A Few Mammals!

Chickaree or Douglas Squirrel - Tamiasciurus douglasii

I was down watching the birds visit our bird feeding station yesterday, for my last Project FeederWatch count, and I counted 7 Chickarees feeding right alongside the birds!!!  I've seen 1-2 of them before, but not 7 at one time!!!  I guess the word has spread about the abundance of easy-to-get seeds!  One Chickaree has been living in our woodpile, under the plastic tarp, all winter. All of them still have their gray winter coats.  They should get their redder, summer coat within a month or so.  The females use their shedding winter coats to line their nests!  It's mating/nesting time right now.  They usually only have one litter of 4-6 kits per year.  Nests are built in hollow logs or trunks, or abandoned woodpecker cavities.  The babies are born sometime between May and June, but they are kept well hidden and not usually seen until August!

Gray Fox (juvenile) - Urocyon cinereoargenteus

Another frequent visitor to our bird feeding station is this beautiful young fox!  I've seen it many times during the day, feeding on the birdseed on the ground!  Wow!  Although it's not obvious in the above photo, it's quite small and only about half the size of an adult fox!  I love seeing it!  It must be tough hunting right now, with all this rainy weather!  Seeds, acorns, nuts, berries, tree buds, fungi, eggs, birds, small mammals (including rabbits), and insects make up their diet.  I'll have to stop putting birdseed on the ground soon, as the black bears should be out of hibernation and we don't want to encourage them to come around.  I'm sure this little fox will be able to find enough wild food as the temperatures warm up and critters become more active.  It's been such a thrill to watch this little fox!  Such beauty!

  

Gray Fox - Urocyon cinereoargenteus

I've also seen this beautiful adult fox several times, always in the area of the young fox.  Perhaps it is its mother!  A few years ago a Gray Fox raised 3 pups on our property.  Maybe this is one of pups full grown!  It looks so healthy, and even a bit stocky!  I also noticed that the reddish fur is much more saturated in color than the younger fox's fur. Mating happens sometime between January and March.  1-7 pups (usually 3-4) are born approximately 53 days later.  Dens are made in fallen rotten logs, rock ledges, underground burrows, or in hollow tree trunks with the entrance up to 30' above the ground!  Gray Foxes are the only North American canines that can climb trees!  They will climb trees to nest, get to food, rest, or escape predation! I have never seen one in a tree!  Wouldn't that be amazing!

Mule Deer (female) - Odocoileus hemionus sp.

It's been another rainy week, and living out in the elements can be tough for local wildlife. Light rains don't affect deer much and they tend to just keep moving and foraging if the storm isn't too bad.  In heavy rains they will seek cover in an area with a dense canopy that also has protection from the wind.  The doe pictured above still has her gray winter coat that has hollow hairs, which will help keep her warm. At least the rains have promoted plant growth, and new green leaves and shoots are available everywhere for deer to eat! 

Brewer's Blackbirds - Euphagus cyanocephalus

New Arrivals!

New birds are showing up here every week! This week more Brewer's Blackbirds arrived bringing their total number to 26! They are already checking out the area where they made their nests last year. I also spotted one male Red-winged Blackbird among their flock.  He probably won't spend the summer here. Perhaps he'll fly over and join the "cloud" of Red-winged Blackbirds in Sierra Valley!

Yellow Warbler - Yellow-rumped Warbler

(Males)

Dendroica petechia - Dendroica coronata

I was also thrilled to spot a Yellow Warbler and several Yellow-rumped Warblers yesterday morning!  Both of these colorful birds spend their winters in warmer climates, and are some of the first warblers to return to our area in the spring.  

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology states: "Long distance migrants,Yellow Warblers breed across central and northern North America and spend winters in Central America and northern South America. Short to long-distance migrants, some western Yellow-rumped Warblers move to the nearby Pacific Coast to spend the winter. Other populations migrate to wintering grounds in Mexico and throughout Central America."

Redbud - Cercis occidentalis

 Since it wasn't raining, we decided to go down to the South Yuba River State Park yesterday to see how the spring bloom was progressing.  We were thrilled to find an abundant array of blooming wildflowers!  The park is located in the oak woodlands around 1,250' in elevation, much lower than where we live.  It was an overcast spring day, with perfect light for photographing wildflowers.  If you live in the area, I highly recommend visiting this beautiful park in the next few weeks.  You won't regret it! 

