Catching up

I had pretty good energy today so went to CMO and got some neglected stuff done. Worked on the big hill picking rocks out and raking. Watered. And set out a bunch of germander I had foolishly dug up in Alpine. More trouble than it's worth for sure. Serviced my feeders and a bunch of little things, too trivial to mention.

Here's a Black-tailed Rattlesnake seen by a couple of birders at the oasis last week. Thanks for sharing James and Susan Barnes!

photos by Susan Barnes

In case you wondered how hard it is to go up my mountain, it's a 700' climb. That's equivalent to going up 700 stair steps, each having a one foot riser. But of course, it involves extra walking over rough terrain too, especially after the saddle when the trail ends. I don't go straight up like stairs. It's a long progression of uneven steps and switchbacks.  It's difficult. Being 77 yrs old doesn't help.

A few days ago my sister checked her critter cam on top of the mountain and had captured a short video clip of a collared Mountain Lion. She checked with the park personnel who were in charge of the collaring and sent them the clip. They said it was a 6 yr old male who only ate Javelina and he was all beat up because he had to fight some pretty mean boars. Guess he really loved it. Maybe even enjoyed the fight. Sure are ample Javelina around. Wish he'd develop a taste for Aoudad. They're just denuding our mountain. She was told that ranchers are killing all the Mountain Lions, so I don't know what can be done to protect the habitat.