Fall Foraging!

Long-eared Chipmunk (?) - Tamias sp.

While we were camping in the Lakes Basin, I spotted this little chipmunk eating Bitter Cherries!  I've often wondered what wildlife eats these aptly named berries!  Chipmunks eat a variety of berries, nutlets, subterranean fungi, caterpillars, insects, pollen, and flowers!  Right now they are eating to build up their body fat, as well as storing food for the winter.  During the winter they live in underground burrows.  They do not truly hibernate, although they do sleep through most of the winter in an underground burrow.  During this "hibernation" period, they will periodically wake up and eat some of their stored food.

 

chewed-up Jeffrey Pine Cone - Pinus jeffreyi

I also saw many chewed up pine cones on the forest floor.  Evidently lots of chipmunks, squirrels, and chickarees are getting ready for winter!  They cut down green cones from the trees, and eat or store the seeds.

Chickaree/Douglas Squirrel - Western Gray Squirrel

Tamiasciurus douglasii - Sciurus griseus

Down in my neighborhood, Chickarees and Western Gray Squirrels are busy caching walnuts for the winter!  Gray Squirrels are called "scatter hoarders" because they bury small caches of food in many areas.  Chickarees on the other hand, usually store their food in one main area.  Both will eat this stored food throughout the winter, and will also forage for plants and insects.  Neither one of these species hibernate.

Columbian Black-tailed Mule Deer - Odocoileus hemionus colulmbianus

  

I came across this doe and her two fawns just this morning!  They were busily eating apples in an old orchard!  The fawns are probably about 3-4 months old and their spots are definitely fading.  What a treat it was to see them!  Deer are vegetarians and eat a wide variety of grasses and shrubs, as well as acorns, fruits, mushrooms, flowers, and tree buds!  They are ruminants, and have 4 stomachs!  They build up their body fat in the fall, which is used during the winter.  Their brownish-red summer coat will soon change to their gray winter coat.  November is their breeding season.  

Mallards - Anas playtrhynchos

 After the Rain!

After last week's rain, some surprising things happened!  Four Mallards showed up on the North Yuba River one afternoon!  I hadn't seen any on the river all summer.  Perhaps they came down from the Lakes Basin because of the heavy rain.  I have been back to the Lakes Basin since then and ducks are conspicuously absent on the lakes!

Aphids - Midges

Aphididae sp. - Chironomus chronomidae

We also re-visited Veronica Lake after the rain.  Surprisingly we didn't see a single Fairy Shrimp or Damselfly Larva!  However, we did find thousands of dead aphids on the surface of the lake!!!  Perhaps the deluge of rain washed them off all the surrounding plants!  In Silver Lake there were thousands of dead midges.  At least that's what I think they are.  I'm waiting for an official identification from bugguide.net.  Whatever they are, it was interesting to see so many dead bugs in the lake.  The rain showers must have just pelted them!  

Unknown Fungi (center one is a Puffball of some kind)

Surprisingly we saw several mushrooms popping up after the rain!  It seems a little early for them, but there were several of them scattered about.  I'm not a mycologist, so I don't know what species they are.  I hope to learn more about fungi in the near future! 

Black-headed Grosbeak (female) - Lesser Goldfinch (male & female) 

Pheucticus melanocephalus - Carduelis psaltria

Down in the Garden!

The Lesser Goldfinches are still busy eating the sunflower seeds in our garden.  New this week a Black-headed Grosbeak female showed up to join in the feasting!!!  Soon she will head to Mexico to spend the winter.  The Lesser Goldfinches will spend the winter in lower, snow-free elevations in California.

Golden-crowned Sparrow - Spotted Towhee (immature) - White-crowned Sparrow 

Zonotrichia atricapilla - Pipilo maculatus - Zonotrichia leucophrys

A Golden-crowned Sparrow and a White-crowned Sparrow made their annual appearance this week.  They will probably stick around and forage on seeds for a while, before they head down into the foothills, southern California, Baja California, or central Mexico for winter.  The immature Spotted Towhee will stay in the area for the rest of its life!  So happy to see a new member added to our group of year-round residents!

