Amazing Raptors

Osprey - Pandion haliaetus

Raptors are birds of prey that have strong curved talons for catching or killing prey, strong feet for holding prey, a strong curved beak for tearing flesh, and excellent eyesight for finding food. They are carnivores and eat only meat in a variety of forms, including fish, birds, small mammals, and snakes. In contrast to most other birds, they are almost always solitary, to avoid competition for prey.

Their are many classifications (or subgroups) of raptors, such as accipiters, buteos, falcons, eagles, harriers, kites, ospreys, and owls.  Ospreys are the only bird in their classification!  They are unique among raptors in their hunting method of diving feet-first into water to capture fish.  They are usually successful in 1 out of every 4 dives.  No other raptors use this method of hunting.  They also have small barbs on the pads of their feet to help grab slippery fish.  After they have caught a fish and are back in the air, they maneuver the fish to face forward, using the fish’s streamlining to reduce aerodynamic drag.  They then carry the captured fish to an elevated and prominent perch to be eaten.  99% of their diet is fish.  They are large birds with a wingspan of 63", a length of 23", and a weight of 3.5lbs!!!

I saw this beautiful Osprey along the North Yuba River three times this week!  One morning I was on my usual section of the river, when I spotted the Osprey in a tree across the river.  It took off upstream as soon as I saw it.  I quickly ran up our road to the bridge, just hoping it might have landed near there.  When I got to the bridge I looked downstream and there it was, perched in a Douglas Fir tree about 20 yards away!  Wow!!!  I watched it for about a minute before it flew off upriver!  Such amazing beauty!

Osprey - Pandion haliaetus

On another morning, I was upstream from the bridge when an Osprey, probably the same one, flew right by me and landed in a nearby oak tree!  It intently watched the river for several minutes, looking for fish.  Not seeing anything promising, it flew off up-river and perched in a distant Cottonwood tree.  It watched it for several more minutes, from quite a distance, and got to see it plunge feet first into the river to catch a fish!!!  It was absolutely amazing!  

Red-tailed Hawk (juvenile) - Buteo jamaicensis

Red-tailed Hawk

Last week my neighbor told me she had seen an immature hawk down by the bridge, sitting in a dead tree.  The next morning I went down to the bridge pretty early, hoping to see the hawk.  To my delight, he was sitting right on the telephone line next to the bridge!!!  After I arrived, he flew to a nearby dead tree and perched.  I took tons of pictures before he eventually flew off and landed on a distant dirt bank above the river.  I wasn't sure what kind of raptor he was, so I posted my photos on iNaturalist.org.  Within a few days, it was identified as a juvenile Red-tailed Hawk, in the Buteo classification of raptors!

 Buteos are medium to large, stout bodied hawks, with broad wings and fan shaped tails.  Many species have a variety of color phases. Their diet consists primarily of small mammals.  Although they are not as big as an Osprey, Red-tailed Hawks are large birds with a wingspan of 49", a length of 19", and a weight of 2.4lbs.  

Red-tailed Hawk (juvenile) - Buteo jamaicensis

Red-tailed Hawks are one of the most common buteos seen in North America.  

They do not eat fish, but hunt in meadows and fields for small mammals, snakes, lizards, and other birds.  They use the perch-and-wait method of hunting.  Once prey is sighted they will drop from their perch, flap-and-glide downward, thrust their legs forward when about 3 m from prey, and grab prey with feet.  Birdsna.org states, "During the ensuing struggle, mammalian prey frequently bite the toes and legs of hawks (especially juveniles); many Red-tails bear scars of these encounters."   

  I have never been that close to a hawk before, and it hasn't been back since!  How lucky I was to watch this beautiful raptor!

Sierra Buttes - 8/24/18

Camping in the Lakes Basin

We camped for 3 days up in the Lakes Basin this week, and it was lovely!  Cool nights and warm days were the norm.  We hiked all over the Lakes Basin and enjoyed the last of the wildflowers and the hint of fall color in the ground-cover and shrubs. The air was clear until the day we left, when smoke blew in from distant fires.

