Steller's Jay on Sunday morning - Cyanocitta stelleri
Except for 8" of powder snow on Sunday morning, this past week was fairly snow free and COLD! Tuesday morning it was a sunny 23° and our water froze for a couple of hours! On Wednesday it snowed a few inches of powder snow. Thursday was another sunny but cold day, and the roads were really icy. On Friday the sun came out and it warmed up to 42 degrees! It was an incredibly beautiful day so we drove up to the Lakes Basin in the afternoon and went skiing! It was wonderful to be back up in the Lakes Basin again! There's about 4-5' feet of snow on the Gold Lake Road, and about 15' on the ground at Yuba Pass!!! We are so grateful for all the winter weather that has created this much-needed snowpack! Sure hope it sticks around for awhile!
Sierra Buttes on Friday afternoon 2-22-19
Northern Pygmy-Owl with dead Junco - Glaucidium gnoma
Oh WOW an OWL!!!
On Sunday morning I went out wandering and photographing the beautiful snow-covered landscape for a couple of hours! On my way back, I noticed that there weren't many birds feeding at our bird feeders. Then I saw the silhouetted shape of what I thought might be an owl, on the ground near the feeders!!! I approached slowly and was able to get a few photos of this little Pygmy-Owl with a dead Junco! WOW!!! How exciting!!! Pygmy Owls are little, about 6.75" long with a wingspan of 12". The Junco it had caught was just about the same length as the Pygmy-Owl, measuring 6.25" in length, with a wingspan of 9.25"!
The last time I got a photo of a Northern Pygmy-Owl was 10 years ago, on Feb. 20, 2008! I had been walking along Hwy. 49 when I spotted what I thought was a really fat bird sitting on a road post. As I slowly approached it, I realized it was a Northern Pygmy-Owl! Luckily I got a few photos (below) before it took off! Such beauty!
Northern Pygmy-Owl - Glaucidium gnoma - 2/20/2008
Unlike most owls, Northern Pygmy-Owls are diurnal (active during the day). They prey on small birds and mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and insects. They perch and drop down on their prey, and often take prey up to 3x their size! They definitely benefit from bird feeders, by preying on the birds that feed there.
The Cornell Lab states, "Small birds such as nuthatches, robins, crossbills, wrens, creepers, hummingbirds, blackbirds, warblers, and jays frequently mob Northern Pygmy-Owls as they do other raptors—this behavior seems particularly bold considering small birds are what pygmy-owls eat. Some people have suggested that the eyespots on the back of the Northern Pygmy-Owl’s neck help deter mobbing birds."
Apparently they live in our area year-round, but are uncommonly seen. Not a lot of information is available on their breeding, nesting, incubating, and hatching times, as they are difficult to find and observe! They are seasonally monogamous, and pairs are known to allopreen each other!!! They never excavate their own nesting cavities, but instead rely on cavities caused by rot or woodpeckers. How lucky I was to see this beautiful little Owl!!!
Hooded Merganser (female) - Lyphodytes cucullatus
Camouflage
Lately, I've been noticing how camouflaged some of the wildlife is in our area. It amazes me how they blend into the background!
I found a great article about camouflage at https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/camouflage/. It states that, "Camouflage, or cryptic coloration, is a defense tactic that organisms use to disguise their appearance, usually to blend into their surroundings. Organisms use camouflage to mask their location, identity, and movement. This allows prey to avoid predators, and for predators to sneak up on prey."
Background matching, in which a species conceals itself by resembling its surroundings, is the most common form of camouflage. Countershading is often used as part of the background matching tactic. Being darker on top and lighter underneath (countershading), the solid body shape is broken up and more difficult to see.
Gray Foxes - Urocyon cinereoargenteus
I was amazed how these sunning foxes blended into the leaves, dry grasses, pine needles, and rocks on the forest floor. I often didn't see them unless they moved, or I zoomed in with my camera!
This made me wonder if foxes can see color. Apparently they have dichromatic color vision, just like dogs. Humans can see 3 colors, red, green, and blue. Dogs can see two colors, yellow and blue. The following website has an excellent explanation, as well as examples of color vision in humans vs. dogs, https://dog-vision.com/#Color. So from what I understand, the lovely rusty red color of their fur, that we see, appears grayish-yellow to a fox, but the sky is blue to both of us!
Pine Siskins - Carduelis pinus
These Pine Siskins blend in so well with their background, due to their feather pattern and color, that they are hard to see!
Bird vision is also different than our vision. In fact they can see colors in the ultra-violet spectrum that we don't see at all! An in-depth explanation can be found at https://blog.nature.org/science/2015/08/17/field-guide-wrong-birds-eye-view-world-color-vision/.
Great Blue Heron - Ardea herodius
Lately, our local Great Blue Heron hasn't been on the North Yuba River. I have, however, seen it at the mouth of the creek near our property. It's probably easier to catch fish in the creek, where the water isn't so deep and fish are more visible. I spotted the heron above a few miles up-river from our neighborhood just yesterday. It was standing near a shallow part of the North Yuba River, just waiting patiently for a fish to show up! Look at how big its feet are!
How many more inches of precipitation will we get this week?
Where are the deer?
What other birds will show up at our feeders?
Check back next week for the answers to these questions and more!
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