Spiny Tachina Fly - Thread-waisted Digger Wasp - Cabbage White Butterflies (mating)

Paradejeania rutiloides - Ammophila azteca - Pieris rapae

I noticed this HUGE fly feeding on the nectar of our aster flowers this week!  It looks like it could give you a nasty bite, but they are mainly nectar feeders not biters!  They also eat scale insects, and the honeydew from aphids!

I watched the Thread-waisted Digger Wasp put a small green caterpillar in this hole in the ground!!!  It then put several more small pebbles in the hole to seal it up!  Wow!  I have since read that they paralyze a caterpillar, put it in a tunnel in the ground, lay an egg on it, and seal up the tunnel with small rocks!!!  The egg hatches into a larva which eats the caterpillar, pupates, and emerges out of the tunnel as an adult!  As an adult they feed on the nectar of flowers!  It was fascinating to watch!

There are several Cabbage White Butterflies flitting around our garden.  I found this pair mating one morning!  The female will lay single eggs on the underside of a leaf of their preferred host plants, Brassicaceae (mustard family).  The egg will hatch into a caterpillar that will pupate in a chrysalis over the winter, and emerge as an adult in the Spring.

 

What is this?

Where are the bears?

What's happening in the Lakes Basin?

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

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Please email me at northyubanaturalist@gmail.com

Camping in the Lakes Basin

Full Moon 9/15/19

We had a great time camping and kayaking last weekend!  The weather was great, and fall colors were starting to show up everywhere!  We hiked for 3 days in the Lakes Basin, and kayaked one evening on Sardine Lake!  Unfortunately, the moon wasn't up when we kayaked, but it was lovely and peaceful on the water!  When I woke up on Sunday morning at 6:00, the moon was still up and the sunrise colors were gorgeous!   

Sunrise colors on the Clouds

Grassy Lake 9/14/19

The vegetation in and around Grassy Lake is just starting to turn fall colors.  There were still a few waterfowl on the lake.  They should start migrating down to lower elevations as the daylight hours shorten and temperatures get cooler.

 Mallard - Common Mergansers - Bufflehead 

    Anas platyrhynchos - Mergus merganser - Bucephala albeola

Western Eupatorium - Pearly Everlasting - Long-leaved Aster

    Ageratina occidentalis - Anaphalis magaritacea - Aster ascendens

We saw lots of late-blooming flowers in the Lakes Basin, mainly Goldenrod, Asters, and Pearly Everlasting.  Near Saxonia Lake we came across one blooming Western Eupatorium, in a shady, cool stream channel we have affectionately named "Garden Gulch"!  Their super-long stamens are amazing!

Lost Lake 9/13/19

We hiked to Lost Lake on Friday, which is less than a mile off of the Deer Lake Trail. It was almost all dried up, but to my delight we found hundreds of salamander larvae in it!  Wow!!!  I had never seen them in such numbers before!  

Pacific Chorus Frog (treefrog) - Southern Long-toed Salamander (larva)

Pseudacris regilla - Ambystoma macrodactylum sigillatum

Not all salamanders have aquatic larvae.  Some hatch out as adults from eggs that are laid in damp, moist areas such as underneath decaying vegetation on the forest floor, or in decomposing logs.  Some aquatic salamanders hatch from eggs laid in slow flowing streams.  What we saw were Southern Long-toed Salamander larvae,  that typically hatch from eggs laid in ponds.  They usually spend 1-2 years as aquatic larvae, before they emerge from the ponds as adults.  While underwater they breathe with gills that are located on both sides of their body, right above their front legs.  You can just see them in the photo above right.  As larvae they feed on aquatic insects, copepods, ostracods, snails, leeches, annelid worms, and tadpoles!  As adults these salamanders have bright yellow splotches on their backs.  I've never seen an adult!  I'll have to look for them next Spring when we re-visit Lost Lake! 

We saw several aquatic insects, tadpoles, and a leech in the pond.  There were also some tiny Pacific Chorus Frogs (treefrogs) (above left photo) in the shallow water.  They are easily identified by the black stripes on the sides of their head.

White-headed Woodpecker - Downy Woodpecker - Clark's Nutcracker

    Picoides albolarvatus - Picoides pubescens - Nucifraga columbiana

We saw quite a lot of birds foraging for food in the Lakes Basin.  Some of them, such as the Woodpeckers and Brown Creepers, are year-round residents.  Others, such as the Bluebirds and Sparrows, will start migrating to lower elevations soon.

