Tahoe Rim Trail. Tim Hauserman
your domesticated animals, even around your home. Many a lost cat or small dog has become a coyote dinner.
Marten It is a rare treat to spot a marten, also called a pine marten. At about 1.5 to 3 feet long, including its tail, the marten is about the size of a housecat but longer and sleeker. Martens have beautiful lush brown fur and long bushy tails. They are agile climbers and sometimes live in a cavity high up in a tree. They are elusive animals, but can occasionally be seen in pursuit of squirrels or chipmunks, their favorite dinner. Several years ago I saw one in nearby trees around my Tahoe area house for about two weeks. The grace and stealth of the marten is unmatched.
Marmot
Marmot If you hear a high-pitched squeak when you are walking by a big rock pile, there is a good chance that it harbors a yellow-bellied marmot. Also known as woodchuck, the marmot is about the size of a housecat. Related to squirrels, marmots are dark brown and cinnamon in color, live in groups and love to sun themselves on rocks. I have often seen them in Desolation Wilderness, on the Pacific Crest Trail near Twin Peaks, and in the Mt. Rose area.
Porcupine These large rodents can often be seen on roads or sitting up in a tree. About 2 to 3 feet long, they are large and round with short legs. They have light brown to yellowish fur and numerous hollow but sharp quills of up to 3 inches long. The porcupine walks in a slow, lumbering fashion—if no one wants to eat you, why hurry?—and enjoys a diet of succulent bark and herbaceous plants. No animals, except cougars perhaps, want to have anything to do with these quill-covered critters, and although their quills can cause others a great deal of pain, especially to overzealous dogs, it is a myth that they can “shoot” their quills.
Raccoon These carnivorous little burglars are one of the most interesting animal species in the Sierra. Their distinctive face looks like a burglar’s mask, with a black band across the eyes and a mostly white face. They range in size, but can get as big as a medium-sized dog. Raccoons are nocturnal—all the better to wake you in the middle of the night while they are knocking over garbage cans in pursuit of food. It is common to see them on house decks but rare to see them in the wild. Often the best evidence of a raccoon is the very distinctive handlike tracks they leave.
Small Animals
These ubiquitous rodents inhabit the ground, the trees, perhaps even your attic, and represent a fair percentage of local roadkill. A recent squirrel census reported 178 million squirrels in the Tahoe Basin.
California Ground Squirrel These squirrels have large bodies like the gray squirrels but have much smaller tails. They have a mottled brown coat and a silver saddle over the shoulder. They spend most of their time on the ground and are very busy all summer getting fattened up to hibernate through the winter.
Chickaree or Douglas Squirrel This medium-sized dark brown squirrel has a reddish tinge on its back, a white belly, and a bushy tail with a silver tip. Chickarees stay active all winter and make a short explosive quer-o sound.
If you hear fir cones crashing down to the ground, and see the mangled remnants of the soft cones sitting on a stump, you will know you are in chickaree country. These squirrels love to climb trees and drop the cones for later, when they remove the entire cone, piece by piece, in order to get to the tasty seeds inside.
Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel and Chipmunk What is the difference between a chipmunk and the golden-mantled ground squirrel? A chipmunk is smaller and has lines on its back that go all the way over its head. The Tahoe area’s most common squirrel, the golden-mantled, has a lovely white band bordered by black running up each side of its back and ending at its shoulders. To complicate matters there are a number of different chipmunk species with minor differences in appearance. Both chipmunks and ground squirrels eat seeds, grasses, and fruit.
Golden-mantled ground squirrel
Western Flying Squirrel These small brown squirrels (smaller than a chickaree) are very friendly and social, but since they are nocturnal most people will not have the opportunity to see one. They don’t fly but rather glide through the air from tree branch to branch. Like the western gray squirrel, the flying squirrel remains active all winter.
Western Gray Squirrel Larger than either the chickaree or ground squirrel, the gray squirrel also lives in the area but in smaller numbers. It has a uniform gray body and a long, broad tail. Like the chickaree and unlike the ground squirrels and chipmunks, the gray squirrel is active all winter. It loves to sit in trees and “laugh” at cats and dogs, which stare at it with evil intent.
Pika or Cony The pika is smaller than a chipmunk, light brown in color, and lives primarily in high rocky areas. It looks like a cross between a chipmunk and a small rabbit (and is in the same animal order as the latter) with shorter ears. It makes a peeping noise.
Birds
American Robin Slightly smaller than the Steller’s jay, the robin has a similar physique and is a frequent summer visitor to Lake Tahoe. With its brick-red breast, yellow bill, and gray back, the robin cheerily hops through the understory of local woods or meadows, looking for insects or worms.
Bald Eagle A very large, majestic black bird with white head, the bald eagle occasionally is spotted flying near water, perched on a large tree, or riding the updrafts. I remember watching an eagle fly along the lakeshore, when suddenly two ospreys began to chase it; the three completed some incredible acrobatic stunts before the ospreys gave up. Perhaps the eagle had ventured too near the osprey nest. Count yourself lucky if you see one of these rarer raptors.
Blue Grouse You are more likely to hear a blue grouse than to see one. Males vocalize a very low, bass-drum brrrmmmmmm, brrrmmmmm, brrrmmmmm sound. Females are large, plump birds about the size of a pheasant or chicken. Their plumage is brownish gray with some white feathers near their neck. They can sometimes be seen in trees or brush. Breaking cover, they startle you as they suddenly take flight with a loud wap, wap, wap of wings. This bird can commonly be seen or heard in heavily wooded sections on the west shore, including Desolation Wilderness and areas north of Tahoe City.
Canada Goose Commonly seen along Tahoe beaches and in parks, this large grayish-tan goose has a black head and neck and a prominent white chin. Though geese are known to steal food from unsuspecting small children, they are beautiful when flying in their A-line formations. Less beautiful are the copious amounts of droppings they leave, making a trip to many a Tahoe beach akin to walking through the room of a teenager (messy but not dangerous). Similar to the Canada geese, but rarer are snow geese, which occasionally can be seen flying in large groups above the Sierra. It is a site to behold, but you will hear their raucous cries long before you see them.
Clark’s Nutcracker With a shape and sound similar to the Steller’s jay, this light gray bird has black wings with white patches. Seen at treeline along high ridgetops, very much Tahoe Rim Trail country, Clark’s nutcracker makes a loud and slow flap, flap, flap with its wings as it flies from tree to tree. It prefers whitebark pines; a single bird can bury thousands of pine seeds in a summer season.
Mountain Bluebird A rare and beautiful treat, the mountain bluebird is sky blue and startling in its soft beauty. About the size of a robin, it is a lighter blue than the much more common Steller’s jay. Look for it in grassy meadows or at the edge of the forest hunting insects. I have seen it in Ward Canyon and near Truckee.
Mountain Chickadee Perhaps the most common bird in the Tahoe woods, the small chickadee (about 5 inches long) is light gray with a black cap and white line over each eye. Usually quiet, this active bird may be best known for its call, which many people say sounds like cheese, burrr, gerrrr; others claim its call sounds more like tsick-a-dee-dee-dee. You be the judge. Maybe it just sounds like the voice of a chickadee.
Mountain Quail California’s