Animals

Western Fence Lizard

Sceloporus occidentalis

Range: common lizard of Arizona, California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Northern Mexico, and the surrounding area. It is found in almost every environment up to 10,800 feet. It generally avoids the harsh desert and is often found near water.

Info: These lizards are diurnal, and are commonly seen sunning on paths, rocks, and fence posts, and other high places, which makes them an easy target for predation by birds and even some mammals, such as shrews. They protect themselves by employing their fast reflexes. S. occidentalis goes through a period of hibernation during the winter.

Fun Fact: As the ventral abdomen of an adult is characteristically blue, it is also known as the blue-belly. The Western Fence Lizard can detach its tail if bitten to escape the mouth of a predator.

California Ground Squirrel

Otospermophilus beecheyi

Range: Western United States and the Baja California Peninsula

Info: California ground squirrels are considered to be mostly herbivores with seeds, grains, nuts, fruits, and sometimes roots occupying most of their diet. The squirrels reside in a elaborate tunnel system that can stretch far distances. They enter these tunnels through holes in the ground.

Fun Fact: The California ground squirrel is also known as the Beechey ground squirrel.

Junco

Junco bairdi

Range: California and Baja California

Info: In winter over much of the continent, flocks of Juncos can be found around woodland edges and suburban yards, feeding on the ground, making ticking calls as they fly up into the bushes. East of the plains the Juncos are all gray and white, but in the West they come in various color patterns, with reddish-brown on the back or sides or both.

Fun Fact: The different color variations of Junco were believed to be separate species until decently recently.

California Mule Deer

Odocoileus hemionus californicus

Range: Westside of Sierra Nevada down to south coast.

Info: The California Mule Deer usually eats plants such as young tender shoots, young shrubs, leaves of plants that are high in nutrients, succulent grasses, and forbs.

Fun fact: In California, long distance migration is rare among large mammals, and mule deer are one of the few that migrate.

Western Honeybee

Apis mellifera

Range: The western honeybee can be found on every continent except Antarctica. The species is believed to have originated in Africa or Asia, from where it spread throughout Africa, the Middle East and Europe. Humans are responsible for its considerable additional range, introducing European subspecies into North America South America, Australia, New Zealand, and East Asia.

Info: The Primary Species for beekeeping around the world. The western honey bee was one of the first domesticated insects, and it is the primary species maintained by beekeepers to this day for both its honey production and pollination activities. Honey bees are threatened by pests and diseases, especially the varroa mite and colony collapse disorder.

Fun fact: The Western honeybee was afflicted by the widespread “Colony Collapse" disease that greatly damaged the population of honeybee hives. Honey has an indefinite shelf life.

Be Careful of the hive on the El Retiro property!

Western Grey Squirrel

Sciurus griseus

Range: Western United States and Mexico

Info: Sciurus griseus is the largest tree/arboreal squirrel in the Sierra Nevada and Central California range. These squirrels are shy, and will generally run up a tree and give a hoarse chirping call when disturbed. Western gray squirrels eat berries, nuts, a variety of seeds, and the eggs of small birds. The tail is long and typically very bushy. Also, it stays in a curved upwards in an "S" shape.

Fun fact: Tree squirrels undergo a complete head-to-tail molt in the spring and a rump-to-head molt in the fall.

Red Tailed Hawk

Buteo jamaicensis

Range: North and Central America

Info: It is one of the most common members within the genus of Buteo (a type of hawk) in North America and worldwide. Red-tailed hawks can acclimate to all the biomes within their range, occurring on the edges of non-ideal habitats such as dense forests and sandy deserts.

Fun Fact: It is legally protected in Canada, Mexico and the United States by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

American Crow

Corvus brachyrhynchos

Range: Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean in Canada, on the French islands of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, south through the United States, and into northern Mexico.