Nashville Warbler - Grass of Parnassus - Mormon Metalmark

Vermivora ruficapilla - Parnassia californica - Apodemia mormo mormo

We saw three new species!  A Nashville Warbler was busy flitting around in the pine trees one morning.  Probably looking for insects to eat.  Grass of Parnassus flowers were scattered throughout the wet areas and damp meadows.  These strikingly veined blossoms are only found at this time of year.  Mormon Metalmark Butterflies were sipping nectar from Rabbit Brush blossoms!  These butterflies are quite tiny, about the size of a quarter!

Chickaree or Douglas Squirrel - Tamiasciurus douglasii

Mammal Update

When we were camping this Chickaree scolded us from a Lodgepole Pine.  He kept up his scolding for many minutes, and drove us out of the area!  Right now these tree squirrels are busy storing food for the winter, such as green cones and seeds.  Unlike chipmunks, they do not hibernate in winter.  They remain active and eat the food they have stored.  Their nests can be in a hollow tree or in an abandoned woodpecker cavity.  Additionally, sometimes nests are made out of layers of leaves fashioned into a ball up in a tree!  

In the Lakes Basin the tops of the trees are totally filled with sappy cones.  You can often find these green cones on the forest floor, cut down by squirrels.  I wonder how Chickarees keep from getting cone sap all over their faces.  I'll do some research on that this week! 

 California Red Fir cones - Abies magnifica

Columbian Black-tailed Deer - Odocoileus hemonius columbianus 

On my friend's property in Sierra City, I luckily saw this female deer and her two spotted fawns last week!  What a surprise to see them!  The fawns are twins, and several months old.  They will stay with their mother until next Spring or longer.  Female deer often travel, throughout their life, in groups of females that are related through maternal descent.  These are the first fawns I've ever seen since I started my blog!  What a delight it was to watch them!!!  I need to research about when they lose their spots.

American Lady -  Skipper - Monarch

Vanessa virginiensis - unknown species - Danaus plexippus

Down in the Garden

There are still lots of butterflies flitting around our garden. I have never seen an American Lady (above left) before. What a beauty! The pattern in her wings is so gorgeous and elaborate! Skippers (above center) are not true butterflies, and have hooked antennae! The Monarch (above right) was exciting to see, as they rarely visit our garden. Next year I plan to grow several native milkweed plants for the Monarch caterpillars to eat. Adult Monarchs feed on nectar from a variety of native and non-native flowers and shrubs. This one flew all over our garden, but only landed on our Butterfly Bush to sip nectar. Lots of insects visit our Butterfly Bush! I'll talk more about that next week!

Lesser Goldfinches  - Spinus psaltria

male - fledgling - female

Goldfinches

The sunflowers in our garden are starting to go to seed, and goldfinches have started showing up!  I hear them nasally beeping away as they feed on the seeds!  I even watched a female goldfinch feed her wing-flapping, loudly beeping fledglings (below)!  How lovely!  

Lesser Goldfinches - Spinus psaltria

How is that Magpie?  Is it still around?

This Yellow-rumped Warbler fledgling has its beak pointed straight up, and its head is gray like the bark.  The central yellow puff is on its throat. The other two yellow puffs are near its shoulders. Can you see it now?

What kind of insect is this?

Where are the bear and the foxes?

What other birds have begun their migration south?

Are there crayfish in the river this year?

How low is the river?

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

If all of a sudden you haven't been getting email notices of my blog being published, just sign up again on my blog.  I don't know why you got "unsubscribed".  It's some kind of problem with Blogspot.com and/or FeedBurner.com.  I apologize for this glitch!

Your questions and comments are greatly appreciated!

Please email me at northyubanaturalist@gmail.com

Clear Skies!

Chipmunk - unknown species

Although fires are still burning in California, the smoke hasn't been blown into our area for about week.  The sky has been clear and blue, and we even got some clouds!  Since I hadn't been up in the Lakes Basin for about a month, due to the smoky conditions, I went up there 5 times in the past 7 days!  It was wonderful!  It's starting to look like Fall up there.  Some of the bushes are turning yellow and most of the wildflowers have gone to seed, except for the Asters, Yarrow, and Angelica.  I saw LOTS of chipmunks scampering all over the place!

Chipmunks - unknown species

Chipmunks!

