It's Springtime!

Spring Green!

We've had nothing but sunny weather since that snowstorm came through two weeks ago!!! All the snow is now gone, and the temperatures have been in the 60's!!! What an extreme change! It has changed from a black and white palette to a palette with a multitude of greens! It's a gorgeous time to be outside!!!

Polypody Ferns and Dendroalsia Moss

Ferns, mosses and lichens thrive when the weather is moist and cool! 

The North Yuba River

The North Yuba River has incredible clarity and color at this time of year. The water is too cold for algae to grow and the sediments have settled since the last high water of two weeks ago. 

Common Mergansers (females) - Mergus merganser

The Common Mergansers are starting to return to the North Yuba River! They've spent the winter down in the Central Valley of California. They are a beautifully striking contrast to the green river!

Stout-beaked Toothwort - Grand's  Hounds tongue - Western Rue Anemone

Cardamine pachystigma - Adelinia grandis  - Enemione occidentale

In the shady damp areas of my neighborhood, the flowers pictured above are in full bloom! Every year I look forward to seeing these early bloomers!

The White-leaf Manzanita has been in bloom for a month or more, along Highway 49 in a few sunny areas near our neighborhood!

 Two Bushtits (males) - Psaltriparus minimus

Bushtits are tiny little birds, only 4.5" long including their tails! They usually live year-round in flocks of 10-40 birds. Their winters are spent in the foothills or coastal areas. They feed on tiny insects and spiders, scale insects, caterpillars, beetles, wasps, and ants! They were feasting on some unknown insects on the recently blossomed fruit trees!

 Bushtits (female - male) - Psaltriparus minimus

I couldn't identify the tiny birds in the above flowering tree, but I had my suspicions that they were Bushtits. However, I had a memory that Bushtits had a white eye-ring, and these didn't. I looked them up in the field guide and realized that only the females have white eye-rings, males don't! So the ones I saw were male Bushtits! How cool!

Bushtits and nest (female - male) - Psaltriparus minimus

Photo by Marion Hill

In late February to early March, mating pairs break off from the flock to breed and build a nest. Their nests are truly incredible engineering feats! Each nest takes about 6 weeks to make! Both the male and the female Bushtits work together to make the nest out of lots of spider webs and plant material. The interior of the nest is lined with plant down, feathers, and fur! The resulting nest is stretchy and long, and it looks like a stuffed sock, with a round opening on one side near the top! The female will lay 4-10 eggs in the nest, that hatch in approximately 13 days. The whole family sleeps in the nest, until the chicks fledge, then they all sleep outside on branches! Scientists have also observed "bachelor" Bushtits, hanging around the nest site, that help feed the fledglings! Bushtits usually have two broods in one season, and they will re-use the nest they built for the first brood. Wow!

Since the weather was so lovely, we went down to Canyon Creek to see what was going on. To my complete surprise, I found something I'd never seen before!!! The trail has the river on the left and is bordered by a  grassy bank of moss covered bedrock on the right.  

Hydroscaphid or Skiff Beetles

I've often seen wet seepy vertical rocks on the bank, but I never really checked them out. Since my husband was taking a break, I looked at them more closely and discovered a bunch of beetles traveling up and down just underneath the film of algae-filled water on the vertical rocks!  It looked to me like they were encased in an air bubble! They moved pretty fast and only stopped when they encountered what appeared to be small clusters of mating groups! WOW!!!

Hydroscaphid or Skiff Beetles

I posted their photos on bugguide.net and they identified them as being in the Hydrophilidae Beetle Family, which is a huge family of aquatic beetles. I did some more research which made me think that they might be Hydroscaphids or Skiff Beetles! Wow! How cool!!!

The following information is from Wikipedia.com

"Size and Appearance: They are under 2 mm (0.079 in) long, typically tan, brown, or black. They are characterized by short, abbreviated elytra (wing covers) that leave several tapering abdominal segments exposed.

Habitat: They are found on mats of algae in hygropetric habitats, which are environments with a thin film of water flowing over rocks, such as the edges of streams, waterfalls, and seeps.

Respiration: Adults carry an air supply under their elytra, using special setae (hairs) on the abdomen to act as a plastron, allowing them to breathe underwater.

Feeding: Both larvae and adults are algophagous, meaning they feed on algae.

Distribution: They are found on every continent except Antarctica."

