San Joaquin Kit Fox

This is one of the smallest foxes in North America. A graceful and slender animal with large ears, its coat is grayish-yellow with rusty tones above and white underneath. The round bushy tail is black-tipped, and they have dark patches around their nose. Their large ears provide excellent hearing and thermo-regulation.

Generally carnivorous, they prey on kangaroo rats, pocket mice, rabbits, reptiles, berries, and insects. Kit fox are prey to coyotes, bobcats and eagles, and are endangered.

The kit fox is found only on the edges of the San Joaquin Valley from southern Kern County up to Alameda, Contra Costa, and San Joaquin Counties on the west and up to Stanislaus County on the east. A few populations exist within the valley floor.

The average litter is 4 pups. They live in family groups: one male with two females and their offspring. The young leave the family in autumn to seek their own territory and mate.

Red Fox

The red fox is named for its rusty-red fur coat, but there are other color variations: completely black (black phase), black with silver-tipped hairs (silver phase), or brown and gray (cross phase). However, their bushy tail has a white tip in all color phases. Their chin, throat and belly are white; their lower legs and feet are black. Like a cat’s tail, the fox’s thick tail aids in balance, but it also acts as a warm cover in cold weather!

Classified as a carnivore, the red fox is really an omnivore. They will feed on whatever is available: berries, acorns, grasses, birds, mammals, grasshoppers, beetles, crayfish and garbage. They will store food under the snow or leaves. The red fox is beneficial, as are other foxes, in rodent control. Though fairly common, red foxes are shy, secretive, nocturnal and cunning, which makes them difficult to observe. They will elude competitors by circling and backtracking rather than fighting. They live in a variety of habitats ranging from cultivated areas to woodlands and brushlands.

An average of 4 -8 pups are born in a maternity den and the male fox helps provide food for the pups.

American Badger

The badger is a stocky mammal of about 20 lbs with a silver-gray colored coat. The badger’s legs are short and powerful; and its tail is short and bushy. The badger’s feet are black with very long claws. The most distinctive marking is the white stripe that runs from its nose to mid-back, with black stripes on either side. The badger is diurnal, especially in late afternoon. With a strong sense of smell and long claws, it is well equipped for finding and digging its prey from their dens.

Strictly carnivorous, the badger feeds mainly on rodents including ground squirrels, rats, mice, gophers and chipmunks.

Badgers are known to be excellent digging machines. Their powerfully built forelimbs allow them to tunnel rapidly through the soil. They construct underground burrows for protection and sleeping. A typical badger den may be as far as 10 ft below the surface, contain approximately 30 ft of tunnels and an enlarged sleeping chamber.

Badger pups are born in March or April. Litter Size: 1 – 4, usually 2 or 3, with 1 litter per year.

Bobcat

The bobcat and mountain lion are the two cat species native to California. Both cats are very secretive and are seldom seen in the wild.
Bobcats have muscular shoulders, ear tufts and a short “bobbed” tail about 5” long that has a black tip on the upper side. Their fur coat is tawny gray, occasionally with faint markings.

Bobcats live throughout California and much of North America with a home range of up to 25 square miles. They den in rock crevices or hollow trees and are quick to run off competitors.

Bobcats stalk and ambush their prey, seldom chasing it more than a few feet. Their diet varies with availability but usually consists of mice, hares, rabbits, squirrels, gophers, rats, and birds.

Female bobcats produce a single litter each year with an average of 3 kittens, but up to as many as 6.

Gray Fox

The gray fox has rather short legs, which it uses to climb trees in order to get food or seek refuge. The gray fox has a silvery-gray coat with conspicuous patches of yellow, brown, rust, or white on the throat and belly. Black tipped guard hairs form a dark line down its back to the tip of the tail.

The gray fox is the most common fox in California, mainly populating coastal or mountain forests at lower elevations. They rarely dig their own dens. Instead they will rest in crevices, under boulders, or in hollow logs.

Secretive and mostly nocturnal, the gray fox is an excellent hunter. Their main diet consists of small rodents, birds and berries, but they will also eat insects, eggs, acorns and fungi.

Mating begins in January and 3-5 pups are born in February or March. Pups will begin to hunt after 3 months. The family group remains together until the autumn, when the young reach sexual maturity, then they disperse.