There are several different species of chipmunks in the Lakes Basin, all in the Tamias genus, but it's difficult to determine which ones were visible.  Individual species are determined by fur color, stripe color, ear size, distinctive markings, and geographic location.  I should have taken more photos of each chipmunk, including their front, sides, and back.  Next time I will!  Some of the possible species are Lodgepole Chipmunk, Long-eared Chipmunk, Yellow-pine Chipmunk, and Shadow Chipmunk!  

All chipmunks have black and white facial stripes, and 5 dark stripes separated by 4 pale stripes on their back and sides.  They also have large, internal, fur-lined pouches to carry food.  At this time of year, Chipmunks are busy storing seeds, nuts, fruits, and forbs for the winter.  They do not hibernate.  Instead, they sleep a lot and wake up periodically to eat their stored food.  Their winter burrows are usually underground or in a hollow tree limb.  

Hairy Woodpecker - Red-breasted Nuthatch - Olive-sided Flycatcher(?)

Picoides villosus - Sitta canadensis - Contopus cooperi(?)

Lakes Basin Birds

I saw quite a few birds up in the Lakes Basin this week.  The most conspicuous ones were the noisy woodpeckers and colorful songbirds!  I saw several Yellow Warblers in the dry meadows along the Round Lake Trail.  I also saw several fledgling Yellow-rumped Warblers in the forest!  I saw two different Red-breasted Nuthatches climbing downward on tree trunks, looking for insects.  The White-headed Woodpecker I saw, looked like it had a wad of sap stuck on its beak!  I'm going camping again in the Lakes Basin this coming week!  Can't wait to see what other birds are there!

Yellow-rumped Warbler - Yellow Warbler (female) - White-headed Woodpecker (male)

Dendroica coronata - Dendroica petechia - Picoides albolarvatus

Red Fir cones -   Red Fir with Cones - Western White Pine cones

Aibes magnifica - Aibes magnifica - Pinus monticola

An Abundance of Cones

This year there are TONS of green cones on the firs and pines in the Lakes Basin. Depending upon the species of tree, cones can take 2-3 years to mature.  The cones we are seeing now started growing several years ago.  Most of the literature I read, states that trees produce lots of cones when they are stressed.  2-3 years ago, we were in an extended period of drought and the trees were stressed by the lack of water.  The woody, green cones visible on the trees are the female cones that contain seeds.  The male pollen cones are tiny in comparison, don't look like cones, and disintegrate within a season.  The fir cones sit upright on the tops of the trees (except for Douglas Fir cones, which hang down).  Pine cones hang down from the trees.  Most of the woody cones you find on the ground are female pine cones.  Female fir cones are not as woody, and usually dry-up and fall apart while they are still on the tree.  Squirrels and chipmunks are busy right now cutting green cones off the trees, and eating or storing the ripe seeds.    

Great Blue Heron - Ardea herodias

Neighborhood News!

I saw this beautiful Great Blue Heron on the river several times these past few weeks.  I also found lots of heron feathers in one part of the forest.  At first I thought a Heron had been killed and eaten, but I didn't find any bones or other remains.  Then I realized that there was a bunch of bird poop on the forest floor as well, right below a pine tree.  I think the tree was used repeatedly as a nighttime roost by a Great Blue Heron!  It was probably molting, and that's why there were lots feathers on the ground.  The feathers were amazingly beautiful!  There were stiff gray flight feathers, and fluffy, delicate, elaborate, downy feathers!  I was thrilled to find them!

Great Blue Heron feathers and poop below roost site

Western Tanagers - Piranga ludoviciana

Western Tanagers!

Several mornings this week I saw a group of 9-12 Western Tanagers calling and flying up in the trees off the highway!  I was so surprised!  I've never seen a group of tanagers before!  Usually, I'll see one by itself, or a male and female together.  They varied in color from bright yellow to olive-green yellow.  After breeding and nesting, males lose their bright red head feathers and resemble females in color.  So I think I was seeing both males and females!  Apparently Western Tanagers start their nocturnal, southern migration sometime in August-September.  They are known to migrate singly, in pairs, or in groups of 30!  Some will overwinter in coastal s. California, while others will travel to Middle America, from Mexico to Costa Rica.  Maybe the group of tanagers I saw, were getting ready to migrate south together! 

