Lodgepole Chipmunk

The lodgepole chipmunk is found only in California and has other names, including the Sequoia chipmunk and San Bernardino chipmunk. They are found at elevations of 4,900 to 9.800 feet in the Sierra Nevada, San Jacinto, San Bernardino and San Gabriel Mountains. They are found in subalpine coniferous forests. They have white facial and dorsal stripes and the central dorsal stripes are less prominent and more yellow-white than the lateral white stripes. It also has black dorsal stripes and orange color on the sides and orange-gray color on the shoulders. 

I saw this particular chipmunk in Sequoia NP near the General Sherman Tree. 

Tule Elk

The tule elk is one of the four subspecies of elk found in North America. It is the smallest elk and it is found only in California. The name "tule," pronounced "too-lee," comes from a species of sedge found in freshwater marshes of central California where the tule elk feed. There used to be an estimated 500,000 of them when European settlers first arrived but by 1870 they were thought extinct. A little late, the state legislature banned hunting of them in 1873. A breeding pair was discovered near Buena Vista Lake in the southern San Joaquin Valley (part of the Central Valley) in 1874 on the 80,000 acre swampland cattle ranch of Henry Miller. Miller ordered his men to protect the elk. After he died his ranch was subdivided and the hunting of the elk resumed. The population was reduced to 72. By 1895 there were only 28 tule elk in existence. In 1932 the State of California established the Tule Elk State Natural Reserve on land that had previously been owned by Henry Miller and the elk were given protection there. Over the years elk have been pulled from the Reserve and transplanted into other areas of California. In 1933 a rancher named Walter Dow took some of the elk to his ranch in the Owens Valley, on the eastern side of  the Sierra Nevada. This was not native habitat, but they also thrived there and that is where I've seen them previously. Ultimately, in 1976 the U.S. Congress passed a resolution that 2,000 tule elk was a good goal and agreed to set aside federal land for them. Herds were established in several areas, including Point Reyes National Seashore, which is a good place to see them today. The wild population is now over 4,000. 

I've previously blogged on the tule elk in the Owens Valley. On our recent trip to northern California I saw signage for the Tule Elk State Natural Reserve and pulled off the I-5 freeway and drove about 3 miles to see it. It is about 20 miles west of Bakersfield in the vicinity of Buttonwillow. 

The Reserve is not much to see. The visitor area is a large roundish area with picnic tables, restrooms, a walk-up platform and a mobilehome administrative office. We saw a couple of tule elk just beyond the fence and heard a couple of others bugling behind some tules. There are 984 acres of fenced grassland with a herd that they try to keep at about 30 to 35 tule ellk. 

This tule elk is bugling in response to another elk bugling a 100 yards or so away behind some tules. 

That said, I believe the tule elk is the most beautiful elk and one of the most beautiful deer. It has a well-proportioned body and the bull has a set of regal antlers. 

Roosevelt Elk

The Roosevelt elk, also known as the Olympic elk, is the largest of the four subspecies of elk in North America. I've seen them once before,  in Olympic National Park in Washington. 

iNaturalist currently has 1,280 sightings of Roosevelt elk from as far north as the northern end of Vancouver Island in British Columbia to as far south as Westport, California, which is 186 miles north of San Francisco. 

On our recent trip to northern California we saw quite a few Roosevelt elk in different locations. Our first view was along the Newton B. Drury - Redwood Scenic Parkway, north of Orick, in Elk Meadow. At least four bull elk were laying down in long grass. As we watched, they would completely disappear, then some antlers would show, then a head, and so forth.

Just the head and antlers of this elk are visible. 

Two elk are partially visible. 

Four elk partially visible. 

Our next sighting was just outside of Crescent City, in a field opposite where the Endert's Beach road turns off from Hwy 101. 

A little later, I saw elk in a different spot just a half mile or so away, along the top end of Endert's Beach Road. First I saw a cow right next to the road (and right next to an elk sign), then I noticed a bull and some other cow elk  further back off the road (I did not get any good photos of the other cow elk). The light was bad so the photos aren't very good. 

Velvet is shedding off the antlers. 

The next morning we saw more elk in a different part of the large field off Hwy 101 and opposite the road to Endert's Beach. The elk were much closer and the early morning sun also made photos difficult. 

Finally, just east of Big Lagoon in Humboldt Lagoon State Park, north of Eureka, while driving along Hwy 101, I saw elk in a field at some distance. I got a few long photos of the elk. 

