Down in the Garden

Delphinium and juvenile hummer

A Garden for the Birds!

Every day we go down to our garden in the evening to enjoy its beauty.  It is such a pleasure watching all the birds and bugs that visit!  Since I don't feed wild birds with seeds or nectar anymore, I've started to plant some native plants in my garden to feed the birds.  It will take a while to get them established, but luckily my garden is already totally surrounded by native plants.  I still have lots of non-native exotic plants (like the Delphinium above) that birds and insects visit, but recently I've learned that it's better to grow native plants in your garden.  Unlike non-native plants, native plants attract bugs that are a staple of bird diets. Native plants are also better adapted to survive the challenges of drought and climate change.  In urban areas, much of the native vegetation has been altered, disturbed or destroyed.  Planting gardens with native plants helps restore this loss. There are numerous websites online that discuss this topic.  I've found the Cornell, Audubon, and California Native Plant Society websites to be extremely informative and user friendly.  

The following excellent information is from the National Audubon Society at https://www.audubon.org/news/why-native-plants-are-better-birds-and-people.

"To survive, native birds need native plants and the insects that have co-evolved with them. Most landscaping plants available in nurseries are exotic species from other countries. Many are prized for qualities that make them poor food sources for native birds—like having leaves that are unpalatable to native insects and caterpillars. With 96 percent of all terrestrial bird species in North America feeding insects to their young, planting insect-proof exotic plants is like serving up plastic food. No insects? No birds.

For example, research by entomologist Doug Tallamy has shown that native oaks support more than 550 different species of butterflies and moths alone. The non-native ginkgo tree supports just 5. Caterpillars are the go-to food source for migrant and resident birds alike. In the 16 days between hatching and fledging, a clutch of Carolina Chickadee chicks can down more than 9,000 of them.

Native plants have adapted to thrive in their regional landscape, without added water or nutrients. With climate change models predicting increased episodes of extreme drought such as California is experiencing, it’s a good time to shift to water-wise yards and native plants.

Native plants are often hardier than non-native ornamentals and thrive without pesticides or fertilizers. Moreover, as you work to create a bird-friendly sanctuary in your yard, insects that may have seemed like pests before become allies. Since caterpillars are premium bird food, the holes they make in your oak’s leaves are badges of success and the caterpillars themselves cause for celebration."

There are many nurseries that sell native plants, and many websites that will help you find which plants are native to your area.  For instance, the following website https://www.audubon.org/native-plants features a native plant database. All you have to do is type in your zip code, and a list of native plants for your area becomes available!  When I tried it, I was happy to see that 22 plants on the list currently grow right near my garden!  

Right now I have 5 native plants growing in my garden.  I plan to add lots more!  I hope it helps the birds a little bit!

Lesser Goldfinch (male - juveniles) - Carduelis psaltria

Just this morning I heard some tiny chattering coming from our garden.  To my delight it was a group of three Lesser Goldfinches feeding on the seeds of the Bachelor Buttons!  They also like to eat insects and the plant leaves!  How lovely!  The two juveniles accompanying the male were begging to be fed, while it fed on the plants!  So cute!  More of these lovely birds will be here in the fall when our sunflowers have gone to seed.

Bullock's Orioles (female - male) - Icterus bullockii

Every year, for the past four years a pair of Bullock's Orioles has made a home near our garden.  Both parents feed the nestlings. In the evenings we watch them zip past our garden as they search for insects in the local trees and shrubs.  I was curious what they were gleaning off the local native willows so I examined one and found it had lots of little green caterpillars on the leaves!  Another time we watched the female nab a butterfly right in our garden! The number of trips they make back and forth from the nest to feed their young is around 13 trips per hour, or 156 trips per parent in a 12 hour period!  The nesting period lasts for 12-13 days.  That's 1,872 trips per parent during that time, for a total of 3,744!  That is a LOT of bugs captured!  WOW!!!

