The North Yuba River

North Yuba River - 8/24/21

 The smoke from the Dixie/Jarbo Gap fire is diminishing, and we're not getting much smoke from the Caldor Fire yet. Thanks to the supreme efforts of the firefighters, the Dixie Fire is now 45% contained.  So far it has burned 750,672 acres!!! Conditions are still super dry, windy, and hot. I am so, so grateful that there aren't any wildfires near us.

Although every morning has been pretty smoky this week, the late afternoons have been smoke-free, thank goodness!  As soon as the air cleared in the afternoon, I would usually head down to the river to see what was happening.  Having the North Yuba River right outside our door is such a gift!  Its beauty is so uplifting!  It's my treasured refuge!

Confusing Petrophila Moth on a Mint Bush (spearmint)

Petrophila confusalis - Mentha spicata

Last week I noticed this tiny moth (about 1/4" long) on a mint plant, but didn't know what species they were.  My botanist friend, Peggy, identified the plant as a non-native Bush Mint (spearmint), and iNaturalist identified the moth as a Confusing Petrophila Moth.  It turns out that the tiny moth has a very interesting lifecycle!

The following information about their lifecycle is from the website http://nationalmothweek.org/2014/09/05/project-noah-moth-of-the-month-confusing-petrophila/

"For many moths and their larvae, submergence in water can lead to an inevitable death. However, some moths, notably moths in the family Crambidae, subfamily Acentropinae, are able to live underwater as larvae, feeding on algae and aquatic plants. Moth larvae in the genus Petrophila are gilled, and create a silken shelter to hold on to rocks in lotic, or fast flowing, waters. These moths also pupate underwater, creating a small opening to assist in adult emergence. The adults emerge through the cocoon and can either float or swim to the surface, where they reach the stream edge to dry their wings and fly as adults."

However, for females, this is not their last time in the water. After mating, the females of Petrophila confusalis, the species pictured here, form a thin bubble of air to deposit the eggs. The air can last them between four and twelve hours. Females are capable of laying eggs four meters deep, but some skim the surface of the water laying eggs, or crawl along rocks to oviposit on the underside of the rock. The females die in the water after laying their eggs, having made their contribution to the next generation of aquatic Lepidoptera"

What an amazing lifecycle! I had no idea that some moth larvae could live underwater, and breath with gills! I can't imagine these tiny moths diving underwater to lay their eggs! I went back to the same plant a few more times this week and saw three more of these Confusing Petrophila Moths. Interestingly, I didn't find these moths feeding on any of the other nearby flowering plants.

Signal Crayfish claws - River Otters

Pacifasticus leniusculus - Lontra canadensis

Unbelievably, on the river this week I saw three Rivers Otters one day and a Black Bear the next!

The River Otters were slithering through the shallow riffles on the river when I first saw them. They then disappeared underneath the willows along the shoreline. I waited for them to pop up, but they didn't surface nearby! About a minute later they popped up way downstream! I managed to just got a photo of the back of their heads! It must have been a mom with two offspring!!!

I've been seeing lots of River Otter scat on the river rocks lately, usually filled with crushed crayfish exoskeletons. I've also come across leftover crayfish claws, which must not be worth eating!  River Otters will readily eat crayfish, as well as fish, aquatic garter snakes, turtles, crayfish, mussels, molting ducks, frogs, and newts.

Black Bear - Ursus americanus

This Black Bear was halfway submerged and cooling off in the river when I saw it!  It stayed in the same spot the whole time I watched it.  It was a really, really hot afternoon!  It was the first time I've ever seen a bear soaking in the river!  WOW!!!

Great Blue Heron - Osprey

Ardea herodius - Pandion haliaetus

The large birds I usually see on the river are a Great Blue Heron and an Osprey.  The heron is almost 4' tall, with a 6' wingspan. The Osprey is 2' tall, with a 5'+ wingspan. They are almost always solitary. Both of them mainly eat fish. The heron wades into the moving water, waits for an unsuspecting fish to swim by, and then nabs it with its beak. The Osprey usually scans for fish from a tree branch and then dives feet first into the water to catch it! They are amazing to watch!  Aren't they just beautiful?

