Sunday, July 26, 2020

Encounters with Mammals!


Over the years I've written about the mammals I've observed locally.  This week we've had a few 
very unusual encounters!  

Thursday Evening

 Around 5:30 pm last Thursday, I was squatting down and watering the base of some flowers in one of our gardens, when all of a sudden I got the feeling that someone was looking at me.  I turned to my right and looked right into the eyes of a young Mountain Lion about 10' away from me!!!  It was looking right at me and slowly coming towards me!!!  For several long seconds we stared at each other!  It was incredibly beautiful, with it's brilliant green eyes, and tawny, smooth fur!  Its beautiful eyes were alive with expression, full of curiosity and delight!!  It wasn't that large, and didn't feel menacing at all, but I knew I probably shouldn't stick around!  So, I quickly stood up, dropped the hose, and calmly walked (not "ran") to our house, that was only about 25' away.  Once I was inside, I hollered to my husband "Mountain Lion!!!"  I grabbed my camera and we both ran back outside to see if we could see it again, but it had vanished!  I was astounded that I had just made eye contact, and had an unspoken dialogue with a Mountain Lion!!!  It was SO unbelievably beautiful!  I think it was a female, but I'll never know for sure.  What an amazing experience!  It was definitely a gift, a once-in-a-lifetime encounter!  Although I didn't get a photo, I'll absolutely never forget it!

I have since read that Mountain Lion attacks on humans are quite rare.  Wikipedia states, "A total of 125 attacks, 27 of which were fatal, have been documented in North America in the past 100 years. Fatal cougar attacks are extremely rare and occur much less frequently than fatal snake bites, fatal lightning strikes, or fatal bee stings." 

There are lots of websites that have information on what you should do if you encounter a Mountain Lion in the wild. The following information is available at 
https://www.nps.gov/nava/planyourvisit/upload/MountainLionSafetyAndFactsNAVA.pdf.

"Encounters with cougars are rare. But if you live, work or recreate in cougar habitat, there are things you can do to enhance your safety and that of friends and family. 

• If you encounter a cougar, make yourself appear larger, more aggressive. Open your jacket, raise your arms, and throw stones, branches, etc., without turning away. Wave raised arms slowly, and speak slowly, firmly, loudly to disrupt and discourage predatory behavior 

• Never run past or from a cougar. This may trigger their instinct to chase. 

• Make eye contact. Stand your ground. Pick up small children without, if possible, turning away or bending over. 

• Never bend over or crouch down. Doing so causes humans to resemble four-legged prey animals. Crouching down or bending over also makes the neck and back of the head vulnerable. 

• Try to remain standing to protect head and neck.

• Don’t approach a cougar. Most cougars want to avoid humans. Give a cougar the time and space to steer clear of you."

Although I didn't feel threatened by the Mountain Lion I saw, I may just have been lucky!  

Black Bear - Ursus americanus

The Bear & the Bees!

A little more than a week ago, one of my neighbors was given 21 active bee hives!  He had them out in a field on his property, but didn't have an electric fence around them.  My husband said, "The bears will take care of those bees pretty quickly."  They did!  Four nights after the bees arrived, a Black Bear destroyed half the hives and ate the bee larvae and honey.  Two nights after that, he returned and destroyed the remaining bee hives and feasted again!  

In the meantime the homeless bees swarmed together in two trees on the adjacent neighbor's yard.  Because the hives were destroyed over a couple of days, there were two HUGE separate swarms, containing thousands of bees!  Bees swarm to protect their queen, who is the mother of them all!  It was beautiful, amazing, and fascinating to watch!  The swarms hung on the trees for about two days each.  During those two days, my husband said that the scout bees were probably out looking for a new location for their colony.  After two days passed, the first swarm took off.  Two days later the second swarm took off!  The sound of all those bees taking off at once was incredible, the loudest agitated hum I've ever heard!  They are all gone now, and the destroyed hives have been removed.  I really hope the bees were successful in finding a good home!  Perhaps I might come across one of the colonies when I'm wandering around our neighborhood!  I'll keep you posted!

Large Honeybee Swarm containing thousands of Bees

Yellow-bellied Marmot - Marmota flaviventris

Marmots on the Rocks
!

