January 1992 February 1992 March 1992 April 1992 May 1992 June 1992 July 1992 August 1992 October 1992 November 1992
January 1992. This
month we received a copy of the geology report Geology of the
Point Sur-Lopez Point region, Coast Ranges, California: A part
of the Southern California allochthon. This special paper of the
Geological Society of America was written by Clarence Hall, a
geologist at UCLA. Clarence spent several months at Big Creek
in 1988, mapping the geological faults along the coast between
Limekiln Creek and the Little Sur River. According to Clarence,
the mapping was challenging not only because of the rugged, brushy
landscape but because the land itself is so folded and unstable.
Clarence's first task was to map recent landslides, since these
cover much of the land surface along the coast and hide faults
underneath. Then, working between the landslide areas, he had
to locate the exposed faults. Making use of his many years' experience
as a "field grunt" geologist, he then determined the
angle and extent of each fault.
The resulting maps were very revealing. Before, most local faults
had been described as a very complicated series of strike-slip
faults (like the San Andreas fault). These faults were thought
to have occurred as the continent was assembled like a jigsaw
puzzle from pieces sliding into place. Clarence found the picture
to be much simpler, with the faults being part of a single "thrust"
fault created as the ocean-bottom slid underneath the North American
continent 50-60 million years ago. The fault was later folded
and eroded into complex shapes and angles, which fooled previous
attempts at mapping. The "Southern California allochthon"
mentioned in the title is the name proposed for the rock above
the thrust fault.
Clarence also verified that a very active fault, the "San
Gregorio-Hosgri fault", runs along a line connecting the
mouth of the Little Sur River to a point offshore of Lopez Point
on the south coast. (The small earthquake we felt last winter
was along this fault, deep underground near Lopez Point.) The
fault runs right through the Big Sur valley, crosses under Ventana,
and runs out to sea at Rancho Grande. A drawing in the report
illustrates how stream channels in the Ventana area have been
displaced by fault movement, including the "beheading"
of Sycamore canyon which may have once carried the Big Sur River.
This fault may absorb some of the movement that would otherwise
occur along the San Andreas fault.
Other notes: We noticed the autumn arrival of Common Poorwills
to the reserve. These birds usually appear in the fall and are
seen fluttering along the roads at night, looking for insects....
The Coffee berry bushes are in fruit, providing lots of food for
foxes and other animals. Only a small crop of bay trees came into
fruit this fall. We have seen very few, very small flocks of Band-tailed
Pigeons this year. Perhaps they have gone elsewhere this year
because of the scarcity of Coast Live Oak acorns (which are small
enough to swallow?) and bay tree fruits. These strong flying birds
can go hundreds or thousands of miles in search of good sources
of fruit, acorns, and seeds (even as far as Central America).....The
redwoods have a big cone crop growing on the trees. I suppose
the seeds will drop next fall. Maybe then the creek will turn
burgundy red. This actually happened in 1986 after an autumn wind
brought the seeds down in huge numbers, releasing their red dye
in the water. (12/6/91)
February
1992 Derek Sikes, a student from
UC Santa Cruz, has just completed a study of burying beetles at
Big Creek. These are wide, black beetles about one inch long with
short "clubbed" antennae. They are usually found feeding
on carcasses of dead animals. When they find a small carcass such
as that of a mouse they will try to drag it away and bury it.
Once buried, they will chew off the fur and "mince"
the carcass into a food ball, and then lay their eggs. The mothers
(and sometimes the fathers) tend the eggs and larvae after they
hatch, leaving the food ball only after the young are off to a
good start. These creatures are one of nature's ways of "recycling"
small carrion.
Another interesting thing about these beetles is that they carry
tiny mites on their body. The mites feed on carrion along with
the beetle and require beetle transportation in order to locate
food. In return for this service, the mites feed on blowfly eggs
and larvae. If unchecked, such fly larvae will out-compete beetle
larvae, growing faster and "stealing" the food. By killing
the fly larvae, mites indirectly ensure their own transport to
new food sources by helping the beetle larvae survive.
Beetles of this genus (Nicrophorus) are found nationwide, but
little was known of the Pacific Coast species (negrita). Derek's
project was to study this species for comparison with other species,
and to discover if there were any new, unusual traits or behaviors.
