the trail was so slippery I couldn't even get past that for the hard part. Next time I need to try to go up the right side.

Maybe Not Today

Waiting for Monday morning so I can begin my goal this year of searching the Kane Creek Anti-Cline. Today primarily I was going to hit some of the mines and see if I can get up on top. However when I walked outside......

Nightly Ritual

Sunny and 75

But not here.

What?

Driving around what the cowboys refer to as the Hurrah Basin I can see where the AmeriCorp did a lot of good work sealing off places people had been going off the road. Most of the time they stuck their sign right in a creek bed so it will be gone first time their is a rain but, it is what it is. I'll see if I can fix some of them over the winter. Then on the way up Hurrah Pass I find a whole new road cut off the main trail with either a dozer or front end loader. At the end it looks like either a drilling site or a helo landing pad.

Some Wind Last Night

Beyond Chicken Corner

Months ago trying to find a way from Chicken Corner to the Lockhart Basin road I ran across a small canyon that was really disguised. It wasn't part of that day's goal so I didn't explore it but have been thinking about ever since. Today Linny and I head for the disguised canyon. Little disappointing to find a canyon so well disguised and then search it and not find anything unique. Then there they are. Tracks coming in and out of the canyon with three toes. I don't know anything with three toes and with toe nails that far from the toe. I'm thinking a gray fox rear foot stepped in the back of it's front track which is not unusual and that's why it's long. But if so, they both have three toes.

The Genius

Nightly Ritual

There are three now in the evenings. Two have their usual place in the rafters and even the shy one is no longer shy, twice having snatched the hot dog right as I open the kitchen door. There is a third that runs no matter what and has yet to receive a stick fed hot dog. The more aggressive of the two that has only hot dogs and will accept nothing else. This is over two nights.

Cometh the Hawk, Saveth the House Finch

I saw the hawk coming in low over the hogans out the office window. White-taileds sound the alarm, bird chirping velocity picked up, and all the little people took flight or headed deep into the bushes. As I opened the front door the hawk veered off towards the river and as I walked down the porch to make sure it really left I saw a small female house finch sitting on the porch with a bloodied mouth. Despite how much reflective tape I put on the windows occasionally one still glances off it only sorting it out just before impact. My pattern which has been pretty successful so far though fortunately it rarely occurs anymore is to cup them in my hands and then to bring them in the office to warm up. Generally after 30 to 90 minutes they will start to move their head around and that is the big sign that they're probably going to be all right.

Wednesday Morning

Not The Nightly Ritual: Surprise

Amasa Back: Day Twenty One More Pics

Amasa Back: (An odd Day Twenty One)

Having found the dinosaur tracks last time up Amasa Back and seeing how faint they were I knew an area on the Upper Captain Ahab that was similar and decided to spend the day there. It appeared promising. There was plenty of like geology where I'd found the last tracks and the tracks that I have on the Base Camp property. While they all looked like they had the potential for tracks I rarely found what appeared to be three toes and when I did I couldn't find a track anywhere around it that had been the other foot or the step before or after so unlikely. The hardest part was all the landscape was the same and for awhile I wasn't sure where I was. Then I found this. I called it the Brickyard and started finding my direction around where the Brickyard was using it as my reference point. Then I found this area about 100 feet long where all the rocks were white. Then I come across an area full of rocks piled on top of each other which I started calling Stonehenge. Now I've got some landmarks to work with while looking for the dino footprints. However, there's a new element. Though I haven't heard or seen any signs of people the whole day something or somebody is following me. I've heard slight noises behind me several times but never saw anyone. So in my search I'm doing circles where I can come back in on my previous trail. To make the odd day nearly complete I find a black rock. If you scrape the rock even slightly, it changes color. It's as if the whole rock got was dipped in something but just the shallowest fluid clung to it. Underneath you can see the color change. This is my track just now coming on my tracks earlier in the day which are being followed by a pad, four toes, and toe nails. That narrows it down to five critters. Red fox, we don't have any. Gray fox, but the back foot would be stepping in the front foot and that didn't happen. Wolf, we don't have any. Coyote, too small and pad not shaped right. Dog. One of the cattle dogs is following me without being seen. This track is fresh. There are tracks from a few days ago and tracks from longer than a week ago. It lives here.