Another Year!

Skeleton Weed seeds suspended in spider web threads

Five years ago, on December 23, 2016, I published the first post of my North Yuba Naturalist blog!  272 posts later, I still love sharing my natural history observations and photographs with "the world"!  This year, 7,494 people from 92 different countries visited my blog!  Wow!  A big "thank you" goes to those of you who have sent me your heartfelt comments!  I really appreciate your enthusiasm for my blog!

The smoke and threat of local wildfires curbed my ability to get out in nature this past year, and was also quite stressful. I feel my blogs during last summer and early fall weren't so great. Some were quite brief, some photos were used more than once, and a lot of material from previous blogs was re-used. I apologize for the lapse in focus!  

Despite the smoke, I still managed to see lots of incredible landscapes, birds, wildflowers, and mammals!  I hope you enjoy the photo-composites below of some of the amazing beauty that enchanted me this year!

Pyrocumulus cloud from the Dixie Fire 

Smoky North Yuba River Canyon - Smoky Sierra Buttes

Misty Sierra Buttes from Wild Plum Trail - Spring Blizzard off the Gold Lake Road

Springtime on the Salmon Creek headwaters - Wet meadow near Goose Lake

Helgrammite Lake - North Yuba River

Cottonwoods off of Hwy 49 - Indian Rhubarb on the North Yuba River

Fall pond off the Grassy Lake Trail

I am so grateful for my fabulous camera, a Nikon Coolpix P900.  It has made it possible for me to photograph beauty near and far, time and time again!

Snowy Egrets

Northern Pygmy-Owl - Great Horned Owl

Male Yellow-headed Blackbird - Male American Kestrel

Juvenile Northern Goshawk - Juvenile Sooty Grouse

Sage Thrasher - Male Yellow-breasted Chat

Female Williamson's Sapsucker - Male White-headed Woodpecker

American White Pelicans

I am so grateful for the Cornell Lab of Ornithology 

and their amazing website, birdsoftheworld.org.  The information is incredible as well as the photographs, and recordings of bird songs.

Meadow Penstemon

Showy Penstemon - Showy Phlox

Bitterroot - Naked Broomrape

Confusing Petrophila Moth - Sand/Star Lily

Porterella - Pink Woodland Star

True Baby Stars - Harvest Brodiaea

Mountain Pride

I am also so grateful for the www.calflora.org website. It is an incredible resource for identifying flowers/plants, with 1,000's of photos. The www.bugguide.net website has been my source for identifying the local insects. It too provides 1,000's of photos and an identification service!

American Black Bear female with cubs

Gray Fox - Columbian Black-tailed Deer, doe & fawn

Yellow-bellied Marmot - Lodgepole Chipmunk

Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel - Western Gray Squirrel

River Otter - Columbian Black-tailed Deer, buck

Chickaree/Douglas Tree Squirrel - American Black Bear

Pronghorns

I am so grateful for all the information available about our local mammals on the internet, most notably www.animaldiversity.org. It provides excellent information on the habits of our local wildlife.

Best wishes to all of you for 

the coming New Year!

Check back next week for the latest edition of

northyubanaturalist.blogspot.com!

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Your comments and questions are greatly appreciated!

Please email me at northyubanaturalist@gmail.com