Tahoe Bird Festival

 Coming Saturday, June 24th is the Lake Tahoe Bird Festival at the Taylor Creek Visitor Center just north of Camp Richardson near South Lake Tahoe. It runs from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Tahoe has many, many impressive birds, and this event will showcase them.

Come on up the mountain and check it out!

Here is the link for more information:

https://www.tinsweb.org/upcoming-events/kgyj86mkxosi66nb35422hhxfs5d17-ttjym

Did This Bald Eagle Meet Its Match?!

This tree is close enough to the lake that the Bald Eagle can see any nearby osprey that have caught a fish the Eagle can steal. Yes, mama nature is unfair that way. The osprey does the work, then the larger raptor swoops in and takes it away. A metaphor for many unfair aspects of life.

But take a closer look. On each side of the huge eagle is a Steller's Jay. Two of them, harassing the eagle, letting it know that if it tries to come for their chicks, it will have a fight on its hands, no matter how David-vs-Goliath the odds are.

We once had a Steller's Jay fly through an open door into our house. It went to a window only to discover that glass is a strong barrier. I gently caught it with a cloth and carried it outside. It was not much heavier than air. But as I carried it, I could sense the power in its feather-weight body.

That eagle should think twice about its dinner plans. A dead fished, washed up on the beach, is the safest, least-stressful meal.

Chicks The Size Of Chickens

Today, we saw Canadian Goose chicks the size of chickens.
They don't appear to have feathers, yet. Just big balls of fuzz.
Mom watches us without concern, a trait that went away when she discovered that if you're cute, people will throw you food.

People think they are being nice to the animals. Or maybe they just don't think at all. Despite being entertaining to watch, feeding wild animals is bad for the animals. It produces dependency and, after the humans leave, hunger in animals that have lost the knowledge or motivation to fend for themselves. And, in the case of bears, feeding them intentionally or unintentionally motivates them to break into our houses and cars and make a huge mess as they empty our cupboards.

Let's enjoy animals by taking their picture and having no other engagement.

Tahoe Wildlife - We Have A Very Prickly Neighbor

We've seen porcupines in Tahoe, but those sightings are rare. Yet on a recent hike, we encountered the biggest porcupine we've ever seen.

photo from pixabay.com

When that tough guy sensed our presence, he (she?) turned away from us and fluffed up its quills until it was a ball of spikes.  Yikes.

All we could think of was what it must be like for a coyote or bobcat or dog to come upon this creature and swat at it with a paw or start sniffing too close.

There is a rude joke that skunks and porcupines only have one natural predator - the automobile. Sad, but probably true.

So we waited, and our prickly neighbor eventually wandered into the brush, safer from any and all threats than rattlesnakes. Not even those master predators from the sky - the raptors - have much chance at taking a porcupine. Porcupines are a marvelous example of how evolution can conjure up impenetrable defenses.

Tahoe Wildlife - Coyote!

Last summer, my wife and I saw a coyote pup wandering past our house, below our deck. It was small enough that we worried it didn't have a parent teaching it to hunt. Yet over the course of the summer months, it would reappear in the evening, on the prowl, while we were barbecuing dinner.

photo from pixabay.com

Gradually, it grew. It seemed robust and radiated health.

Then came winter and we didn't see it anymore. Or, more accurately, we didn't see any single coyotes on the prowl through our yard. Occasionally, as we always do, there would come groups of coyotes through the forest, carrying on their social-hunting routine. And we would awaken in the night to their loud, yipping, almost-screaming conversations.

photo from pixabay.com

This spring, our single coyote reappeared in our yard. We think it's the same coyote. Mostly full grown, quite large now and beautiful. Very robust. One can't help but admire the coyote, so smart, so adaptable, so able to do well even in areas where people have taken over.

They also keep down the populations of many creatures that would take over our yards and invade our houses.

Yes, they sometimes eat our pets. And that is a very sad day for everyone involved. But the coyotes were here first. So it's incumbent on us to keep our pets close so we can admire these amazing carnivores that thrive with no help from us and in spite of efforts from many people to exterminate them.

We feel lucky to see coyotes in Tahoe on a weekly - and sometimes daily - basis.

Tahoe Wildlife - Bobcat!

Last winter, I looked out the kitchen window and saw a really large cat walking through the snow. After a moment, I thought it was too large to be a house cat.

After it wandered away, I got out my "animal tracks" book, went outside and looked at its prints.

Bobcat.

After the snow melted, my wife and I were hiking in the woods near our house when we saw the movement of a good-sized animal as it ducked under a fallen tree. We stopped and waited. The animal turned around and came out. A gorgeous bobcat. It sat down and faced us from 40 feet away, curious, watching, wondering what the humans were doing.

After five minutes of all parties remaining motionless, it turned and disappeared among the manzanita bushes.

It was a beautiful animal.

photo from pixabay.com

For those who are curious, the telltale characteristics are a cat that is roughly twice the size of a house cat or a little less, black tufts at the tip of its ears, and a short "bobbed" tail.