  

Bullock's Oriole (female) and three nestlings - Icterus bullockii

A few years ago the Bullock's Oriole nest was really visible and I got this photo of the female feeding its three young!!!  Wow!  This year, the nest is concealed from view, so I didn't get any photos.

California Sister - Lorquin's Admiral - Fritillary

Adelpha californica - Limenitis lorquini - Speyeria sp.

Garden Butterflies!

There are numerous species of insects feeding in our garden, which I've written about in past blogs (enter "Down in the Garden", "Pollinators", or "Native Bees" in the search bar on the top right).  This year butterflies are more numerous than ever!  Swallowtails are the most prevalent right now.  If you're interested in the natural history of California butterflies, check out Art Shapiro's Butterfly Website at https://butterfly.ucdavis.edu/butterflies.  He is a UC Davis professor who has  been studying butterfly populations in California for more than 45 years!  His website is an incredible resource, no matter where you live! 

Butterfly Gardens are quite popular, and there's tons of information about how to grow one on the internet.  I've discovered that in the book The Laws Field Guide to the Sierra Nevada the author lists which plant or plant family a butterfly larva (caterpillar) feeds on!  This is really helpful if you want to grow plants that attract butterflies! 

Common Buckeye - Sierra Pericopid - Clodius Parnassian

Junonia coenia - Gnophaela latipennis - Parnassius clodius sol

Here's a few butterflies that aren't as common as the Swallowtails.

Pale Swallowtail - Anise Swallowtail - Tiger Swallowtail

Papilio eurymedon - Papilio zelicaon - Papilio rutulus rutulus

It was so interesting to see these three kinds of Swallowtails!

Valley Garter Snake - Side-blotch Lizard

Thamnophis sirtalis ssp. fitchi - Uta stansburiana

Garden Reptiles!

Reptiles thrive in our garden because there are lots of insects, slugs, and earthworms living there, and plenty of good cover!  Garter snakes are fairly common but not numerous.  Every once in a while a rattlesnake shows up!

Bufflehead (female with 6 ducklings) - Bucephula albeola

Lakes Basin Fledglings!

To my extreme pleasure, I've seen some fledglings in the Lakes Basin recently!  There are numerous ponds and lakes there, and it seems that on every pond there is just one family of Bufflehead ducks.  I saw these little cuties in a pond around 7,000' this week!  In the past it was believed that most Buffleheads migrated to Alaska and Canada to breed, but since 1996 there have been more and more sightings of them nesting on small mountain lakes in the northern Sierra Nevada!  Every summer we love seeing them in the Lakes Basin!  

Common Merganser (female) and 8 ducklings

This Common Merganser female and her ducklings were sticking close together on the windy, wave covered surface of Gold Lake last week.  I just love seeing them ride on the back of their mother!  She had 8 ducklings, just like the two female mergansers in my neighborhood!  So delightful to see!

  

Sandhill Cranes and juvenile (inset) - Antigone canadensis

inset photo of juvenile by Rod Bondurant

My friends Rod and Rochelle were camping in the Lakes Basin last week, when they spotted a pair of Sandhill Cranes on the shore of a large pond!  They also saw a little fledgling swimming in the water near them, and Rod got a photo of it!  I think, but I'm waiting on confirmation from iNaturalist.org, that it could have been a young Sandhill Crane!!!  I was so excited that I went up the next morning to see if they were still around.  I spotted the two adults right away, but they were in the tall grasses.  If there was a fledgling it wasn't visible.  I didn't see any waterfowl in the pond at all.  However, it was super cool to see the adults in the Lakes Basin!  I've only seen them fly over the Lakes Basin.  Sierra Valley is where I usually see them on the ground.

Meadow Penstemon - Penstemon rydbergii

More Lakes Basin Wildflowers!

The Lakes Basin continues to blossom!  Some wildflowers fade away while others emerge!   How lucky we are to see such beauty!  

