I went out to the Carrizo Plain the day before New Year’s Eve because it looked like it was going to be my last chance to get out there ahead of a storm system that would make the roads muddy. And when the roads are muddy, you really don’t want to be out there, even with a spiffy 4WD vehicle.
The day started off innocently enough, with a sunrise that I’d hoped would be spectacular (clouds and sunrise often work magic) but turned out to be meh, since there were too many clouds. I caught a peek of it from an eerily empty KCL campground, and then a bit further on I got a nice view from Soda Lake Road:
The clouds and the wind heralding the arrival of tomorrow’s storm front combined to suppress the number of raptors I saw, but I did manage to get a few good looks at Ferruginous Hawk and the ubiquitous Red-tailed Hawk:
I also saw for the first time (not pictured) a San Joaquin Kit Fox. I was stopped checking out a field (trying for Mountain Plover), and it ran top speed to get a ridge line between me and it. Presumably its den or at least a good hiding spot was on the other side of the little ridge. While I didn’t get a picture of the fox, I did get a decent image of a Nelson’s/San Joaquin Antelope Squirrel and my first ever image of a long-tailed weasel:
My normal turnaround spot is a big hill on the west side of Soda Lake Road; it has a water tower on top of it. On the east side is the road out to Van Matre Ranch interpretive site, which is about as close as you can drive to the Dragon’s Back pressure ridge, which is the place I haven’t been to yet and am itching to get to. But today was not the day. The road looked dry enough, but last week’s rain was apparently enough to make it a no-go. I powered through a long stretch of wet clingy mud, thanking my lucky stars for 4WD and high ground clearance, but I decided I’d rather turn around than risk getting stuck.
But here’s the view from the top of the hill:
I called it a day after that, but on the way home I got bonus time with a Golden Eagle on Hwy 58:
