White rock lake, near Poppy
First Glimpse
When I looked up at the nest, I caught my first glimpse of a fuzzy white chick. The nest is so high and the sides so built up, it is hard to see anything. The chicks head is on the right and you can clearly see a blue eye between two sticks. Getting big and already has some tail & wing pin feathers.
Parent standing guard nearby in this observation: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/55163380
I'd been watching this nest since the male cooper's built it with the first sticks. This was taken 3 weeks earlier with mom in the nest: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/48919232
While sneaking around barefoot in the canyon, I heard a commotion 10 ft. behind me. Thought I'd flushed a mourning dove, but it sounded larger. I moved my head around an oak tree to see a Cooper's Hawk on the ground, hopping away from me with a desert cottontail in its talons. I wasn't quick enough to snap a photo of the bird, but the ID is good.
Primary and lesser
Covert
Lots of burrows in area
egg masses in pond
Lighting did not allow for the best pictures. Near the eye cup of the binoculars you will see a puma track on the left and deer track on the right, both heading to the top of the photo. 2nd picture shows puma tracks on the left, deer tracks on the right.
Seen January 27, 2022 by Russ Lewis, Kelsey Lotz, photos by Russ Lewis. Fresh tracks seen on Jan 28th by Kathleen Sayce, on ocean beach north of park boundary in Leadbetter Point NWR
Bird is shown in final image. Watched as these tracks were laid down.
Something wandering around our carport last night. There was a plastic bag of kitchen garbage that this animal ignored completely
Scat deposited in front of trail cam
tracks