Showy Penstemon - Mountain Pride - Whorled Penstemon 

Penstemon speciosus - Penstemon newberryi - Penstemon heterodoxus

Starry False Lily of the Valley - Fendler's Meadow Rue (male-female)

Maianthemum stellatum - Thalictridium fendleri

Bogbean - Tinker's Penny - Elephant Head

Menyanthes trifoliata - Hypericum anagalloides - Pedicularis groenlandica

Iceland Poppy in our Garden

More Damp Earth Art!

It RAINED this week!  On Thursday afternoon around 3:30 we had an 8 minute downpour!  Luckily, the clouds stuck around, and a few hours later it rained heavily for half an hour, and then drizzled for an hour or more!  Yahoo!  The official total is only 1/20 of an inch, but we're happy to get any rain at all.  It smelled heavenly.  The air was moist and fragrant!  It was indeed a cause for celebration!!!  Yahoo!

More hot weather is coming up, but anytime I think of it, I focus on rain, rain, rain. My intention is to focus on the need for rain, and through collective positive energy invoke rain to fall. It is just a wish, a thought, and a hope. If you would like to submit some rain inspired art, or writing, or a photo please email me at northyubanaturalist@gmail.com. Check out what's already been submitted at dampearthart.blogspot.com

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

I will be posting new art weekly. Check it out and pray for rain!

Are the bears back?

How are the nesting birds doing?

Are the high elevation meadows still blooming?

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 feel free to email me at northyubanaturalist@gmail.com. Thanks!

Wet Meadows!

Howard Meadow - 6/14/21

The Lakes Basin has many lovely meadows ranging is size from a few to several hundred acres.  Although they all have many things in common, each one is delightfully unique.  I never know what I might discover whenever I walk out into one of them.  We visited two of my favorite meadows in the Lakes Basin last Monday morning, Howard Meadow and an unnamed meadow off the Gold Lake Road.  It was a surprisingly cool, cloud-covered morning!  The meadows were gloriously green with thousands of Corn Lilies, grasses and sedges, bordered by colorful wildflowers.  Occasionally the sun would break through the clouds and illuminate one area brilliantly!  Such beauty!

Apart from being gorgeous, meadows are a very important part of the sierran ecosystem.  The following quote from https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb5397692.pdf 

briefly summarizes their benefits to the environment.

"Besides supporting species not found elsewhere, meadows do many other things. They filter sediment from water flowing from surrounding slopes—providing clean water for wildlife and healthy habitat for aquatic animals that live in lakes and streams. Meadows provide an important breeding ground for invertebrates (such as insects), a key food source for many birds, amphibians, and reptiles. Meadow plants also provide food and habitat structure for small mammals that, in turn, provide an important prey base for raptors, coyotes, and other predators. Meadows are sponges, absorbing water as snowpack melts and holding that water like an underground water tank. By holding the water in the mountains, the risk of flooding in the Sacramento Valley is reduced significantly. Then, later in the summer, this stored water feeds the many streams and rivers in the mountains, so they continue to flow during the long dry summers."

In the book Sierra Nevada (1970) the author, Verna R. Johnston, writes a delightful account of the wildlife that inhabits sierran meadows, including Pocket Gophers, California Moles, voles, Aplondontia, shrews, Coyotes, bats, deer, weasels, songbirds, and raptors!  It is a fascinating account of the complex ecosystem of a meadow.  I highly recommend her book! The following quote is her introduction to the subject of mountain meadows.

"This inherent rhythm, unique to each species, is very evident among the animals of the mountain meadows.  Thousands of meadows, varying from small seepages to spacious ranches, intersperse the midmountain, higher mountain forests.  Each, in an unmatched setting of its own, is a serene open place where morning dew hangs heavy on the grass and sedge, midday sun dazzles, evening's coolness brings the deer.  But each is much more than grass, wet soil, wildflowers, deer at twilight.  Each is an interlaced community of plants and animals whose lives affect each other intimately the year through, often in ways that barely show above the surface."