This is not a trivial project because California coastal species
are usually quite different, owing to the mild, wet winters and
dry summers along the coast. For example, Derek found the beetles
to be continuously active from March through November, and to
be much more abundant than expected. He found a reliable way to
distinguish male from female beetles, and that the beetles possess
a hidden capacity for red coloration. Derek also found that the
mother accurately regulates the number of young beetles living
on a food ball so that each beetle has optimum nutrition. Although
these findings may seem trivial, they illustrate the complexity
of life experienced by each species, even "humble" carrion
feeders.
Other notes: UC Santa Cruz graduate student Svarup Wood told me
of a fresh Mountain Lion kill at the mouth of Brunette Creek where
it joins Big Creek. Although he never saw the animal, he probably
disturbed the lion while it was feeding on a deer. When my daughter
Annie and I walked to the spot two days later we discovered five
small "caches" of deer body parts buried under redwood
litter. The remains we found included front legs, broken off at
the long bone, and shoulder blades in one cache, broken off hind
legs and pelvis at another, the stomach in a third, and miscellaneous
body parts in the remaining two. Each cache was covered in piles
of redwood litter about 8 inches deep, made by scraping the ground
in a circle around the cache. The deer had been very neatly divided
and almost totally consumed. I could not find tracks but speculated,
based on the apparent skill with which the deer was handled, that
this was a kill by a mature animal. Perhaps it was the large lion
whose tracks we spotted last month.
I saw a flock of Golden-crowned Sparrows feeding inside a dense
thicket of "Lizard Tail" bushes. The entire flock of
30-40 birds emerged one by one from the dense cover and flew away....Above
the highway bridge I saw a mature Bald Eagle fly up and sit on
a rock. It sat for about a minute then flew off to the southeast.
Maybe it was looking for dead fish along the coast? (1/19/92)
March 1992. During the past two months we have found three
Ringtails killed along the highway, yet previously I had never
seen any of these animals in Big Sur. Ringtails are petite relatives
of the Raccoon, about the size of a half-grown cat. They have
a long, fluffy tail ringed in black and white. They eat rodents
as well as fruits and berries, and sometimes live in cabin attics.
They can be very beneficial, acting as effective mousers and seldom
making a mess (we had Ringtails in Tucson where I grew up). Their
huge eyes enable them to be almost completely nocturnal. I suspect
that they avoid lighted areas (or do they shun house cats?), since
they are seldom seen by people nor do they live in towns or suburbs.
Little is known about Ringtails in California. Does anyone in
our area have Ringtails in their cabin or yard, or have other
stories? I would be interested to hear.
In January two students were hiking in Devil's Canyon and heard
a Mountain Lion growling. This is the same area in which a lion
was encountered last summer, and in which lion "screams"
have been reported in previous years. It seems that we may have
an unusually vocal lion living there, or perhaps the place causes
lions to make noise for some reason.
UC Berkeley student Jane Marks is studying stream algae in Big
Creek and in the Eel River in Northern California. She is interested
in the filamentous type (Cladophora), which is the bright green
"hair" that sometimes grows in the creek. She wants
to know when it will "bloom," that is, grow vigorously
into large masses. We suspect the blooms depend on nutrients washing
into the creek from the land. This idea is supported by the fact
that the most recent blooms have taken place after the first rains
of the season; this year in January and last year in April. In
some areas this alga "blooms" in response to human pollution.
Big Creek is a good place to study its "natural" blooming.
Barbara Woyt and the Coastwatch citizens group in Big Sur approached
me about a study of bacterial contamination in the local streams.
Their idea was to compare counts of intestinal bacteria in the
Big Sur River, which has experienced problems with contamination,
to Big Creek, which has no significant sources of human contamination
(not even hikers). The Big Creek count should thus indicate the
baseline amount of intestinal bacteria produced by animal scats
and other natural sources. I am enthusiastic about the project
since it will give us baseline data as well as assist the community
in determining sources of contamination. I helped take the first
set of samples on December 18, and more samples will be taken
as the season progresses. Repeated samples are necessary to accurately
interpret the results. (2/18/92)
April 1992. Willows are leafing out along the creek bottom
this month. Two species are common in our area, the hairless Arroyo
Willow and the fuzzy-leafed Coulter's Willow. The arroyo willow
usually grows in clumps, and may or may not have a large trunk.
