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Urban Wildlife

Yin Yang Ranch is a suburban 2 acre lot that is a mile from a 6 lane freeway and surrounded by typical suburban neighborhoods with several lots per acre and lots of walls and fences. There is a creek (or ditch? or Barranca? Let's call it a creek) that runs under a 4 lane road and along 2 sides of our lot. A variety of wildlife uses the creek as a way to move from the hills above us to the various creeks and drainage basins below us.

Our Creek for Critters

Lots of Critters live here and roam through

In our 25 years here, we have seen an abundance of wildlife. As new neighborhoods have developed around us, the wildlife have increasingly used our property as a refuge and way-station. We have actually seen more wildlife activity in recent times than in years past, possibly because many of the open lots and empty fields are being built up.

We regularly see coyotes, bobcats, raccoons and possums pass through. A coyote pack with 3 adults and 5 pups is living here this year and we see them almost every day.

Coyote at Raised Bed

We have a wide variety of birds, including red tail hawks, ravens, crows, quail and hummingbirds. We have honeybees as well as many species of native bees that nest in the ground or in holes in trees. We are a way station for Monarch Butterflies and plant native milkweed to feed their caterpillars.

Barn Owl

Observing Critters with Cameras and Software

We have many cameras around the farm to watch the wildlife and learn about what lives here and passes through. We use a mix of commercial cameras (Google Nest Cameras with integrated infrared lights) and home-built cameras (Raspberry Pi computers with various cameras attached). We are developing software to watch the cameras and identify species (coyote or bobcat?) as well as specific individual animals (for example, coyote 2024-C3, seen 3 times in the last 3 days). More information about the hardware and software we are developing is on our GitHub project page for Yin Yang Ranch.

Driveway Camera Housing

Some Videos and Photos of Yin Yang Ranch