A few smoke-free Days!

Sierra Buttes

We had four beautiful, clear-sky, smoke-free days this week!  It was such a reprieve from the smoky weeks we've been having! I couldn't stay away from the Lakes Basin!  Three days in a row I hiked the trails with friends, in my home away from home.  We saw an amazing amount of wildlife, wildflowers, and waterfowl thriving despite the previous heat and smoke!  It was so encouraging! 

Sierra Buttes

Yellow-bellied Marmot - Marmota flaviventris

 To our delight we came across an adult (probably female) Yellow-bellied Marmot with two offspring, in a forest with lots of vegetation, boulders, and fallen trees!  My friend Judy spotted the large female on a log. Then Diane spotted a juvenile near the adult, and I spotted another juvenile a little ways away on a boulder!  WOW!!!  I had seen a juvenile Marmot right in the same area last year, on August 9th, almost exactly a year ago!  We were thrilled!

Yellow-bellied  Marmots are the most common large rodent in the Sierra, and generally live underneath rocky talus slopes from 5,400' to 14,000' near vegetated meadows. Most reside in underground colonies of about ten to twenty individuals, consisting of males, females, and their offspring. Their underground tunnels have many side passages, in which they raise their young, hibernate, and hide from predators. There is only one breeding season per year, which starts two weeks after they wake up from hibernation. The males mate with up to four females in a season. The females give birth to 4-5 pups, after a 30 day gestation period. The pups are born in April or early May, and are blind and naked at birth. Within two months they are weaned and can forage for food, consisting of plant material, insects, and bird eggs.

Yellow-bellied Marmots (juveniles) - Marmota flaviventris

The young marmots remain with their mother until the following summer, even hibernating with her. Marmots hibernate for approximately eight months starting in September and lasting till May. In the Fall, they put on a layer of fat that sustains them through hibernation.  During hibernation, young marmots will lose up to 50% of their body fat! The male of the harem drives out the male offspring upon their awakening from hibernation. Female offspring are allowed to remain in the harem. The young males then dig their own burrows and start looking for female mates to start their own harem. 

Chipmunk - Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel

Tamias sp. - Spermophilus lateralis

We also saw Chipmunks and Golden-mantled Ground Squirrels busy eating plants and seeds in the same area as the Marmots!  Some of the chipmunks were climbing the tall, thin, three-foot stalks of the Alpine Knotweed to get to the seeds!  

There are several different species of chipmunks in the Lakes Basin, all in the Tamias genus, but it's difficult to determine which ones we saw. Individual species are determined by fur color, stripe color, ear size, distinctive markings, and geographic location. Some of the possible species are Lodgepole Chipmunk, Long-eared Chipmunk, Yellow-pine Chipmunk, and Shadow Chipmunk!

All chipmunks have black and white facial stripes, and 5 dark stripes separated by 4 pale stripes on their back and sides. They also have large, internal, fur-lined pouches to carry food. At this time of year, Chipmunks are busy storing seeds, nuts, fruits, and forbs for the winter. They do not hibernate. Instead, they sleep a lot and wake up periodically to eat their stored food. Their winter burrows are usually underground or in a hollow tree limb.

The Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel also stores fat for winter hibernation. In the fall their main food is conifer seeds. They will also eat fungi, insects, vegetation, nuts, and fruits when available. They store food in their dens before they hibernate, mainly to be eaten in the spring when hibernation ends. Some Golden-mantled Ground Squirrels wake up periodically during hibernation and feed on this stored food. Their hibernation period usually begins in October and ends in May. The obvious physical difference between Chipmunks and Golden-mantled Ground Squirrels is the lack of stripes on the squirrel's head.

Lost Lake - 8/5/21

Inset photo: Spiny-tailed Fairy Shrimp - Southern Long-toed Salamander larva

Streptocephalus sealii - Ambystoma macrodactylum sigillatum

On one of our hikes we went to Lost Lake, which is really more of a pond.  To our surprise it still had water in it, as well as Southern Long-toed Salamander Larvae and a few Spiny-tailed Fairy Shrimp! 

