North Yuba River - 8/21/20
North Yuba River
Downriver view and Upriver view
We are so grateful for all the fire fighters who are out risking their lives,
battling these fires! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!
Copper sparkles from the smoky sunrise
A Morning on the River
Needless to say, I haven't been up in the Lakes Basin hiking in the heavy smoke. However, I have been wandering along the river for several hours early every morning, before the gnats and smoke get in my eyes. One morning in particular was amazingly beautiful! The rising sun was a brilliant magenta through the smoke, and the resulting sparkles on the river were copper in color! It was marvelous to watch!
American Dipper - Cinclus mexicanus
The river life doesn't seem to be affected much by the smoke! This American Dipper was just bobbing up and down on the rocks and occasionally diving in and searching for food underwater. The copper sparkles just added to its beauty!
Common Merganser - Mergus merganser
From the other side of the river, I also saw the Merganser mom that started out with 16 ducklings 2 months ago. Currently she has 8 juveniles that are just about fully grown. Right around now, or in another 2 weeks, they should be able to fly. They will migrate to a southern part of the U.S for the winter, or maybe just down to California's Central Valley. Their migration will start in October. I'm glad these 8 siblings have survived!
I saw two Ospreys that morning, and one of them had a large fish! It amazes me that they can catch a fish by diving feet first into the river! They usually catch fish in shallow water, but have been known to dive up to 3' in depth! Scales on the soles of their feet have sharp points, which makes them able to hold onto slippery fish! I've never actually seen and Osprey catch a fish. Now that would be something!
Osprey (juvenile - adult) - Pandion haliaetus
The two Ospreys I've seen locally are easy to tell apart. One of them is a juvenile and has a pure white breast. The other one is an adult and has a smattering of gray feathers on its breast. Unlike the field guide, the juvenile has golden eyes, not red ones. Apparently juvenile eye color changes from red to yellow in their first Fall. I have usually only seen one Osprey on the river. It makes me curious to see two of them now, often in communication with each other. Are they a male and a female? Are they related? I know so little!
Canada Goose - Branta canadensis
For the past two months there have been 4 adults, and 3 juvenile Canada Geese on our section of the river. That morning 12 Canada Geese flew by! Have 5 new geese just arrived and joined our 7 local Geese? Or is this an entirely new group that flew over from Sierra Valley? I'll see what evolves and get back to you!
Anna's hummingbird (male) - Calypte anna
Down in the Garden!
We have a large beautiful garden filled with flowers and vegetables. Almost every day I spend a few hours out there weeding and watering. Right now the Sunflowers are in full bloom and the bees are buzzing! The hummingbirds are feeding on the Zinnias, Bee Balm, Hollyhocks, and Phlox. We mainly get Anna's Hummingbirds, but once in a while a Rufous Hummingbird stops by.
Hummer feeding on Zinnias
Last year, I decided to not feed the birds anymore ("To Feed or not to Feed" Dec. 15, 2019 blog), and am happy to see them feeding on our flowers instead of the feeders!
Yellow Garden Spider (female, top & bottom) - Argiope aurantia
To my surprise I found this huge spider on its web in our garden last week! Including the legs it measured more than 3" long!!! WOW! The brown and yellow topside was super camouflaged among a bunch of blooming yellow composites. I watched it for 4 days, and then it was gone! It mainly remained motionless near the center of its web, waiting for prey to get caught in the sticky spiral threads. The last time I saw it, it was busily wrapping up a grasshopper with its silk! I don't know where it went, or if some critter ate it. Later in the week, I found 3 more of this same species of spider, in their webs above a roadside ditch along the highway!
It turns out that these spiders are commonly found across Canada, the U.S., Mexico and Central America. I haven't seen these spiders before! I just haven't been a close enough observer. En.wikipedia.org has the following interesting information about its reproduction method.
"Yellow garden spiders breed twice a year. The males roam in search of a female, building a small web near or actually in the female's web, then court the females by plucking strands on her web. Often, when the male approaches the female, he has a safety drop line ready, in case she attacks him. The male uses the palpal bulbs on his pedipalps to transfer sperm to the female. After inserting the second palpal bulb, the male dies, and is sometimes then eaten by the female.
