Wet Weather Again!

Common Goldeneyes (2 adult males & 1 juvenile)

Bucephala clangula

This past week we had 3 days of rain with a total rainfall of 2.20". The river is up and everything is soaked! Yahoo!!! We haven't got any measurable snow yet this year, but the Lakes Basin is blanketed. This week, I counted 3 groups of Common Goldeneye ducks, ranging from 6-12 in number, in a 7 mile, mid-elevation, section of the river. They were probably driven down from the Lakes Basin by the recent snows!

In California, Common Goldeneyes are the only ducks that regularly spend the winter on rivers and lakes above the foothills of the western Sierra. They are diving ducks and eat fish, aquatic vertebrates, seeds, and tubers. When diving, they keep their wings pressed to their sides underwater, and swim with their webbed feet! This species can fly up to 40 mph, and the wind "whistles" through their wing feathers! They will spend the rest of the winter here. In the spring they will leave for their northern breeding grounds in Alaska and Canada.

Common Goldeneyes (1 adult female & 1 juvenile)

Adult males have bright white dots on their greenish-black heads (see top photo) and white bodies.  Juvenile males and females both have brown heads and gray bodies.  Adult females have brown heads, without a white spot, and gray bodies, but the tip of their black bill is yellow.  

Common Goldeneyes - Bucephala clangula

They were so beautiful to watch, as they swam in a close-knit group along the river! Both males and females have golden eyes!

Pine Siskin - Spinus pinus

 Fast moving flocks of Pine Siskins were landing and feeding on the seeds in the female Alder cones this morning!  The flock I saw was probably 50+ Siskins in number!!!  They were amazing to watch, flying and landing in unison, hurriedly feeding, and then suddenly all taking off again! 

Lately I've been reading about how flocks of birds navigate as a group.  Here's what I learned from https://www.audubon.org/magazine/march-april-2009/how-flock-birds-can-fly-and-move-together.  

Each bird in a flock observes and responds to the movement of no more than seven neighboring birds.  Mainly birds to its sides and to its front!  This response by one bird creates a chain reaction that ripples quickly through the rest of the flock.  Members of a flock do not stay an exact distance away from each other, like dots on a grid.  This space fluctuates, with the priority being to maintain the space ahead of each individual, not so much the space to the sides or above and below. This "ripple effect" explains some of the flight behavior in flocks, but doesn't explain everything.  Researchers believe that other factors affect the behavior of flocks, such as sound or even rushing air from a close neighbor. There is still a lot to learn and discover!

Pine Siskins (the gray shapes) & Mountain Alder cones (insert) 

Spinus pinus - Alnus incana ssp. tenuifolia

Pine Siskins are named for their preference for pine and other conifer seeds. They will hang from the tips of branches to glean seeds from the cones. They also feed on the ground for a wide variety of grass and shrub seeds, garden vegetable leaves and stems, and insects. Sap in tree trunk holes, that Sapsuckers have made, can also be part of their diet! They will also ingest minerals along the sides of roads! They range widely and erratically in response to seed crops. Their main food in winter is cone seeds and tree buds. Locally they've been eating the seeds from this year's alder cones.

 When food is plentiful they will store lots of seeds in their crop, which gets them through cold winter nights. Unlike hummingbirds, that go into a state of torpor overnight, Pine Siskins ramp up their metabolic rate to stay warm at night! They also put on a layer of fat for winter! I love watching these little birds and hearing their busy chatter as they forage and perch in the trees! They travel in small to large flocks all year. One morning two winters ago, 122 of them landed and feasted on thistle seeds that I had scattered on the snow!!!

One of my favorite descriptions of birds in small flocks, like these Pine Siskins, is the following poem by Brian O'Hara.

THE SPARROWS 

Away and out from branches, 

a handful of pebbles thrown, 

together arch and wing their way 

and down to earth again. 

Your oneness amazes me, 

that anticipates and follows movement. 

Together forever together.