Info: American Crows are familiar over much of the continent: large, intelligent, all-black birds with hoarse, cawing voices. They are common sights in treetops, fields, and roadsides, and in habitats ranging from open woods and empty beaches to town centers. They usually feed on the ground and eat almost anything – typically earthworms, insects and other small animals, seeds, and fruit but also garbage, carrion, and chicks they rob from nests. Their flight style is unique, a patient, methodical flapping that is rarely broken up with glides.

Fun fact: Crows sometimes make and use tools. Examples include a captive crow using a cup to carry water over to a bowl of dry mash; shaping a piece of wood and then sticking it into a hole in a fence post in search of food; and breaking off pieces of pine cone to drop on tree climbers near a nest.

Mourning Dove

Zenaida macroura

Range: Canada to Mexico

Info: Mourning doves show a preference for the seeds of certain species of plant over others. Foods taken in preference to others include pine nuts, sweetgum seeds, and the seeds of pokeberry, amaranth, canary grass, corn, sesame, and wheat. Like other columbids, the mourning dove drinks by suction, without lifting or tilting its head. Mourning doves sunbathe or rainbathe by lying on the ground or on a flat tree limb, leaning over, stretching one wing, and keeping this posture for up to twenty minutes.

Fun fact: Pairs tend to mate for life. Another name for them is “turtle doves.” When they grab seeds off the ground, they are not necessarily eating them. Instead, they are stockpiling for digesting later. The seeds collect in the “crop,” which is simply an enlarged part of their esophagus.

Jackrabbit

Lepus

Range: North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa.

Info: Jackrabbits or hares are any of about 30 species of mammals related to rabbits and belonging to the same family (Leporidae).

Fun Fact: If frightened or injured, hares make screaming or screeching noises.

Raccoon

Procyon lotor

Range: Native to North America, but spread to other countries in Europe and Asia.

Info: a medium-sized mammal native to North America. The raccoon is the largest of the procyonid family, having a body length of 16 to 28 in and a body weight of 11 to 57 lb. Its grayish coat mostly consists of dense underfur which insulates it against cold weather. Raccoons are noted for their intelligence, with studies showing that they are able to remember the solution to tasks for at least three years. They are usually nocturnal and omnivorous, eating about 40% invertebrates, 33% plants, and 27% vertebrates.

Rabbit

Oryctolagus cuniculus

Range: Everywhere except Antarctica

Info: With its widespread effect on ecologies and cultures, the rabbit (or bunny) is, in many areas of the world, a part of daily life—as food, clothing, and companion, and as a source of artistic inspiration. A group of rabbits is known as a colony or nest (or, occasionally, a warren, though this more commonly refers to where the rabbits live).

Fun fact: One distinct difference between rabbits and hares is, hares are precocial, born relatively mature and mobile with hair and good vision, while rabbits are altricial, born hairless and blind, and requiring closer care.

American Robin

Turdus migratorius

Range: Canada/ USA

Info: Migratory songbird. Most active during the day but assembles large flocks during the night. Easily identifiable by their vibrant orange stomach. Notorious for their blue colored eggs.

Fun Fact: Brown-Headed cowbirds often lay eggs in the robin’s nest but the cowbird’s eggs are usually rejected by the robin.

Rio Grande Wild Turkey

Meleagris gallopavo intermedia

Range: native to North America

Info: The bodies of wild turkeys are covered with 5,000 to 6,000 feathers. These feathers provide insulation, lift during flight, and touch sensation and ornamentation. Hens have significantly dulled and muted colors which causes the female to appear brown. Gobblers have a beard, which is a cluster of long follicles in the center of their chest that can be an inch to 10 inches long. The Rio Grande wild turkey is an opportunistic forager that feeds on green foliage, insects, seeds from grasses.

Fun fact: Ben Franklin called the wild turkey a “bird of courage” and thought it would make a better national symbol than the bald eagle.

California scrub jay, Western scrub jay

Aphelocoma californica

Range: Urban areas of North America, and parts of British Columbia

Info: It feeds on small frogs and lizards, eggs, other bird’s young, insects, grains, nuts, and berries. It is a very intelligent creature that can remember up to 200 of their caches, the item in each cache, and the state of decay.