Pacific Chorus Frog (treefrog) - Pseudacris regilla

We'd also been hearing what I thought were Pacific Tree Frogs along the trail. Then bigger than heck one jumped into view! These frogs come in 3 different color phases, green, brown, and gray. I didn't see the gray or brown phase. They change their color to blend into the background. The less contrast between their color, and their immediate environment, the less chance they will be spotted by predators. The complete color change takes approximately two weeks.

These tiny frogs are only 2" big, but they have loud voices! The male frogs (Female frogs don't croak!) are some of the loudest croakers of the frog world! Right now is the time that males are croaking to attract a mate. Male frogs have a dark patch on their throat, which is their inflatable vocal sack. They usually croak at night, in ponds, where the females will lay their gelatinous eggs after mating. The tadpoles will hatch from the eggs in 1-3 weeks. The newly hatched tadpoles spend 7 to 12 weeks in their pond, maturing into an adult frog.

They spend the winter buried under forest duff. Just like insects, fish, and plants they replace fluids in their body with a type of anti-freeze to keep their cells from freezing, in winter. Once they emerge in Spring, they eat spiders, beetles, flies, ants and other insects. When they sense that an insect is near, they commonly twitch a toe to attract it, then snatch it up with their tongue!

California Tortoiseshell - Nymphalis californica

To my surprise there were several California Tortoiseshell butterflies flitting around our neighborhood this week! It turns out that they have overwintered as adults and are out looking for mates, as well as nectar to eat. Adults feed on many different flower species for nectar. They also eat sap, aphid “honeydew” and over-ripe or damaged fruit in season. They will lay their eggs on Ceanothus plants, the leaves of which the caterpillars will feed on when they hatch. If conditions are right, Tortoiseshells may have three or more generations from spring to fall. They will move upslope in the summer and return to lower elevations in the fall.

California Tortoiseshell - Nymphalis californica

Most Tortoiseshells overwinter in the foothills and migrate upslope in the spring. To our delight we recently had a day FILLED with Tortoiseshell butterflies! It was a mass migration of overwintered adults coming up to the higher elevations!  They were flying everywhere, and in some areas congregating in groups of "puddling" adults!  The following info about puddling butterflies is from the website at https://coastalbg.uga.edu/2023/09/puddling-a-butterflys-secret-garden-of-delight/The Art of Puddling:

"Puddling, sometimes referred to as “mud-puddling,” is a behavior observed primarily in male butterflies. It involves these winged wonders congregating around puddles, damp soil, or even animal droppings. The butterflies use their proboscis, a long, straw-like mouthpart, to absorb essential nutrients from the substrate. These nutrients often include salts, amino acids, and minerals like sodium, which are crucial for various biological processes.

The Purpose of Puddling: While the sight of butterflies sipping on muddy water might seem peculiar, there’s a good reason behind this behavior. Puddling serves several vital functions in a butterfly’s life. 

Nutrient Uptake: Butterflies primarily feed on nectar, which provides them with sugars for energy. However, nectar lacks many essential nutrients, such as sodium and amino acids. Puddling helps supplement their diet with these vital elements, which are crucial for reproduction and overall health.

Reproductive Success: The nutrients obtained through puddling are especially important for male butterflies. During mating, males transfer some of these nutrients to females, which can enhance their reproductive success. A well-nourished female is more likely to produce healthier offspring.

Hydration: Butterflies need water for survival, just like any other organism. Puddling provides them with an easily accessible source of hydration, especially in arid environments where water may be scarce.

Social Interaction: Puddling sites often become social gatherings for butterflies. These communal gatherings can serve as opportunities for courtship and mate selection, allowing butterflies to find suitable partners.

The Role of Minerals: One of the most intriguing aspects of puddling is the butterflies’ preference for certain minerals. Sodium, in particular, is highly sought after by butterflies. It plays a crucial role in their physiology, helping regulate their internal fluids and maintain proper muscle function. Butterflies have even been known to visit human sweat and tears to obtain sodium, a phenomenon that highlights their unerring instinct for finding these vital minerals."

Puddling California Tortoiseshell males! - Nymphalis californica

Enjoy!

My husband and I also traveled down to Daugherty Hill to see some more spring greens!!! We had the whole place to ourselves and there weren't even any cows! What luck! The blue oaks were beginning to leaf out and birds were singing everywhere! It was glorious!