Drinking at fountains, rolling in dust, 

chasing insects, 

weightless, defying gravity. 

Riders of wind waves, 

writing graceful lines with feathers, invisible. 

The innocence of children playing. 

Flute in the morning, under the eaves at night.

from Sparrowhawk by Brian O'Hara ©1990

Window Frost

Frosty Mornings! 

It's been cold at night lately, in the 20's! In the mornings if it's not raining, there's frost on the car windows, as well as on the leaves, grasses, and twigs that are on the ground. It can be surprisingly beautiful! Especially if you look closely! 

Water vapor, when frozen, forms crystals that begin as hexagonal prisms. These prisms can be flat small plates, or tall thin columns. These hexagonal prisms will change in shape as temperatures fluctuate, and/or particles of dirt/dust combine with the water vapor. There are several different kinds of frost. The most common are radiation/hoarfrost, advection, window, and rime. 

The following information is from the website at https://www.its.caltech.edu/atomic/snowcrystals/frost/frost.htm. 

"Frost is water vapor, or water in a gas form, that becomes solid. Frost usually forms on objects like cars, windows, and plants that are outside in air that is saturated, or filled, with moisture. 

Frost forms when an outside surface cools past the dew point. The dew point is the point where the air gets so cold, the water vapor in the atmosphere turns into liquid. This liquid freezes. If it gets cold enough, little bits of ice, or frost, form. The ice is arranged in the form of ice crystals. Frost usually forms at night, when the air temperature is cooler. Once the sun rises and warms the air around the frosted object, frost melts quickly. 

Radiation/Hoarfrost: When frost forms as minute ice crystals covering the ground, we just call it all frost. But sometimes the frost grains grow larger and are called hoarfrost crystals. Good hoarfrost is not that uncommon if you watch for it. Hoarfrost grows whenever it's cold outside and there is a ample source of water vapor nearby. 

Surface Hoar: The most common form of hoarfrost is called surface hoar. This consists of ice crystals that form on top of snow banks, usually overnight. The sparkles you see coming from a field of snow are often reflections off the facets of surface hoar crystals. Surface hoar typically forms when a snowbank warms up during the day and is then cooled again overnight. The night air cools the surface of the snowbank more than the inside, so that water can evaporate from inside the snowbank and recrystalize on the surface. By morning the snowbank is covered with a layer of faceted ice crystals, and they can be quite large. These usually melt again once the sun comes up, so the best time to find surface hoar is early in the morning. 

Advection Frost forms when a cold wind blows over the branches of trees, poles, and other surface, and forms a collection of small ice spikes.

Window Frost forms when a pane of glass is exposed to below-freezing temperatures on the outside and moist air on the inside. Water vapor from the air condenses as frost on the inside surface of the window. Window frost often makes elaborate patterns as the crystal growth is strongly influenced by the window surface. Scratches, residual soap streaks, etc., can all change the way the crystals nucleate and grow.

Rime Frost is frost that forms quickly, usually in very cold, wet climates. Rime also forms in windy weather. Rime sometimes looks like solid ice. Snow crystals accumulate rime when they collide with water droplets in the clouds. When the clouds are near the ground you have fog, and sometimes the fog is made from supercooled water droplets -- water at a temperature below the freezing point. Then the droplets freeze on contact to anything they hit, sometimes yielding some bizarre, wind-driven rime formations."

Does lichen have the same relationship with rain/water that moss has?

What are the deer doing?

What's happening in the Lakes Basin?

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

Unfortunately you can no longer sign up to get my blog emailed to you.

Something changed at Blogspot.com. Oh well... However, my blog looks better if you just go to northyubanaturalist.blogspot.com, rather than get the emailed version. I suggest that you just bookmark my blog and visit it every Sunday afternoon!

Your questions and comments are greatly appreciated!

Please email me at northyubanaturalist@gmail.com.

Another Year!

