Wildlife Sightings

When we peeked out the window this morning to check the weather, we saw a group of deer out grazing.

And that got us to thinking about all the critters we get to see up here. Being very close to the Tahoe National Forest and the Tahoe-Donner open spaces we are very lucky to see these wild animals.  Unfortunately, we don't always have a camera handy when we see them but here are some that we managed to capture around our home...

<- like this  Yellow-Bellied Marmot, who blended in so well to the scenery we almost didn't see him.

We also have many Chipmunks and a wide variety of squirrels, such as Belding's Ground Squirrel (which look like prairie dogs), California Ground Squirrel, Western Gray Squirrel, and Douglas' Squirrel. They are all so fun to watch scampering about.
Raccoons too! A family of them used to live under our house, but have since moved on (thank goodness). We have seen coyote and fox as well.

Mountain Cottontail. We don't get to see these bunnies very often as their habitat is in the brush, but always a joy to see.

In the winter, we don't usually see the critters but we know they have been in the area by the cute paw prints they leave in the snow.

We also have many kinds of birds here.
<- Red-naped Sapsucker

And we have been lucky enough to have seen bear! We have Black Bear in this area. But Black Bear on the west coast are often brown. The photo above was taken of 2 cubs (the mama is out of shot) that woke us up in the wee hours one morning. They were climbing up the outside of our building, probably trying to reach a birdfeeder.

<- This photo was taken while we were out for a walk on the trails near our house.
We have had many bear sightings and even though we know there is a danger, we always enjoy seeing them!