THE BIRDS AND ANIMALS OF THE TAHOE REGION
_Birds_. The bird life of the Tahoe region does not seem
particularly interesting or impressive to the casual observer. At
first sight there are not many birds, and those that do appear have
neither so vivid plumage nor sweet song as their feathered relatives
of the east, south and west. Nevertheless there are several
interesting species, and while this chapter makes no pretense to
completeness it suggests what one untrained observer without birds
particularly on his mind has witnessed in the course of his several
trips to the Tahoe region.
It soon becomes evident that altitude has much to do with bird life,
some, as the meadow-lark and blackbird never being found higher than
the Lake shore, others at the intermediate elevations where the Alpine
hemlock thrives, while still others, such as the rosy finch and the
rock-wren, are found only on the highest and most craggy peaks.
While water birds are not numerous in the summer, observant visitors
at Lake Tahoe for the first time are generally surprised to find
numbers of sea gulls. They fly back and forth, however, to and from
their native haunts by the sea. They never raise their young here,
generally making their return flight to the shores of the Pacific in
September, October and at latest November, to come back in March and
April. While out on the mountain in these months, fifty or more miles
west of Lake Tahoe I have seen them, high in the air, flying straight
to the place they desired.
The blue heron in its solitary and stately watchfulness is
occasionally seen, and again etches itself like a Japanese picture
against the pure blue of the sky. The American bittern is also seen
rarely.
Kingfishers are found, both on the lakes and streams. It is
fascinating to watch them unobserved, perched on a twig, as motionless
as if petrified, until, suddenly, their prey is within grasp, and with
a sudden splash is seized.
On several of the lakes, occasionally on bays of Tahoe itself, and
often in the marshy lands and sloughs of the Upper Truckee, near
Tallac, ducks, mallard and teal are found. Mud chickens in abundance
are also found pretty nearly everywhere all through the year.
The weird cry of the loon is not infrequently heard on some of the
lakes, and one of these latter is named Loon Lake from the fact that
several were found there for a number of years.
Flocks of white pelicans are sometimes seen. Blackbirds of two or
three kinds are found in the marshes, also killdeer, jacksnipe and the
ever active and interesting spotted sandpipers. A few meadow-larks
now and again are heard singing their exquisite song, reminding one
of Browning's wise thrush which "sings each song twice over, lest you
should think he cannot recapture that first fine careless rapture."
Doves are not common, but now and again one may hear their sweet
melancholy song, telling us in Joaquin Miller's poetic and exquisite
interpretation:
There are many to-morrows, my love, my love,
But only one to-day.
In the summer robins are frequently seen. Especially do they revel
on the lawns at Tahoe Tavern, their red-breasts and their peculiar
"smithing" or "cokeing" just as alluring and interesting as the
plumage and voices of the richer feathered and finer songsters of the
bird family.
Mountain quails are quite common, and one sometimes sees a dozen
flocks in a day. Grouse are fairly plentiful. One day just on the
other side of Granite Chief Peak a fine specimen sailed up and out
from the trail at our very feet, soared for quite a distance, as
straight as a bullet to its billet for a cluster of pine trees, and
there hid in the branches. My guide walked down, gun in hand, ready
to shoot, and as he came nearer, two others dashed up in disconcerting
suddenness and flew, one to the right, the other to the left. We never
got a sight of any of them again.
At another time I was coming over by Split Crag from the Lake of the
Woods, with Mr. Price, of Fallen Leaf Lodge, when two beautiful grouse
arose from the trail and soared away in their characteristic style.
At one time sage-hens were not infrequent on the Nevada side of the
Lake, and as far west as Brockways. Indeed it used to be a common
thing for hunters, in the early days, to come from Truckee, through
Martis Valley, to the Hot Springs (as Brockways was then named) and
shoot sage-hens all along the way. A few miles north of Truckee, Sage
Hen Creek still preserves, in the name, the fact that the sage-hen was
well known there.