Part of the Sierra Buttes

Nature is never boring.  It's alive, fascinating, and constantly changing! The more I learn the more amazing everything becomes, and I know so little!  Over the past four years, I've been learning how precisely it all fits and works together. Timing is critical!  The ripening of seeds, the falling of rain, and the heat of the sun are just a few parts of this finely tuned, wild ecosystem. Layer after layer of wild things, in their ecological niches, pulse and thrive in my neighborhood! As a daily observer, I am constantly surprised, amazed, and filled with their grace and beauty!

During this past difficult year of social, political, and environmental turmoil, nature has been my companion, my source of stability, and my inspiration. I am so grateful that I live where nature is right outside my door, and look forward to many more years of further observation, delight, and adventure!

Four years ago, on December 23, 2016, I started this blog!  It has been an incredible four years! I have learned so much, and have so much still to learn! I also enjoy sharing my discoveries and photos with the world!  This year I had 6,267 hits on my blog (almost a 1,000 more than last year), from 74 different countries!  Thanks go to all of you for following my blog, and for sending me your complimentary comments! 

Below are my photo collections from this past year, featuring newly seen species as well as some of the local regulars!  Enjoy!

 

Wood Duck

Osprey - Virginia Rail

Great Horned Owl - European Starling & Downy Woodpecker

American Bittern - Rough-legged Hawk

Lewis's Woodpecker - Sharp-shinned Hawk

Sora - Bald Eagle

Common Merganser & ducklings

Again, my thanks go to Cornell University for the incredible internet resources they provide for the public.  Their websites are numerous, my favorites are their newly posted birdsoftheworld.org, and birdsna.org. I am also so grateful for the input of other naturalists/scientists on inaturalist.org, who have identified many species for me.

American Pronghorn

Virginia Opossum - Black Bear

Grey Fox - Cottontail Rabbit

Yellow-bellied Marmot - Lodgepole Chipmunk

River Otter - Muskrat

Columbian Black-tailed Deer - Chickaree/Douglas Squirrel

Desert Bighorn Sheep

There are many websites about mammals available on the internet, my favorite is animaldiversity.org.  It has also been a fantastic resource for information on critters of all kinds, from mammals to tardigrades!

  

Sierra Primrose

Drummond's Anemone - Subalpine Shooting Star

Little Elephant's Heads - Rosin weed

Sugarstick - Whitestem Frasera

Elephant's Heads - Bog Asphodel

Peony - Spotted Fritillary

Anderson's Thistle & Rufous Hummingbird

I am also so grateful for the calflora.org website. It is an incredible resource for identifying flowers/plants, with 1,000's of photos.   Additionally, I am so thankful for my botanist friend, Peggy, who has identified many plants for me over these past years!  The bugguide.net website has been my source for identifying the local bugs. It too provides 1,000's of photos and an identification service!

Sierra Buttes

Smoke obscured sun - Smoke colored North Yuba River

North Yuba Trail - Sierra Buttes (detail)

North Yuba River - Long Lake (summer)

Silver Lake - Mt. Elwell

Smoke colored river sparkles in the North Yuba - Sunset in Sierra County

Sierra Valley

The landscape I live in is stunning! 

I never tire of watching the light change. Such beauty!

Best wishes to all of you for the coming New Year! 

Check back on Sunday, Dec 27th for the next edition of 

northyubanaturalist.blogspot.com!

Your comments and questions are greatly appreciated!

Please email me at northyubanaturalist@gmail.com

South Yuba River State Park

Upper arm of Englebright Lake

Last week we drove down to the South Yuba River State Park and went hiking.  This foothill park is located in an oak woodland, about 2,000' lower in elevation than my neighborhood.  It is one of my favorite places to go in the winter and the spring.  In the spring it is a riot of wildflowers!  In the winter it is snow-free, populated with birds, and quite a bit warmer than my neighborhood!  This time we hiked along the upper arm of Englebright Lake, where the combined North and Middle Forks of the Yuba River merge with the lake.  It was a little wintery but not cold, and still had some beautiful fall color!

