It's Springtime!

Most of the fruit trees in my neighborhood started to bloom this week!  There are several old orchards here, that were planted many years ago.  We have lots of cherry trees, an apricot tree, and several apple trees on our property.  Right now, the white cherry tree blossoms among the filigree of bare branches is stunning!  The heavy rain that's predicted over the weekend will possibly prevent the blossoms from being pollinated.  Hopefully, some of them were pollinated on the warm, sunny days we had at the beginning of this week.  We are glad to get the rain, and hope the storms keep coming!  

   female willow catkins                                male willow catkins

Crab Spider - Misumena vatia   

The female willows, after being green and quiet for a month, are now covered with pistils with over 142 flowers per catkin!  The male willows still have some unopened catkins.  The older male catkins still have lots of stamens and anthers, but are a bit past their prime. 

All kinds of native bees, beetles, and gnats are busy pollinating the blooming plants.  I found this spider in one of the female willow catkins.  It had a dead fly in it's grip!  I think it's a Crab Spider.  The name refers to the crab-like shape of the body and its ability to walk sideways and backwards, just like a crab. Crab Spiders are active during the day.  They can slowly change their color from white to yellow to orange to green, depending on the color of the plant they're on.  It can take 1-2 days for the color to change.  This one really matched the color of the unopened hairy pussy willows.  These spiders do not spin webs, but rely on camouflage and ambush to catch their prey.  They prefer bees, flies, and butterflies, but will eat a variety of insects that come to feed on the nectar or pollen of a flower.  They don't "eat" their prey with their jaws.  First they inject their prey with venom that paralyzes them.  Then they bite a small hole in their prey and vomit their digestive fluid into the prey's body!  This fluid dissolves the prey's internal organs and muscles!  This dissolved solution is then sucked out!  Geez!   

Pine Siskins - Spinus pinus

Project Feederwatch Update

Officially, Project Feederwatch ended on Friday, April 6.  I really enjoyed watching the birds that came to our feeding station, and reporting the statistics to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.  I recorded a total of 27 bird species coming to our feeders.  I have already signed up for the next season which starts on November 11, 2018.  If you are interested in joining Project Feederwatch, and becoming a citizen scientist, visit their website at www.feederwatch.org.

I'm still feeding the birds, but I've replaced the bird house and table with hanging bird feeders.  So far the birds are gradually coming to the hanging feeders.  The Pine Siskins didn't hesitate at all, and flocked to the finch feeder right away!  At this time of year, the large Pine Siskin flocks have broken up into small nesting colonies.  Mated pairs will be established by mid-April.  A mated female will construct a nest, on a horizontal conifer branch that is concealed by foliage.  She will use a variety of materials to construct the nest, such as fine rootlets, grass, stems, twigs, cedar bark, lichen, moss, animal hair, leaves, and string.  It usually takes 5-6 days for the nest to be completed.  The female then lays 3-5 eggs in the nest, and broods them for approximately 13 days.  The male feeds her during this entire incubation period!  After the eggs hatch, the male continues feeding the female, and she in turn feeds the nestlings regurgitated food for the first 7-8 days.  Both parents feed the nestlings for the remaining 5 days of nesting, and for the following 3 weeks after the nestlings fledge.  I hope these Pine Siskins stay and make their nests here!  

Anna's Hummingbirds - Calypte Anna 

female - left     male - right 

        

  I'll keep the two hummingbird feeders up until next Fall.  Right now there are 4 males and 2 females coming to the feeders.  I watched the two hummingbirds above "court" yesterday!  The female was perched and watching the male (Check out his tiny toes!).  Facing the female, he hovered up and up (approximately 120 feet!) into the air, and then dove down (at 27 meters per second!) and swooped back up, emitting a loud "chirp".  The chirp is made by the wind in the tail feathers when the hummer dives!  He repeated this performance 2 times.  They also "talked" a lot, making chittering tiny rattling calls back and forth!  I never knew hummingbirds had conversations until we put up some feeders.  They actually talk a lot!! 

Gray Fox - Urocyon cinereoargenteus

The squirrels, skunks, and foxes have moved on to other food sources. I saw this fox across the street from the bird feeders.  He watched me for a little while, then he picked something up off the ground and trotted away!  I don't know what he had in his mouth!  Maybe it was a mouse, or a woodrat.  I think this is a different fox from the previous two I've photographed.  I compared the coats of the other two, and this one is marked differently!  He does have those slanty eyes of the first fox I saw.  Perhaps he's one of her offspring!

Common Merganser - Mergus merganser

(females in front - males in back)

Down at the River!

The signs of spring are obvious down at the river.  The Common Mergansers are back, frogs have emerged from their winter torpor, and water striders are busy zipping around on the surface!  