Brown Creeper - Mountain Bluebird (female) - Song Sparrow

    Certhia americana - Sialia currucoides - Melospiza melodia

Grizzly Peak 9/16/19

It Rained!!!

On Monday and Wednesday this past week it POURED rain for hours!  We had lots of thunder and lightning, but luckily no fires.  Our total rainfall for those two days was 1.66"!!!  We are so grateful that the danger of fires has been diminished by this downpour!  Yahoo!  It was so fresh, moist, and fragrant!  While we were camping, I learned that there's an actual word for the lovely fragrance of the dampened earth after a rainstorm, it's "petrichor"!  I also learned that there's a name for people who love rain, it's "pluviophiles"!  The following definition is from the website http://www.word-detective.com.

"According to the Oxford English Dictionary, “petrichor” is “A pleasant, distinctive smell frequently accompanying the first rain after a long period of warm, dry weather in certain regions.” If you’ve ever been captivated by the smell of a sudden summer shower, “petrichor” is your word.

Although “petrichor” sounds quite poetic and ancient, it’s actually of fairly recent vintage, having been coined in the pages of the scientific journal Nature in 1964. Evidently, organic compounds in the air, most emitted by plants, fall to earth and combine over time to produce an oily resin, essentially a complex perfume, in the dry ground. The globules of this perfume are then liberated and spread by falling rain, producing that distinctive smell. “Petrichor” is thus much more than just the smell of wet dirt.

In naming this compound and its wonderful scent, the scientists in Nature reached back to Latin and Greek. “Petro” (from the Latin “petra”) is a combining form meaning “stone” (also found in “petroleum” and “petrified”), while “ichor,” from Greek, means “essential fluid” or, in a poetic sense, “essence.” So “petrichor” means “essence of stone,” which may not be scientifically precise but strikes me as the perfect name for that smell."

Alders in the Rain! 

California Tent Moth caterpillars - Malacosoma californicum

My Mistake!  

Two weeks ago I said that the California Tent Moth caterpillars only feed on "deciduous" trees.  I should have said "leafy" trees!  They feed extensively on Madrone Trees, which are leafy but not deciduous!  I apologize for my error!

What kind of bug is this?  What is it doing?

Where are the bears?

Is Fall around the corner?

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

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Please email me at northyubanaturalist@gmail.com

Gone Camping!

River Notes

North Yuba River insect hatch!

The North Yuba River is right out my door.  Almost every day I go wandering along its borders, delighting in whatever I see.  Once again this week I saw things I'd never seen before!   The more you look the more you see, and there is always more to learn.  The more you learn, the more you realize that you really don't know much!  Just this morning, I was down on the river and saw this incredible cloud of insects hovering right above the river!  How beautiful!  I don't know what kind of insects they are, but I'll try to find out.  One discovery leads to another! This will be a brief blog. The daylight hours are shortening and I gotta go outside!

Common Mergansers - Mergus merganser

Last week, the mother Merganser and her duckling were accepted by the group of 9 Mergansers!  (The duckling is the one facing the camera, above.)  Since then, the group itself has broken up into smaller groups of 2 to 3.  In fact, I don't always see them every morning.  Perhaps there are fewer fish available, or the shortened daylight hours have triggered a change in behavior.  They will probably start migrating to California's Central Valley, the southern U.S., or northern Mexico in a few weeks, or more.  

American Dipper - Canada Geese 

Cinclus mexicanus - Branta canadensis

American Dippers are found singly along the river.  They each establish a territory in a section of the river that they defend from other dippers.  They usually live here year-round.  

A pair of Canada Geese are almost always seen together on the river, foraging for plants to eat.  They mate for life!  This year they didn't raise any ducklings!  Probably because of the wet, rainy, and cold Spring we had.  For the past few years, they have been here almost year-round, depending upon the severity of winter.

Common Raven - Great Blue Heron

Corvus corax - Ardea herodia

To my surprise there were two Common Ravens walking around on the river rocks one morning!  One of them (above photo) got pretty close to our resident Great Blue Heron, who quickly moved away!  I have no idea what they were doing.  Maybe they were just checking out the possibilities for food.  The heron and the ravens are usually year-round residents.