Lark Sparrow - Chondestes grammacus

Right away I spotted these two Lark Sparrows! They are easy to identify by the rusty colored patches on their heads. Lark Sparrows are foothill birds and they build their nests on bare ground, or slightly above ground in a shrub. Right now is their breeding season, and males are known to give a female a twig during copulation, which she then flies off with and places in her nest! 3-6 eggs are laid per clutch, and hatch within 12 days! Both male and female adults feed the nestlings, which can fly within 9 days! I love the markings and colors of the adults! 

Pipevine Swallowtail Butterfly - Battus philenor

To our delight, there were several Pipevine Swallowtail Butterflies, sipping nectar from the scattered wildflowers. They weren't in large clusters or groups, but they were flitting around the whole park! I wondered why they weren't getting eating by birds. It turns out that they are inedible to predators, because they ingest toxic aristolochic acids from their Pipevine host plant when they are caterpillars. These acids stay in their bodies even when they pupate into adults! There weren't lots of wildflowers in bloom, but we enjoyed the ones we saw. 

Popcorn Flower - Western Buttercup - California Saxifrage

Plagiobothrys nothofulvus - Ranunculus occidentalis - Micranthes californica

Purple Sanicle -  Sanicula bipinnatifida

Hairy Vetch -  Butter and Eggs/Johnny Tuck - Blue Dicks

Vicia villosa - Triphysaria eriantha - Micranthes californica

We'll be back down in the foothills again soon, 

to catch the full bloom of the  Spring wildflowers!

Come and join me for a talk on Saturday, March 21st about "Animals in Winter". It's a fundraiser for the Camptonville Community Center. Hope to see you there!

Check back in two weeks for my next natural history blog, 

on Sunday, March 28th.

Your questions and comments are always appreciated! Please email me at northyubanaturalist@gmail.com. Thanks!

Winter & Spring

Beginning on February 16th a winter storm moved in and dropped approximately 2.5' of snow in our neighborhood!!! It was the first and only big winter storm we've had this year! It was absolutely beautiful with intermittent blizzard-like flurries of snowfall over 4 days!  Luckily we didn't have to go anywhere that week, so I tromped around in the powder snow with my camera every day. It was a bit tough to keep my camera dry, but lovely to be out in the falling snow! The landscape had turned to a striking black and white palette! 

The North Yuba River 2/16/25

Common Goldeneyes (3 males - 4 females) - Bucephala clangula

To my delight I spotted a group of Common Goldeneye Ducks on the river! This time the females were also present. A few weeks ago, there had only been males. In the near future, when the weather turns to Spring temperatures, these ducks will migrate north to Canada and Alaska to breed. In the meantime, they are busy diving in the river to catch fish, crawdads, aquatic insects, and mollusks!

Osprey  - Pandion haliaetus

I was also thrilled to see an Osprey in a tree-top overlooking the river! Our river never freezes, so fish are available in the winter. However, trout seek out the deepest, slowest parts of the river in the winter. Their metabolism slows down significantly and they become lethargic. Rather than search for food, they hang out and wait for aquatic insects to pass by!  Midges are the main food for trout in the winter, as they complete their life cycle in winter and are readily available! It's been more than a week since I first saw this Osprey, but it is still here on the river! It must be successfully catching trout!

 

The sky was filled with thousands of small clumps of falling snow, 

in a hushed, muted silence!

A filigree of Black Walnut branches, delineated by the snow! 

Killdeer - Charadrius vociferous

To my COMPLETE surprise, a Killdeer showed up in our neighborhood, the day after the snowstorm ended!!! Such beauty! They are rarely seen in our area, as they prefer short-grass, open fields. I've seen them often in Sierra Valley in the springtime and summer.  This adult hung around for about 4 days that were mainly sunny, after the storm. I read up on what they eat and earthworms were part of their menu! So I dug up some of our compost pile and found some earthworms and night crawlers. I carried them down to where the Killdeer was hanging out and left them on the ground!  I didn't linger as the Killdeer made it very clear that my presence made him wary. About half an hour later I went to see if the earthworms were still there, and they were gone. Maybe the Killdeer found them, or maybe they just wriggled away into the surrounding brush!  I'll never know, but I hope the Killdeer got one of them at least! After several days of sunny weather, we recently got a day of heavy rain and the Killdeer is no longer around. I hope it flew down to lower elevations where it normally lives.

