A feather — probably from a barn owl — on the Modelo Trail between Cheeseboro and Palo Comado Canyons.
A little further along the trail I was surprised to see the diminutive “Felix the Cat” like face of a long-tailed weasel briefly pop up from a burrow.
From today’s run of the Modelo – Palo Comado Canyon – Cheeseboro Canyon loop. This Park Service PDF includes a map of the area, and this interactive Cesium browser View shows a GPS trace of the run.
These canyon sunflowers were along the trail in a pretty oak woodland area of upper Las Virgenes Canyon.
I had been kneeling when I took the photo, and as I stood up, turned off the camera and started to take a couple of strides up the trail, was startled to see the large white face of a barn owl headed toward me. The bird wheeled and turned in a patch of sunlight, showing its broad wings and exquisite apricot-orange coloration. Silently, it flew to a nearby tree.
I was a little surprised it had not flown farther away and looked to see if I could get a photo. Nope — the owl had had enough, and flew to a more distant tree. At that instant a small squirrel came scrambling down the oak branch from where I had first seen the owl fly.
I apologized to the owl, told the squirrel he owed me one, and continued up the trail.
Related post: Hawk, Bobcat, and Rabbit
What the… Until I saw the water bottle and that the person was talking on a cell phone, I wasn’t sure what I was seeing.
Then there was the rattlesnake — well actually, the two rattlesnakes! Here’s an video snapshot of one of the rattlesnakes. This is an average size Southern Pacific rattlesnake. Because of our cool Spring weather they’ve been slow to appear, but are now out and about.
Some related posts: Big Southern Pacific Rattlesnake at Ahmanson Ranch, It was So Muddy That…, Overcoming Obstacles on the Trail
An alligator lizard (Elgaria multicarinata) sunning itself on a grassland or chaparral trail isn’t about to move unless it positively, absolutely, for sure, without question has to.
I’ve encountered (and jumped over) a number of alligator lizards while running Southern California trails, and don’t recall one ever being in a hurry to move. It’s a case of fight or flight — or just sit there. Putting the camera a few inches from its nose resulted in only an almost imperceptible tilt of the head. I can never decide if they’re playing possum, or maybe trying to decide if I’m too big to eat. And they will bite.
Because of their small limbs and long body, at first glance they are sometimes mistaken for a snake. When they finally do decide to move, they do so using a rapid lateral undulation of their body, with little apparent involvement of their limbs. Some research has concluded that this form of locomotion is more energetically efficient (Gans, 1975), while other research (Walton et al.,1990) suggests that limbed and limbless locomotion may have similar energetic costs.
The alligator lizard appears to be part way through a transition from a fully limbed lizard to a more snake-like body with reduced limbs. This change in form has occurred in a number of species, and in a paper published in 2006 (Wiens, Brandly & Reeder) the question was posed why this trait repeatedly evolves in lizards and snakes. They postulate that in addition to more traditional explanations, that biogeographic isolation and competition may play important roles.
For more info about the alligator lizard, see this San Diego Zoo fact sheet.
I almost always see mule deer when doing a trail run that passes through Trippet Ranch, especially in the morning. They tend to hang out near the parking lot, the pond, the oaks along East Topanga fire road, and along the Musch and Dead Horse trails.
Sunday several doe were grazing about five feet from the parking lot, and barely took notice as I (slowly) ran past. I also saw a buck near the start of the Musch Trail, but he was much more skittish, and strutted into the brush as I ran up the hill from the pond.
Related post: Musch Trail Mule Deer
From Tuesday’s run in the Simi Hills.