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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