North Yuba Naturalist: Returning Birds!

Northern Flicker (male) - Colaptes auratus

This week started with a few rainy days, then the weather changed to dry, warm, and sunny.

Temperatures were in the 60's to low 70's! Several species of birds, that have been gone all winter, have returned to our neighborhood. Northern Flickers announced their arrival with long, loud calls of repeated notes. They have also been drumming on the trunks of trees, and even on metal stove pipes, to get the attention of prospective mates! They are in the woodpecker family of birds, but do not peck away at tree trunks for insects to eat. They forage for insects, seeds, and snails on the ground. However, they do excavate nests in the trunks of dead or live trees. Both the male and the female participate in the nest making, which may take up to two weeks to complete. I'm hoping I find one of their nests this spring. That would be so exciting! They are such beautiful birds, with their dramatic barred and dotted feathers!

Northern Flicker (female) - Colaptes auratus

Northern Flickers are sexually dimorphic. The males and females differ in appearance. The most obvious difference is the bright red "malar" on the male's head, which is absent in the female.

American Robin - Turdus migratorius Western Meadowlark - Sturnella neglecta

Lots of American Robins arrived to breed and make nests this week. They are one of the earliest nesting bird species, and often have 2-3 broods in one season! Right now they're looking for mates and feeding on grubs, worms and caterpillars! The photo of a bird's back from last week, is a photo of a Robin. Did you guess correctly?

This is the first Western Meadowlark that I've seen in our neighborhood! They normally live in large open grasslands, prairies, meadows, and marshy areas. What caught my eye was how it was flashing its outer white tail feathers, which I failed to photograph. Perhaps this one was just passing through, on it's way to Sierra Valley!

Rainbow in my neighborhood

Down in the Garden!

As the rain diminished, a beautiful rainbow formed right over our garden! How lovely! Can birds see rainbows? They probably can, but it might look different than the way it looks to us. Recent studies have shown that birds see a much wider range of color than humans, including ultra-violet light!

Anna's Hummingbird (male) Rufous Hummingbird (female) Calypte anna Selasphorus rufus

The hummingbirds continue to delight me with their own rainbow of colors! They have prism-like cells in the feathers of their neck, throat, and forehead that reflect the rays of the sun, and cause their brilliant metallic colors. They are sexually dimorphic, with the males being the most colorful. They are constantly chasing each other away from our two feeders. In fact most of their time is spent defending their food source and perching, with only 15% of their time used for feeding. So far a male Anna's Hummingbird appears to be "the boss", but that could change!

A Rufous Hummingbird showed up this week, raising the total number of hummers at our feeders to 5! These orange-hued hummers are only passing through our neighborhood, on their way from their wintering grounds in Mexico to their breeding grounds in Alaska, a total journey of 3,900 miles!!! Amazing!

Brewer's Blackbird - male left, female right Mourning Dove adult Euphagus cyanocephalus Zenaida macroura

A flock of Brewer's Blackbirds returned from their wintering grounds in Central America, this week! They will stay here to breed and raise their young. They are sexually dimorphic, with the male being more dramatically colored. They love to eat seeds, grains, and insects, and are seen daily at our feeder. I haven't seen the Red-winged Blackbirds lately. Have they left our neighborhood? I'll have to check and see if they're hanging around my neighbor's pond.

A pair of Mourning Doves showed up at our feeder this week! Usually they live year-round at lower elevations, but I have seen them in our neighborhood in the past. They are sexually monomorphic, and both male and female look the same. They are enjoying our bird feeding station, as agricultural grains and grass seeds are their preferred food. I love hearing their soft melodic song!

Columbian Black-tailed Deer Gray Fox Odocoileus hemionus columbianus Urocyon cinereoargenteus

Mammal Update!

At last I saw an actual deer, and not just its tracks! Several of my neighbors have seen them as well. The young will be born in June-July, so right now they're busy foraging on local shrubs and forbs. The males have dropped their antlers. Male and female both are losing their heavier winter coats. These deer are crepuscular and mainly active at dawn and dusk, but are also seen during the day and at night. I hope to come across more of them as spring progresses. My neighbor had a Mountain Lion on his porch one night this week! This will probably make the deer leave the area again!

The new Gray Fox that showed up a month ago is still visiting our bird feeding station in the late afternoon and evenings. I often find his seed filled scat on the table! I hung up the bird feeders this week, and am gradually cutting back on the seed I put on the table and the ground. Hopefully, this will discourage the squirrels, foxes, and skunks from feeding at our station!