One of the amazing things about several of these elk sightings was that they were very close to human dwellings. At least where we visited, there did not seem to be huge areas of uninhabited land for the elk to roam in. It is impressive that the elk have been able to survive as human habitation has converged on their space. 

California Black Bear

 The California black bear is a subspecies of the American black bear and is found in the mountains of Southern California (in the chaparral shrub land), the Central Valley and north to southern Oregon (in the temperate rain forest and other varied climates). A few have cinnamon colored fur. There are an estimated 25,000 to 35,000 of them. In California the average male is 190 pounds and the average female is 128 pounds, which surprisingly to me, is less than the averages of some other subspecies, such as those in the Great Smoky Mountains. 

Our first view of the bear.

It was just after this photo that it turned to me and growled. 

I've recently joined iNaturalist and find that there are 296 identifications so far, predominating in the mountains of Southern California, the Sierras and more widespread in Northern California, above San Francisco.

Crawling over logs and looking for places to pull it apart and eat insects. 

Preparing the tree to stick in its nose and eat insects. 

We recently visited Sequoia National Park, in the western Sierras east of Fresno and Visalia. While there we took the 3.4 mile roundtrip Tokopah Falls hike, above the Lodgepole Campground. On our way up some hikers in front of us whispered that a bear was nearby. A few seconds later a smallish bear, about 15 yards east of the trail, near a meadow, sauntered past us, walking on a log. As it passed us I followed it a few yards to get a better photo and it turned to me, did a growl and a bluff charge, and of course I stopped and turned away. 

Note that in direct sunlight, the coast looks much more brown. 

On our way back we encountered the bear again, this time quite close to the trailhead. I stood in the trail taking photos and we watched it for about ten minutes as it put its paws on downed trees and ripped away sections of them and stuck its nose in to eat insects. At one point it started walking straight towards me, then veered off to another stump. 

While it was walking towards me.

It was by far the closest experience I've had with a bear and was a real thrill.

Humboldt Bay NWR

Humboldt Bay National Wildlife Refuge is located on the coast of California near Eureka and Arcata.  It was established in 1971 and exists primarily to help migratory waterbirds on the Pacific Flyway. It has several different units and consists of just under 4,000 acres. It includes mudflats, eelgrass meadows, saltmarsh, brackish marsh, seasonally flooded freshwater wetlands, riparian wetlands, streams, coastal dunes and forest. 

I visited the South Humboldt Bay Salmon Creek Unit on August 10, 2020 with Sam, which is south of Eureka, and did the 2.1 mile Shorebird Loop Trail which starts at the Visitors Center. Most of the migratory birds come through from November to March, so I was there at a slow time and seeing resident birds and animals. 

I've just signed up on iNaturalist which has increased my interest in plants. So I took a number of photos of them. 

Bird's-foot trefoil

Bull thistle

Cattails

Common cat's-ear

White clover

Wild carrot - the early flower.

This close-up of the wild carrot shows that the flower is really an amalgam of many small flowers that start out as white and then start to turn pink. 

This is a later version, showing the flowers that have turned pink. 

Eventually the flowers turn purple and begin to curl up. 

A look inside the wild carrot - up-turned flower.

Wild radish

Jointed charlock - the full plant is below. 

I was there expecting to see birds and was a little disappointed there were not more. 

I saw multiple song sparrow: this and the next three photos.

I believe this is a savannah sparrow. 

A white-crowned sparrow

A different view of the crown on the white-crowned sparrow's head.

An American robin. 

Multiple views of the same great blue heron. 

I saw multiple great white herons, or great egrets. 

My best views were of a snowy egret that I took quite a few pictures of. It let me get relatively close. 

The most exciting find came at the end. I saw a North American river otter in a small stream just to the east of the first long pond. I saw it in the water swimming toward a bird which flew away before it got it, although it made a splashing attempt. Then it went underwater, further away, when I next saw it and got my photos. The light is bad and the quality is poor, but I was excited to get these images on film.

I was happy to have made the visit. This was only the third river otter I've ever seen and the first one I've photographed: The first was in the Boundary Waters of northern Minnesota; and the second was in the Okefenokee NWR in southern Georgia. It was worth the visit just to see the otter. But more than that, it opened up my view to birds on the west coast that I've seen many of in Florida (the great egret and snowy egret).