Down in the Foothills

Lewis's Woodpecker - Melanerpes lewis

Last week we went for a hike in a nature preserve around 1,000' in elevation. The terrain was rolling hills with gullies and creeks, vegetated by Blue Oaks, Gray Oaks, Coyote Brush, and many other shrubs. Within our first five minutes of arriving, this beautiful Lewis's Woodpecker landed nearby on a dead tree! 

These birds are unique in several ways. Unlike most woodpeckers, Lewis's Woodpeckers do not drill holes in tree trunks looking for insects. They mainly catch insects in the air during the summer. They will however, glean insects from tree trunks and branches year-round. Fruits and berries are also eaten in season. In the winter, when flying insects are scarce, they mainly eat acorns, nuts, and corn. They usually harvest acorns off the trees, rather than off the ground. They will hammer an acorn open and then store individual pieces (rather than the whole acorn) in the natural crevices of tree trunks. Acorns and nuts are also stored for consumption in winter. These winter caches are vigorously defended! 

Unlike any other local birds, they have beautiful rose-pink feathers on their belly! They are relatively uncommon in our foothill area, and are not predictably present in winter. In California, they usually nest in the interior coastal range, or the lower eastern side of the Sierra Nevada. Outside of California they breed across Idaho, Montana, Colorado and up into Canada. How lucky we were to watch this unusual, beautiful woodpecker!

Acorn Woodpecker - Melanerpes formicivorus

We also saw several Acorn Woodpeckers that day. They are one of the dominant species in the foothill oak woodlands. Acorns are the main food they depend upon in winter. 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!! 

Cooper's Hawk - Accipiter cooperii

To our delight we also saw an adult Cooper's Hawk!  These hawks are one of the main hunters in our forests and dense thickets.  With their short wings and rudder-like tails, they can "turn on a dime"!  Birds, rabbits, squirrels, mice and reptiles are their common prey.  Their vision is excellent, and can see two to three times farther than we can!  Other than its red eye, this hawk was camouflaged in the leafless shrubs and very difficult to see!  These hawks are uncommonly seen in our area, although they live here year-round!

Red-tailed Hawk - Buteo jamaicensis

We saw lots of hawks flying overhead that day.  Red-tailed Hawks were the most common, and easy to identify.  These hawks hunt in the open, not in the woods.  Their prey consists of birds, small mammals, reptiles, and carrion. They live year-round across the United States, but may migrate up to Canada and Alaska to breed.

Western Bluebird - Sialia mexicana

Later in the day, we saw a pair of Western Bluebirds out in an open meadow.  The males are mostly an incredible, luminous, royal-blue in color.  The females are mostly gray with a blue rump, tail, and some wing feathers.  They are primarily insect eaters, but in the winter they switch to fruits and berries such as mistletoe, wild grape, elderberry, juniper, and poison oak.  These lovely birds are found in these foothills year-round. 

Ruby-crowned Kinglet - Bushtit

 Regulus calendula - Psaltriparus minimus

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!  I also managed to get a reasonable photo of a female Bushtit!  Both of these tiny (4.5" in length) birds glean spiders, insects, and their eggs, from the branches and leaves of plants.

Bushtits live year-round in California.  Most of the year they live in flocks of 10-40 birds.  In the end of February to early March, they pair off to breed and build their nest.  It will take both the male and the female a month or more to build their amazing, 6"-12", sock-like nest of spider webs and plant material!  I've seen these nests in museums, but never in the wild.  It would be fabulous to find one!   They female lays 4-10 eggs in the nest, and may have two broods in a season.  Interestingly, adult male offspring help the mated pair raise their young!  Also, incredibly the whole family sleep together in the sock-like nest!

Ruby-crowned Kinglets are named for the bright scarlett "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.

 Flooded rice field

Sacramento Delta Re-visited!

Early last week we traveled back down to the Sacramento Delta for a brief visit.  It was unbelievable once again!  This time there was blue sky and beautiful clouds!  There were still thousands of birds including Tundra Swans, Sandhill Cranes, and Pelicans!  We also saw some birds we didn't see the week before!

American White Pelicans - Pelicanus erythrorhynchos

There were even more pelicans than the previous week!  Such beauty!

House Finch - Haemorhous mexicanus

These lovely little House Finches would forage for seeds in the roadside shrubs and grasses, and then fly up all at once to the telephone line when disturbed!  The males have bright orange-red foreheads, crests, breasts, and rumps.  They live year-round across the U.S and Mexico.

Canada Geese - Branta canadensis

Thousands of Canada Geese were congregated on the non-flooded, grassy fields!  These birds have become extremely well-adapted to human developments and tend to stay year-round across the U.S., although some still migrate to Canada to breed.  They feed on grasses and sedges in the spring and winter.  We hadn't seen these thousands of geese when we were in the delta 2 weeks ago!

 White-faced Ibis - Greater Yellowlegs

Plegadis chihi - Tringa melanoleuca

On the way down to the delta we saw lots of White-faced Ibis in the flooded rice fields near Marysville.  They search for aquatic and moist-soil insects, as well as crustaceans, midge and fly larvae and earthworms.  

In the delta I spotted one Greater Yellowlegs probing the shallow water for aquatic invertebrates, as well as small frogs and fish.  I didn't see any other shorebirds while we were in the delta.

 Sunset Clouds

Precipitation Update!

We had daytime temperatures in the 50's, and approximately another inch of rain this week, but warm, sunny weather is predicted for next week.  Let's hope the winter storms are heavy in February!

What's happening on the local ponds?

Where are all the mammals?

What's happening in Sierra Valley?

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

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