Western Bistort with Mosquito

Polygonum bistortoides - Ochlerotatus sp.

Meadow Wildflowers

 Because of the wildflowers and wet/damp areas there are lots of insects that inhabit meadows, the main one being the mosquito!  The female mosquito is the one that bites, it needs the protein from blood to create its eggs.  They also feed on nectar and honeydew.  Male mosquitos don't bite, they only feed on nectar and honeydew.  Right now there are thousands of mosquitos in the mountain meadows, so bring your repellent!   

This year I'm afraid the drought, high temperatures, and wind will dry the meadows out quickly.  The Corn Lilies have grown waist high, but the flower buds are already drying up without blossoming.  This is not that unusual.  I've seen many years when the Corn Lilies don't bloom.  However, I visited the same two meadows on Monday and Thursday this week, and they had already dried out considerably in that short span of time!  Now is the time to get out there and see them!  Next week I plan to visit two other meadows at a higher elevation, and I'll let you know what beauties I find!  Here are some of the wildflowers we saw this past week!  Enjoy!

White Rein Orchid - Death Camas

Plantanthera leucostachys - Toxicoscordion venenosum

Camas -  Camassia quamash

Sierra Lewisia - Three-leaf Lewisia

Lewisia nevadensis - Lewisia triphylla

Western Buttercup - Ranunculus occidentalis

Very wet meadow in the Lakes Basin - 6/14/21

If the meadow you visit is still full of water, like the one pictured above, you're bound to see waterfowl, songbirds, and shorebirds living there!

Spotted Sandpiper - Actitis macularius

This beautiful Spotted Sandpiper was flying over and foraging in the meadow.  We totally lucked out and accidentally flushed it from its nest on the ground!  I have always wanted to find a sandpiper nest, but never have!  It was on the ground, with no apparent rim, just a loose concentric gathering of pine needles and pine cone bracts!  I quickly took a picture of the single egg in the nest, and left the vicinity.  What a gift to see it!  It must have been a male Spotted Sandpiper that flew off the nest, as they are the ones that brood the eggs, feed the nestlings, and care for the fledglings.  How cool!

Mallard - Brewer's Backbird - Canada Goose

Anas platyrhynchos - Euphagus cyanocephalus - Branta canadensis

We also saw a female Mallard, six Canada Geese, and a pair of Brewer's Blackbirds.  The sedges and grasses provide food and camouflage for the waterfowl. The multitude of insects that live in the meadow are a great source of food for songbirds!

 Canada Geese - Branta canadensis

On June 9,  2018 I saw these Canada Geese with their goslings on the same wet meadow!  I'll check this meadow again in a few weeks and see if there are any goslings!

Squaw Lake - 6/12/21

Surprising Squaw Lake!

A week ago, I hiked up to Squaw Lake and was delighted with what I observed!  The lake was FULL of water and no one else was there!  I had it to myself!!!  Along the shoreline there were many exoskeltons/exuviae of dragonfly nymphs on the above-water reed stems!  I also saw 10 or more live dragonfly nymphs leaving the lake water and climbing up the stems!  The live nymphs appeared to be covered in algae.  Some were also covered with quite a bit of tree pollen that had washed ashore!  Once a nymph finds the right spot on a plant stem, it slowly dries out and its exuvia splits open along the back.  It then pulls its new adult body out of the exuvia, unfolds and pumps up its wings, dries out some more, and flies away!  The whole process can take from one to three hours!!! 

Dragonfly nymph exoskeleton/exuvia - live nymph

I don't know what species of dragonfly these nymphs were, but there were lots of adult Four-spotted Skimmers in the area.  It was fascinating to watch them!

Such tiny live beings!