Englebright Lake

Most striking were the willows that have lasted and lasted this year, and still glowed a deep, rich yellow along the lakeshore.

Bald Eagle - Haliaeetus leucocephalus

As soon as we got out of the car I spotted a big raptor in a distant tree!  I walked towards it and managed to get a few photos before it flew off.  

It was a Bald Eagle!!!  What an amazing start to the day!

Toyon - Pacific Madrone

Heteromeles arbutifolia - Arbutus menziesii

I live in a mixed conifer forest.  Down in the foothills, the vegetation is totally different!  We hiked through a mainly Blue Oak forest along the lake, that was interspersed with Black Oak, Canyon Live Oak, Interior Live Oak, Madrone, Toyon, Buckeye, and Gray Pine.  The Madrone and Toyon had tons of berries!

Toyon berries form in June or July, but don't ripen until December! When they are green they contain cyano-glucosides in their pulp. When a bird tries to eat a green berry, cyanide gas is released and deters the bird! The un-ripened berries are also full of bitter tannins that discourage foragers! Over time the cyanide compounds gradually move into the seeds and the tannins diminish. In December, when the berries are bright red, they aren't bitter and the pulp no longer contains cyanide compounds! Approximately 20+ species of birds eat Toyon berries during winter! In addition to Western Bluebirds, you might see Band-tailed Pigeons, Cedar Waxwings, Hermit Thrushes, and Varied Thrushes feeding on them! Foxes, Brush Rabbits, Black Bears, and Coyotes also feed on the ripened berries!

As for Madrone berries, Wikipedia states, "Native Americans ate the berries raw and cooked, but because the berries have a high tannin content and are thus astringent, they more often chewed them or made them into a cider. Overeating causes cramps. The Native Americans also used the berries to make necklaces and other decorations, and as bait for fishing. Bark and leaves were used to treat stomach aches, cramps, skin ailments, and sore throats. The bark was often made into a tea to be drunk for these medicinal purposes. Many mammal and bird species feed off the berries, including American Robins, Cedar Waxwings, Band-tailed Pigeons, Varied Thrushes, Quail, Mule Deer, Raccoons, Ring-tailed Cats, and Black Bears. Mule deer will also eat the young shoots when the trees are regenerating after fire." 

Ruby-crowned Kinglet - Regulus calendula

In the bushes along the trail we kept hearing a rattling call, but were unable to identify what bird was singing.  There were lots of little birds flitting around in the bushes. They were hard to identify or photograph because they kept moving around, resting a second or less in one spot.  Later on we got a clear view of a Ruby-crowned Kinglet making the rattling calll!  Ruby-crowned Kinglets are named for the bright scarlet "crown patch" the male exhibits when excited or antagonized.  Most of the time the crown isn't visible. These tiny birds mainly inhabit the snow-free foothills during winter, but move up to the Lodgepole/Hemlock forests to breed, around 9000' in elevation. I've seen these little birds all winter in my neighborhood this year. Their fluffy, thick plumage keeps them warm at night.  For food, they glean small insects off of twigs and branches.

What was most interesting about the day, was the number of bird feathers we saw on the ground.  They were scattered along the trail wherever we went!  Apparently birds were getting eaten on a regular basis!  Birds are eaten by mammals, such as foxes and weasels, as well as by other birds, mostly raptors.  

Some raptors will pluck the feathers off their prey before they eat them.  

Which is probably why all these feathers were in one spot.

Most raptors eat their entire prey, but feathers, fur, and bones aren't easily digested so they regurgitate them.  We found this big pile of feathers and bones on the trail!  We have no idea what kind of bird may have done this, but probably a raptor of some kind.  The following information on raptor regurgitation is from http://fauconeduc.biz/documents/pelletguide09_10.pd.

