Tracks!

This past week has been clear and COLD at night, but sunny and warm during the day!  The temperatures ranged from a high of 70° to a low of 24°!  This unseasonally warm and sunny weather, has us all concerned that this might be the beginning of another drought year!  So far we've had approximately 21" of rainfall since October 1, which is about the same as last year.  Our yearly rainfall total is around 64".  So no need for concern YET!  I just hope this warm weather turns cold and rainy soon!

Due to these warm days and cool nights there's beautiful hoarfrost forming in the shady areas, in an infinite variety of elaborate designs! Frost crystals, or surface hoar, forms when temperatures are cold and water vapor is available. These frost crystals continue to "grow" when daytime temperatures are warmer than freezing. As the night air cools the snow, water vapor from the snow recrystallizes on the surface. If conditions are just right, hoarfrost can get quite large! Some of the ones I saw looked like frosted pine needles or lace collars, while others resembled intricately detailed flowers!

Sierra Buttes - December 2017

The Lakes Basin

I've gone on a few sunny but snowy hikes up in the Lakes Basin the past few weeks.  There's about 3"-5" of snow on the ground at about 6,000', and more at higher elevations.  We came across tons of animal tracks in the snow!  Some are easy to identify, some aren't!  It would have been great if I had brought a ruler with me, as the field guides use "size" as a main factor in figuring out who left a track.  The distance between steps is an indicator of the approximate length of the animal.  The width and length of the individual footprint, and the position of the toes, also helps determine which animal passed by.  Depth of the track indicates the weight of the animal, and thus its size.  

      Chickaree Tracks                          Mouse Tracks                      Grouse Tracks

Tracks in the Snow

Knowing what animals should be out and about is also a big help when trying to figure out tracks.  I know that the chipmunks are all hibernating underground, so the smallish squirrel-like tracks must be Chickarees/Douglas Tree Squirrels that are active year-round.  I only figured the mouse track out because of its size.  The prints were so tiny!  The large bird tracks must be from a Grouse, as all the Mountain Quail have migrated to lower elevations.  

       Porcupine Tracks                   Pine Cone Tracks                      Bear Tracks

The porcupine tracks were a mystery to me!  I took this photo several years ago, but could never figure out what animal it was!  This year I emailed the photo and a query to a website, www.northernnaturalists.com, that specialized in tracking animals.  They identified it as a porcupine, mainly because of the size of its pigeon-toed track!  Wow!  I have only seen one porcupine in my life.  It was up in a pine tree in the winter, in the Lakes Basin.  It was so camouflaged by the pine needles that I didn't notice it, but my dog did!  Its quills looked just like the long needles of the tree it was in!  Unfortunately I didn't get a photo, but it was great to see one!   Porcupines remain active year-round.  In winter they eat the cambium layer of trees, usually Lodegpole Pines, fir, cedar, and hemlock!  They are solitary creatures, except during mating season in the fall.  Their winter home is usually in rock crevice shelter, or a cave among rocks.  They are primarily noctural, but may be seen resting in the top of a tree during the day!  

The Pine Cone Tracks are one of my favorites!  I only saw this happen once in all the years I've been cross-country skiing!  So beautiful!  The bear tracks we saw on the Bear Lake Loop Trail, about a month ago!  Bears do not truly hibernate.  When the weather gets warm in the winter, they might come out of their dens and move about!  Hopefully these cold nights have made him go back to sleep!  He would have a tough time finding anything to eat up there, at this time of year!

         Canada Goose Track            Mtn. Quail & Deer Tracks         Mouse & Goose Tracks

Tracks in the Sand

As I was wandering around my neighborhood this week, I came across the tracks of geese, deer, mice, foxes, quail, and river otter all on one section of the river shoreline!!!  It was amazing to see the evidence of all their movements, by their tracks in the sand!  I hadn't been to that part of the river in a while, so it's hard to say if they were there all in one night at the same time (highly unlikely!), or at different times on different days (highly likely!).  For whatever reason, they all traveled on this piece of shoreline!!  I was particularly thrilled to see the river otter tracks, and the mice tracks that were all over the place!! 