Williamson's Sapsucker (female) - Sphyrapicus thyroideus

Just before I got to Squaw Lake I heard an unusual "churring" sound coming from some trees.  I thought it was a bird but didn't know what kind.  I looked and looked and finally saw a medium sized bird on the lower part of a small Lodgepole Pine tree.  Luckily it stayed on the trunk for several minutes, and I  was able to take a lot of photos.  I didn't recognize the bird at all!  When I got back home I was able to identify it as a bird I've never seen before, a female Williamson's Sapsucker!  WOW!!!

It turns out that they are uncommon but live here year-round! The churring sound I heard is described by the the Cornell Lab of Ornithology as, 

"A Scold or Alarm Call. Phonetic spelling is churr with a rolled “r” at the end of each call note, and usually given in series. The most common vocal response to intruders near nest or sap tree; a short, sharp, hoarse guttural role, which drops rapidly in pitch."

So it was verbalizing its annoyance at my presence! 

Williamson's Sapsucker (female) - Sphyrapicus thyroideus

 I didn't realize that it was feeding at its "sap wells" until I looked at my photos on the computer.  The wells explained why is stuck around on that one section of the tree trunk.  I only saw this female.  Apparently the males have a black back and head, a yellow belly, and a red throat!  

The male primarily excavates the nest cavity in a tree trunk. Both the male and female incubate the 4-6 eggs for 12-14 days, brood the nestlings for 31-32 days, and feed the fledglings for several days after they fledge.  Right now is the time for them to be raising their young.  It's possible that there could be a nest in the vicinity. So, I'm going to go back and see if I can find a nest and observe it from a distance.  I'll let you know what I find.  In the meantime, I'm thrilled to have seen this uncommon beautiful sapsucker!

Steller's Jay in the rain - Cyanocitta stelleri

More Damp Earth Art!

The super hot, dry, and windy weather is back. It makes me worried. Anytime I think of it, I focus on rain, rain, rain. My intention is to focus on the need for rain, and through collective positive energy invoke rain to fall. It is just a wish, a thought, and a hope. If you would like to submit some rain inspired art, or writing, or a photo please email me at northyubanaturalist@gmail.com. Check out what's already been submitted at dampearthart.blogspot.com

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

I will be posting new art weekly. Check it out and pray for rain!

Sierra Buttes 6/14/21

What's happening in my neighborhood?

Are there any more nests or baby birds?

Are there any fish or fish-eating mammals in the river?

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 feel free to email me at northyubanaturalist@gmail.com. Thanks!

Large Mammals!

Black Bear  6/12/18 - Ursus americanus

I haven't seen any bears in our neighborhood since last Fall. However, a BIG bear crossed the highway in front of me about two weeks ago, on my way to the Lakes Basin. There are lots of cherry trees in my neighborhood, and right now the cherries are starting to ripen. Bears love cherries! They'll even eat them when they're green! Three years ago, a big Black Bear climbed the cherry tree right next to our house to eat the cherries! He broke lots of branches in the process.  Earlier that week, the same bear tried to break into our garden shed where we had stashed a bag of garbage!  Luckily we were able to scare him off.

Bears are super strong, smart, and resourceful. It's important to keep garbage out of vehicles, and in a secure storage area. If a bear becomes too accustomed to human food, it can become a real problem for residents. It may also lead to the bear's demise, as problem bears are occasionally euthanized by the Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Black Bear  9/14/17 - Ursus americanus

Black Bears are omnivores, but mainly eat insects, grubs, fruit, berries, roots, twigs, buds, honey, and tree cambium. They will occasionally eat carrion when it is available. They range in size from 203-587 pounds, as adults! Adults can run up to 30 mph, and are powerful swimmers and climbers! I was amazed at how quickly this bear climbed down the cherry tree and ran off, once it saw me! It was gone and out of sight in mere seconds! Wow!

Black Bear mating season is from June through early July. The cubs are born approximately 6 months later, sometime in January to early February. The litters range from 1-5 cubs, but 2-3 cubs is the usual size. The cubs weigh 7 ounces when they are born, and will nurse their mother while she is still hibernating! When the cubs emerge in spring they weigh 4.5 -11 lbs! They are totally weaned at 6-8 months, but stay with their mother through the next winter, until they are around 17 months old. Female Black Bears do not tolerate adult males except during their brief mating season. They raise their young on their own.

