After being gone for nearly 10 years, we now have a female coyote and her pups at the Conservancy’s flagship preserve, the BKS tract. What is amazing is that this is a very large animal, one of the largest specimens I’ve seen in the Natomas Basin. My guess is that she is getting filled up with jack rabbits. Once the coyotes left 10 years ago, the jack rabbit population exploded. And we know the coyotes love their rabbit stew. We can only wonder what will happen once the rabbit population dwindles, as we expect if the coyotes remain on the property. If so, will the coyotes abandon the preserve and move on to other places? I expect the rabbit population to return once the coyotes leave, if they in fact do. It will be interesting to watch.
A very good sign
The photo that is shown with this post is of a Burrowing owl (Athene cunicularia), photographed in the Conservancy’s Central Basin Reserve Area. It has become a “friend” of Conservancy field crews since it is so gregarious. Conservancy crews always recognize it because, as you can barely see in the …