Western Tanagers - Piranga ludoviciana

Hairy Woodpecker - Picoides villosus

Hairy Woodpecker Update!

The Hairy Woodpeckers that had a nest in the telephone pole, successfully raised two babies!  They hopped out of the nest while I was in Yosemite, but my neighbor saw them. I haven't seen any juveniles flying around since then, but I hope they survived!

Northwestern Fence Lizard (female ?) - Sceloporus occidentalis occidentalis (?)

I've seen tiny young lizards everywhere this week!  The one pictured above was about 2.5" long including its tail!  It probably recently hatched from its egg!  After mating, female lizards bury their eggs in small pits of loose, damp soil, from May to July.  The eggs hatch in about 60 days, usually from July to September.  The young lizards are about an inch in size when they first hatch.  They will not attain adult size until next Spring.  Lizards eat insects, as well as spiders, scorpions and centipedes.  Lizards have no vocal chords so they communicate with body language!  Lizards can blink, but snakes can't!   

Can you guess what species of lizards these are?

Last weeks mystery bird is probably a hybrid 

between a Steller's Jay and a Brewer's Blackbird!

There's a fledgling Yellow-rumped Warbler in this photo.  Can you see it?

Where are the bear, deer, and foxes?  

What other birds have begun their migration south?

Are there crayfish in the river this year?

How low is the river?

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

If all of a sudden you haven't been getting email notices of my blog being published, just sign up again on my blog.  I don't know why you got "unsubscribed".  It's some kind of problem with Blogspot.com and/or FeedBurner.com.  I apologize for this glitch!

Your questions and comments are greatly appreciated!

Please email me at northyubanaturalist@gmail.com

River Life

Spotted Sandpiper (adult) - Actitis macularia

The North Yuba River has been my cool, clear-green haven during these hot and smoky days! I've been going down to one section of the river every morning this week, and am continually being surprised and delighted by the wildlife that thrives there!  It was an amazing week for bird sightings! The adult Spotted Sandpiper above, is one of a pair that I have seen many times this summer.  I found the shells of a Sandpiper egg a few weeks ago on the edge of the river.  I was really hoping the Spotted Sandpiper pair had been successful in raising some chicks!

Spotted Sandpipers (juveniles) - Actitis macularius

inset: Sandpiper eggshells

Spotted Sandpipers

Just this morning when I went down to the river, I spotted two juvenile Spotted Sandpipers!  WOW!!!  It was so exciting!  I took tons of photos and spent about 15 minutes with them before they flew across the river!  I have never seen juvenile Sandpipers before!  Yahoo!!! 

Spotted Sandpipers are quite unusual in their breeding and nesting habits.  The females usually arrive before the males, in the Spring.  The females practice polyandry and will mate with up to 3 different males, if they are available.  However, some females are monogamous, and will mate with only one male.  Competition between females can be quite aggressive, if the male population is low.  The nests are begun by the females and finished by the males.  The nests are built on the ground, in the shade of shrubs, and about 100 yards from the shore.  Each mated male will have it's own nest.  The males brood 3-5 eggs for 19-22 days, and protect the baby birds when they hatch.  The females may help with the care of the baby birds, if they only have one mate.  The young birds are born precocial, and can walk and feed themselves within hours!!!  Their main food is flying and aquatic insects.  They are able to fly within 18 days!  Wow!  How lucky I was to see these two juveniles teetering and probing along the North Yuba River!  

Spotted Sandpiper (juvenile) - Actitis macularia

Black Phoebes (juveniles, left - fledgling, right) - Sayornis nigricans

Black Phoebes

In the same spot on the river, these two juvenile Black Phoebes (above left) showed up one morning!  I had seen a fledgling (above right) near my neighbor's home about a week ago.  They have been nesting in the eaves of her house all summer.  She thinks they may have had 2 broods of chicks this season!  Their nests are made from mud, are half-hemispherical in shape, and one side of the nest is cemented to a vertical wall.  The female builds the nest.  1-6 eggs are incubated for 15-18 days, by both the male and female. The chicks are born altricial and fledge within 18-21 days.  Both parents feed the nestlings/fledglings.  They typically become independent in 7-11 days after they fledge.  Black Phoebes are flycatchers, and feed by flying out from a perch and catching flying insects, or "hawking".  Once the breeding season is over, Black Phoebes are typically non-social and solitary. They are year-round residents in our neighborhood, and do not migrate.  I hope these young survive and raise their own families next year!  I loved how the two siblings stayed so close to each other!