Fun Fact: Scrub jays hold “funerals” for their dead that usually last about half an hour.

Calliope Hummingbird

Selasphorus calliope

Range: Western North America

Info: Calliope hummingbirds are a migratory bird, generally leaving their breeding grounds earlier than most birds (although not as early as the rufous hummingbird) to take advantage of the late-summer wildflowers in the mountains of western North America. These birds feed on nectar from flowers using a long extendable tongue, drink sap from holes created by sapsuckers or catch insects on the wing.

Fun fact: They are believed to be the smallest-bodied long distance migrant in the world. The only smaller species ever found in the U.S. is the bumblebee hummingbird.

Spotted Shouldered Hawk (Coopers Hawk)

Accipiter cooperii

Range: native to the North American continent and found from Southern Canada to Northern Mexico. The Cooper's hawk occur in various types of mixed deciduous forests and open woodlands, including small woodlots, riparian woodlands in dry country, open and pinyon woodlands, and forested mountainous regions and also now nests in many cities

Info: Often mistaken for Red-Tailed hawks due to very similar colors and size. These birds capture prey from cover or while flying quickly through dense vegetation, relying almost totally on surprise. Cooper's hawks prey almost exclusively on small to mid-sized birds. Cooper's hawks live as long as 12 years in the wild.

Fun Fact: At one time, Cooper's hawks were heavily hunted in persecution for preying on poultry and were called chicken hawks.

Virginia Opossum or North American Possum

Didelphis virginiana

Range: Found only in North America

Info: It is the only marsupial found north of Mexico. In the United States, it is typically referred to simply as a possum. It is a solitary and nocturnal animal about the size of a domestic cat. It is a successful opportunist, familiar to many North Americans as it is often seen near towns, rummaging through garbage cans.

Fun Fact: Possums are known to "play possum" aka play dead when threatened by a predator.

Common Garter Snake

Thamnophis sirtalis

Range: They occur throughout much of North America, although they are largely absent from the arid southwestern United States. Common garter snakes are found throughout eastern North America from Florida to coastal Quebec, west to British Columbia, south into southern California east of the Sierras, and throughout the less arid areas of the southwest. Isolated populations occur on mountain ranges in New Mexico and northern Mexico.

Info: Garter snakes are among the most common snakes in North America, with a range spanning from Canada to Florida. Often kept as pets, they are relatively harmless, although some species do possess a mild neurotoxic venom. However, it is not dangerous to humans.

Fun fact: Common garter snakes are highly variable in color pattern. They typically have three light stripes that run along the length of their body on a black, brown, gray, or olive background. The stripes can be white, yellow, blue, greenish, or brown.

California Kingsnake

Lampropeltis getula californiae

Range: Western USA and Northern Mexico

Info: Found in a variety of habitats: woodland chaparral, grassland, deserts, marshes, and even suburban areas. Become more nocturnal under high temperature weather/climate.

Fun fact: Low maintenance so they are popular. Also known to be predators of rattlesnakes.

Coyote

Canis latrans

Range: native to the whole of North America

Info: It is smaller than its close relative, the gray wolf. It has a varied diet consisting primarily of animal meat, including deer, rabbits, hares, rodents, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, and invertebrates, though it may also eat fruits and vegetables on occasion. Its characteristic vocalization is a howl made by solitary individuals.

Fun Fact: The coyote is a prominent character in Native American folklore, mainly in the Southwestern United States and Mexico, usually depicted as a trickster that alternately assumes the form of an actual coyote or a man.

Wild Boar

Sus Scrofa

Range: The wild boar was believed to have originated in Southeast Asia and have spread to parts of Eurasia, North Africa, and the Greater Sunda Islands.

Info: This animal’s main natural predator is the grey wolf and has a long history with humans being the ancestors to our domesticated pigs and being a “big-game” animal for years.

Fun Fact: Historically, wild boars were hunted in groups by spearmen that used a specialized boar spear. The spear had a cross guard to stop the enraged animal from driving its pierced body further down the shaft and attacking the spearmen before dying.