Bald-headed and golden eagles are often seen in easy and circular
flight above the highest peaks. In the fall and winter they pass over
into the wild country near the almost inaccessible peaks above
the American River and there raise their young. One year Mr. Price
observed a pair of golden eagles which nested on Mt. Tallac. He and I
were seated at lunch one day in September, 1913, on the very summit of
Pyramid Peak, when, suddenly, as a bolt out of a clear sky, startling
us with its wild rush, an eagle shot obliquely at us from the upper
air. The speed with which it fell made a noise as of a "rushing mighty
wind." Down! down, it fell, and then with the utmost grace imaginable,
swept up, still going at terrific speed, circled about, and was soon
lost to sight.
Almost as fond of the wind-tossed pines high up on the slopes of the
mountain as is the eagle of the most rugged peaks, is Clark's crow,
a grayish white bird, with black wings, and a harsh, rasping call,
somewhat between that of a crow and the jay.
Of an entirely different nature, seldom seen except on the topmost
peaks, is the rosy-headed finch. While on the summit of Pyramid Peak,
we saw two of them, and one of them favored us with his (or her)
sweet, gentle song.
Hawks are quite common; among those generally seen are the long tailed
grouse-hawk, the sparrow hawk, and the sharp-shinned hawk. Night-hawks
are quite conspicuous, if one walks about after sunset. They are dusky
with a white throat and band on the wing. They sail through the air
without any effort, wings outspread and beak wide open, and thus glean
their harvest of winged insects as they skim along. Oftentimes their
sudden swoop will startle you as they rush by.
Woodpeckers are numerous, and two or three species may be seen almost
anywhere in a day's walk through one of the wooded sections. Many are
the trees which bear evidence of their industry, skill and providence.
The huge crow-like pileolated woodpecker with its scarlet crest, the
red-shafted flicker, the Sierra creeper, the red-breasted sap-sucker,
Williamson's sap-sucker, the white-headed woodpecker, Cabanis's
woodpecker with spotted wings and gray breast, the most common of
woodpeckers, and Lewis's woodpecker, a large heavy bird, glossy black
above, with a white collar and a rich red underpart, have all been
seen for many years in succession.
The red-breasted sap-sucker and Williamson's sap-sucker are found most
frequently among the aspens and willows along the lake shore, while
the red-shafted flicker, Cabanis's woodpecker, and the white-head
favor the woods. One observer says the slender-billed nut-hatch is
much more common than the red-breasted, and that his nasal laugh
resounded at all times through the pines.
High up in the hemlock forests is the interesting Alpine three-toed
woodpecker. It looks very much like Cabanis's, only it has three toes
in place of four, and a yellow crown instead of a black and red one.
In importance after the woodpeckers come the members of the sparrow
family that inhabit the Tahoe region. The little black-headed
snowbird, Thurber's junco, is the most common of all the Tahoe birds.
The thick-billed sparrow, a grayish bird with spotted breast and
enormous bill is found on all the brushy hillsides and is noted for
its glorious bursts of rich song.
Now and again one will see a flock of English sparrows, and the
sweet-voiced song-sparrow endeavors to make up for the vulgarity of
its English cousin by the delicate softness of its peculiar song.
Others of the family are the two purple finches (reddish birds), the
pine-finch, very plain and streaked, the green-tailed towhee, with its
cat-like call, and the white-crowned sparrow,--its sweetly melancholy
song, "Oh, dear me," in falling cadence, is heard in every Sierran
meadow.
The mountain song-sparrow, western lark, western chipping-fox,
gold-finch, and house- and cassin-finches are seen. The fly-catchers
are omnipresent in August, though their shy disposition makes them
hard to identify. Hammond, olive-sided and western pewee are often
seen, and at times the tall tree-tops are alive with kinglets.
Some visitors complain that they do not often see or hear the
warblers, but in 1905, one bird-lover reported seven common
representatives. She says:
The yellow bird was often heard and seen in the willows along
the Lake. Late in August the shrubs on the shore were alive
with the Audubon group, which is so abundant in the vicinity
of Los Angeles all winter. Pileolated warblers, with rich
yellow suits and black caps, hovered like hummers among the
low shrubs in the woods. Now and then a Pacific yellow-throat
sang his bewitching "wichity wichity, wichity, wee." Hermit
and black-throated gray warblers were also recorded. The
third week in August there was an extensive immigration of
Macgillivray warblers. Their delicate gray heads,
yellow underparts, and the bobbing movement of the tail,
distinguished them from the others.