Another interesting fact is that a year ago today, on March 1st, I spotted a Killdeer up off the highway in my neighborhood, after a winter storm!  It makes me wonder if it could possibly be the same one that just visited us!  

Killdeer - Charadrius vociferous

Here's a photo of the one I saw a year ago!

Pittman Road in the Spenceville Wildlife Area

The Spenceville Wildlife Area

The snow melted quickly in our neighborhood, but I still felt the need to see some foothill greens, so my friends Mike and Patti and I went down to Spenceville for a hike this week! It had been a month since I'd been there, and the oak trees were just starting to leaf out and the grasses were even more lush and vibrant! It looked just like the above photo, that I took a year ago!!!

We hiked a six-mile loop through rolling hills covered with meadows and Blue Oak forests. We also passed several manmade ponds, one of which had a few delightful waterfowl! 

Pied-billed Grebe (adult) - Podilymbus podiceps

Pied-billed Grebes are uncommon. "Pied" means having two or more colors. They eat crustaceans, fish, frogs, and aquatic insects. They forage for food underwater, as well as on the surface of ponds and bays. Curiously they also eat a lot of their feathers! Apparently this helps in the formation of pellets that they cast to rid their intestine of undigested material. The Cornell Lab states: "Regular ejection of stomach contents minimizes buildup of gastric parasite population in upper alimentary tract." 

To escape predation they dive or sink slowly out of view, or hide underwater with only their eyes and nostrils just above the surface! Together the male and female build their floating platform of a nest out of dead and rotting aquatic plants. Additionally, they share the brooding of eggs and raising of the young. They are fierce defenders of their nesting territory, often attacking other waterfowl from underwater! What interesting, different habits this bird has! I'm always so amazed at how everything has evolved so specifically!

American Wigeon (male - female) - Mareca americana

American Wigeons are quite common throughout California in the Winter.  In the Spring, they migrate north to Canada/Alaska to breed. I've seen them several times down in Gray Lodge. The black tip of their bill, as well the dramatically colored feathers on the male's head, make them easy to identify! These dabbling ducks forage on primarily submerged aquatic plants, as well as on upland grasses, clovers, and seeds. American Wigeons swim more than most dabbling ducks, while foraging for submerged plants. They are also very good at stealing food from other ducks, especially diving ducks!

Valley Oaks - Quercus lobata

There were Valley Oaks interspersed throughout the Blue Oak woodlands, that hadn't leafed out yet. This particular pair of Valley Oaks had a variety of songbirds in them! We stopped and "bird watched" for a little while and were delighted with what we saw!

Oak Titmouse (adult) - White-breasted Nuthatch (adult) - Western Bluebird (juvenile male!)

Firstly we noticed several Western Bluebirds perching and flying around. I lucked out and got a photo of a downy male juvenile!  WOW!!!  Secondly, there were at least three or four visible White-breasted Nuthatches searching for insects in the tree trunk crevices! Lastly there were some tiny grey birds hopping around, that we later figured out were Oak Titmice! 

In the summer Western Bluebirds are primarily insectivores. In winter they eat fruits and berries, such as juniper, poison oak, wild grapes, and elderberry. They also particularly love to eat mistletoe berries, and will sometimes sleep overnight in a clump of mistletoe to defend their find! They like to live on the edge of open areas, such as meadows or burned areas. They are short-distance migrants, and generally move down slope in winter. Males have brilliant plumage, and females are dully colored in comparison.

We kept hearing loud repeated calls and finally figured out it was the White-breasted Nuthatches! Like the Red-breasted Nuthatches in our area, these little birds climb up and down the trunks and branches of trees, gleaning insects from the surface and crevices.

The Oak Titmouse lives year-round in the oak woodlands of California's coast, central valley, and foothills. Their songs and calls are the "voice and soul of the oak woodlands". The male Oak Titmouse has as up to 12 distinct songs, but usually 3 to 4, in its repertoire. An Oak Titmouse mates for life. During breeding season the male feeds and serenades its mate! The also defend their territory (up to 6 acres) with songs and calls exchanged between males! Their diet consists of insects, acorns, oak catkins, fruit and seeds. They usually live in the same location year round.

