Diario de rdggdr

10/18/2107 3:45-4:00 PM
The camera trap that recorded this footage was placed at about 8:00 AM the same day, as part of my ongoing raven food location behavior experiment. To get to the location of this camera site one must first drive up shirts canyon road to the new Shurtz Canyon trailhead just before the road climbs up the hill. There is a road that heads west out of the trailhead and gradually turns north towards the foothills. Follow this road a little over 1/4 mile and it meets with another road heading east to west. The camera was in a small draw visible in the foothills a little less than 1/4 mile to the north of the "T" of the two roads.

Habitat in the vicinity of the camera trap is dominated by mature pinyon-juniper forest. There was not very much vegetation other than the trees in the immediate area, as the trees have choked out the shrubs and grasses. The trees here are very close together, with most trees within five or six meters of adjacent trees.

Wind during the recording of the video was at about a 1 on the Beaufort scale, at an elevation of about 5800 feet. Regrettably the new camera does not record temperature data, so I am unsure of the temperature.

The fox first came to the hidden chicken meat I had placed at the bait site, spending about 2 minutes digging, eating, and sniffing the surrounding area. It then came forward and took the chicken egg that I had placed there, and carried it off a short distance before eating it. The fox then sniffed around the area for the next ten minutes or so, wandering in front of and inspecting the camera during the interval. The fox was very thorough in its search of the bait site, and was also quite inquisitive of the camera.

I was alone while setting and retrieving the camera, and have no further comments at this time.

10/15/17 11:22 AM
I found the tracks of this mule deer on a small dirt road that heads to the west from the Shurtz Canyon Trailhead on the Shirts Canyon Road south of Cedar City, UT. This road leaves the west side of the trailhead and slowly curves to the northwest before eventually turning to the north. The tracks were only about 100 yards from the trailhead in the road, heading to the west.

Habitat in the area is a mix of pinyon-juniper forest that is encroaching on sagebrush steppe. There are only a few pinyon pines in the area, but quite a few juniper trees. Most of the sagebrush is about 30" tall, and the whole of the landscape has a mix of perennial and annual grasses roughly 10" high. This flat is near several small canyons and other broken terrain heavily covered by pinyon-juniper forest that provides an ideal resting area for deer.

Wind this morning was about a level 1 on the Beaufort scale, and the temperature was 69 Degrees Fahrenheit. The trailhead is at about 5800ft elevation.

I was walking the road on my way back from checking some trail cameras when I came across the deer tracks. I made my observations and took photos in about a two minute interval from 11:20 to 11:22. This set of tracks was by far the most recent on the road, appearing to have been left the night before. The deer was headed out of the pinyon-juniper and into the more open sagebrush filled flat. This area sees frequent use by Mule Deer.

I was alone during this observation and have no more comments at this time.

10/4/2017, 6:13PM
North of Shirts Canyon Road, Cedar City UT 84720

To get to where I had placed the camera one must head up the Shirts Canyon Road south of Cedar City to the new trailhead just before the road heads up the hill out of the valley. Follow the trail north for about 3/8 mile until it connects with an old road running east to west through the northern edge of the valley. Head west along this road for about 1/2 mile until the road meets a fence and the hill to the north is only about 100 yards from the road. The camera was placed up this hill about 200 yards in a small clearing.

Habitat in the area consists of pinyon-juniper forest intermixed with cholla cactus and various perennial grasses. Most of the grasses and cacti in the area are less than 10" tall, while there are many mature juniper trees and a few mature pinyon pines. The slope of the hill is between 6 and 10% at on the lower edges but gets steeper and rockier in places. The junipers are fairly thick in the area providing an abundance of cover for small animals.

I had left the camera at this location on October 1st, and retrieved the data on the 7th after one week in the field. I was alone while setting and retrieving the camera.

The jackrabbit arrived at the camera site at 6:13PM on the 4th of October, and stayed in the area until about 6:15, two thirty second videos were recorded by the trail camera during this time.

The wind was about a level 1 on the Beaufort Scale during the video. The camera that captured this rabbit does not record temperature data, but another camera I had placed nearby recorded the temperature at 8 PM the same evening at 55 degrees Fahrenheit. Cloud cover was impossible to discern from the video. The elevation at this site is 1824 meters.

The Jackrabbit observed had very large ears with black tips, and its tail was black on top and white underneath. Based on my research the jackrabbit that I observed is a Black-tailed Jackrabbit, which are very common in this part of Utah. The jackrabbit was foraging on the video, lifting its head every few seconds to scan the surroundings, as well as moving its ears. It appeared to be very relaxed as it browsed. There was only one jackrabbit visible in both videos, and no other animals.

No other comments at this time.

9/26/17 5:57 PM
Temperature approximately 20 degrees celcius, partly cloudy, wind level 1 on the Beaufort scale.

Habitat in this area is pinyon-juniper forest on the foothills bordering an open sagebrush flat, with washes running out of the mouth of a small canyon nearby.

I was out hiking alone this afternoon past the new trailhead on Shirts Canyon Road south of Cedar City UT. This mule deer track and a few more were right in the road near where I park. The tracks were only about 2" long and were fairly old. I would guess at least 4 or 5 days old by the look of them. The deer had come out of a small canyon and was walking down the road along the edge of the hill. Deer often frequent this area.

9/24/17, 10:30 to 10:35
Partly cloudy skies, wind level 2 on the beaufort scale, 9 degrees Celcius.

Corner of 700 West and 1575 South, Cedar City UT, Elevation 1770 Meters.

Habitat in the area consists of homes surrounded by grass and shrubs, with pine trees and cottonwoods planted in the yards. Across the street from the houses to the southwest the hillside is covered in pinyon-juniper forest. The shrubs that grow near the houses provide perfect shelter for small mammals and birds alike.

This is the area around my house, and I frequently see both chipmunks and ground squirrels. I was not able to get a close enough look at the chipmunk I was observing today to identify it at the species level. The chipmunk is a small one, about seven inches long overall, with its tail making up about half of that length. The chipmunk would sit on the brick wall behind my house, and occasionally dart up into a tree and back to the wall. It would also frequently go into the holes in the bricks on the wall. After about five minutes of observation the chipmunk ran the length of the wall and disappeared into the brush at the south side of my house. I was alone during this observation.

9/18/17 7:28 to 7:30 AM
Clear skies, wind level 0 on the Beaufort scale, 8 degrees celsius.

Corner of Highway 56 and Iron Springs Road west of Cedar City, UT. Elevation about 1770 Meters.

Habitat in the area consists of thick shrub in a flat near the roads, broken up by houses and some businesses. The shrubs consist of sagebrush and rabbitbrush, most of which is between .5 and 1 meter tall.

I took a drive this morning to find some rabbits to observe, and spotted this Cottontail off the side of Iron Springs road, and was able to observe it for about 3 minutes. During my observation the rabbit kept very still, sticking to the edge of the brush. It kept its ears down, apparently trying to avoid detection. After another vehicle passed by the rabbit ducked back into the brush and disappeared from view.

I was at the Cedar Canyon Nature Park today with the mammalogy section, looking for mammal sign to observe. I headed uphill south of the end of the paved trail about 200 yards and found a pile of scat from a small predator, likely a gray fox or a small coyote. The scat was in a conspicuous place on the edge of the trail and was not covered. The scats were also close together but of varying freshness, an had hair and bits of berries in them. The closeness of the scats made me think this could possibly be a territory marking spot, especially where there were four scats of varied age. The habitat in the area consists of a riparian corridor surrounded by pinyon-juniper and sage brush scrub in a rugged canyon, which is ideal habitat for Gray Fox.