Belted Kingfisher (female) - Ceryle alcyon

Belted Kingfisher

On yet another morning, a Belted Kingfisher showed up in the same section of the river!  Wow!  I haven't seen one in our area for quite a while.  Prior to the winter of 2017, a Kingfisher had lived on our creek year-round for many years.  During that heavy wet winter, the creek was a whitewater torrent for months.  Since Kingfishers need clear shallow water in which to fish, it apparently left the area.  It hasn't been back.  I was thrilled to see and photograph this female on the river!  Usually they spot you from quite a distance, and fly away before you can get a picture! 

Unlike most birds, the female Kingfisher is more colorful than the male.  The male does not have the rust-colored band across its chest, nor patches underneath its wings.  Kingfishers catch small fish, crayfish, and tadpoles by plunge-diving from perches, into shallow or surface water.  Most of their dives are less than 24" deep into the water.  After they catch their prey, they bring it back to a perch and pound it against a branch to stun it!  Whatever they cannot digest, such as fish bones etc, is regurgitated in pellets!  

Belted Kingfisher (female) - Ceryle alcyon

Belted Kingfishers are solitary except during the breeding season.  They are monogamous and usually only have 1 brood of 5-7 chicks.  The nests are made in bare earthen banks by both the male and female.  The male does most of the work.  It will take the pair up to 3 weeks to excavate the 3'-6' long, horizontal, subterranean tunnel, that ends in an unlined nesting chamber!  The opening to the tunnel ranges from 3"-5".  5-7 eggs are incubated for 22 days, by both parents.  The nestlings fledge in about 16 days, but are cared for by the parents for the following 27-29 days.  I'm hoping this female raised some young this season!  They are such beautiful birds!  I saw her again this morning!  Yahoo!  I'm going to go look for those regurgitated pellets!  I'll let you know what I find!

Northern Bluet Damselflies - Enallagma cyathigerum

Small River Critters!

While down at the river I managed to get a photo of these Northern Bluet Damselflies and a Rainbow Trout.  I was amazed by the beautiful blue color of the damselflies!  Look at their eyes!!!  In color, I think they must be the "Mountain Bluebirds" of the insect world!

Coastal Rainbow Trout - Oncorhynchus mykiss irideus

The trout were difficult to photograph!  I didn't know how camouflaged they are, and how much the water distorts their image!   

Northern Pacific Rattlesnake - Crotalus oreganus oreganus

Reptile Weather!

Snakes are ectotherms, and are dependent on external sources to maintain their body heat. To regulate their body heat they will bask in the sun when it's cool, and hide in the shade when it's too hot. With the hot temperatures we've been having, I've been wondering if snakes would be out during the day. It turns out that extremely hot temperatures can kill a snake within 10-20 minutes. So when the air temperature reaches the high 90's and into the 100's, snakes seek out shade and wait for the temperature to drop. 

I haven't seen many snakes this year. During one of my morning walks this week, I found this dead, poisonous Northern Pacific Rattlesnake on the side of the road! It had been run over by a car. It was a healthy looking specimen, about 3' in length! I was able to look closely at its incredibly patterned scales, the scoots on its underside, and its rattle. 

All snakes move by using scoots, which are the large scales that are found on its underside. Each scoot, attached to a rib, slides along the ground independently of the other scales. These scoots enable the snake to propel itself forward, but it cannot move backwards very efficiently because of the way the scoots overlap each other.

The scales are keeled, not smooth, and have a raised ridge running lengthwise down the center of the scale. This "keel" scatters the light differently than the flat portions of the scale, and creates a dull non-reflective appearance. 

The rattle had 9 segments. Rattlesnakes create a new segment on their rattle every time they shed their skin. Snakes shed their skin more than once a year when young, and less than once a year when old, so the number of segments in a rattle does not indicate their age. Additionally, segments can get broken off during a snake's lifetime.