The water ouzel finds congenial habitat in the canyons of the Tahoe
region, and the careful observer may see scores of them as he walks
along the streams and by the cascades and waterfalls during a summer's
season. At one place they are so numerous as to have led to the naming
of a beautiful waterfall, Ouzel Falls, after them. Another bird is
much sought after and can be seen and heard here, perhaps as often
as any other place in the country. That is the hermit thrush, small,
delicate, grayish, with spotted breast. The shyness of the bird is
proverbial, and it frequents the deepest willow and aspen thickets.
Once heard, its sweet song can never be forgotten, and happy is he who
can get near enough to hear it undisturbed. Far off, it is flute-like,
pure and penetrating, though not loud. Gradually it softens until it
sounds but as the faintest of tinkling bell-like notes, which die away
leaving one with the assurance that he has been hearing the song
of the chief bird of the fairies, or of birds which accompany the
heavenly lullabies of the mother angels putting their baby angels to
sleep.
Cliff-swallows often nest on the high banks at Tahoe City, and a few
have been seen nesting under the eaves of the store on the wharf. The
nests of barn swallows also have been found under the eaves of the
ice-house.
Nor must the exquisite hummers be overlooked. In Truckee Canyon, and
near Tahoe Tavern they are quite numerous. They sit on the telephone
wires and try to make you listen to their pathetic and scarcely
discernible song, and as you sit on the seats at the Tavern, if you
happen to have some bright colored object about you, especially red,
they will flit to and fro eagerly seeking for the honey-laden flower
that red ought to betoken.
Several times down Truckee Canyon I have seen wild canaries. They are
rather rare, as are also the Louisiana tanager, most gorgeous of all
the Tahoe birds, and the black-headed grosbeak.
Of the wrens, both the rock wren and the canyon wren are occasionally
seen, the peculiar song of the latter bringing a thrill of cheer to
those who are familiar with its falling chromatic scale.
Then there is the merry chick-a-dee-dee, the busy creepers, and the
nut-hatches hunting for insects on the tree trunks.
The harsh note of the blue jay is heard from Tahoe Tavern, all around
the Lake and in almost every wooded slope in the Sierras. He is a
noisy, generally unlovable creature, and the terror of the small birds
in the nesting season, because of his well-known habit of stealing
eggs and young. At Tahoe Tavern, however, I found several of them that
were shamed into friendliness of behavior, and astonishing tameness,
by the chipmunks. They would come and eat nuts from my fingers, and
one of them several times came and perched upon my shoulder. There is
also the grayish solitaire which looks very much like the mockingbird
of less variable climes.
The foregoing account of the birds, which I submitted for revision to
Professor Peter Frandsen, of the University of Nevada, called forth
from him the following:
I have very little to add to this admirable bird account.
Besides the gulls, their black relatives, the swallow-like
terns, are occasionally seen. The black-crowned night-heron is
less common than the great blue heron. Clarke's crow is more
properly called Clarke's nutcracker--a different genus. The
road robin or chewink is fairly common in the thickets above
the Lake. Nuttal's poor will, with its call of two syllables,
is not infrequently heard at night. The silent mountain
blue-bird, _sialia arctica_, is sometimes seen. So is the
western warbling vireo. The solitary white-rumped shrike is
occasionally met with in late summer. Owls are common but what
species other than the western horned owl I do not know. Other
rather rare birds are the beautiful lazuli bunting and the
western warbling vireo. Among the wood-peckers I have also
noted the bristle-bellied wood-pecker, or Lewis's wood-pecker,
Harris's wood-pecker, and the downy wood-pecker.
_ANIMALS_. These are even more numerous than the birds, though
except to the experienced observer many of them are seldom noticed.
While raccoons are not found on the eastern slopes of the High
Sierras, or in the near neighborhood of the Lake, they are not
uncommon on the western slopes, near the Rubicon and the headwaters of
the various forks of the American and other near-by rivers.
Watson assured me that every fall he sees tracks on the Rubicon and
in the Hell Hole region of very large mountain lions. They hide, among
other places, under and on the limbs of the wild grapevines, which
here grow to unusual size. In the fall of 1912 he saw some strange
markings, and following them was led to a cluster of wild raspberry
vines, among which was a dead deer covered over with fir boughs. In
telling me the story he said:
I can generally read most of the things I see in the woods,
but this completely puzzled me. I determined to find out all
there was to be found. Close by I discovered the fir from
which the boughs had been stripped. It was as if some one of
giant strength had reached up to a height of seven or eight
feet and completely stripped the tree of all its lower limbs.