Acorn Woodpecker - Yellow-rumped Warbler

Melanerpes formicivorus - Setophaga coronata

We also saw several Acorn Woodpeckers that day. They are one of the dominant species in the foothill oak woodlands. Acorns are the main food they depend upon in winter. They store acorns by drilling holes in dead tree trunks and putting an acorn in each hole! These acorn filled trunks are called "granaries". Granaries have been known to contain up to 50,000 acorns!

We also heard Yellow-rumped Warblers, but never spotted one. These colorful birds spend their winters in warmer climates, and are some of the first warblers to return to our area in the spring. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology states: "Short to long-distance migrants, some western Yellow-rumped Warblers move to the nearby Pacific Coast to spend the winter. Other populations migrate to wintering grounds in Mexico and throughout Central America."

Sandhill Cranes - Antigone canadensis

To our delight we heard and saw hundreds of Sandhill Cranes flying overhead that day! WOW!!! They were heading north from California's Central Valley to their breeding grounds in northeast California, Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia. I just LOVE seeing and hearing them every year! Such amazing beauty!

Woodland Stars - Buttercup - Blue Dicks

 Lithophragma heterophyllum - Ranunculus californicus - Dichelostemma capitatum

We also saw a couple of wildflowers in bloom! They were scattered and few, but more will be popping up in the near future! 

At the end of our hike, we reluctantly left this beautiful green woodlands to go home, but we'll be back soon!

Come and join me for a talk on Saturday, March 21st about "Animals in Winter". It's a fundraiser for the Camptonville Community Center. Hope to see you there!

I will also post my next blog by Sunday, March 15th. 

Check back then to hear my latest Natural History News!  Thanks!

Sierra Valley Raptors and more...

Prairie Falcon - Falco mexicanus

Two weeks ago, on February 2nd, my husband and I, and our friends Mary and Nancy, went over to Sierra Valley to hopefully see some raptors. We totally lucked out! We saw two different Prairie Falcons, one Rough-legged Hawk, lots of Red-tailed Hawks, several Northern Harriers, and two  Bald Eagles! It was quite a bird-watching day!!!

I had never seen a Prairie Falcon before! Wow!!! They are 16" in length, with a wingspan of 40", just about the same size as a Peregrine Falcon. Apparently they are year-round residents in Sierra Valley! We saw this one fairly close to Sierraville. The following information about Prairie Falcons is from the Cornell website http://allaboutbirds.org/.

"Prairie Falcons in summer eat mostly small mammals, particularly ground squirrels. They also eat pikas, birds, and insects. In winter, ground squirrels are not available, and the Prairie Falcon depends mainly on Horned Lark and Western Meadowlark. Prairie Falcons breeding in California and Utah also eat many shorebirds, Mourning Doves, and other bird species. Nesting pairs cache excess prey in clumps of vegetation and rocky areas within their territory, and males and females cache food in separate sites. Such caches provide a buffer against times when finding prey is difficult."

Prairie Falcon - Falco mexicanus

"This inhabitant of dry environments of western North America, where cliffs or bluffs punctuate open plains and shrub-steppe deserts, is an efficient and specialized predator of medium-sized desert mammals and birds, ranging widely in search of patchily distributed prey. Several species of ground squirrels are the mainstay of this species' diet; they provide fat-rich calories that pairs need for raising their broods of 4–5 young during the 3- to 4-month nesting season. When ground squirrels move underground to escape summer heat and dryness, most falcons leave their nesting areas in search of other prey. A hardy species, the Prairie Falcon has always made its living in lands that are susceptible to periodic droughts."

Prairie Falcon - Falco mexicanus

We saw this Prairie Falcon over near the Steel Bridge!

"Prairie Falcons breed in open country throughout the West wherever they can find bluffs and cliffs to nest on, including in alpine habitat to about 11,000 feet. Breeding habitats include grasslands, shrub steppe desert, areas of mixed shrubs and grasslands, or alpine tundra that supports abundant ground squirrel or pika populations. Breeding birds sometimes forage in agricultural fields. The majority of Prairie Falcons spend the winter in the Great Plains and Great Basin, in habitat that supports the Horned Larks and Western Meadowlarks that make up much of their wintertime diet. This includes grasslands, sage scrub, dry-farmed wheat fields, irrigated cropland, and cattle feedlots, where the falcons also prey on European Starlings."