"Most raptors eat their entire prey. Some owls even eat them whole, in one gulp, when they are small enough of course! The bird’s stomach can digest the meat, the fat and other tissues but not the feathers, fur or bones of the prey. All these non-digested parts create a pellet in the bird’s gizzard, an organ of the digestive system. The process of digestion and of forming a pellet can take between 6 and 24 hours depending on the type and the size of the prey eaten. It is important the bird coughs up this mass of nondigested parts because it could get in the way of the absorption of nutrients and cause certain health problems. The pellet gets coated with protective mucus when it leaves the gizzard to be regurgitated; this prevents the throat irritation and makes it easier to regurgitate.

When dissecting a pellet you might find a wide variety of things inside: skulls, beaks, various bones, insect exoskeletons, etc. The content will allow you to identify the type and number of prey the bird ate. For example, if you find three skulls, this means that the bird ate three animals during the last day. Moreover, if the skulls are incomplete, they are likely to be from birds since their bones are fragile whereas if the skulls are intact, they are probably from rodents. Finally, it is usually easy to tell apart the two prey skulls since you can see small teeth on mammal skulls and none on the birds’.

Nocturnal raptors (owls) have a generally less efficient digestive system than that of diurnal raptors and as a result, produce impressive pellets. Owls’ pellets can contain up to 10 times more bones than those of diurnal raptors (eagles, vultures, hawks and falcons). They can measure between 2.5 and 10 cm and are good indicators of the prey consumed. Also, the size, color and content of a pellet can indicate what raptor produced it. If for example, a pellet contains a lot of insects, there is a good chance it was produced by an Eastern Screech Owl since they eat bugs, or if the pellet is very large, it would be from a Great Horned Owl which has

a larger stomach."

It was a peaceful, gray, overcast day, subdued in sound and light, and by the 

late afternoon it started to rain!  How wonderful!

Dogwood in the Rain

Weather Update!

It started raining the afternoon we were down at Englebright Lake, and by the end of the week, we had a total rainfall of 3.30"!  Yahoo!  The snow level was around 4,500' so I'm sure the Lakes Basin has several inches of new snow on the ground!  I hope this wet winter weather lasts and lasts!  The storms pretty much knocked off the last of the fall leaves, but I still found a few hanging on!  

Rose leaves in the Rain

We still need stormy, wet Weather!

Even though we got 5.13" of rain in November, and another 3.30" this past week, we still need a LOT more. I am once again sending out a "Call for Art", this time in celebration of winter weather. My intention is to focus on the need for rain or snow, and through collective positive energy invoke them to fall. It is just a wish, a thought, and a hope. If you would like to submit some art, or writing, or a photo please check out my blog at dampearthart.blogspot.com. I will be posting new art weekly.

You can view what was submitted last year at dampearth.blogspot.com.

Check it out and pray for rain!

American Dipper with smoke-colored Sparkles - Cinclus mexicanus

River Birds!

Back in my neighborhood, there is one Great Blue Heron, two Belted Kingfishers, a few Black Phoebes, one Bald Eagle, and several American Dippers that have been commonly seen along the river this winter!  Most of these birds live here year-round, except for the Bald Eagle who is a part-time resident.  I thought I'd focus on the American Dippers for this blog, as they are such amazing river dwellers!

American Dippers are the only aquatic songbird in North America!  Lately I've been hearing them sing some amazingly varied songs!  It turns out that fall, early winter, and early spring are when they sing the most.  They are quiet in spring and summer when raising their offspring.  They were John Muir's favorite bird.  The following passage from his book, The Mountains of California, has a lovely description of the American Dipper's song. 

"But as soon as the winter clouds have bloomed, and the mountain treasuries are once more replenished with snow, the voices of the streams and ouzels increase in strength and richness until the flood season of early summer. Then the torrents chant their noblest anthems, and then is the flood-time of our songster's melody. As for weather, dark days and sun days are the same to him. The voices of most song-birds, however joyous, suffer a long winter eclipse; but the Ouzel sings on through all the seasons and every kind of storm. Indeed no storm can be more violent than those of the waterfalls in the midst of which he delights to dwell. However dark and boisterous the weather, snowing, blowing, or cloudy, all the same he sings, and with never a note of sadness. No need of spring sunshine to thaw his song, for it never freezes. Never shall you hear anything wintry from his warm breast; no pinched cheeping, no wavering notes between sorrow and joy; his mellow, fluty voice is ever tuned to downright gladness, as free from dejection as cock-crowing."