The following information on Southern Long-toed Salamanders has been summarized or quoted from the website at https://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/animals/amphibian. 

"Migration to breeding waters begins in winter during spring snowmelt. Sustained temperatures above freezing and abundant, free soil water apparently trigger migration. Migration almost always occurs at night. Long-toed salamanders in cold climates crawl on top of and beneath snow to reach breeding ponds; the ponds are often still partially frozen during mating. In all locales, males arrive at ponds before females and generally stay for longer periods of time. Females leave soon after depositing their eggs. They attach eggs to vegetation, submerged wood, or rocks. in small clusters. The breeding period lasts about a month."

The larvae spend 1-2 years as aquatic larvae, before they emerge from the ponds as adults. While underwater they breathe with gills that are located on both sides of their body, right above their front legs. You can just see them in the photo above right. As larvae they feed on aquatic insects, copepods, ostracods, snails, leeches, annelid worms, and tadpoles! If the pond starts to dry out before they mature into adults, they seek cover under previously submerged rocks or pieces of wood and enter into brumation. Sometimes they form ball-shaped aggregations under these objects, with 15-43 individuals!!! As adults these salamanders seek cover under large rotting logs for most of the year. I have looked for the adults, but have never seen them.  I'll just have to keep looking!

We only saw a few Spiny-tailed Fairy Shrimp, but we had never seen them in Lost Lake before! They are 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 typical life span is 3-4 months. 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!  Perhaps some cysts were transported from another pond to Lost Lake, on the feet of a shorebird!

Bufflehead - Mallards

Bucephala albeola - Anas platyrhynchos

On almost every pond or lake in the Lakes Basin you count on seeing some waterfowl. The usual species are Mallards, Mergansers, and Buffleheads, but I've also seen a few Grebes. Right now most of the ducklings are almost full size.  In most cases, it is the females that care for the juvenile ducklings.

Mallards (juveniles) - Anas platyrhynchos

These young Mallards were making little alarm calls that I've never heard before, so I made a super-short video of them, which you can view just below!  It doesn't play instantly, just wait a little while, and click on the second arrow that shows up.

Common Mergansers (female with juveniles) - Mergus merganser

 

Fireweed - Chamerion angustifolium

Lots of wildflowers are still blooming in the damp shady areas of the Lakes Basin!  Fireweed is profusely blooming right now, as are the asters and goldenrod.  Such abundant beauty!

Goldenrod - Alpine Aster

 Solidago sp. - Orostemma apligenum

I didn't look closely enough to correctly identify this goldenrod.  

I'll check it out the next time I go hiking!

Hiker's Gentian - Alpine Gentian

 Gentianopsis simplex - Gentiana newberryi

Along the shady edges of lakes I recently found a few 

of these lovely gentians in bloom! They are only about 2-3" tall.

Great Spangled Fritillary - Orange Sulphur

Speyeria cybele leto  - Colias eurytheme

We saw lots and lots of Fritillary Butterflies, of several species, and Orange Sulphur Butterflies in the meadows this week!  So pretty!

Smoke covered Sun 8/7/21

Damp Earth Art

After four beautiful clear days, we have been inundated with heavy smoke from all the wildfires to the north, west, and east.  Luckily we don't have any fires nearby.  The Dixie/Jarbo Gap Fire has increased exponentially, and over 30,000 people have been evacuated from their homes.  The town of Greenville has been devastated.  We can't do anything about the drought, the wind, hot temperatures and fires.  Worry makes it harder to bear.  So anytime I think of it, I think 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.  I've created a blog, dampearthart.blogspot.com, where I post photographs, quotes, and artworks that feature rain.  

If you'd like to submit some work to be posted on this blog, please email me at northyubanaturalist@gmail.com.  I'll be posting new art weekly, check it out and pray for rain!

  

What's happening down in the garden?

Is anything blooming at the lower elevations?

Check back next for the answers to these questions and more.

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