Gray Fox - Urocyon cinereoargenteus
Last week I started recording bird species and numbers for Project FeederWatch. This week I decided to put out a Thanksgiving feast for the birds! Following the suggestions made by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, I put out popped popcorn, cracked whole walnuts, soaked raisins, sunflower seed, and white millet seed. I also added some chopped up apples. Then I sat back and watched what happened!
Right away about a dozen Steller's Jays swooped in and investigated everything. They cautiously picked up the popped popcorn, and pecked at the walnuts. Before long, they were eating the popcorn, filling their crops with sunflower seeds, and flying away with the cracked walnuts!!! Dark-headed Juncos were the next group of visitors and they concentrated on the white millet! Right in the middle of it all a Gray Fox (above) calmly walked by and sat on a rock about 50' away from the feeder! I'm not sure if it was checking out the food on the table, or the birds eating the food!!! By the end of the day the only food left was the soaked raisins and the chopped apples!
Our bird feeding station!
The next morning, ALL of the food was gone and there was a set of fox prints (inset above), and some poop, on the table! My intention was to only feed the birds! So I did a little research on the feeding of wild animals. It turns out that feeding wild animals can be harmful and in some cases (such as deer, bear, etc.) it is illegal!
Here's what the Department of Fish & Game has to say about it:
"You may not realize it – a simple bag of garbage, bowl of pet food, or plate of leftovers left outside your home or vacation site, can cause severe harm to wildlife.
Whether you live in a city or a rural part of California, wild animals are your neighbors. Most wild animals will not bother you. They naturally fear humans and keep their distance – so long as they remain fully wild.
But if wild animals have access to human food and garbage, they want more and more. They lose their natural fear of humans and can become aggressive.
If bears and other wild animals damage property or threaten human safety, they might be killed. Allowing wild animals access to human food is dead wrong."
My plan is to only feed the birds in the morning and around noon. That way there shouldn't be any food left over for other critters to eat at night!
Bird Feeder hygiene is also super important! I'll talk more about that next week!
Mountain Quail - Oreortyx pictus
Bird Feeder hygiene is also super important! I'll talk more about that next week!
Mountain Quail - Oreortyx pictus
Mountain Quail
The Mountain Quail are still busy foraging on the ground for seeds and insects. I've seen several coveys of them lately! It turns out that they are NOT in our neighborhood all year. They will only spend the winter here. In spring they will migrate, mainly on foot, to higher elevations to breed. That's why I saw those baby quail (above right) up in the Lakes Basin last summer!
Red-breasted Sapsucker or Red-naped Sapsucker? Red-breasted Sapsucker Sphyrapicus ruber or Sphyrapicus nuchalis(?) Sphyrapicus ruber
Sapsuckers
This week I was thrilled to see several Red-breasted Sapsuckers! They are so brilliantly colored and beautiful! They may stay here for the winter, or they could migrate to the foothills or even to Baja California! Right now these birds are visiting the rows of small holes they have drilled in the trunks of apples trees in our neighborhood. They will eat the sap that oozes out of the holes, as well as any insects that get stuck in the sap! They will also eat the cambium layer of the tree, that is just under the bark!
I'm not sure if the Sapsucker on the left is a Red-breasted Sapsucker. Red-naped Sapsuckers resemble Red-breasted Sapsuckers but typically live in the Rocky Mountains, northern Cascades, and Warner Mountains of north-eastern California. They visit the Sierra irregularly, mainly in winter. They are known to hybridize with Red-breasted Sapsuckers, so maybe this one is a hybrid! I will post a photo and question on "Birdshare" (https://www.flickr.com/groups/birdshare/) and see if I can get an ID!
Kinglets
I've been watching these tiny Kinglets flit about in the bare lilac bushes this week! They move so fast, it was hard to get some photos! Apparently they are looking for tiny insects to eat! Being so tiny, only 4" long including their tail and 6 grams in weight, they can balance on the tips of branches and glean insects! They have unusually fluffy, thick plumage, which keeps them warm in the winter. They breed at higher elevations, up to 9,000', but will probably stay here for the winter!
Some Golden-crowned Kinglets stay year-round in the higher elevations! In fact their normal range is from 4,500'-9,000' in the Sierras. Their golden crown is very distinctive, as well as the black and white stripes on their head. We're lucky to see them in our neighborhood, at 2,674' in elevation!