(You can read John Muir's whole chapter on American Dippers at: https://vault.sierraclub.org/john_muir_exhibit/writings/the_mountains_of_california/chapter_13.aspx)

American Dipper at nest with Nestlings - Cinclus mexicanus

Pair formation begins in winter.  Both the male and female sing quite loudly in order to be heard by their mate or potential mate, over the sound of the rushing water!  Although Dippers do not mate for life, they often mate with the same female several years in a row!  Some males will mate with more than one female.  A mated pair will defend their long linear "territory" on a river or stream, and keep intruders/competitors away from their nesting area.  Both male and female build the nest, and care for the fledglings. Pairs will live together year-round if food and habitat are available. 

 American Dipper Underwater - Cinclus mexicanus

For food, they dive underwater and eat aquatic insects and larvae as well as tiny fish.  They have powerful legs, long toes (NOT webbed) and streamlined bodies that makes walking on underwater rocks, in swift currents, possible.  They also swim underwater using their wings like flippers and their tail like a rudder.  With a heavy coat of oil on their outer feathers coupled with a dense coat of downy feathers underneath, Dippers can tolerate the frigid winter river.  They have twice as many feathers as any songbird their size, even their eyelids are feathered!  As they dive under the water, special scales slide to cover their nostrils and nictitating membranes cover their eyes!  The membranes are hinged at the inner side of the eyes and sweep horizontally across the corneas.  The scales keep water out of the Dipper's nose, and the membranes make it possible for it to see underwater.

American Dipper in Snow - Cinclus mexicanus

Their feet don't freeze in the frigid water, for a variety of reasons. 

In heat exchange, the closer two temperatures are (eg. creek water and bird feet) the less heat is exchanged. So if you have cold feet, you don't lose much heat to ice or snow. Their feet are cold because of the counter-current heat exchange system between the arteries and veins in their feet. Warm arterial blood flowing to the feet passes close to the cold venous blood returning from the feet. The arterial blood warms up the venous blood, thus lowering the arterial blood's temperature. This makes the arterial blood relatively cool when it flows through the feet, and less heat exchange occurs. The cooled blood provides just enough oxygen and food to tissues, and just enough warmth to avoid frostbite! Surprisingly most birds only lose about 5% of their body heat through their feet!

Does lichen have the same relationship with rain/water that moss has?

What are the deer doing?

What's happening in the Lakes Basin?

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

Unfortunately you can no longer sign up to get my blog emailed to you.

Something changed at Blogspot.com. Oh well... However, my blog looks better if you just go to northyubanaturalist.blogspot.com, rather than get the emailed version. I suggest that you just bookmark my blog and visit it every Sunday afternoon!

Your questions and comments are greatly appreciated!

Please email me at northyubanaturalist@gmail.com.

Local Ponds

Belted Kingfisher (female) - Megaceryle alcyon

There are three local ponds that I visit regularly during the winter and spring.  The closest ones are left over from the hydraulic mining days, a hundred+ years ago!  I mainly observe them from the top of a bluff, but occasionally hike down to the pond level.  Over the course of this past year some interesting waterfowl (and a River Otter!) have visited these ponds.  Right now a few diving ducks are feeding there!  

There is also a beautiful resident Kingfisher that presides over these ponds. Unlike most birds, the female Belted 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!

The steep hydraulicked banks on the south side of the pond are perfect nest sites for Kingfishers. 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". I've never seen young Kingfishers at this pond, but maybe this year I will!