A single clump of arroyo willow usually spreads from parent trees
which fall over and root. Such clumps are called "clones"
because all parts are genetically the same. This time of year
it is easy to distinguish the clones, since each one begins producing
leaves at a different date in the spring and/or has catkins of
different sexes (unlike most plants, willow trees are either male
or female, but not both). Mature catkins are about 1-2" long,
and the males have long, slender stamens tipped with yellow anthers,
which distribute pollen to bees or into the air. The female catkins
have little capsules, about 1/2" long, each tipped by a greenish
stigma. The capsules are slender at first, but ripen after they
are pollinated. Here at Big Creek I have noticed that, unlike
the arroyo willow, the Coulter's willows produce leaves in "synchrony",
and do not grow in clumps.
I study caterpillars and other insects that feed on willows. In
the early spring at Big Creek, the most important insect herbivore
is a "web-worm" (actually three species of web-worm
in the moth family Tortricidae). The webworms are highly successful
and often strip the trees of new growth during March and April.
I found that their success is dependent on the presence of willow
twigs of intermediate age. If twigs are too mature when the moths
begin laying eggs, the tiny caterpillars will not be successful,
and the same thing happens if the leaves are too small. As a consequence,
I have found that some clumps of arroyo willow do not suffer much
damage by the webworms, while others are defoliated. In contrast,
the Coulter's willows are uniformly attacked, which is to be expected
since their leaf flush is synchronous. During the last two years
all Coulter's willows have been nearly defoliated each spring
by the webworms.
I also have discovered that the arroyo willow leaves contain bitter
chemicals related to aspirin (one compound, salicin, is occasionally
sold as an aspirin substitute). The Coulter's willow leaves are
free of these compounds, and have no taste. I don't know how the
webworms deal with the chemicals, but I discovered some beetles
(in the family Chrysomelidae) which not only tolerate the chemicals
but actually benefit from them. The larvae look like little spiny
caterpillars (like ladybug larvae if you know what those look
like from your garden), but have two rows of glands running down
the back. Enzymes in the glands break down the bitter chemicals
taken in with the food, to produce sugar and an oily, irritating
chemical called salicylaldehyde. This chemical is stored in reversible
pockets, which are everted when the beetle is attacked by a bird
or ant. The back of the beetle then "bristles" with
noxious droplets which may then be withdrawn when the attack is
over. The beetles need this protection from their enemies, and,
not surprisingly, are found only on certain species of willows
that contain the bitter chemicals in their leaves.
Other notes: We saw a pair of Bald Eagles in Big Creek canyon
during February, and a few days later saw a pair of Golden Eagles.
It also looks as if the Red-tail Hawks are going to move into
the same nest tree that they occupied last year. It might be a
very good year for hawks and other predators this year. The green
foliage caused by our rains is just what voles (meadow mice) need
for active reproduction. If these short-legged, prolific little
mice get "going", the grasslands could be packed by
summer time. Voles make runways through the grass, and, when crowded,
make little nests in the grass as well. All kinds of predators
are attracted by the abundant prey, from garter snakes to Black-shouldered
Kites.
The community is invited to our annual "Neighbor's Day"
open house scheduled for Saturday April 4, 9AM to 4PM, at Big
Creek. Kim Smiley is planning the program. She says the activities
that the Pacific Valley students are planning should be fun for
the whole family, so bring yours and spend a few hours learning
about California's unique Oak Woodland community. We will also
lead hikes to different parts of the reserve including the 6500
year old midden site and the spectacular ridgelines (there should
be flowers this year!). We will also give driving tours if requested.
(3/17/92)
May 1992. I received a 550-page report produced by Terry
Jones, director of the 1990 summer archaeology project at Big
Creek. In the report Terry summarized the data from six sites.
I was very impressed with the diversity among the sites: no two
were the same. The oldest site (the oldest found in Big Sur to
date) was the Interpretive Trail midden. This site has been occupied
more or less continuously for 6500 years. The earliest occupants
used a set of tools known by archaeologists as the "Millingstone
Complex"; these people were thought to have settled most
of California during 4500 BC.
The redwood terrace site was occupied for only 500 years or less
starting in about 3500 BC. This site has mortar and pestle as
well as few other technological improvements, but retains the
tools of the earlier phase. Terry named this phase of tool and
resource use the "redwood" phase, which extends from
3500 BC to 600 BC. This phase corresponds to the "early"
period of California prehistory. (A site at Willow Creek defines
the following "middle" period, 600 BC to 1000 AD, for
the Big Sur coast; no site at Big Creek had an unmixed assemblage
of middle period artifacts.)