Columbian Black-tailed Deer (females) - Odocoileus hemionus columbianus

Predator & Prey

Last Friday my neighbor told me that a Mountain Lion had left a dead deer on the road that we usually hike on!  When we got there, several hours later, the Mountain Lion had dragged the deer off the road and down into some bushes.  We saw the drag mark on the road.  It was really hard to see the carcass, but we eventually spotted it.  Later in the week I saw these two young does that were definitely on alert!

The main food of our local Mountain Lions is Mule Deer.  They will also eat mice, rabbits, hares, raccoons, and domestic animals.  They are most active from dusk to dawn,  and can travel long distances looking for prey, up to 15 miles in one night!  They have a poor sense of smell, but have excellent vision and hearing.  They rely on surprise to catch their prey, and can leap 40 to 45 feet in one jump!  They usually kill one deer every 9-12 days. They will eat up to 20 lbs. at one time.  They will cover the remaining carcass with leaves, dirt, and/or pine needles, and feed from it over a period of several days.

Mountain Lions weigh from 140-180 lbs., and are 7'-8' in length.

The foot print of a Mountain Lion is 101 mm, about the size of a baseball. They keep their claws retracted, and are not usually visible in their tracks.

A male Mule Deer weighs 99-231 lbs.  A female weighs 96-165 lbs.  Their shoulder height is approximately 3.5'.  Their length is approximately 5'.  That Mountain Lion must be super strong to drag that deer carcass around!!!

Mountain Lion deer-dragging tracks - deer carcass

The next morning the carcass was gone, and there was a new drag mark crossing the road.  It looked like the Mountain Lion had dragged it back across the road and up a bank.  We didn't go looking for the carcass this time!  We could smell it!

Turkey Vulture - Cathartes aura

There were also about 5 Turkey Vultures hanging around, hoping to get a chance to feed on the carcass! They were HUGE! Turkey Vultures have a wingspan of 59", and a body length of 25"! They eat carrion, which they detect with their keen sense of smell. Their immune system is exceptional, as they never contract botulism, anthrax, cholera or salmonella from the carrion! Their heads are featherless, which keeps the carrion from sticking to them! They usually eat alone, but will occasionally feed on a large carcass with a small group of vultures. Each vulture waits its turn to eat in these groups, as only one vulture eats at a time! They are fairly easy to distinguish in flight, by the lack of wing flapping that occurs! They can soar for hours moving from one updraft to another. Although they are usually solitary, they may roost together in small or large groups in the non-breeding season. Turkey Vultures do not kill any prey, they just eat critters that have been dead for awhile!

American Robin nestlings - Turdus migratorius

Baby Birds!

Lots of birds are feeding their nestlings, some nestlings have fledged, and the ducklings are getting bigger by the day!  This week I discovered a nest with three baby birds in it on one of my walks!  I didn't know what species they were, but iNaturalist.org identified them as young American Robins.  I had no idea they were so striped on their chests!  A few days after I saw them, they were gone!  They must have fledged!  I also saw a pair of Hairy Woodpeckers feeding nestlings in a telephone pole nest!  And, I saw another Common Merganser with 8 little ducklings!  So that makes two mergansers with 8 ducklings each so far!  