Mule Deer - Odocoileus hemionus californicus
Deer
I saw this beautiful buck (above) behind the old school house in my neighborhood! What a beauty! I think it is a Mule Deer because of the thin stripe of black ending in a black tip, on its tail. I think this is the same deer that I posted last week. If you compare the antlers they look alike. Now that I have a photo of its tail, I realize that I incorrectly identified it as a Columbian Black-tailed Deer last week. I'll correct that right away!
I photographed this young female deer (below) on a rainy day this week! I didn't get a photo of its tail, so I'm not sure what subspecies it is. She looks pretty wet! In light rain, most deer keep moving. The dampened leaves cut down on the sound of their movement, and increases scent. In heavy rain, deer have difficulty smelling, seeing, or hearing predators approach, and usually avoid moving during these periods. However, there are always exceptions and you may see deer at anytime rain or snow!
Deer - Odocoileus hemionus sp.
pore mushrooms - species unknown tiny mushrooms - species unknown
I really need to learn more about fungi! I'm planning on going to the Fungi Foray on Dec. 9-10 (http://yubawatershedinstitute.org/events/event/foray2017/). In the meantime I'll keep taking pictures and try to figure them out with my field guide.
underside of pore mushroom - species unknown
I mentioned last week that most mushrooms have gills, some have pores, some have teeth, and some of have none of these structures! Pores are actually tiny tubes that are lined with spores. Quite a variety of mushrooms have pores instead of gills!
Shaggy Mane on Nov. 15 - (Coprinus comatus) - the same Shaggy Mane on Nov. 22
The mushroom I thought might be a Shaggy Mane turned out to be one! It was so interesting to watch it change! The circular ring on the stem is called a "ring"! The dark gray granular stuff, on the bottom of the cap, is the sand that was splashed up by the heavy rain. I went back to check it again on Nov. 26, but it had pretty much disintegrated by then! It was amazing how quickly it turned to slime!
Imbricated Sword Fern - Polystichum imbicans
Other spore-bearing Plants!
Unlike mosses, ferns have a vascular system and roots or "rhizomes". Like mosses, they do not have flowers and reproduce through spores. Some ferns can stay green and thrive in the winter. Others dry up in the fall. The ones that thrive have anti-freeze in their cells!
A friend of mine gave me a small magnifier to use on our hikes! She has one too, and we use them to examine plants closely! It's amazing what flowers look like close-up! The spores of the ferns were so tiny! I'd highly recommend getting a magnifier! Nature on a super close-up level is filled with incredible patterns, sparkles, hairs, shapes, and colors! You have to see it to believe it!
Western Polypody Fern-Polypodium hesperium Five-finger Fern-Adiantum aleuticum
The Western Polypody Fern stays green all winter, whereas the Five-finger Fern dries up! I wonder what baby ferns look like when they sprout from their spores!
Woolly Bear Caterpillar (left) - Pyrrharctia isabella
Convergent Ladybird Beetles (right) - Hippodamia convergens
Insect update!
If you remember from last spring, I posted that the length of the brownish-orange mid-stripe on the Woolly Bear Caterpillar (above left) has nothing to do with predicting the severity of the coming winter. It turns out that the length varies with the age of the caterpillar and the moisture level where it developed!
The Convergent Ladybird Beetles (above right) have been back for a month or more. Their behavior doesn't change much at this time of year. Pretty much they stay close together in the cracks of tree bark during cold weather, and spread out when it warms up! Like ferns and mosses they produce an anti-freeze in their cells during winter!
Clark's Nutcrackers-Nucifraga columbiana Townsend's Solitaire-Myadestes townsendi
The Lakes Basin!
This week I went on two hikes up in the Lakes Basin! The fall colors have gone, but the rain and snow have given the landscape a new beauty! We saw a few birds still hanging around! The ones pictured above will likely spend the winter on the east side, as it won't be as snowy as the west side of the Sierra. Nutcrackers (above left) prefer pine seeds, and are known to have stashed up to 33,000 seeds in 7,500 different locations! They have unerring memory, and will dig down through snow to the seeds! The Townsend's Solitaires (above right) prefer to feed on Juniper berries, which are more prevalent on the east side of the Sierra. I was thrilled to see these birds! I've rarely seen the Clark's Nutcrackers and the Townsend's Solitaire is a first! More snow is on its way this coming Sunday and Monday! My next hike in the Lakes Basin might be on cross-country skis!
Sierra Buttes in the Lakes Basin
What other plants produce spores?
Are the Chickarees making winter nests?
Is the Anna's Hummer still down in the garden?
Where are the foxes living now?
Check back next week for the answers
to these questions and more!
Your comments and questions are greatly appreciated!
Please email me at northyubanaturalist@gmail.com
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