The "late" period is more diverse, with more than one
"phase" at the same time. Terry speculates that new
peoples moved into the area after 1250 AD, perhaps mixing with
the indigenous peoples. For example, the "Harlan Springs"
site was apparently a fishing village, but curiously lacking in
arrowheads. In contrast, the Dolan site nearby was occupied at
approximately the same time but had abundant arrowheads and less
emphasis on fishing. Different yet was the Highlands site, which
had fishing gear and spear points but not late period arrowheads.
Clearly, sites were occupied by different peoples, doing very
different things. Maybe Big Sur was a refuge for peoples fleeing
the troubles that seem to have been taking place during that time.
Sounds like the Big Sur of today!
Another finding reminiscent of today was that change seemed to
take place by "addition" of new tools and technologies,
with people still retaining the old ways. Perhaps life in the
Big Creek area is so rugged that simple, old techniques work best,
with only selected "modern" improvements being adopted.
(This rings true to me as I sharpen a machete to go clear a trail.)
Our open house was wonderful! Lots of folks attended, most of
who were treated to a marvelous educational experience by the
students from Pacific Valley. Kim Smiley and the entire Pacific
Unified School (students and staff) deserve thanks from all of
us. Their sincere, professional attitude made a tremendously difficult
project come off without a hitch. Several volunteers also contributed
essential help. Thank you all. (4/17/92)
June 1992. Along the Big Sur coast, ocean upwelling is caused
by prevailing winds, which blow along the shoreline from the northwest.
These winds push surface water down the coast and, because of
the rotation of the earth, they also push the surface water offshore.
This is replaced by water from the deeps, laden with nutrients
and very cold. This March, winds were mainly from the southwest,
and the upwelling slowed considerably, reducing the amount of
nutrients available for the marine food chain and changing the
current patterns.
David VenTresca of the Department of Fish and Game directs a research
project on fish reproduction in the kelp forest. The researchers
scuba dive in the spring and summer months at selected sites along
the central coast (including Monterey Bay, Big Creek, and Piedras
Blancas) and study the tiny "young of the year" rockfish
produced each year. Rockfish, or "rockcod," are the
most abundant and diverse group of fish living in the kelp forest.
David's studies have revealed how the complex life cycles of the
rockfish depend on the upwelling currents. For example, Blue Rockfish
release eggs along the coast in late winter. The tiny hatchlings
are carried offshore by the surface currents, where they feed
on plankton in the upwelling zones. In April and May the fingerlings
make their way back to shore and take up residence along the shoreline.
As David described to me in early April, the late winter/early
spring upwelling was weak this year. As a consequence, the young
rockfish probably had little to eat and he predicted this year
to be poor for survival. Sure enough, the underwater surveys this
month have reported this to be true. As of late May, the numbers
were about ten times lower than normal.
The Lucia fishermen have collaborated with this study by providing
catch data. Studies of the otoliths ("ear bones") in
adult fish reveals the year in which the fish was spawned. By
tabulating the year of birth for large numbers of fish, it has
become clear that there are "good" and "poor"
years for fish reproduction for the Blue Rockfish, with the good
years corresponding to the years of strong March upwelling.
Other notes: This is a wonderful spring for butterflies. Yesterday,
Jerry Powell saw 30 species in a late afternoon walk. I have seen
lots of Buckeyes with huge eyespots sitting at the edge of the
road, and little swarms of Common Blues next to the creek drinking.
I have also seen many hawk moths feeding at flowers in the late
afternoon, looking like small, slow hummingbirds. There also seems
to be a vast number of caterpillars feeding on foliage this year.
We are having our fourth annual "fourth of July" butterfly
count on June 6, so we'll see how this year compares to others.
(5/23/92)
July 1992. It was a beautiful winter and spring, and now
summer is here. The creek level is dropping to summer flow rates,
about the same flow as last June. The winter rains gave us tall
stands of bunch grasses and the shrub growth is luxuriant, making
up for the previous dry years. I saw a fat, healthy doe with twin
fawns the other day, an indication of good deer forage.
This is the "best" butterfly year I have seen, with
many species in great abundance. Unfortunately our spring butterfly
count was scheduled on June 6, a day with cold, cloudy weather.
We saw only 250 butterflies, invalidating the count. We can't
re-schedule because the counters' schedules are filled with other
count days elsewhere. Still, there were some interesting surprises.