Common Mergansers are mainly found in fresh water lakes, rivers and streams.  They are diving ducks, and fish is their primary food.  They will also eat mollusks, crustaceans, worms, frogs, small mammals, and plants. Right now, the females should be preparing a nest in a tree cavity, which they occasionally line with dry grasses or down.  The eggs will be laid in the next few weeks, with a clutch numbering up to 17 eggs, but usually 10!!!  The female will incubate the eggs for 28-35 days.  They have a very high success rate of eggs hatching, around 98%.  The young are born precocial and can feed themselves immediately by dabbling in the shallows.  They start diving for food after 1-2 days!   The young will stay around the mother for weeks or months after hatching, sometimes even riding on her back!  I saw a female Merganser with 4 small ducklings last summer.  I saw them again in the fall, but there were only 3 juveniles with her.  I had no idea that they laid so many eggs!  I'll have to look around for holes in tree trunks on the edge of the river.  I would love to find a nest!

    Sierran Tree Frog tadpoles                                    Foothill Yellow-legged Frog     
Pseudacris sierra                                                        Rana boylei  
                  

I found these tadpoles in a pond on the Canyon Creek trail.  They are probably Sierran Tree Frog (formerly called Pacific Tree Frog) tadpoles.  In a few more weeks they should mature into adults.  I'll check back in a week or so.

I think the adult frog above might be a Foothill Yellow-legged Frog!  In California, they have disappeared from 45% of their range, because of air-borne pesticides, introduced non-native fish and bullfrogs, and water release from dams.  They are known to inhabit our area, along the rivers and streams.  This one was on the shore of the No.Yuba River, and jumped into the shallows when I approached.  April is the beginning of mating and egg-laying for frogs.  The male will grasp the female from the back.  This position is called "amplexus."  The eggs are fertilized externally.  The female will lay 300 to 2,000 eggs at one time in shallow slow-moving water, on the downstream side of rocks, pebbles, or vegetation.  The eggs will hatch within 5-37 days, depending on the water temperature.  The tadpoles will transform to adults within 3-4 months! 

River Otter tracks - Lustra canadensis                 Water Strider - Gerridae sp.    

River Otters live here year-round feeding on fish, frogs, newts, aquatic garter snakes, aquatic insects, and young or mature molting ducks.  I have come across their tracks several times, and luckily saw a pair of them last summer.  Right now is the time that the females will be giving birth to their pups, in a den near water.  The usual number of pups born is 3.  The pups are born furred but helpless.  They open their eyes after 1 month, and are weaned at 3 months.  They usually stay with their mother until they are 6 months old. 

You won't see lots of River Otters in one location, as they need a lot of fish to survive.  They usually eat 2.2 lbs to 3.3 lbs of fish daily!  They will  range from 1-56 miles in search of prey!  They can swim underwater at 6-8 mph, and can hold their breath for up to 8 minutes!  They rely on surprise to catch their prey, and rarely chase fast moving fish.  They close theirs ears and nose underwater, and use their long whiskers to detect fish in dark deep water.  They are large animals, with a length of 35"-52", a height of 12"-25", and a weight of 11-30 lbs!  

The adult Water Striders I saw may have over-wintered as adults or hatched from eggs.  I'll do some research, and let you know what I find!

Hairy Woodpecke - Picoides villosus

Hairy Woodpecker

I've seen this Hairy Woodpecker several times in the same area these past few weeks!  I don't usually see them that often.  The other day he was busy preening, stretching, and head scratching!  Birds can manipulate all their feathers while cleaning them.  Sometimes the birds look a bit rumpled after a preening session, but they quickly put each feather back in place.  I found this great explanation on how birds move their feathers at www.toughlittlebirds.com.  "Each feather sits in a follicle on the bird's skin. Each follicle grips the base of its feather with muscles to prevent the feather from falling out. The follicles are connected to each other through a network of tiny muscles in the skin. These muscles are what allow the bird to move its feathers: through muscles acting on the base of the feather, the bird can raise or lower the feather. By contracting muscles between follicles, some birds can also pull feathers closer together."  Amazing isn't it?    

Hairy Woodpeckers probably mate for life, and right now they're busy making a nest site.  They usually excavate a nest in the trunk of a dead or dying tree, or large branch, approximately 50'-60' off the ground.  The female will usually lay 4 eggs.  The male and female will share the incubation period  of 11-12 days.  Once hatched, the nestlings are fed by both parents, and fledge after 28-30 days.  The parents feed the fledglings for an additional 3-4 weeks.  Their main food is insects.  We've had Hairy Woodpeckers nest on our property two times in the past, in standing rotten tree trunks.  It would be great if they nest here again this year!

Hairy Woodpecker - Picoides villosus

Sierra Buttes 4/2/18

I went cross-country skiing again this week.  Unfortunately the Gold Lake Road was about 80% bare ground!  Five days ago there was a solid 9" on the ground.  Sheesh!  So I went up to Yuba Pass and skied for a couple hours on two feet of packed snow.  It was lovely.  I'll check and see if more snow fell in this storm, or if it all melted away.

Last week I spotted another Meadowlark up at a friend's house!  It was dusk, so there wasn't much light, but I managed to get a picture of it flashing its white tail feathers!  Yahoo!

This is a sun dog, and its formal name is a parhelion. It is a concentrated patch of sunlight occasionally seen about 22° to the left or right of the Sun. They occur when sunlight refracts through icy clouds containing hexagonal platecrystals.

Whose scat is that?

Where are the deer?

What's going to bloom next?

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

Your comments and questions are greatly appreciated!

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