I've seen Yellow-bellied Marmots in the Lakes Basin only 6 times in all the years I've been hiking there.  Last week we spotted one ahead of us on the trail.  They like to live in underground burrows, beneath rocky talus slopes near alpine meadows, around 6,000' in elevation.  Marmots live in colonies, or as singled or paired animals.  I usually only see one at a time.  They will often perch on a large boulder, from which they can watch for predators.  If threatened, they make a very loud chirp that you can hear from quite a distance.  The main predators of Marmots are coyotes, followed by badgers, martens, bears, and Golden Eagles.  

Marmots eat plants, mainly grasses, wildflowers, and seeds.  Before winter they eat all the time, to bulk up for up to 8 months of hibernation.  During hibernation their body temperature, respiration rate, and heartbeat rate all drop.  They will lose up to 50% of their body weight during hibernation.  Unlike Black Bears, they are "true" hibernators, and do not wake up during the winter.  Warmer temperatures will trigger their emergence from their burrows in the Spring.


Yellow-bellied Marmot - Marmota flaviventris

I came across this "blonde" marmot in Sequoia National Park a few years ago. 
I need to do some research, and find out if this is common.

Gray Fox - Urocyon cinereoargenteus

A few weeks ago, our electric power unexpectedly went out at 7:00 pm, so I decided to go for a walk.  Right away I saw this lovely Gray Fox sitting on our road!   I zoomed in with my camera and got a few photos before it took off.  This one looked so familiar to me!  Most mammals are active at night, as well as dawn and dusk.  I should really make an effort to go out during that time more often.  I'm sure I'd see a lot more mammals that way.  I haven't seen any foxes in quite a while, so this was a fun encounter!

Columbian Black-tailed Deer - Odocoileus hemionus columbianus

I've seen two different bucks in our neighborhood lately.  Every time I see them, their antlers are larger.  The antlers will keep growing until Fall when rutting season begins.  The following information about deer antlers is from the website https://sciencing.com/do-deer-antlers-grow-6642858.html.

"Deer antlers are growths of bone that deer and similar animals produce for mating season. Only male deer produce antlers, and few deer keep their antlers for long periods. Contrary to popular belief, the size of the antlers and the number of points do not indicate the age of the deer. The size of the antlers are decided by the health of the deer and its access to nutrients.

Deer antlers are primarily grown for mating purposes. A male deer not only shows off its antlers to prove its health, but also uses them to battle other male deer for supremacy and choice of mates. 

Deer antlers take a lot of energy to grow. The antlers are bony, and like bones are made mostly out of calcium. Deer do not consume much calcium with their vegetarian diet, and the calcium in the antlers is grown just like the calcium in the bones, produced by chemical reactions in their bodies. This takes up a large amount of available nutrients and energy, and only the healthiest deer can grow large antler.

Even the largest antlers grow from small nubs to full size in three to four months, making them one of the fastest-growing types of tissue. They begin as small bony growths at the top of the head, and are covered with a layer of skin and hair known as velvet. This velvet keeps the antlers protected while they are fragile.

When antlers have reached a larger size and slow down or stop growing, the blood vessels that keep the velvet growing shut down around the base of the antlers. This causes the velvet skin to die and eventually peel away, sometimes leaving trailing and hanging bits for a few weeks. Male deer typically rub their antlers against trees and other objects to remove the peeling velvet.

Because deer antlers take up so much energy, it is advantageous for many smaller deer to shed them as quickly as possible after mating season ends. The deer draw calcium and similar nutrients back into the system, so that the antlers become brittle and drained. A layer of cells grows at the base of the antlers, gradually severing their connection to the body and causing them to falling off."

Royal Rein Orchid - Brookfoam 
 Piperia transversa - Bokinia occidentalis  

What's Blooming?

Even though it's drying up in my neighborhood, there are still flowers blooming 
in the shady forest!  Here's some of the ones I saw this week.

Lemon's Keckiella - California harebell
Keckiella lemonnii  - Asyneuma prenanthoides

Bullock's Oriole (male - female) - Icterus bullockii
 
The beautiful Bullock's Orioles left our neighborhood this month, and are on their migration south to Mexico, Guatemala, or northern Costa Rica.  I am always amazed that they return to our neighborhood year after year!  I hope they have a safe journey to their winter homeland!

Did this Banana Slug just give birth to a baby slug?

What's happening in the Lakes Basin?

What's happening on the river?

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

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Sunday, July 19, 2020

It's Summer!

Long Lake Sparkles!