One butterfly seen during count week was a brilliant yellow Mexican
sulfur butterfly called Phoebis sennae. Apparently the rains in
the southwestern deserts have grown nectar flowers and senna plants
all across Sonora, Arizona, and California, and the Mexican butterflies
have followed. These were once common along the southern California
coast and may become re-established now.
Even though this was a good spring for deer and butterflies, it
has been very difficult for the rockfish in the kelp beds. The
Fish and Game researchers have found that the species of kelp
fish, which live in the water column and depend on plankton for
food (such as the blue rockfish), seem to be starving. The warm
southern water and unusual wind patterns have been preventing
upwelling currents from reaching the surface, and the plankton
have not "bloomed." The rockfish are thin and often
have their stomachs filled with algae rather than plankton. The
divers also reported fewer and smaller adult fish in the kelp
forest. Where have they gone? One possibility is that they moved
to unfamiliar habitats to find food and became prey to predatory
fish such as lingcods. The lingcods this year seem to be unusually
fat and well fed.
Two Black Oystercatchers nest in Big Creek cove every year. These
large black birds have bright orange bills and feet, and live
by eating shellfish along the coastline. This year they began
brooding eggs in early May, and by June 10 at least one fuzzy
black chick hatched. Now the parents are busy feeding bits of
shellfish to the chick. I have not been able to see if there is
more than one chick in the nest. (6/17/92)
August
1992. A group of divers from UC
Santa Cruz spent a week at the reserve during July. Working on
a project sponsored by the US Fish and Wildlife Service, they
were measuring and counting algae and certain kinds of animals
in the kelp forest. Big Creek is one of many study sites for this
project, which covers the whole range of Pacific coast kelp habitats,
from Alaska down to the Channel Islands in Southern California.
Although the project is not finished, the researchers have already
found that kelps are much more abundant in some areas than others.
They have found that, in areas with lots of kelp such as Big Sur,
very little gets eaten in a 24 hour period. In contrast, kelp
fronds in other areas (such as Bodega Bay in northern California)
get 100% consumed. They attribute the difference to feeding by
herbivore animals such as sea urchins and snails, which are so
abundant in Bodega Bay that they have consumed the entire kelp
forest, leaving only scattered kelp plants. The researchers think
that our herbivores are eaten by sea otters before they become
too abundant. If true, the sea otter may be an example of a "keystone
species," one whose activities can alter the ecological balance
of an entire habitat. In this case, their activities may allow
the kelp forest to exist as we know it.
The divers studying rockfish reported cold water and some good
upwelling near shore, which will help feed the hungry fish out
there. They also saw huge fins offshore, which at first they thought
belonged to orcas but turned out to be basking sharks. Kim and
I paddled out to see these huge fish. Although similar in some
ways to the great white shark, the basking shark has very different
feeding habits. They swim very slowly and calmly through the water
with their mouth wide open, straining plankton (tiny shrimps and
jellyfish, etc.) through their gills. From our kayaks we could
see their enormous white toothless mouths (about 3-4 feet in diameter)
swim right under the boat, followed by huge bodies about 6 feet
in diameter and 25 feet long. The dorsal fin (which only sometimes
breaks the surface) was a three-foot tall triangle, and the long
slender tail trailed behind. They paid no attention to us, and
would swim directly at us, only veering slightly at the last second
to avoid contact. Occasionally they stuck their pointed snout
and tiny eyes up into the air, maybe to look at us. One time they
gently brushed Kim's kayak. From our experience I would say these
are truly gentle creatures in spite of their enormous size.
Basking sharks are found in cool waters around the world. In warm
waters they seem to be replaced by the much larger Whale Shark.
Donna Schroeder, one of the marine biologist divers, told me that
some basking sharks may be able to lie dormant on the ocean bottom
for several months when food is scarce. She thought that California
basking sharks may not need to do this, however, since food is
probably available year round. One field guidebook says that basking
sharks were once hunted for their huge livers, to extract lamp
oil. The book also said that they are often found in huge groups
of 2-300 individuals, and that less than 10% of each group ever
come to the surface. We saw about 15 on the surface at once, so
the size of our group may have been quite large.
Other notes: The summer came on quickly and many of the late summer
flowers bloomed early or not at all. It was a good year for baby
animals; we have had twin baby raccoons, twin young foxes, and
lots of does with twin fawns. We also watched a western gull family
raise a chick. Earlier in the month there were two chicks but
one disappeared. By early August the surviving chick was swimming
around the cove, unable to fly but a good swimmer. A few days
later we saw it flying. (7/x/92)
October
1992. There has been a lot of animal
activity this past month. The deer in the canyon seem very thin.
