The dazzling embroidery of the natural
world is often too intricately woven to fully appreciate without first teasing
out the individual fibers and following their unique stitch through the fabric
of the ecosystems they inhabit. For wilderness and wildlife scientists, it could
take a lifetime (perhaps many lifetimes) to understand even a single fiber, and
so it is no surprise that gaining a nuanced perspective on the
interconnectedness of this natural tapestry can be challenging. All textile
metaphors aside (I apologize, I can’t
help myself), it is one thing to know a single species- where it lives, how it
survives- and another to understand how that species fits with the many other
species that occur within a given ecosystem, and still another to visualize the
way in which these species actually live their lives across the landscape they
inhabit. It is in this visualization that one begins to fully appreciate the
dynamic beauty and substance of the natural world, and unfortunately,
opportunities to gain this perspective are often hard to find.
For
me, I was lucky enough to encounter one of the great literary presentations of
this type of wilderness visualization at a very young age. In fact, my path to
the Tejon Ranch Conservancy may have begun over 20 years ago, where sitting in
my father’s lap, I was read One
Day at Teton Marsh by the brilliant naturalist and nature writer Sally
Carrighar. In it, Carrighar uses the perspectives of the many animal
inhabitants of a small wetland outside Jackson Hole, Wyoming, to explore the
secret proceedings of this natural habitat over a single day. In honor of Ms.
Carrighar, and her simple, honest presentation of wildlife and their daily
experience, I am happy to offer on the blog today Two Days on Martinez Ridge.
The
concept for this post originated when I discovered that one of my wildlife trap
cameras, set to record the interactions between wild pigs and cattle at a
seemingly innocuous upland trough, had recorded over 250 wildlife videos in
less than 40 hours. I was shocked at the frequency and diversity of the species
using this rusted trough, buried into the overexposed western slope of Martinez Ridge.
The following is simple chronology of those encounters, with a sampling of the recordings I found most
interesting…
June 26, 2015
-1523-1640: A group of
California condors intermittently drink and perch upon the hillside, including
the legendary AC-9 (Orange tag # 21 shown in the upper right of the video). At
35 years he is the oldest male California condor in the wild and was one of the
last 27 living condors on the
planet in the mid-1980s when major conservation efforts for the species began.
-1714-1740: A group of ravens
perch and drink from the trough.
-2005-2011: As darkness falls a
group of cattle stop for a drink as they lumber across the ridge.
-2136-2139: A large solitary boar takes a quick drink and heads north.
June 27, 2015
-0222-0224: Another large boar
(possibly the same individual from earlier in the evening) has a drink and continues
north.
-0242-0243: Bobcat stops by the
trough for a drink and a look around, continues South.
-0408-0410: Likely thirsty from
a long night hunting, a large puma stops by the trough for an early morning
drink.
-0609-0706: A group of cattle,
a family of raven and a young mule deer buck mingle around the trough for a
morning drink.
-0901-0932: A young golden
eagle has drink while she surveys Bear Trap Canyon to the southwest.
-1010-1011: A brave ground
squirrel risks the exposure and the raptors overhead to scamper up for a quick
drink.
-1112-1301: Young golden eagle
perches on the trough as heavy clouds roll in across the ranch.
-1301-1621: Three more golden
eagle arrive, including one large adult that has been wing tagged, and intermittently bathe and drink until a
light rain begins to fall (One of these eagle spends over 45 minutes perched on
my camera, distorting the videos).
-1654-1714: Solitary golden
eagle returns and calls out for his comrades.
-1834-1911: A group of cattle
move up to the trough for an afternoon.
-0405-0406: Large boar has a
drink and heads north.
-0734-0735: A young buck
cautiously approaches the trough and begins to have a drink before he is
spooked into the trough by his comrades creeping up behind him.
-0750- 0807: A group of ravens
hold court over the trough and guard it fiercely against the encroaching
morning doves.
-0814-0815: After the ravens
leave, a family of doves move in to forage around the trough.
-0942: The final recording
shows a beautiful American Kestrel perched on the trough surveying the
landscape below.