Coyote

The most vocal of all North American wild mammals, this opportunistic hunter and scavenger is steadily increasing in number through rapid adaptation to human encroachment and a fast reproductive rates. The coyote looks similar to a large dog. Its coat is grayish brown to yellowish gray in color with a white throat and belly and a bushy, black-tipped tail.

Classified as a carnivore, the coyote will eat pretty much anything. 98% of its diet is meat from rodents, reptiles, insects and carrion. The other 2% is made up of fruits and berries. To catch their prey, coyotes will pounce with all of their legs held stiff. The coyote is the dominant wild animal in the food chain.

Found throughout most of North America, the coyote is common in open sagebrush areas, but has adapted to living in urban areas, as well. They have expanded their range due to the decreasing population of their larger competitor, the wolf. Pups are born in litters of 6-7 with the males leaving the pack at 6-9 months.

Western Scrub-Jay

The “blue jay” of dry western lowlands, the western scrub-jay combines deep azure blue with dusty gray-brown and white. The rounded, crestless head immediately sets it apart from blue jays and steller’s jays. These birds are a fixture of dry shrublands, oak woodlands, and pinyon pine-juniper forests, as well as conspicuous visitors to backyards.

Western scrub-jays have a naughty streak. They’ve been caught stealing acorns from woodpecker caches and robbing seeds and pine cones from other birds. They mostly eat insects and fruit during spring and summer, and switch to nuts and seeds during fall and winter. They eat small animals such as lizards and other nestling birds, and can be seen standing on the back of a mule deer picking off and eating ticks and other parasites.

Living in scrub, open oak woodlands, and suburban yards, nests of 1-5 eggs are made of a basket of twigs lined with rootlets, fine strands of plant fibers, and livestock hair.

Turkey Vulture

The turkey vulture’s most notable characteristic is the red to reddish-purple skin on their bald head and neck. Their body is covered with blackish brown feathers with a silver lining. They have pale legs, gray-brown eyes, and are 26-32” long.

A turkey vulture’s diet is almost exclusively carrion. Their feet and beak are too weak to kill their own food. They have a highly developed sense of smell, which they use to locate dead flesh while soaring at 200 ft.

Turkey vultures live across the United States during the summer in dry, open areas, deciduous forests and woodlands. If migrating, the bird will soar at 4,000-5,000’. One of the largest turkey vulture migration patterns in the world can be seen over CALM during October.
Females lay 2 eggs yearly and the male will incubate the eggs for 38-41 days.

Red-Tailed Hawk

The red-tailed hawk has a chestnut red color on the upper side of the tail as a distinguishing field mark, which gives it its name. The adults are dark brown on top; white with brown streaks below. They are also found with dark and light colorings. They have broad wings and broad tails that aid in soaring and have excellent vision for hunting. The red-tailed hawk is most the most common hawk found in America.

Red-tailed hawks are beneficial to rodent control, feeding mainly on mice, rats, and squirrels. They will also eat rabbits, birds, snakes (including rattlesnakes), lizards, frogs and salamanders. Most often, they watch for prey from a perch but like to hunt while soaring. They attack their prey in a slow, controlled dive with legs outstretched, much different from a falcon’s stoop dive.

Red-tailed hawks have a shrill cry and are often used on soundtracks for television and movies. These hawks prefer mixed country with open pastures interspersed with woods. They court for life with the female mostly incubating the eggs and
the male bringing food to the nest.

Great Horned Owl

The great horned owl is the second largest owl in California. The “horns” of the owl are actually only feather tufts, colored brown with the rest of the body. They also have some spotted coloration in darker shades of brown. The great horned owl is one of the most common owls, equally at home in deserts, wetlands, forests, grasslands, backyards and cities.

Great horned owls are fierce predators and are often referred to as “tigers of the sky”. They can take large prey, including raptors such as ospreys, falcons, and other owls. They mainly eat squirrels, jackrabbits, skunks and other small mammals and birds. They also eat much smaller items such as rodents, frogs, and scorpions, which they swallow whole and later regurgitate in owl pellets. They have excellent hearing, specially adapted feathers that dissipate air flow, facilitating silent flight, plus powerful feet and talons.

Females will usually lay 2-3 eggs once a year. These eggs will be incubated by both parents. They will hatch in 4 weeks, and will mature and leave the nest in 1-2 months.