Mallards - Anas platyrhynchos

New this week, I saw 4 Mallards (probably juveniles) on the river!  They don't usually stick around like the Common Mergansers, and just pass through. Locally, the adults raise their young up in the Lakes Basin. Their winters are typically spent in California's Central Valley.

Black Phoebe (fledgling - adult) - Sayornis nigricans

On several evenings last week, I observed an adult Black Phoebe feeding two fledglings on the edge of the river!  Phoebes are flycatchers, and hawk insects out of the air for food.  The two young fledglings would make a racket and open their beaks whenever the adult approached!  It was so fun to watch them!

Black Phoebe (fledgling - adult) - Sayornis nigricans

 Both the male and female adults feed the nestlings.  However, I couldn't find out if they both feed the fledglings.  I appeared to be only one adult feeding these two fledglings.  Black Phoebes can have two broods per season, and often in the same nest!

Common Merganser - Mergus merganser

All of this year's merganser ducklings are now adult size!  I see this group of three juveniles and one adult female fairly often. The adult female can be distinguished by its dark eyes. The juveniles still have golden eyes with a white stripe below them. Just this week we saw a group of 18 Common Mergansers together on the river! Apparently they are quite social, and are often seen in large groups, but not usually on the North Yuba!

Red-tailed Hawk - Buteo jamaicensis

Down in the Garden!

My husband and I were down in the garden one evening when we heard some twigs snapping above us in a nearby group of cherry trees.  It sounded louder than a Chickaree or Gray Squirrel.  To our surprise a Red-tailed Hawk came down out of the trees, landed on our garden fence, flew 20', and perched on a nearby phone line!  It looked at us for a few seconds before it took off and soared away into the sky!  Wow!  It's not typical behavior for a Red-tailed Hawk to be in the trees, but perhaps it was hunting one of the many squirrels that inhabit our area!  I wasn't sure what kind of hawk it was, but iNaturalist.org identified it as a Red-tailed Hawk.  A few days later I saw two of them flying together in the sky! 

Black-headed Grosbeak - Chipping Sparrow - Savannah Sparrow

Pheucticus melanocephalus - Spizella passerina - Passerculus sandwhichensis

The sunflowers in our garden are starting to go to seed, and are attracting a variety of birds!  Every evening we go down to the garden and watch them feasting on the seeds!  Such beauty!

Mountain Quail (adult - two juveniles)

Oreortyx pictus

This summer I have been pleasantly surprised to see Mountain Quail and their offspring in our neighborhood, often in our garden!  I always thought that they migrated to higher elevations to breed.   Just this week we saw two adults and what I thought was one juvenile.  When I looked at my photos on the computer I realized that it was two juveniles!  One was right behind the other, and so camouflaged they were hard to distinguish from the background!

 

Columbian Black-tailed Deer - Odocoileus hemionus comlumbianus

I've seen these two bucks several times lately, in our neighborhood.  Their antlers are getting nearly full-sized!  In another month or so, the antlers will be fully grown, no longer covered in "velvet", and ready to use in competition for females. Displays and threats often prevent actual battles between males, but battles do occur. Using their antlers, bucks will try to force their competitor to the ground. The buck that loses withdraws from the mating competition. Usually it's the buck with the biggest antlers that wins! A single buck may breed with most does in its area. A doe may breed with several males.

Their antlers will eventually drop off sometime between January and March. The reason why you don't see lots of antlers on the ground in the Summer, is because they have been gnawed on and eaten by a variety of small and large forest critters! Apparently antlers are an excellent source of calcium, phosphorus, and mineral salts!

Locust with Raindrops

Damp Earth Art

The wildfires are still burning, and more have started. I am so grateful that there aren't any fires in our immediate area. My heart goes out to those who have lost their homes in this unprecedented fire season. My unending thanks go to the fire fighters who continue to battle these dangerous fires every day.

I so wish it would rain! 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!

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