When it comes to the modern age nothing exemplifies it better than the numerous questions for Siri, yet behind those iPhones, iPods, Androids and portable computers, students of the Santa Rosa Junior College are missing something big.

According to the Smithsonian Instituition, the Gray fox Urocyon cinereoargenteus is adept at climbing trees and are active at night and during twilight, sleeping during the day in dense vegetation or secluded rocky places. Nursing mothers and pups use a den— a hollow log, abandoned building, tangle of brush, or cracked boulder—for shelter.

What is amazing is this species, along with many others, is a small piece of what Sonoma County and both SRJC campuses call a common sight.

At any hour in both locations wild creatures forage for food, sing the day away or even seek ways to cope with humanity and the lack of time we give them. In Petaluma egrets are the most common awe factor, while in Santa Rosa some campus police report beautiful gray foxes in the latter end of the evening.

“They’ve been here for years,” said Dinise Gilmer, community service officer for the SRJC District Police, said. “A couple years ago pups had been seen, but lately at least two [foxes] make regular appearances.”

Gilmer smiled while recalling a time when she’d seen the foxes actually playing with some local feral cats on campus. “The foxes and the other campus wildlife are just one great example of wildlife adaptability,” Gilmer said.

While the region is amazing, if students simply looked closer at what lies around them they would see so much more.

In Petaluma, the Petaluma River makes up the southern border and during the wet seasons often holds high numbers of frogs, toads, salamanders, snakes and songbirds, plus their respective predators.

In Santa Rosa all students have to do is look to the sky to see red-tailed hawks, Cooper’s hawks, shinned hawks and even turkeys, along with ground squirrels, gray squirrels and acorn woodpeckers in the bushes and trees.

To make things even more wild, the region’s night life brings out many more species to feast your eyes on. Gray foxes roam SRJC, owls hunt on both campuses and with all the open land east of the Petaluma branch, it isn’t rare to see wild hares, skunks, quail and opossums within just a few city blocks.

Gilmer said one rare sight is the coyotes that come onto the Petaluma campus from the hills to the east.

“Wildlife is incredibly important to keeping our local ecosystems alive,” said Kristen Reeder, Education Outreach Director for the Sonoma County Wildlife Rescue. “Different species help in different ways. For example, we have our predators to help keep populations down, our ‘garbagecan like’ species who eat dead and dying plants and animals, our scavengers who keep the world clean from fallen fruit and other food items, our ‘lumberjacks’ who provide animal-made dams creating new homes for other animals and more.”

One reason this area attracts such animal diversity is the climate. Most of Sonoma County has a Mediterranean climate, close enough to the coast to keep temperatures quite regular, yet far enough away to hold some attributes of inland biomes such as varied seasons. The Petaluma River estuary holds an abundance of food and nutrients. It also attracts birds migrating through Santa Rosa, following the local mountain topography.

It is uncommon to go fora full summer or fall without seeing Canadian Geese in their winged ‘V’ shapes streaking across the sky. Deer roam Sugar Loaf, Helen Putnam and Point Reyes parks to the west. The climate provides a sustainable place to forage and raise young, with very little impact by serious predators like mountain lions.

According to Officer Gilmer one reason diverse species thrive is the hawks, foxes and cats alike all provide decent rodent control. Conversely, the wildlife enhances many lives.

Seeing wild animals helps us see the beauty of the world and encourages habitat preservation as we learn to care about what lives there. A vast sea of redwoods and mountains stretch north of the SRJC campuses, all seeded with life in the form of birds, rodents, mammals and fish in the rivers.

All of this leads back to the Urocyon cinereoargenteus and the other animals seen on both campuses. Instead of looking at phones every minute, look around and see the beauty at work in the trees, bushes, skies and creeks.

Elanus leucurus, the White- Tailed Kite, is a locally abundant and commonly sighted bird of prey hunting for small mammals. According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, they range from western Oregon, all along the west coast to Mexico, through most of Central America, Venezuela, and southern South America. Yet they live nowhere else in the United States.

Another less seen species endemic to our area is the Ambystoma californiense, the California Tiger Salamander, often found in dark, moist areas under rocks and trashcans. The Tiger Salamander can be found hunting at night, easily distinguished by its dark, moist skin with various yellow spots.

Meaghan McNees, an SRJC student focusing on environmental science, reported having moved three garden snakes off the northern roadway of the Petaluma campus in the spring.

“I saw three snakes laying in the asphalt of the back parking lot sunbathing,” McNees said. “I moved them with a stick off the blacktop so they wouldn’t get hit by cars. The snakes didn’t attack me, they didn’t appear disturbed at all by people walking by.”

McNees cites the well thought out landscaping as one reason for the numerous sightings of wildlife on campus. The many trees and shrubs provide habitat for the local fauna.