They have eaten all the foliage in our garden and are defoliating
everything else around. I don't know if this is just localized
to my house area but it is very noticeable. There is hardly anything
green left in the canyon! My impression is that this has been
a very dry summer for the vegetation and wildlife.
Feynner, our reserve steward, reported an injured bobcat a couple
of weeks ago. He saw it staggering down the road on the ridge
above his cabin. The side of its head and its shoulder were torn
up badly, and the wounds were so severe that they were probably
inflicted by a mountain lion. The next day, Feynner and Cheryl
Briggs, a researcher, saw a fox in the same area, with similar
(though less severe) wounds. Based on this observation, Feynner
and I guessed that perhaps a young lion was learning to hunt,
and was "practicing." This possibility was confirmed
a week later, when Feynner saw the tracks of a medium-sized lion
along the road nearby. These tracks were the same size as those
of the juvenile lion we found dead on the reserve in 1990.
The kelp has stopped growing and is rotting in place in the giant
beds along the reserve. The Harbor Seals have left the kelp bed
and the haul out beach, as they do every August and September.
I wonder if they are repelled by the kelp decomposition? I seem
to remember the kelp breakdown other years, but I am not sure.
Other notes: We had an Osprey (a huge fish-eating hawk), in our
canyon a few weeks ago. It spent several days near the beach,
probably fishing in the kelp beds. Ospreys are dark brown above
and light colored below, and fly with a "crook" in their
long wings....Feynner reports there is a young Great Horned Owl
at his cabin, begging from the parents....We haven't seen wild
boar tracks on the reserve in a long time. Last spring, they seemed
to disappear from the reserve. (9/15/92)
November
1992. This month Terry Jones brought
a group of six archaeologists to Big Creek to study mussels. Their
goal was to measure the sizes of mussels growing in "safe"
areas where people haven't harvested them (in recent times). They
went out in kayaks and sampled mussels from the shore. They tried
different harvesting techniques, measuring how long it took to
gather and prepare the food. They also weighed the meat and measured
the shells for comparison with midden shells. They found that
it is much more efficient to individually pick the largest mussels
rather than to try and gather sheets, and that the sizes of the
mussels gathered correspond well to the sizes in the oldest layer
of the 6500 year old interpretive trail midden. They also found
huge quantities of commensal barnacles and other shelled organisms
riding on the mussel shells, which might account for the presence
of these rather inedible creatures in the middens.
Mussels were an important food for the people who lived here in
prehistoric times. Analysis of mussel shells from the middens
at Big Creek has revealed an amazing fact: the prehistoric peoples
harvested them continuously for over 6000 years without depleting
the resource. This is evident by averaging the sizes of mussels
gathered from the different layers of the middens; the sizes are
roughly constant between 6000 years ago to the present. The only
exceptions were at the very bottom of the midden (6500 years ago)
where somewhat larger mussels were found, and in the time of great
ecological upheaval around 1200 AD, when mussel use seemed to
stop temporarily. This is wonderful scientific evidence for the
possibility of "sustainable" resource harvesting over
long periods of time. "Sustainable use" is obviously
the only way our culture is going to make it into the 22 century,
so let's learn from some situations where it actually happened!
Other notes: The deer continue to inhabit the gatehouse yard.
On Monday morning, after returning from a four-day trip to San
Jose, Kim discovered a dead fawn in our laundry room under the
house! It had been partially eaten 2-3 days ago by a Mountain
Lion, with a big hole in the side where the lion had pulled out
the lungs, liver and guts. The hindquarters were eaten too. The
deer was about four feet long and had lost its spots about 3 weeks
ago. I carried the carcass up the road and left it to see what
would happen to it (some coyotes finished it off).
We guess that the lion was same young one, which attacked the
bobcat, and fox last month, and which has been living in our area
recently. At least now it seems to have learned to hunt deer!
It also did not return to the kill after Friday evening when a
group came in, possibly indicating some caution around humans
(of course, it could have made another kill and felt no need to
return to the first).
I saw a wild goat running up the cliffs by the beach. It looked
like some Asian species, all brown (no black, gray or white) and
agile as a Rocky Mountain goat. Does anyone have any information
about such animals in the area? I would like to find out more
about them. (10/19/92)