A Lovely Evening Drive in the Cuyamacas...

Yesterday evening, just before sunset, Debbie and I took off to do a little wildlife viewing.  We headed for one of our favorite spots: the Stonewall Mine area of Cuyamaca Rancho State Park.  Several times over the past few months we've seen herds of deer up there numbering in the dozens.  This is the first year since the 2007 fires that we've seen the deer in numbers up there, so it's a cheerful sign of recovery for us to see them.

At first we were disappointed.  We got to the little valley adjacent to the mine at just about the perfect time: just as the sun was setting.  We saw one deer, just one.  We did see lots of other things, though – turkeys (a dozen or so), and many other birds of the area.  As we were leaving the Stonewall Mine area, we were just a bit disappointed.

That ended just before we reached the main road (state 79), when Debbie spotted a bobcat.  This was the very first bobcat we've seen in Cuyamaca since the 2007 fires – prior to that, we saw them frequently.  This is another very positive sign of recovery in the area; the bobcats wouldn't return until their prey (rodents, mainly) had returned in numbers.  I had two good 15 second or so sightings with binoculars on it; it looked fit and healthy.  In my first sighting it appeared be stalking something uphill of it; in the second it was just walking along.  We were a bit surprised by its color; more reddish-brown than the bobcats we see around our home, which are overall more grey than brown.  It had the trademark spots and stripes, huge feet, ear tufts, and of course the bobbed tail.  A handsome animal, indeed.

Well, that made our evening!  But there was still more on tap for us.  As we drove home, we decided to make a side trip down Japatul Lane.  This gravel road follows the bottom of a small valley, mostly farmed for forage, where we've seen deer before many times.  It was dusk when we got there, just a half hour or so before dark.  Down in the lowest part of the valley, we ran across a herd of 16 deer, including 5 very young fawns (still in spots).  A mile or so away, we spotted a magnificent 7-point stag.  We were able to park and watch the fawns and their mothers for 20 minutes or so, quite near to us.  We loved seeing those fawns...

What a beautiful evening it turned out to be!