Then I asked myself the question: "Who's camping here?" I
thought he had used these limbs to make a bed of. But there
was no water nearby, and no signs of camping, so I saw that
was a wrong lead. Then I noticed that the limbs were too big
to be torn off by a man's hands, and there were blood stains
all about. Then I found the fragments of a deer. "Now," I said
to myself, "I've got it. A bear has killed this deer and has
eaten part of it and will come back for the rest." You know
a bear does this sometimes. But when I hunted for bear tracks
there wasn't a sign of a bear. Then I assumed that some hunter
had been along, killed a doe (contrary to law), had eaten what
he could and hidden the rest, covering the hide with leaves
and these branches. But then I knew a hunter would cut off
those branches with a knife, and these were torn off. The
blood spattered about, the torn-off boughs and the fact
that there were no tracks puzzled me, and I felt there was a
mystery and, probably, a tragedy.
But a day or two later I met a woodsman friend of mine, and I
took him to the spot. He explained the whole thing clearly.
As soon as he saw it he said, "That's a mountain-lion."
"But," said I, "Where's his tracks?" "He didn't make any," he
replied, "he surprised the doe by crawling along the vines.
I've found calves and deer hidden like this before, and I've
seen clear traces of the panthers, and once I watched one as
he killed, ate and then hid his prey. But as you know he won't
touch it after it begins to decompose, but a bear will. And
that's the reason we generally think it is a bear that does
the killing, when in reality it is a mountain lion who has
had his fill and left the remains for other predatory animals,
while he has gone off to hunt for a fresh kill."
Occasionally sheep-herders report considerable devastations from
mountain-lions and bear to the Forest Rangers. James Bryden, who
grazes his sheep on the Tahoe reserve near Downieville, lost sixteen
sheep in one night in July, 1911.
There are three kinds each of chipmunks and ground-squirrels. All of
the former have striped backs and do more or less climbing of trees.
Of their friendliness, greediness, and even sociability--where nuts
are in evidence or anticipated--I have written fully in the chapter on
Tahoe Tavern. Of the three ground-squirrels the largest is the common
ground-squirrel of the valleys of California. It is gray, somewhat
spotted on the back, and has a whitish collar and a bushy tail. The
next in size is the "picket-pin", so called from his habit of sitting
bolt upright on his haunches and remaining steadfast there, without
the slightest movement, until danger threatens, when he whisks away so
rapidly that it is quite impossible to follow his movements. In color
he is of a grayish brown, with thick-set body, and short, slim tail.
He has an exceeding sharp call, and makes his home in grassy meadows
from the level of the Lake nearly to the summits of the highest peaks.
The "copper-head" is the other ground-squirrel, though by some he may
be regarded as a chipmunk, for he has a striped back.
The flying squirrel is also found here. It comes out only at night and
lives in holes in trees. On each side between the fore and hind legs
it has a hairy flap, which when stretched out makes the body very
broad, and together with its hairy tail it is enabled to sail from
one tree to another, though always alighting at a lower level. A more
correct name would be a "sailing" squirrel. The fur is very soft, of
a mouse color and the animal makes a most beautiful pet. It has great
lustrous eyes and is about a foot in length.
The tree squirrel about the Lake is the pine squirrel or "chickeree."
The large tree squirrel is abundant on the west slope of the Sierra
from about six thousand feet downward, but it is not in the Lake
basin, so far as I am aware. The pine squirrel is everywhere, from
the Lake side to the summits of the highest wooded peaks. It is dark
above, whitish to yellow below, usually with a black line along the
side. The tail is full, bushy, the hairs tipped with white forming a
broad fringe. It feeds on the seeds of the pine cones.
The woodchuck or marmot is a huge, lumbering, squirrel-like animal in
the rocky regions, wholly terrestrial and feeding chiefly on roots and
grass. The young are fairly good eating and to shoot them with a rifle
is some sport.