I also found a Steller's Jay nest on the ground, and a young nestling on the road about two feet away!  It had been really windy, and that's probably why the nest fell out of the tree.  The nestling had lots of pin feathers, as well as a feathered back and head.  It was alive and good sized but not able to fly.  The parent jays went crazy when I picked the nestling up, but I couldn't leave it in the road.  So I took the nest, wedged it snugly into the crotch of a nearby apple tree and put the nestling in it.  I then stayed away from the nest, hoping the parents would feed it.  After several hours, I snuck back and watched the nest from a distance.  Luckily the parents were feeding it!  Yahoo!!!  For three days the parents fed the nestling in the nest!!  Unfortunately, when we checked the nest yesterday the nestling was gone.  Rats!  We're not sure what happened.  Perhaps it hopped out of the nest and flew away, but its feathers weren't fully developed.  More likely it hopped out of the nest and something caught it on the ground.  The parents aren't around anymore, so that pretty much indicates that the nestling is gone.  It made me sad. There are so many factors that can adversely affect nestlings, such as extreme weather, lack of natural food (eg. too cold for insects to be active), parasitic mites, disease, and predators. Lots of critters prey on bird eggs and baby birds, such as tree-climbing snakes, Pine Martens, Raccoons, squirrels, and other birds. Oh well, it's tough out there in the wild. Hopefully the parents will try again with a new nest and a second brood. 

Nest watching is fascinating but you need to be careful not to disturb the nesting birds. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology recommends the following protocol.

"- Do not check in the early morning. Most birds lay their eggs in the early morning so plan on visiting nests in the late morning or afternoon. Also, most adults will temporarily leave the nest when you are near, and eggs and young nestlings can become cold quickly if left alone in the early morning.

- Avoid nests during the first few days of incubation.-

- Do not approach nests when young are close to fledgling. When the young are disturbed during this stage, they may leave the nest prematurely. Young that fledge prematurely usually do not stay in the nest despite attempts to return them, and their survival rates away from or outside the nest are low.

- When young birds are fully feathered and very alert, only observe the nest from a distance.

- Avoid nests during bad weather. If it is cold, damp, or rainy, postpone checking nests until another day. Checking nests during this time can be very stressful for birds.

-Do not check nests at or after dusk, when females may be returning to the nest for the night."

Hairy Woodpecker (male) - Dryobates villosus

Both of the Hairy Woodpecker parents brood, feed and care for the nestlings (usually 4 in number).  Up until they are 12 days old, the nestlings are brooded by the female during the day and the male at night.  After 12 days, they are feathered enough to stay warm among their siblings.  Initially the nestlings are fed regurgitated food, but as they mature they are fed whole insects. After 28-30 days the nestlings will fledge and leave the nest.  However, they remain dependent upon their parents for food for an additional 2+ weeks. 

The adult woodpeckers I've been watching from a distance, have been bringing whole insects to the nestlings, so they are probably at least 2 weeks old.  Hopefully I'll see some young woodpeckers peaking out of the nest hole soon!

Common Merganser female & 8 ducklings - Mergus merganser

On Monday morning I was thrilled to see this new Common Merganser mom and her 8 tiny  ducklings in the river!  The other merganser I've seen on the river has 8 ducklings as well, but they are much older and bigger!  Yahoo!

Common Merganser female & 8 ducklings - Mergus merganser

These ducklings are precocial when born, and can swim, dive, and feed.  They will stay with their mom for 60-75 days.  If something happens to the mother, the ducklings are perfectly capable of caring for themselves!

House Wren in the Rain

More Damp Earth Art!

We got a 5 minute downpour of rain on Wednesday night and it has cooled off a lot!!! Whew! That hot, dry, windy weather makes me worried. Anytime I think of it, I focus on rain, rain, rain. My intention is to focus on the need for rain, and through collective positive energy invoke rain to fall. It is just a wish, a thought, and a hope. If you would like to submit some rain inspired art, or writing, or a photo please email me at northyubanaturalist@gmail.com. Check out what's already been submitted at dampearthart.blogspot.com

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

I will be posting new art weekly. Check it out and pray for rain!

These rainbow-colored streamers are either caterpillar silken-threads or spider-silk threads!  I just caught them in the sunlight at the right time!  Amazing!

What's happening in the Lakes Basin? 

What other critters eat cherries?

Are there any fish or fish-eating mammals in the river?

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 feel free to email me at northyubanaturalist@gmail.com. Thanks!