Joubert's Diggins

Last week I featured the dabbling ducks at Gray Lodge.  The water there is only a few feet in depth, and that's why we didn't see any diving ducks.  The ponds I visit are a LOT deeper, and attract diving ducks.  Diving Ducks don't have lamellae like dabbling ducks, but some species have serrated bills that help them catch slippery fish.  The following information on diving ducks is from the website ducks.org/conservation/waterfowl-research-science/diving-ducks-into-the-deep.  I find it fascinating!

"The body of a diving duck is much more compact and fusiform (wider in the middle and tapering toward the end) than that of a dabbler. Divers' wings are also more compact, which allows them to be compressed tightly against the body for greater diving efficiency. In addition, divers' legs are set much farther back on their body, and their feet are much larger and have a lobed hind toe. These adaptations help propel the birds while they are underwater.

In general, most birds are lighter than water. But diving ducks typically have higher body densities than other waterfowl. Just before they dive, the birds compress their feathers against their body, squeezing out air, which further reduces buoyancy. Next, with a single thrust of their powerful legs and feet, diving ducks arch their bodies upward and dive headlong, quickly disappearing beneath the water's surface."

Hooded Merganser (male-female) - Lophodytes cucullatus

"Once underwater, the birds use their feet and wings to propel them downward in search of food. They steer during descent largely by shifting their head and tail positions. Once near the bottom, diving ducks use their feet to maintain a hovering position while they forage for aquatic insects, small mollusks, seeds, vegetation, roots, tubers, and other food. Diving ducks will actively forage at all times of day or night. 

Not surprisingly, the duration of each dive increases with foraging depth. A typical dive takes 10-30 seconds, but diving ducks may remain underwater for a minute or more."

Bufflehead (female-male) - Bucephala albeola

"As you might expect, diving ducks carry large volumes of air with them when they dive. Like other specialized diving birds, diving ducks also have an unusually high tolerance for asphyxia, or lack of air. In fact, diving ducks reduce their oxygen consumption while they are underwater. During a dive, available oxygen is rationed sparingly to sensitive tissues in the central nervous system and sensory organs. In addition, the heart rate is reduced, and blood flow to most other organs and skeletal muscles is curtailed. At these times, organs and tissues rely on anaerobic (oxygen-free) metabolism. This "diving reflex" is triggered when water touches special receptors in the birds' nares (nostrils)."

Bufflehead (male-female) - Bucephala albeola

"When the dive is complete, diving ducks simply relax their muscles, stop paddling, and ascend to the surface like a cork. Diving ducks that feed on submersed aquatic vegetation or sedentary invertebrates like clams return to the surface in almost the same place. But birds feeding on mobile prey like amphipods or fish may surface more than 50 feet from the initial dive location. Following each dive, the birds take a short rest break of 10-30 seconds before diving again."

Upper Sardine Lake 12/8/20

Lakes Basin Update

This week we drove up to the Lakes Basin to see what the snow was like.  It was patchy and varied in depth from 0"-12" depending on the location.  The old snow on the the road to Sardine Lake was REALLY icy and made walking super treacherous!  We walked to Upper Sardine Lake, as the trail is in a really sunny, south-facing slope and there wasn't any snow on it.  The lake wasn't frozen at all!  

 

Sierra Buttes from the Salmon Lake Road - 12/8/20

We also walked to Salmon Lake on the road, which had 12" of packed snow on it and wasn't slippery.  Salmon Lake wasn't frozen either, but it had a thin layer of ice along the edges. There were lots of animal tracks in the snow.  The only mammal we saw was a Lodgepole Chipmunk eating a nut of some kind! 

Surprisingly, we saw a pair of Common Goldeneyes on the lake and a nearby pair of Ravens!  The Ravens might have been the pair I watched "allopreen" each other several years ago near Salmon Lake.  It was a beautiful sparkly snow, blue-sky day to be back in the Lakes Basin!  Winter weather is in the forecast for this weekend.  I hope it brings a lot more snow! 

Common Ravens - 11/26/18

(Check out my December 1, 2018 blog for more photos 

and information on this Raven couple.) 

