Tahoe Rim Trail. Tim Hauserman

      View from Dicks Pass

      Owl Various species of owl inhabit the Tahoe area. Primarily nocturnal, they live in the deep woods and are more likely to be heard than seen. While the calls of owls vary with the species, in general you can hear a deep who, who, who. Owls have large, round faces with piercing front-facing eyes perfect for late night hunting. Some species have catlike ear tufts that stick straight up.

      Steller’s Jay The seemingly ubiquitous Steller’s jay is most often found at lake-level elevations and in campgrounds. It is medium-sized with a dark blue body and a black mantle, throat, and crest. Its aggressive raucous cry or squawk is distinctive. It will eat your potato chips and raid your snack packs, yet many Eastern birders delight in seeing this bird for the first time.

      Western Tanager Though somewhat uncommon, the tanager is one of the most colorful birds in the Tahoe area. The male has a red head, a bright yellow body, and black wings. The female is also bright yellow but has a less dramatic greenish-yellow head. Try to spot this small to medium-sized bird (bigger than a chickadee, smaller than a Steller’s jay) flitting from tree to tree.

Amphibians and Reptiles

      Pacific Tree Frog These tiny frogs can be heard in many Sierra locales. They are especially common in the grassy area around Twin Lakes, so if you’re walking to these lakes be careful not to step on them. About 1 inch long, the frogs are brown or green with black eye stripes. Though called tree frogs, they have no special preference for trees and are just as comfortable on the ground or in the grass.

      Snakes Several snakes live in the Tahoe area. Happily for area hikers, the rattlesnake is not common among them. The most common snake in the Tahoe area is the garter snake. It is about 2 feet long or less and slender with a tail tapered to a sharp tip. The garter snake has a black or gray upper surface with a yellow line along its back. While for the most part it is harmless, if handled it may discharge a foul-smelling liquid. Less common to this area is the rubber boa. A wonder to behold, this docile, harmless small brown snake is usually less than 2 feet long. With its smooth skin, it looks like a worm on steroids.

      Western Fence Lizard This 6- to 9-inch lizard is often found in dry areas lounging on a rock or running to escape your big feet. The scaly skin of the lizard is gray, and they are often seen doing “push-ups” on the rocks, exposing their blue bellies.

Insects

      Bees, Yellow Jackets, and Wasps Honeybees and bumblebees quietly go about their business of pollinating flowers and rarely sting people. Yellow jackets, even though they look like a bee, are actually a form of wasp. After an above-average winter snowfall, especially in a season with a lot of spring moisture and cold temperatures, yellow jackets are found in small numbers. In drought conditions, however, yellow jackets multiply, and by late summer and fall they can be a nuisance. They are ferocious predators and carnivores, and their stings can be painful and cause swelling. These wasps can nest in the ground or in a trailside log. If you get too close to their nests, they will come out in force to sting you. Wasps are most active from midday to just after sunset.

      Mosquitoes These pesky little critters are usually a problem from mid-June through mid-July throughout the Tahoe area. The timing of their emergence from the shadows of spring, however, depends on the quantity of precipitation that arrived during winter and how quickly the snowpack melts. Mosquitoes are active at dusk and dawn and are prevalent in shady forest areas, as well as in and near meadows, along a lakeshore, near creeks, and near any body of standing water or moist area. They especially like small, shallow bodies of water where they breed. To avoid mosquitoes, either pack a lot of insect repellent (or lemon eucalyptus), take to a granite mountain or ridgetop area, or pray for wind.

Fish

      Fish have not been seen recently on the Tahoe Rim Trail, but there are some in the streams and lakes that you might pass. Here are the few to look out for:

      Brook Trout Not a true trout, but a char, its lighter colored spots on a dark green-gray background distinguish the brook. It also has a yellow- to ruddy-colored underbelly. It can be found in any Sierra water source, but is especially common in small creeks and streams.

      Brown Trout Hugging river bottoms, the brown trout sports an olive-green to cinnamon-brown coloring with reddish spots along their sides. These fish were imported into the Sierra from Germany and Scotland.

      Cutthroat Trout The most common fish in the mountain lakes and streams, the cutthroat can be identified by its red, orange, or yellow “slash” marks under each jaw. It is sometimes called the spotted trout.

      Kokanee Salmon Introduced in the 1940s into the Tahoe area lakes, the kokanee can be found here still. It has a robust body and dusky olive to bluish coloring. It is silvery on its underside and nests in bottom gravel like the rainbow trout. During their fall spawning run, they turn bright red and can be found in large numbers in Taylor Creek, on Lake Tahoe’s South Shore. Sometimes they are also found in smaller numbers spawning up Eagle Creek, right next to Vikingsholm Castle near Emerald Bay.

      Mackinaw or Lake Trout Incorrectly blamed for eliminating the cutthroat from Lake Tahoe, the mackinaw trout is also a char family member like the brooky mentioned above. It is gray with some yellow speckles that brighten during spawning season, the least colorful of all the Sierra fish. It grows to a large size; every year 20- to 30-pound mackinaws are caught in Lake Tahoe and Donner Lake, and 10-pound fish are common.

      Rainbow Trout With a bluish-gray to gray-green back, silvery belly, and dark black speckles, the rainbow’s most distinctive mark is a red streak down each side. Mountain men and prospectors introduced rainbows into the Sierra in the 1800s.

Trees

      Aspen or Quaking Aspen The Sierra’s most colorful deciduous tree derives its name from the appearance it has when its leaves quake in gentle breezes or windstorms. With white bark and oval-shaped leaves, aspens are common in wet and moist areas, along creek beds, near springs, and in meadows. Their presence can indicate a groundwater source. Aspen trees spread by cloning themselves by means of root suckers, which grow up into more aspens around the base of their trunks; a single tree may put out dozens of shooters and thus a whole grove may have started with one tree. This tree provides most of the Sierra’s fall yellow and gold color.

      Incense Cedar These trees can grow to a height of 150 feet. Incense cedar is commonly found near the lake (6200 feet) with an upper elevation of around 6500 feet, a little higher in sunny locations. Incense cedars have red to cinnamon-brown flaky bark, and dark green short needles, which lie in flat feathery groupings.