Osprey - Belted Kingfisher (female)

Pandion haliaetus- Megaceryle alcyon

The last time I saw our local Osprey was more than a week ago!  Perhaps he/she found a better source for fish, further down the river.  I sure hope I see it again soon!

Surprisingly I saw two Belted Kingfishers together!  They were flying around and perching close to each other one morning.  Belted Kingfisher adults do not stay together after the breeding season.  However, the young may stay around with female parent for up to three weeks after fledging!  Since breeding season ended back in the end of June, these kingfishers could possibly be a mother and her young!  How exciting!  

  Rainbow Trout Fry - Oncorhynchus mykiss irideus

There are still LOTS of Rainbow Trout fry in the shallow water of the river.  Safety in numbers seems to be their plan of defense!

Mountain Garter Snake  - Northwestern Fence Lizard (?)

Thamnophis elegans elegans -  Sceloporus occidentalis occidentalis

The dry river rocks are plenty warm for reptiles to be active!  The garter snake was little, about 6 inches long and tiny!  The lizard was one of many that were scampering over the rocks and dry vegetation.  As long as the weather is warm, these cold bloodied reptiles and their insect prey will be remain active.

Steller's Jay - Cyanocitta stelleri

Down in the Garden!

The sunflowers are going to seed in our garden.  Lots of birds are showing up to feed on the seeds.  I love watching the antics of the Steller's Jays that are too heavy to perch on the seed heads.  They hang upside down, jump up and peck, and stretch to reach the seed heads from the fence railings.

Lesser Goldfinch (male and female)

Carduelis psaltria

The Lesser Goldfinches are back!  These little birds eat LOTS of seeds! On average a goldfinch will eat 1/4 to 1/2 its body weight daily, which would be approximately 619-1,238 seeds a day!  WOW!  That is a lot of seed hulling!  It also explains why they appear to eat continuously during the daylight hours.  When the temps get cooler, they will migrate down to the foothills and valleys of California for the winter.  It is so fun to watch these little birds (4.5" in length), the smallest of all goldfinches, feast in our garden!

Bee Wolf - Yellow-faced Bumble Bee

Bombus vosnesenskii - Philanthus crabroniformis

The Bee Wolf is a wasp that preys on honeybees.  Their yellow eyes make them easy to distinguish from other wasps.  Adult females dig underground, branching burrows.  Each side tunnel ends in a brood chamber where 1-6 paralyzed bees are deposited.  The female Bee Wolf lays an egg on each bee and seals up the tunnel.  When the larvae hatch they eat the paralyzed bees, pupate, and dig out of the burrow as adults!!! 

There are LOTS of Yellow-faced Bumble Bees in our garden right now.  During the Spring and Summer, these Bumble Bees live in an underground burrow with one queen and 200-300 female worker bees.  At the end of the summer the queen will lay unfertilized eggs from which male Bumble Bees will hatch.  After they mate with a queen they leave the hive and do not return.  Many of the males spend the night on our flowers!

Woodland Skipper - Mylitta Crescent Butterfly

Ochlodes sylvanoides - Phycoides mylitta

Right now there's an abundance of these little butterflies in our garden.  Both of these beauties are quite small, only about 1/2" in size!  They are obviously important pollinators!  Skippers are not true butterflies and differ from them in several ways,  including hooked antennae, stronger wing muscles, and more well-developed eyes.    

California Tent Moth caterpillars - Malacosoma californicum

Last week I posted a photo of some caterpillars in a "tent" of silken threads.  These translucent tents are made from the silk of California Tent Moth caterpillars.  The tents are created for the protection of the caterpillars, while they eat the leaves of their host tree. They are native to North America.   They start from a mass of eggs, up to 350, laid by an adult in the fall.  The eggs overwinter, and hatch into caterpillars in the spring/summer.  They live and eat the leaves of deciduous trees.  They will pupate soon, then hatch out as adults and lay eggs.  In some areas of North America these caterpillars have created a lot of damage to trees, especially aspens.  Luckily in our area their population is not at an infestation level.  We see them every year, but not in huge concentrations.

What's happening in the Lakes Basin?

Where are the bears?

Will the Osprey return?

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