Summer is here!  The days have been HOT and the lake water is a perfect temperature for swimming.  The sparkling water is magical!  Due to Covid 19, lots of people are out on the trails hiking, mountain biking, and picnicking.  I've seen more people in the Lakes Basin this summer than ever before!  Some people are wearing masks, and everyone is practicing social distancing.  I'm happy to see people out enjoying nature.  You have to see it to appreciate it, so hopefully these summer visitors will connect with the Lakes Basin and value its preservation.  Wilderness is essential! 
  
Spinytail Fairy-shrimp - Streptocephalus sealii

Vernal Pools & Ponds

My friend BJ told me that she'd seen some Fairy Shrimp in a vernal pool in the Lakes Basin last week.  So, the next day I hiked up to the pool and there they were!  There were lots of them in a very shallow, small, murky, shrinking vernal pool!  Wow!!!  I first encountered these fascinating crustaceans last summer in Veronica Lake.  These seemed a little more intense in color than the ones I saw last year!  You can distinguish the males from the females by the complex claspers that the males have.  These claspers look like a big snout, and are only visible from the side (see above photo).  The males use them to hold onto the females during mating.
 
Fairy Shrimp measure 3/4" to 1 1/2" in length, and have 11 pairs of leaf-like legs that ripple as they paddle around on their backs!  These legs also serve as their gills, and absorb oxygen out of the water. They have one pair of stalked eyes, and 2 pairs of antennae! They are filter feeders of tiny organisms and plant detritus, and will also scrape algae and detritus off of rocks and sediments. They are preyed on by other aquatic insects, shore/wading birds, and sometimes fish. Their life span ranges from .5-6 months, depending upon how long their vernal pool remains filled. They only live in inland, non-flowing, temporary, fresh (non-marine) water. When they die or their pond dries up, they leave behind thousands of embryonated eggs, or cysts, that will remain dormant until the pond refills. These cysts can remain dormant for decades! WOW!!! Apparently these fairy shrimp used to be more widespread, but as human developments filled in wetlands and vernal pools their numbers have declined. How lucky to see these fascinating crustaceans once again!

Clockwise from left:  
Sierra Gartersnake - Dragonfly/Damselfly exuvia - Mountain Gartersnake 
Southern Long-toed Salamander larva - Predaceous Water Beetle adult & larva

Thamnophis couchii - species unknown - Thamnophis elegans elegans  
Ambystoma macrodactylum sigillatum - Acilius abbreviatus

I visited several ponds in the area of the Fairy Shrimp vernal pool, and saw lots of other aquatic critters!  Years ago we named one of the ponds "Thousand Tadpole Pond", because there were so many tadpoles there.  When I visited it this year there were hardly any tadpoles, but I saw three Sierra Gartersnakes and one Mountain Gartersnake in the pond!  One of them was quite large! These snakes will readily eat tadpoles and frogs, and are probably why the tadpole population is so low.  I also saw Predaceous Water Beetle adults and their larva.  Both the adults and larva of this beetle feed on tadpoles as well!  Perhaps these tadpole predators will eat up all their prey and have to move on.  Then, hopefully the few frogs or tadpoles that haven't been eaten will re-populate the pond!

On the stems of the reeds that bordered another pond, I came across the exuvia of dragonfly and damselfly naiads!  These naiads can spend one to several years in their aquatic stage, before they crawl out of the pond and emerge as adults from their exuvia.  Watching an adult dragonfly emerge is an amazing event, and can take 1-3
hours from start to finish! 

On another day, we revisited Lost Lake, which is really a small pond.  Last year we saw several hundred Long-toed Salamander larvae in the pond.  This time I was hoping to find some adults that are supposed to be dark blue with yellow splotches.  I looked and looked around the whole lake, under logs, duff, and dead branches on the ground, but didn't find a single adult.  Rats!  I did see lots of tadpoles and some smallish salamander larvae in the pond.  Apparently these adult salamanders are rarely seen except in the very early Spring, during their mating season.  I'll have to try again next Spring!

Pacific Tree/Chorus Frog tadpole - Pseudacris regilla

I identified this tadpole by looking at the photos of tadpoles at californiaherps.com.  
It is an excellent website full of information and photos.  Check it out!

Spotted Sandpiper - Actitis macularia

More Lakes Basin Birds!

While I was photographing the Fairy Shrimp, this Spotted Sandpiper was flying around, landing nearby, and constantly giving an alarm call.  It must have had a nest nearby.  I didn't see the nest.  However, I carefully watched where I stepped, because they build their nests on the ground.  They are so beautiful with their spotted breasts!

This week, I saw a few different birds in the Lakes Basin than I usually see.  Most notably the Townsend's Solitaire adult and juvenile!

