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Even the very first homeowners in Santaluz had plenty of neighbors - the original inhabitants, our native wildlife. Be they furred or feathered, creeping or darting, they long preceded us and will likely outlast us.
Coyotes
Coyotes are a member of the dog family - Canis latrans, to be specific. Usually gray, brown or tan, the coyotes resemble a German Shepherd except for an elongated snout and a black-tipped bushy tail. They possess keen senses of smell, vision and hearing and can live up to ten years, in the wilderness or in areas much more urbanized than ours. Coyotes are omnivorous and will eat almost anything, including fruit, berries, insects, carrion, birds, and rodents. In fact, up to 80% of their diet can consist of rabbits, squirrels, gophers, mice and rats. They are actually helpful to farmers and ranchers due to their appetite for destructive burrowing rodents and plant eating insects.
Primarily nocturnal, coyotes can also be active during the day, especially around dawn and dusk. They can run up to 45 miles per hour for short distances, are able swimmers, and have proven to be one of the most intelligent and opportunistic of all animals. Their primary enemy is humans, and keeping them uneasy around people is the best way to coexist with them. As they get comfortable around humans, coyotes will grow more bold and become more dangerous.
Pocket Gophers
Pocket gophers get their name from the external, fur lined cheek pouches, or pockets, that they use to carry food and nesting material. They are burrowing rodents, 6 to 10 inches long as adults, with small eyes, ears, and strong, large-clawed forequarters for digging. Unlike moles, which spend almost their whole life underground, it is not unusual to see gophers at the opening of their burrows or foraging above ground. A gopher burrow can be identified by a crescent-shaped mound of dirt that surrounds the hole. One gopher is capable of making several mounds in a single day and their burrow systems can cover 200 to 2000 square feet. They do not hibernate.
Gophers feed on roots, bulbs, and all manner of garden crops, shrubs, vines and trees. A single gopher can inflict serious damage in a yard or garden in a very short time. Please call the community office at 759-3100 at the first sign of gopher activity to help keep this pest from propagating in our community.
Mule Deer
If you spot a mule deer, it will probably be in the morning, evening, or on a moonlit night. They get their name from large, burro-like ears, but they are relatively small animals, 4 to 6 1/2 feet long and a yard or so high. Their coat can range from a yellowish red to grayish, and their distinctive gait - a series of jumps where all four feet hit the ground at the same time - make a startled mule deer easy to identify. Though herbivorous, they are typically not brave enough (or plentiful enough) to do much damage to the yard or garden, preferring to stick to open brush and rocky hillsides. That doesn't mean you won't see them around, however; we have had sightings of mule deer within the community, sometimes darting through a car's headlights. So please be on the lookout, especially at night!
Red Diamond Rattlesnake
Easily recognized & distinguished from other rattlers by its reddish color & lightly edged diamond pattern on its back, the red diamond rattler is usually 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 feet long, thick bodied, with a striking black and white ringed tail. They are most active in late spring & summer after holing up all winter. Its diet consists mostly of small mammals but can include some birds. The red diamond rattlesnake is usually found in areas of rocks & brush, so keep an extra eye (and ear) out in those areas.
Pacific Treefrog
The most common frog in our region; if you hear a chorus of frogs at night, they are probably Pacific Treefrogs. They are small - 3/4 to 1 inch long - and can be mottled shades of green, brown, red, gray, or black, but always carry a characteristic dark stripe across the eyes. Primarily nocturnal, they spend the day under rocks, logs or other debris and the night feeding on insects. During breeding season, the males call to attract females. You are more likely to have a population of treefrogs around your property if you have a non-chlorinated water feature, but they thrive in a variety of habitats. The name "treefrog" is a misnomer; they are actually terrestrial, and their populations tend to surge after wetter than normal winters. A large population of these frogs will usually attract some natural predators, chiefly garter snakes.
Barn Owl
The barn owl is common all over the U.S. but especially populous in California. Typically 15 to 20 inches high with long feathered legs and white, buff and tan coloring, its most distinctive feature is its face. The eyes and beak are surrounded by a heart shaped ruff of white, leading some to call it the "monkey-faced owl". They are very nocturnal; if you happen to see one at twilight, it is likely foraging for its young. Barn owls will nest just about anywhere, though there is no attempt to build or even line a nest. They are known (and sometimes prized) for being effective predators, with maturing young able to consume a dozen mice per night and adults able to consume one large rat or gopher per night.
White-Throated Swift
Swifts are identified by their short tails and stiff, saber-shaped wings, and spend almost all of their waking moments in the air. Ours are mostly black with a namesake white throat that tapers to its belly. They are remarkably fast, feed on flying insects, and nest in narrow, vertical crevices in cliffs, trees and man-made structures. Their family name means "without feet"; though they do have feet, they are very small and only allow the swift to cling to vertical surfaces. They are often colonial, flying, foraging and nesting in large groups. If you spot a dark, darting blur streaking by your window, odds are good it's a White-Throated Swift.
California Gnatcatcher
A small, slender songbird that inhabits coastal sage scrub from Southern California to Baja, this species is federally listed as threatened. The birds are mostly gray with long, black, white-tipped tails. The California Gnatcatcher is nonmigratory, with monogamous pairs building cone shaped nests where both parents incubate & care for the young. They feed primarily on leafhoppers, spiders and beetles and can produce up to 3 broods of 2-5 eggs per season.
White-lined Sphinx Moth
White-lined sphinx moths are among the largest flying insects you are likely to find in Santaluz. The wingspan of adults can be up to 5 inches, while their stout bodies are usually 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 inches long. Despite their large size, they fly with rapid wing beats which enable them to hover and dart, which has led some to call them hummingbird moths.
Commonly found in the deserts, we found this specimen hanging out in front of the Design Review Office. Not hard to identify (or miss), the wings and thorax are both brown and buff with distinctive white bands. They usually emerge at dusk to feed exclusively on nectar and seek flowers that produce large amounts of this sugar-rich water source. They are especially fond of the evening primrose family and actually pollinate the dune evening primrose.
Banded Garden Spider
This little lady, quite pregnant, made her home in the rosemary at the south end of the Hacienda. The female of the species sits in the center of the web during the day, holding the end of her abdomen upward, her legs usually held together in pairs. The much smaller male spider, in the short time he is around, builds a rather unimpressive web at the outer edge of the females. In late summer and fall, the mature female spends most of her time feeding on any insect tangled in her web; she prefers larger prey, especially grasshoppers.
Like almost all spiders, Argiope uses venom to subdue and digest its insect prey, but they aren't particularly dangerous to people. Of course, it is always a good idea to not handle spiders so that you don't get bitten. If an Argiope builds a web near your home or garden don't worry. They aren't especially aggressive and don't like to leave their webs.
Striped Earwig
The Striped or Riparian Earwig is found all over Southern California, Arizona, and across many southern states. So named for the ancient European superstition that they enter the ears of sleeping people and bore into the brain, they are actually harmless to humans despite the scary-looking forceps at the end of their abdomens.
Primarily nocturnal, they usually hide during the day in moist, dark places and are omnivorous, feeding on all live and decaying plant material, mosses and algae, and live or dead insects.
The Riparian Earwig is slightly larger than the common European Earwig, and since they tend to eat any food they encounter including garbage, pet food and insect carcasses, they are not know to cause the damage more common earwigs are capable of. Usually content to be outside, they are only drawn indoors when there are insects there to feed on. One of the peculiarities of this species is a foul odor it can emit if it is disturbed that intensifies when it is crushed.
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