Most Northern Pacific Rattlesnakes are active from dusk to dawn, looking for prey! They eat birds, lizards, snakes, frogs, insects, and small mammals, including mice, rats, rabbits, hares, and ground squirrels. 

Rattlesnake bites are seriously dangerous, although rarely fatal in humans. 

Watch your step! Be careful!

Western Aquatic Garter Snake - Thamnophis couchi

This non-poisonous snake, the Western Aquatic Garter Snake, is often mistaken for a rattlesnake.  There are many differences between the two snakes.  

Western Aquatic Garter Snakes are not poisonous, 
even though they might bite when agitated.

They are active during the day, and can be mainly found in lakes, ponds, streams and rivers, or basking at the water's edge.

They eat mainly fish, and amphibians and their larvae. 

Yellow-billed Magpie - Pica nuttalli

 Yellow-Billed Magpie update!

The Magpie is still in our neighborhood!  I find it quite surprising that it stays!  I have watched it eat our birdseed, as well as pluck snails and other invertebrates out of the dry grassy fields in our area.  It probably hangs out up at the local horse stable, eating grains and bugs!  Apparently, their numbers have been in decline in the lower elevations due to the West Nile Virus.  Hopefully, it won't carry or contract that disease up in our neighborhood!  I'll keep you posted!

What is this mystery bird?

The two baby birds that I posted last week were
a Black Phoebe and a Steller's Jay!

That was not a "Blood Moon".  It was a photo of the sun being obscured by smoke!

I promise I will update you on the Hairy Woodpeckers next week!  For sure!

I haven't seen the Black Bear in person but there's lots of scat around, filled with apples and blackberries, and our bird feeders have been pulled down!  
Maybe I'll see it this week!  

Where is that fox?

What birds have left for their winter residence, besides the Bullock's Orioles?

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

If all of a sudden you haven't been getting email notices of my blog being published, just sign up again on my blog.  I don't know why you got "unsubscribed".  It's some kind of problem with Blogspot.com and/or FeedBurner.com.  I apologize for this glitch!

Your questions and comments are greatly appreciated!

Please email me at northyubanaturalist@gmail.com

Ooops!

In my blog on July 29th, I incorrectly identified the two birds in the left photo as juvenile, female Bullock's Orioles.  However, they are female Western Tanagers!  I had noticed that their bills were orange and not sharply pointed like Bullock's Orioles (above right), but I had Bullock's Orioles on my brain.  Alas, my first "senior moment" on my blog!  Hopefully it will be my last!  I apologize for posting this mis-information!

My newest blog will be up by tomorrow, Sunday, August 12!  Check back then for the latest natural history news from my neighborhood!

Thank you!

Still Smoky

North Yuba River - July 30, 2018

Fires are still raging across California, but luckily (knock on wood) not in our area.  However, a lot of smoke continues to blow in from these fires.  In the mornings the sun is bright orange, and the river is a silken copper color.  The sparkles on the water reflect the smoke colored sun!  Wind continues to dry out the area even more.  Visibility was the worst yesterday, with the smoke even obscuring the sun!  Our thanks go to all the firefighters battling these terrible fires!  Be careful!  Be safe!

River Sparkles

 Osprey - Pandion haliaetus  &  Peregrin Falcon - Falco peregrinus

Raptors!

I spent several mornings watching the North Yuba River this week.  On Thursday, I spotted an Osprey perched on a snag above the river!  I watched it, from a good distance, for about 20 minutes!  It remained focused on the river that whole time.  99% of an Osprey's diet consists of fish.  They catch fish by plunge-diving feet first into a river, lake, estuary or ocean.  Their talons have little barbs that makes them able to grasp slippery fish.  They do not dive deeply into the water, usually less than 1 meter.  They mainly catch fish in shallow water, but also catch surfacing fish in deep water.  After capturing a fish they use powerful wing strokes to take off after being partially submerged in water!  They are the only raptor in North America that captures fish this way!  Once, my sister and I watched an Osprey plummet into the North Yuba River and fly off with a trout in its talons!  It was amazing!