Sierra Valley 3/28/18

Valley Birds!

My friend Judy and I drove over to Sierra Valley this Wednesday to check out the birds. The weather was sunny and warm and the wind was calm! It was so beautiful! We drove around for several hours and saw Sandhill Cranes, White Pelicans, seagulls, Canada Geese, American Coots, a Golden Eagle, blackbirds, sparrows, ducks and songbirds!

Sandhill Cranes and Crows - Grus canadensis & Corvus brachyrhynchos

We lucked out and saw 9 pairs of Sandhill Cranes, scattered throughout the valley! Most of them were quite a ways off, but the last pair we saw was only about 100 yards from the road. They are such huge birds, with a body length of 46" and a wingspan of 77"!!! Sierra Valley is the most southern location in California that nesting Sandhill Cranes are found. The majority of Sandhill Cranes in California spend the winter in the Central Valley, and then migrate to southeastern Oregon, northeastern California, and northwestern Nevada to nest.

We watched the pair above probe into the dirt looking for food. They are mainly herbivorous, and eat cultivated grains, roots, and seeds! They will also eat insects, small mammals, snails, reptiles and amphibians. They always hunt on dry land, not in the wetlands. They will make their nests on islands of dry ground in the middle of wetlands. This helps keep predation of eggs and nestlings down, although usually only one out of two nestlings survive. The eggs are in incubated for 30 days. The nestlings are born precocial, and usually leave the nest within a day! The parents will feed their chicks for their first three weeks, and then less and less until the chicks are fully independent in 9-10 months. Sandhill Cranes mate for life, and their young stay with them for their first year. I'll have to come back in another month to see what's happening!

Cliff Swallows - Petrochelidon pyrrhonota

We visited the "Steel Bridge" where there is an incredible view of Sierra Valley, and hundreds of Cliff Swallows are nesting. It feels so alive there, with all the swallows chattering and swooping around! We watched them repeatedly congregate and jostle for position, and then disperse all at once from the bridge cable. They are the most colonial swallows in the world. They follow each other to food sources (mainly flying insects), and preen, feed, and drink in groups. A single colony may have up to 6,000 birds! It takes approximately two weeks for the male and female to construct a nest out of 9,000 to 12,000 mud pellets. The breeding pair will start sleeping in the mud housing, as soon as it is partially finished. Inside the mud housing, they create a nest made of dry grasses and feathers. Females will lay 1-6 eggs, and brood them for 10-19 days. Swallows will also lay eggs and/or transfer their eggs into neighboring swallow nests. The young are altricial when hatched, and are cared for by their parents for 20-26 days. I couldn't find any statistics for the survival rate of broods. I'll have to do more research and let you know what I find out, in my next blog.

Vesper Sparrow - Pooecets gramineus Horned Lark (male) - Eremophila alpestris

This sparrow was singing away in a dry roadside shrub near the Steel Bridge! We thoroughly enjoyed his singing! I think it might be a Vesper Sparrow, but I'm not sure. Sparrows are kind of hard to identify! Vesper Sparrows prefer to live in areas of sagebrush and grasses. They forage on the ground for seeds and insects. Nests are made of woven grasses, lined with fine rootlets and animal hair, and built on the ground. The females will lay 2-6 eggs, with 1-2 broods per season. Incubation takes 11-13 days. Nesting takes 9-10 days. The young are altricial when born. Both parents feed the nestlings for up to 29 days. The male eventually takes over the feeding of the young, while the female prepares for a second brood. I'll have to look for nests when we go back next month.

This Horned Lark was foraging for insects and seeds among the dry grasses and shrubs when we spotted him. These birds are sexually dimorphic, with the male being more colorful. They prefer to live in bare or nearly bare ground, such as tundra, desert, beach or short-grass prairie. Usually they travel in flocks of several hundred birds, except during the breeding season. Right now they are pairing off, mating, and making nests. Nests are made out of dry grasses, rootlets, animal hair and feathers, in a shallow depression on the ground. The female incubates 2-5 eggs for 11-12 days. The nestlings are altricial when born, and are cared for by the parents for 8-10 days after they fledge. The fledglings can run much sooner than they can fly. They are completely independent in four weeks.

Sierra Buttes 3/28/18

I also skied up in the Lakes Basin this week. It was incredibly beautiful! There were about 9 packed inches of new snow on the ground. I'm going skiing again this week and will post more about it in my next blog.