October 2024
It’s Almost Time!
Our 37th Annual Party and Golf Classic Fundraiser is fast approaching and we hope you’ll join us, but it’s filling up fast! The Annual Party takes place Sunday, November 17th at Stone Eagle and includes dinner, a live and silent auction and more! The Golf Classic is Monday, November 18th at Stone Eagle and includes breakfast, a professional’s clinic, lunch on the course and awards reception following play. Unable to attend the party or participate in the golf tournament? You can be a sponsor or make a donation; no amount is too small to help. To sign up or for more information, visit our website: www.BighornInstitute.org/fundraisers
*click photo for full invitation
Back and Forth
There’s no rest for the weary and that applies to these traveling sheep as well. Last month, we let you know that the collared ewe and her lamb from the San Jacinto Mountains in Palm Springs finally crossed back into their home range from the northern Santa Rosa Mountains where they had been observed since January. However, their homecoming was short-lived, because after around two weeks, they crossed back to the northern Santa Rosa’s. It’s an odd thing to witness since the San Jacinto’s have great vegetation and natural water available, but this ewe is choosing to reside in the steep hills adjacent to some homes. We’ll continue to see where she spends her time and keep you posted. To add to this criss-crossing of ranges, the collared ewe from the Palm Desert area of the northern Santa Rosa’s that had moved into the San Jacinto’s near Palm Springs has come home after spending around a month with sheep in the Palm Springs herd. We observed her back with other northern Santa Rosa sheep and suspect she’ll remain there for the foreseeable future. We’ll keep you updated if that changes.
*The northern Santa Rosa ewe back in her range, bottom left, blending in with her group-literally.
Bighorn Remains Mystery Solved
Multiple hikers reported a ewe skull and vertebral column in Magnesia Canyon, likely an unmarked ewe we thought. We went in to check the remains and bumped a couple of coyotes off of the bones, which had been picked clean. While the remains were too far gone to determine a cause of death, the fact that coyotes were still picking at the carcass told us the date of death wasn’t long ago. The skull was upside down and when we turned it over, we noticed a distinctive marking on the right horn; we knew this ewe. Now we had to go through our photos and figure out who it was. We started with the marked sheep, those that wear a collar or just an ear tag. We found her – a 15 year old ewe that wore a tag in her ear since her GPS collar fell off years before. She had been captured and collared in 2017 as an unmarked adult and during the years we tracked her, she gave birth to 7 lambs. She and another ewe wore a yellow tag in their left ear and we had to use the shape of their horns to tell them apart if they were too far away. She lived a long life for a desert bighorn and we’re glad to have an ending to her story, albeit bittersweet since we no longer have to wonder at the identity of the yellow-tagged ewe. That said, we’re grateful to the hikers that alerted us to her remains.
*The ewe that perished
La Quinta Fence Update and Another Mortality
In July, we reported that sheep were getting through the PGA West/Lake Cahuilla fence and there had been a few bighorn mortalities in this urban area. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) was unaware of how the sheep were continuing to get through the fence and this has continued. There have been around 30+ sheep at PGA West recently. However, with the over-seeding at the golf course, CDFW believes the sheep have been walking along the fence looking to exit to the wild-side. In an effort to get some of these sheep out of the urban area, they have opened an access gate. They will monitor the gate and the sheep over the coming weeks. Meanwhile, unfortunately, another ewe has drowned in the canal at the end of this month. She fell in at SilverRock, which is fenced off, but sheep that enter PGA West can walk directly north and access SilverRock. It’s sad not only because of another loss of life of an endangered Peninsular bighorn sheep, but because this fence is supposed to be preventing urban-related deaths like this and the issue hasn’t been found or resolved.
*Sheep at PGA West
Seeing Sheep?
The weather is cooling down so it’s the perfect time to start hiking again if you’re just returning to the desert or didn’t brave the summer heat! If you enjoy hiking in the Coachella Valley you might get lucky and see bighorn sheep from one of the trails. If you do, please let us know! You can log your sheep sightings for free on iNaturalist through the app or their website. Your sightings help us keep track of the sheep since most of them are unmarked. You never know how your observation might help like with the story about the bighorn remains. For more information on how to get involved and become a citizen scientist, visit our website: www.BighornInstitute.org/citizen-science
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