Common Raven (adult) - Pine Siskin? (female) - Cassin's Finch (male)
Corvus corax - Spinus pinus?- Haemorhous cassinii

Townsend's Solitaire (adult & juvenile) - Myadestes townsendi

 The Townsend's Solitaire nests on the ground beneath rocks, logs, or other objects that provide a sheltering overhang.  Solitaire nests are frequently plundered by predators such as Ground Squirrels, Chickaree/Douglas Squirrels, and skunks.  To overcome the negative impact of nest predation, solitaires have a long nesting season, beginning early in the summer, and have the ability to renest multiple times in a season.  Fledglings remain food dependent upon parents for approximately two weeks after they leave the nest.  In the summer, their diet consists of insects, fruit and berries.  The fledgling was so camouflaged, that I only saw it when it moved!  What a beautiful spotted youngster!

Mountain Bluebird (male) - Western Tanagaer (male) - Green-tailed Towhee (adult)
Stalia currucoides - Piranga ludoviciana - Pipilo chlorurus

Bufflehead (female with 5 ducklings)Bucephala albeola

Song Sparrow (adult) - Dark-eyed Junco (male) - Olive-sided Flycatcher (adult)
Melospiza melodia - Junco hyemalis - Contopus cooperi

Sierran primrose - Primula suffrutescens

More Lakes Basin Wildflowers!

This week we hiked to a high mountain slope to see if the Sierran primroses were in bloom. To our delight there were 100's of them showing their gorgeous magenta and yellow blossoms!  I just love it when you see familiar wild friends again!  They bloom in the same area every year, but we're never sure exactly when.  This particular group grows on a steep, damp, rocky slope that is covered in Lady Ferns and wild grasses.  It was also just below one of the last remaining snowbanks in the Lakes Basin!  What looks like white clouds and blue sky in the photo above, is actually a snowbank with blue shadows!  Such beauty!

The meadows are in profuse bloom with 100's of Leopard Lilies, Corn Lilies, Monkshood, Shooting Stars, Bog Asphodel, and much, much more.  It is incredibly beautiful once again!

California corn lily - California bog asphodel
Veratrum californicum - Narthecium californicum

Leopard Lily - Monkshood
Lilium pardalinum - Aconitum columbianum

Alpine shooting star - Primula tetranda

Sierra Buttes 7/16/20

Are the Bullock's Orioles still around?

Where are the foxes, deer, and bears?

What's happening on the river?

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

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Please email me at northyubanaturalist@gmail.com

Sunday, July 12, 2020

Back in the Lakes Basin

Round Lake - 7/02/20

Nature heals.  This past week we've gone up to the Lakes Basin several times to hike and surround ourselves in beauty.  It was welcoming and wonderfully peaceful as always.  Up in the Lakes Basin, there are many lakes to hike to, many miles of trails, lots of blooming meadows, and a variety wildlife to observe.  It is our home away from home.  We are SO lucky to have this beautiful natural area in our "backyard"!

Off-trial view of the Sierra Buttes - 6/30/20

I never get tired of seeing the Sierra Buttes.  
It changes all the time and never diminishes in beauty!

Tamarack Lake - 6/30/20

There are so many lakes in the Lakes Basin, we sometimes get confused in our memory of where each lake is located.  Some are small silty ponds, others are large, clear, deep, rock-bound lakes.  They are all edged by forests and flowers, and lovely to explore!

Black-backed Woodpecker - Picoides arcticus

Birds of the Lakes Basin

Last week I went back to the Black-backed Woodpecker nest to see if it was occupied.  I watched it for 45 minutes but no woodpeckers showed up.  However, I was hiking in a different area a week later when I saw an adult, male, Black-backed Woodpecker pecking on a dead tree!  WOW!!!  I could tell it was a male because it had a yellow patch of feathers on its forehead!  These birds are uncommon to rare in our area, which is  the southernmost limit of its range!  It was so exciting to see one!!  

 White-headed Woodpecker (female/male) - Dryobates albolarvatus

 On my way up to the Black-backed Woodpecker nest site, I watched two White-headed Woodpeckers chase each other around a dead tree. The male is distinguished by the small patch of red feathers on its head.  This uncommon woodpecker is found year-round ONLY in mixed coniferous forests dominated by pines, in the mountains of far western North America, from south-central British Columbia to southern California, and no where else in the world!  Apparently they live here year-round, surviving mainly on pine seeds and insects!  How lucky to see a pair of them!

