Wildlife Monitoring (Carnegie SVRA)

Photo of a rodent at Carnegie SVRAAnnual wildlife surveys are performed to determine overall species diversity and richness, as well as overall population density. At Carnegie SVRA, a wide variety of species was documented during the annual wildlife survey.

The small mammal surveys included the California pocket mouse, San Joaquin pocket mouse, deer mouse, desert woodrat, and Heermann's kangaroo rat.

While conducting the nocturnal surveys, black-tailed deer, bobcats, coyotes, black-tailed jack rabbit, and Audubon's cottontail were observed.

During the amphibian surveys, a total of five different species were identified, including the Pacific chorus frog, California toad, California red-legged frog, California tiger salamander, and the California newt.

Reptile species observed included the western pond turtle, western yellow-bellied racer, northern Pacific rattlesnake, Pacific gopher snake, western fence lizard, and the California alligator lizard.

Photo of a frog
Photo of a snake


The spring bird surveys increased the total number of different bird species observed at Carnegie to 130. Of the 84 bird species identified, the most common were the California quail, common raven, California towhee, and western scrub jay.