Of the fur bearing and carnivorous animals the otter, fisher, etc.,
all are uncommon, though some are trapped every year by residents of
the Lake. The otter and mink live along the larger streams and on the
Lake shore where they feed chiefly on fish. They may sometimes catch a
wild fowl asleep. The martin and fisher live in pine trees usually
in the deepest forests, and they probably prey on squirrels, mice and
birds. They are usually nocturnal in their habits. The martin is the
size of a large tree squirrel; the fisher is about twice that size.
The foxes are not often seen, but the coyote is everywhere, a scourge
to the few bands of sheep. Often at night his long-drawn, doleful howl
may be heard, a fitting sound in some of the wild granite canyons.
One day while passing Eagle Crag, opposite Idlewild, the summer
residence of C.F. Kohl, of San Francisco, with Bob Watson, he informed
me that, in 1877, he was following the tracks of a deer and they led
him to a cave or grotto in the upper portion of the Crag. While he
stood looking in at the entrance a snarling coyote dashed out, far
more afraid of him than he was surprised at the sudden appearance of
the creature.
A few bears are still found in the farther away recesses of the
Sierras, and on one mountain range close to the Lake, viz., the one on
which Freel's, Job's and Job's Sister are the chief peaks. These are
brown or cinnamon, and black. There are no grizzlies found on the
eastern slopes of the Sierras, nowadays, and it is possible they never
crossed the divide from the richer-clad western slopes. In September,
1913, a hunting party, led by Mr. Comstock, of Tallac, and Lloyd
Tevis, killed two black bears, one of them weighing fully four hundred
pounds, on Freel's Mountain, and in the same season Mr. Carl Flugge,
of Cathedral Park, brought home a good-sized cinnamon from the Rubicon
country, the skin of which now adorns my office floor.
The grizzly has long since been driven from the mountains, though
there may be a few in southern Alpine County, but the evidence is
not conclusive. The panther is migratory, preying on young colts and
calves. They are not at all common, though some are heard of every
year. The "ermine" is pure white in winter, except the tip of the
tail, which is black. It is yellowish brown in summer.
There are two rabbits, one a huge jackrabbit of the great plains
region, the other the "snowshoe" rabbit, so called because of his
broad furry feet which keep it from sinking into the soft snow in
winter. Both rabbits are very rare, and probably both turn white in
winter. I have seen specimens of the snowshoe rabbit taken in winter
that are pure white.
On the wildest and most desolate peaks and rock piles is found the
cony or pika or "rock rabbit" as it is variously called. It is small,
only six inches or so in length, tailless but with large round ears
and soft grayish fur like a rabbit's.
The jumping mouse is interesting. It may be seen sometimes at evening
in swampy areas and meadows. It is yellowish above, whitish below,
with an extremely long tail. It travels by long leaps, takes readily
to the water and is an expert swimmer. The meadow mice are bluish grey
and are found in swampy places. The wood mice are pure white below,
brown above and are found everywhere.
Quite a number of badgers are to be found in the Tahoe region, and
they must find abundance of good food, for the specimens I have seen
were rolling in fat, and as broad backed as a fourteen inch board.
Several times, also, have I seen porcupines, one of them, weighing
fully twenty-five pounds, on the slopes of Mt. Watson, waddling
along as if he were a small bear. They live on the tender bark of the
mountain and tamarack pines, sometimes girdling the trees and causing
them to die. They are slow-gaited creatures, easily caught by dogs,
but with their needle spines, and the sharp, quick-slapping action of
their tails, by means of which they can thrust, insert, inject--which
is the better word?--a score or more of these spines into a dog's
face, they are antagonists whose prowess cannot be ignored.
Very few people would think of the porcupine as an animal destructive
to forest trees, yet one of the Tahoe Forest rangers reports that in
the spring of 1913 fifty young trees, averaging thirty feet high, were
killed or ruined by porcupines stripping them of their bark.
Sometimes as many as ninety per cent. of the young trees growing on
a burned-over area are thus destroyed. They travel and feed at night,
hence the ordinary observer would never know their habits.
The bushy-tailed woodrat proves itself a nuisance about the houses
where it is as omnivorous an eater as is its far-removed cousin, the
house rat. The gopher is one of the mammals whose mark is more often
seen than the creature itself. It lives like the mole in underground
burrows, coming to the surface only to push up the dirt that it has
been digging.