How lucky we were to see these gorgeous falcons!

Rough-legged Hawk - Buteo lagopus

We saw this Rough-legged Hawk right near the Steel Bridge! It had been several years since I'd seen one, and my friend Mary had never seen one before! How exciting! These beautiful hawks breed in the taiga and tundra across Canada and Alaska, up to the high arctic. They feed on small mammals, including lemmings, voles, mice, shrews, rabbits and ground squirrels. In the winter they migrate down into the U.S. and inhabit pastures, marshy areas, and wet meadows.

Rough-legged Hawk - Buteo lagopus

They are not commonly seen in our area, except for Sierra Valley. Some years there are a lot in the valley in winter, other years there are few to none. We were so lucky to see one of these incredible, long-distance migrants! 

Red-tailed Hawk - Buteo jamaicensis

We saw more Red-tailed Hawks than any other species that day. They are one of the mostly commonly seen raptors in North America, and are found from coast to coast in the U.S. and as far south as Venezuela! Red-tails are medium sized hawks, measuring 19" in length, with a wingspan of 49", and a weight of 2.4 lb. They like to perch in trees, or posts on the edges of clearings or meadows, and watch for prey. Ground squirrels, gophers, rabbits, mice, snakes, lizards, kestrels, and meadowlarks are their main prey. They live in Sierra Valley year-round.

Red-tailed Hawk - Buteo jamaicensis

Here's a good shot of it's red tail! Red-tailed Hawks are classified as "buteos" which are medium to large, stout bodied hawks, with broad wings and fan shaped tails. There are several subspecies of Red-tailed Hawks in the U.S. that have unique color morphs, including one that has a gray tail!

Bald Eagle - Haliaeetus leucocephalus

 We saw two Bald Eagles that day, and both of them were sitting on low fence posts! It was cold and windy, so maybe that's why they weren't soaring around or perching on telephone posts. They are year-round residents of Sierra Valley .

Northern Harrier - Circus hudsonius

These beautiful raptors are not classified as "hawks" they are "harriers". They were too hard to photograph as they were so distant, and flew so quickly. The composite above is from a few years ago.

 California Mule Deer - Odocoileus hemionus californicus

To our delight we also came across a small band of California Mule Deer. There were five females and one buck! They were camouflaged beautifully against the dry grasses and sagebrush of the Valley!

California Mule Deer (buck) - Odocoileus hemionus californicus

The buck looked like it had a few wounds on it's side and back thigh! No idea what might have caused the wounds, Mountain Lion, Wolf, barbed wire? 

California Mule Deer (does) - Odocoileus hemionus californicus

In late winter, Mule Deer usually band together in loose herds to be safer and warmer! The more eyes there are watching for predators, the better the protection! 

Sierra Valley looking East from Harriet Lane

The Valley was drier than I've ever seen it before. There was also a definite lack of waterfowl. However, it was still amazingly beautiful! I'm glad that there's a winter storm due to arrive this week, that will bring snow to the mountains and rain to the lower elevations. We need it! 

South Yuba River Beauty

A Short Hike at South Yuba River State Park

The day after our trip to Sierra Valley, my husband and I, and our friends Rod and Rochelle, went for a hike down in the South Yuba River State Park. It was gloriously green with lush grasses and a few early bloomers! The river itself was crystal clear and a rich glass-green color. Such beauty!

 

 Common Fiddleneck - Zig-zag Larkspur

Amsinckia menziesii - Delphinium patens

a tiny, slightly-opened Pipevine flower - maturing Pipevine flowers

Aristolochia californica

California Manroot - Nemophila

Marah fabaceus - Nemophila pedunculata

South Yuba River Beauty

We had a lovely walk and picnic above the beautiful river! Just wonderful! There's not doubt that we'll be back soon!

A big winter storm is supposed to arrive tonight!  It will start out rainy and then turn snowy over the next three days, with the potential of two feet of snowfall in our area!  A lot more snow is expected at the higher elevations. Thank goodness, as there's only a foot of snow up at Yuba Pass right now, at 6,709' in elevation! My neighborhood will probably look like the photo above in a few days!

Fingers crossed it all goes well! I'll let you know how it goes!

Check back in two weeks, on February 28th for my next blog!

Your questions and comments are always welcome. Please email me at northyubanaturalist@gmail.com. Thank you!