The female lays her eggs at night on a sheet of silky material, then covers them with another layer of silk, then a protective brownish silk. She then uses her legs to form the sheet into a ball with an upturned neck. Egg sacs range from 5/8" to 1" in diameter. She often suspends the egg sac right on her web, near the center where she spends most of her time. Each spider produces from one to four sacs with perhaps over a thousand eggs inside each. She guards the eggs against predation as long as she is able. However, as the weather cools, she becomes more frail, and dies around the time of the first hard frost"
In the spring, the young spiders exit the sac. They are so tiny that they look like dust gathered inside the silk mesh. Some of the spiderlings remain nearby, but others exude a strand of silk that gets caught by the breeze, carrying the spiderling to a more distant area."
Dragonfly sp. - Western Meadowhawk
species unknown - Sympetrum occidentale
Lots of dragonflies are flying and perching in our garden. There must be bugs for them to eat! They are incredible flyers, and can hover, zoom forward, and even fly backwards! Dragonflies catch other flying insects with their legs, while flying. They also consume their prey while in the air!
Northern Pacific Rattlesnake - Crotalus oreganus oreganus
For the first time ever, I came across a Northern Pacific Rattlesnake in our garden this week!!! It rattled before I saw it, and luckily I didn't step on it! Unfortunately I didn't have my camera. Rats! (The one pictured above, I found dead on the highway a while ago.) I quickly ran and got my camera, but when I returned to the garden the rattlesnake had vanished! Hope I see it again, but from a distance!
Common Gartersnake - Thamnophis sirtalis fitchi
News Flash!!! I just went down to our garden to pick some tomatillos and I spotted this tiny, young Common Gartersnake up in some Feverfew flowers, about 3' off the ground! WOW!!! It was so thin and only about 6" long! I had been weeding nearby, and maybe it climbed the Feverfew to get away from me! Anyway, it was so tiny and pretty in the flowers! The flowers in the photo are about as big as the end of your thumb. Hope you enjoy this photo!
Tiny lizard (species unknown)
I've been seeing lots of these little lizards in our garden. Most of them are only 2.5" long! I think they might be Side-blotched lizards, but I'm not sure. I'm hesitant to try and catch them, because I don't want to stress them out! They are so camouflaged in the dry grasses and weeds! These little ones won't be full-sized till next Spring. Soon, cool temperatures will cause them to bury themselves under the decaying leaves on the forest floor, where they will spend the winter in a state of torpor.
California Tent Moth Caterpillars - Malacosoma californicum
All over our area there are "tents" of silken threads in the leafy trees. The one pictured above, is in a walnut tree right above our garden. 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. These caterpillars have recently hatched from a mass of eggs, that were laid by an adult moth last fall. They will pupate soon, then hatch out as adult moths and lay more 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.
Giant Blazing Star - Evening Primrose sp.
Mentzelia laevicaulis - Oenothera sp.
There's almost always something blooming in our neighborhood, even when it's hot and dry. I found these three, lovely yellow species in full bloom along the highway! The descriptions below are from the excellent field guide Wildflowers of Nevada and Placer Counties, California - Second Edition, published by the Redbud Chapter of the California Native Plant Society in 2017.
"(Blazing Star) Flourishes in the summer heat in largely inhospitable places. Blooming begins after most other wildflowers have faded and given way to the summer heat. A coarse plant with pretty flowers, but is unpleasant to touch because of barbed hairs on the foliage."
"All evening primroses open with a sudden quick motion that some claim can not only be seen but can also be heard. They open at night or late evening and close by midday. The flowers have a perfume that attracts moths. The genus name is Greek for "wine scented." It blooms throughout the summer."
Rosin weed - Calycadenia truncata
This unusual two-petaled flower is growing in many areas along the highway. The blossoms look like little butterflies! Last night my friend Peggy, who is an amazing botanist, identified it for me as Rosin weed - Calycadenia truncata!!! The number of petals varies. About 10 feet away from the plant pictured above, I found the same species with 5 petals! I thought it was a weed, but it is a native plant!
Rosin weed glands with sticky droplets
Peggy also told me about the glands on the plants. So I went back this morning, examined the plants, and found the tiny tiny glands with droplets on them! WOW!! You never know what you might see out there! It's all amazing! Thank you Peggy!
Smoky Sun 8/21/20
Are the bears still around?
What's happening in the Lakes Basin?
Check back next week for the answers to these questions and more!
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