Hairy Woodpecker (juveniles) - Dryobates villosus

On a different hike I saw a pair of juvenile Hairy Woodpeckers probing for insects on a dead tree!  The patch of colored feathers on their forehead, distinguishes them as juveniles.  When they are adults a patch of red feathers will be located on the back of their head, if they are males, and the forehead patch will molt and be replaced by black feathers.  If they are females they won't have a patch of red feathers anywhere!  I have never seen juvenile Hairy Woodpeckers before, how interesting!

Bufflehead female with ducklings - Bucephala albeola

In Birds of the Sierra Nevada by Edward C. Beedy and Edward R. Pandolfino it is stated that, "Most of Calfornia's Bufflehead population breeds in the forested mountain lakes of the Cascades and farther north, but recently they have been confirmed nesting in the Sierra."  Most bird field guides list Buffleheads as breeding across western and southern Canada, as well as up into Alaska.  However, we see Buffleheads on almost all the ponds and lakes in the Lakes Basin, usually only one or just a pair.  In the spring we always see females with ducklings!  Apparently they have found the Lakes Basin to their liking!

Clark's Nutcracker - Nucifraga columbiana 

I was also lucky to see a pair of Clark's Nutcrackers up near one of the lakes.  They were busy getting seeds out of the pine cones, and making quite a racket!!!  They are in the Corvid family of birds and have a really interesting life style!  We only occasionally see them at the higher elevations in the Lakes Basin.  The following information was from the website allaboutbirds.org at the Cornell Lab.

"High in the mountains of the West, gray-and-black Clark’s Nutcrackers swoop among wizened pine trees, flashing white in the tail and wing. They use their dagger-like bills to rip into pine cones and pull out large seeds, which they stash in a pouch under their tongue and then carry away to bury for the winter. Each birds buries tens of thousands of seeds each summer and remembers the locations of most of them. Seeds they don’t retrieve play a crucial role in growing new pine forests.

The Clark's Nutcracker feeds its nestlings pine seeds from its many winter stores (caches). Because it feeds the young on stored seeds, the nutcracker can breed as early as January or February, despite the harsh winter weather in its mountain
home."

Mountain Heather - Phyllodoce breweri

Flowering Shrubs

I often mention the wildflowers and skip the shrubs, but there were so many of them in bloom I had to feature them this week!   The shrubs are woody and perennial, unlike the annual wildflowers.  Some are fragrant, some are minutely flowered, all of them are gorgeous!  The Mountain Heather pictured above has a heavenly fragrance, and grows in thick hedges with tons of bees flying around!

Sierra Laurel - Mahala Mat - Western Labrador Tea
Leucothoe davisiae - Ceanothus prostratus - Rhododendron columbianum

Mountain Spirea - Sulfur Buckwheat - Greenleaf Manzanita
Spirea densiflora - Eriogonum umbellatum - Arctostaphylos patula

Mountain Pride - Penstemon newberryi
 
This year the Mountain Pride is prolific everywhere you go!  There are hundreds of them growing in clusters nestled against rocks, on granite ledges, and along the trails!  Their glowing magenta color is gorgeous against the gray granite and blue sky!

Black Bear - Ursus americanus

As I was going home from one of our Lakes Basin hikes, I pulled off the road to check out a small creek that had lots of flowers growing along its edge.  I was about to get out of the car when I noticed a Black Bear was looking right at me from a creek side bank!  It was BIG and cinnamon in color in the sunlight!  I grabbed my camera and got a quick photo, but it had already started walking away into the forest.  It's not a great photo, and the bear looks black in color, but that's because he was in the shade.  Wow!!!  That was wild! 

Are the Bullock's Orioles still around?

Where are the foxes, deer, and bears?

What bugs are buzzin'?

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.
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Your questions and comments are greatly appreciated!
Please email me at northyubanaturalist@gmail.com

Sunday, July 5, 2020

For Buster


Our sweet little dog, Buster, passed away this week.  He was our precious love and our constant companion for the past twelve and a half years. We never left him alone, and took him with us everywhere we went. We hiked together on most of the trails in the Lakes Basin, camped together in the desert, and treasured every moment we had together. Starting about 5 years ago his health began to diminish, and hiking on trails was no longer possible. A dear friend suggested that we get a  baby stroller for him, and that worked perfectly for this past six months!  Last Tuesday was our last day with him. We are so sad, but time will heal. We miss him terribly.  He was the cutest, sweetest, best dog in the whole wide world, and our true love forevers.