            Gray Fox Tracks                   River Otter Tracks                Mountain Quail Tracks

Mountain Quail - Oreortyx pictus                Canada Geese - Branta canadensis      

Track Makers!

The Mountain Quail are still hurrying by in their startled coveys!  What a treat it is to watch them!  They never come to the area where I have my bird feeder, even though they mainly eat seeds!   One morning this week not one bird showed up at my feeder, and they stayed away all day!  I was mystified!  The next day my husband saw a little hawk watching the bird feeder from the bushes!!!  That's probably why the birds (and the quail!) stayed away!  I haven't seen the hawk yet, but I've heard his cries several times!  

New this week, four Canada Geese showed up in our neighborhood!  Maybe this warm weather has them confused!  I'm pretty sure they lived here this summer, and maybe for many past summers as well.  Not much algae or aquatic plants are growing in the river right now, but there's plenty of green winter grass for them to eat!  We'll see how long they stay when the weather gets colder!

 Columbian Black-tailed Deer - Odocoileus hemionus columbianus

Up at the cemetery the buck with the small antlers has joined the adult doe and the young female!  They look like a family!  I'll keep watch and see if they continue to stick together!

Deer Mouse - Peromyscus maniculatus              Mouse - unknown species

  I found these two dead mice,in different parts of my neighborhood, in the past month.  In both cases, when I returned a few days later they were gone!  They were probably eaten by a fox or weasel!  Mice are prolific breeders. Their population probably numbers in the 100's in our immediate neighborhood!  However, they do not usually produce offspring in the winter when food is scarce.  They like to live in old woodpecker nests, knot holes in trees, stumps, brush piles, and even man-made outbuildings.  The nest below was built by a mouse in our greenhouse!  It is made out of our dog's hair, that I had left outside on the ground!  It looks pretty cozy!  Sometimes in the winter up to 10 mice will huddle together in a nest to stay warm!   Deer Mice will store seeds for winter consumption, but will also actively forage for insects, seeds, and berries.  They are nocturnal, along with many other critters in my neighborhood!

Deer Mouse nest made out of poodle hair!

The Fungi Foray was really interesting!  On the first day, groups of participants went out into different areas of the forest and collected mushrooms.  On the second day, the mushrooms were sorted and identified, and a several speakers gave interesting talks.  The talks ranged from Citizen Science via iNaturalist.org, raising truffles, growing mushrooms, fungi of the Sierra, and the medicinal use of mushrooms!  The variety and number of mushroom species identified was a bit overwhelming for me!  Lots of mushrooms look alike, but aren't the same genus or species!  One participant estimated that there are over 1,000 (at least) species of mushrooms locally!  Sheesh!  I'm going to stick with not eating any of them, and just enjoy their beauty!  It was a very informative, interesting, and fun Fungi Foray!

Thallose Liverwort - species unknown

You'll often find liverworts growing among ferns and mosses. I found these on a mossy, damp slope along the river. Instead of having regular roots, liverworts anchor themselves with simple one-celled appendages known as rhizoids. The little white hair-like structures on the undersides of the above leaves are the rhizoids. Liverworts have no vascular system, so the whole plant shrivels when conditions are dry. Like mosses and ferns, liverworts have spores instead of seeds. They also produce an anti-freeze in their cells, to prevent damage from freezing temperatures.

The track in the sand from last week was a Black Bear track!

The weird orange hanging droplets, pictured last week, were some kind of slime mold.

What are these tiny bugs?

How many different tracks are in this picture?

What are the foxes up to?

How's the FeederWatch going?

Check back next week for the answers to these questions and more!

Your comments & questions are greatly appreciated!

Please email me at northyubanaturalist@gmail.com, 

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click on the comments just below, to post a comment!  

Thanks!