Summer Wildlife Sightings at Sacramento Creek Ranch
The highlight of exploring Sacramento Creek Ranch slowly and on foot is the presence of wildlife across the property. During summer the hillsides are bursting with wildflowers, aspens are sprouting new shoots, and the ponds ripple with small trout rising to feast on insects. The larger mammals – the moose, deer, bear, and coyote that are less seldom seen, but species we hope to glimpse from a distance during our time on the trail are memorable and adept at avoiding humans. It takes a lot of time on the trail in the early and late hours of the day, a lot of patience, and some luck to rack up the memorable sightings of these big, charismatic species.
During the busiest time of year at the ranch, the one entity that seems to always have the most time, patience, and luck for spotting wildlife is the trusty MALT trail camera. At the beginning of June, I placed the trail camera on a well-trodden game trail connecting the creek to the forest above the Hershey Trail.
My eye was drawn to this spot due to a beaver carcass left behind by some coyotes in May. The bright orange teeth of the beaver stood out among the browns and greens of the forest floor. The beaver was caught by a coyote near the main pond, had likely been carried off to protect it from other scavengers, and then was left to be returned to the soil by insects and bacteria.
Over the course of several weeks, the camera caught several animals passing by this unique spot to sniff the beaver skeleton and make their way to the creek. Enjoy!