As I was walking home after watching the Osprey, a different raptor came screeching down the river canyon!  It careened around and landed in a dead tree right above me.  It only stuck around for a few seconds, but I managed to get a quick photo!  It turned out to be a Peregrin Falcon!  WOW!  Peregrin Falcons do not eat fish.  They mainly prey on birds, some bats, and a few rodents!  They dive at astonishing speeds to catch their prey!  Dives, or "stoops", usually occur at an angle of 30-60 degrees, and range in speed from 66-86 mph!  Their vertical stoops, however, can reach speeds of 228-238 mph!  To reach these high-speeds, a stoop needs to start from 3,000'-5,000' above a targeted prey!  Obviously, Peregrin Falcons have extraordinary vision, to be able to pinpoint prey from such extreme distances!

Peregrin Falcon and Osprey populations both experienced a severe decline worldwide between 1950-1970, due to the widespread use of persistent organochloride pesticides, such as DDT.  This pesticide caused thinning of the birds' eggshells, and  subsequent poor hatching success.  Habitat destruction also contributed to their decline. Fortunately, this pesticide was banned in North America by 1972.  Both species of bird also became federally protected under the Endangered Species Act of 1970, and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1972.  Additionally, the construction of nest platforms by concerned citizens has greatly helped their reproduction success.

Currently, both species have recovered their population losses, and in some cases have surpassed their historical numbers!  They have also shown an increasing ability to use man-made structures for their nest sites!  How lucky we are to still view these beautiful, amazing birds in their natural habitat!

  Small Water Strider - Gerris incognitus  &  Common Water Strider - Gerris remigis

Water Striders

Water Striders can "walk on water" because  they have fine water-repellent hairs on the underside of the tarsi (legs), that makes it possible for them to walk on the water's surface.  As reported in National Geographic, "Water strider legs are covered in thousands of microscopic hairs scored with tiny groves.  These grooves trap air, increasing water resistance of the waters striders' legs and overall buoyancy of the insect.”

The water strider has 3 pairs of legs. The front legs are short and allow the strider to quickly grab live or dead insects on the water's surface.  The middle legs act as paddles. The back legs are longer and provide additional power, steerage, and braking.  The buoyancy and paddling legs allows striders to be fast.  As stated in National Geographic, "striders are capable of speeds of a hundred body lengths per second. To match them, a 6-foot-tall person would have to swim at over 400 miles an hour.”  Amazing!  Also, many species of Water Striders have wings, which they use to fly to a new wet area, once their area dries up!

 Rainbow Trout fingerlings

Rainbow Trout

The most common fish in the North Yuba River are Coastal Rainbow Trout, which are native to California, but have been planted locally.  It will take about 1 year for these small fish to become juveniles and reach a length of about 6 or 7 inches.  At about 2-3 years of age they will have grown to around 18 to 20 inches in length and become mature adults, ready to reproduce.

 Common Mergansers - Mergus merganser

River Birds

I saw a mother Merganser with three adult-sized young diving in the river this week.    These are a different group of Mergansers than the ones I photographed a few weeks ago.  These young Mergansers are a lot older and more developed.  I had never noticed how low they sit in the water!  They are really quite submerged!  The mom is the one with the darker head.  Mergansers are mainly fish eaters, so Coastal Rainbow Trout fingerlings are probably one of their main prey!  

 Common Mergansers - Mergus merganser

 Rufous Hummingbirds - Selasphorus rufous 

Hummer Update!

There are still LOTS of hummers at our feeders! It is such fun to hear them twittering and watch them competing for a place at the feeders! They are also feeding on the flowers in our garden! So beautiful!

 Rufous Hummingbird - Selasphorus rufous  

The longest lunar eclipse of the century, almost 4 hours long, took place on Friday, July 27th.  However, we were unable to view the eclipse from North America.  The moon during this eclipse was called a "Blood Moon."  

Where are the bear?

What's happening with those Hairy Woodpeckers?

Are there any reptiles and amphibians around?

 What kind of baby birds are these?

 What has this Black Bear been eating?

Is this a "Blood Moon"?

 Warbling Vireo - Lincoln's Sparrow

 Vireo gilvus - Melospiza lincolnii

My friend, Peggy, identified these little birds for me!  

I have never seen them before!  Thanks Peggy!

Is that Yellow-billed Magpie still in the area?

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

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Your questions and comments are greatly appreciated!

Please email me at northyubanaturalist@gmail.com