3 October 2014

New Trip Report – Guadalupe Islands

Isla Guadalupe, 2014: Cheryl Antonucci’s trip to cage dive with White-pointer Sharks (Great Whites) also produced 12 mammals including Blue Whales, Guadalupe Fur Seals and Cuvier’s Beaked Whales. Fantastic pictures.

I am leaving this evening for 2 weeks looking for Snow Leopards – yay! – but won’t be able to post much until I get back.

cheers

Jon

Post Views: 656

4 Comments

  • 4 October 2014
    John Fox

    I love reading your trip reports, Cheryl, thanks. Brings back memories of getting battered around on a boat and thinking “God, make it stop”, I favor big boats with stabilizers and bow thrusters, LOL.

    There is a thread about chipmunks and Cuyumaca Ranch SP here:

    http://mammalwatching.wordpress.com/2014/04/03/southern-california-rfi/

    Don’t know what to make of it myself, I want to find a place where the only chipmunk is California so I don’t have to wonder.

    Cheers,
    John

  • 4 October 2014
    Cheryl Antonucci

    Thanks John! I also favor big boats as well. All the boats that go there are small boats so I did not really have a choice. It was one of those moments where I kept thinking, should I wear my life jacket to bed, should I not?
    That thread was actually why I went to Cuyamaca. I went thinking they were Merriams but when I got back Vladimir told me otherwise. He seems to know much more about chipmunks then I ever will, so for at least today they are California…

  • 6 October 2014
    vdinets

    The latest I’ve heard on Cuyamaca Rancho chipmunks is that both spp. are present there, but most checklists pre-date the split. The habitat in campgrounds certainly looks like typical Calif. chip. habitat, and the chipmunks we saw there two weeks ago looked and behaved like typical Calif. I assume Merriam’s live in denser, shadier forests higher up. If you want a place with only Calif. chips, try Mt. San Jacinto, San Jacinto State Park, or Pine City in Joshua Tree (but we didn’t find any chipmunks there two weeks ago).

    • 6 October 2014
      vdinets

      A little clarification: there are two campgrounds on the main N-S road through Cuyamaca Rancho. The northern one has typical Cal. chipmunk habitat, and that’s where we saw them. The second one has kind of mixed habitat, and could theoretically have both spp., but we didn’t see any at all. We also saw one chipmunk crossing the road between the two campgrounds, but couldn’t ID it.

Leave a Reply