Hansen's Larkspur, Pretty Face, Bird's Eye Gilia & Miniature Lupine

Delphinium hansenii, Triteleia ixioides, Gilia tricolor & Lupinus bicolor

 Fiddlenecks, Blue Dicks, Caterpillar Phacelia

Amsinckia menziesii, Dichelostemma capitatum, Phacelia cicutaria

Common Raven - Red-shouldered Hawk

Corvus corax - Buteo lineatus

Birds in the Grass Valley Area

About once every week or 10 days, I travel to Grass Valley to do errands.  This week I had car trouble, and had to wait around for several hours at the mechanics.  I went birdwatching instead of sitting inside the waiting room, and had a wonderful time!  Many of the birds I saw don't live in our neighborhood.  

Ravens are found just about everywhere in the world, so I wasn't surprised to see some down there.  I just love their loud croakings and conversations!  The Red-shouldered Hawk, however, was a lovely surprise!  I spotted it about half-way to Grass Valley, where it was overlooking a pond/wetlands/meadow area.  They don't eat fish, but would gladly eat any frogs, crayfish, toads, earthworms, insects, or small mammals.  My first sighting of a Red-shouldered Hawk was on 12/18/18.  Since then, I've seen them many times in lower elevations.  It's amazing how once you see something that you never saw before, you suddenly see them everywhere!

California Scrub Jay - Acorn Woodpecker (male) 
Aphelocoma californica - Melanerpes formicivorus

California Scrub Jays are the foothill counterpart to our Steller's Jays! I think they're beautiful! Like our jays, they do not migrate and live in the area year-round. Pairs stay together throughout the year, and typically remain together for several years. Right now is their breeding/nesting season. Both the male and female will build a nest of twigs, in a tree or shrub 6'-14' off the ground. The female will do all of the incubation, but both parents will raise the young.

Acorn Woodpeckers are the most common woodpecker in the foothills. We don't have any of them in our neighborhood!  Acorns make up 58% of their diet!  They also eat fruit, ants, beetles, and other insects. They store acorns by drilling holes in dead tree trunks and putting an acorn in each hole! These acorn filled trunks are called "granaries". Granaries have been known to contain up to 50,000 acorns!  Each granary is only used by one "family" of Acorn Woodpeckers. It may take generations of use to create a large granary. The families consist of males, females, and offspring, ranging from 2 to 16 members. Usually there are about 5 members in a family. The adults practice "polygynandry", and breed with multiple females/males. All the females lay all their eggs on the same day, in the same nest cavity! The whole family helps incubate the eggs and raise the chicks!! At night, all of the family members roost in the same cavity!! Acorn Woodpeckers are amazing! 

 If you'd like to learn more Acorn Woodpeckers and their environment, check out this information filled book:  Secrets of the Oak Woodlands by Kate Marianchild.

Hooded Merganser (female) - Lophodytes cucullatus

Every time I go to the library, I walk up to the Charles Marsh Pond.  It's never full of ducks.  I've only seen one duck in the pond, a female Hooded Merganser, all the times I've looked this year!  Maybe it's too brackish and silt laden for most waterfowl.  The last time I was there I was lucky to see the Hooded Merganser pop-up out of the water with its head feathers all plastered down.  Then it poofed its head feathers straight up, probably to dry them out!  Wow!  What a lucky sighting!

Hairy Woodpecker (male) - Belted Kingfisher (female)

Picoides villosus - Megaceryle alcyon

Last week there was a Hairy Woodpecker pecking at the bark of a pine tree on the edge of the pond!  The tree trunk was missing large areas of bark, indicating that woodpeckers had visited it often!  

I also see a female Belted Kingfisher just about every time I visit the pond.  There must be fish there for the Kingfisher to eat.  It always sees me way before I see it and flies across the pond rattling loudly!  I've even watched it hack up a pellet of undigested fish scales and bones!  Wow!!!  I had thought that owls were the only birds that produced pellets, but that's not true.  LOTS of birds regurgitate pellets of undigested material including hawks, crows, jays, dippers, herons, grebes, swallows, and some songbirds!  Pellets usually contain undigested bones, fish scales, or hair.

You never know what you might see, even in a small area, once you start looking!  Visiting the same area repeatedly can be so rewarding!

Sardine Lake (frozen) & the Sierra Buttes  3/31/19

Weather Update!

We had another rainy week, except for a beautiful sunny weekend.  Our total rainfall was around 1.5", which brings our water year total to approximately 69.78"!  The river flow rate increased to 2,600 cfs on Tuesday.  It will probably get much higher, if it warms up and the snow starts to melt.  I skied up to Sardine Lake last Sunday and found it to be almost totally frozen, with only a few areas of open water near the shore.  It was gorgeous!  There's still about 7' of snow on the ground at the 6,000' level!  The skiing is great!  Get out there if you can!  

What is this a picture of?

What's happening on the river?

Are birds building their nests now?

What insects are out and about?

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

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