A Thanksgiving Feast! - 11/24/20

Project FeederWatch Update

The number of birds has really dropped at my feeding station!  The Pine Siskins, Golden-crowned Sparrows, and White-crowned Sparrows aren't around anymore.  However the Dark-eyed Juncos have arrived, and the Steller's Jays have increased in number.  I still regularly see a few Spotted Towhees and Fox Sparrows.  On 
Thanksgiving I put out a bunch of fruit, chopped nuts, grain, and seeds, just for fun!  It was all TOTALLY gone by the next morning!

Mountain Quail - Oreortyx pictus

In the late afternoon, before it gets dark, I've often been delighted to see a small covey of Mountain Quail feeding!  They are such beautiful birds!  They are the largest North American Quail, measuring 11" in height, with a wingspan of 16", and a weight of 8 oz.  They are different from other Quail in that they are sexually monomorphic (the male and female look alike), have a long-distance  seasonal migration (20+ miles) on foot in spring and fall, and eat a large variety of plants and seeds.  They eat flowers, leaves, seeds, acorns, mushrooms, bulbs, and some insects.  In the fall and winter they stay together in small coveys of family related groups, while foraging and roosting. 

 

Mountain Quail - Oreortyx pictus

Usually I see 9 or 10 quail in this covey.  They are hard to photograph, as they take off as soon as I get anywhere near them!  A good trait when avoiding predators, such as Sharp-shinned Hawks!

California Quail - Callipepla californica

To my surprise, there are two California Quail in our neighborhood!  I've never seen them here before!  Usually in fall and winter their coveys range in size from 25-73 individuals!  There may be more here but I've only seen these two males.  They are the state bird of California!  Their latin name Callipepla means "beautifully dressed"!  In the world, they are only found on the west cost of North America from British Columbia through Baja California!  The foothills, central valley, and coastal areas of California are where they primarily live year round.  They can also live in the Mohave desert!  They don't usually live up at our elevation of approximately 2,500'.  They do not seasonally migrate like the Mountain Quail.  They are sexually dimorphic (male and female do not look alike).  They eat fruit, seeds, acorns, leaves, flowers, berries, grain, catkins, plant galls, insects and even sporangia!

California Quail - Callipepla californica

They are so beautifully feathered!  I hope I see a big covey of them!  

I'll keep you posted! 

Sporophytes on Dendroalsia Moss

Looking for Tardigrades!

I did look for Tardigrades in some moss, and I think I saw one!  I used a 

dissecting microscope and it was great!  I found a wonderful natural history website at https://infinitespider.com/?s=tardigrade, that had great information on Tardigrades (Water Bears/Moss Piglets) and how to find them.  As instructed, I took a small 2-3" piece of damp moss off a rock, and set it in a bowl with 1/4" of water in it.  I let it sit for 24 hours.  Then I gently squeezed some of the water off.  Then I squeezed the remaining water into a shallow dish, and placed it under the microscope.  At first the only movement I saw were transparent nematodes swirling around in the water.  Then in a little while I saw a tiny, transparent critter, that was slightly jelly-bean shaped scooting around in the water!  The magnification I have didn't seem to be enough to really get close enough to identify it!  But MAYBE I saw one!  I'm going to try again, it was so fun!   Try it yourself if you have a microscope handy! 

We still need stormy, wet Weather!

Even though we got 5.13" of rain in November, we still need a LOT more. I am once again sending out a "Call for Art", this time in celebration of winter weather. My intention is to focus on the need for rain or snow, and through collective positive energy invoke them to fall. It is just a wish, a thought, and a hope. If you would like to submit some art, or writing, or a photo please check out my blog at dampearthart.blogspot.com. I will be posting new art weekly.

You can view what was submitted last year at dampearth.blogspot.com.

Check it out and pray for rain!

Are there any birds on the river? 

What's happening in the Foothills?

Does Lichen have the same relationship with rain/water that Moss has?

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

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