Neighborhood Sightings

Icicles on Dendroalsia Moss

Once again icicles are hanging from some of the mosses in our neighborhood! The reason why the moss itself doesn't freeze, is that during winter moss has a natural anti-freeze (glycerol, sucrose etc.) in its cells! This lowers the temperature at which water freezes, so the plant cells aren't frozen and damaged. Lots of plants use this anti-freeze technique to survive the winter, including most evergreen shrubs and trees, some ferns, succulents, and liverworts!

Pacific Stonecrop - Sedum spathulifolium

In our area, among all the moss, ferns, and lichens, Pacific Stonecrop, a succulent, grows profusely! In addition to the aforementioned "anti-freeze" strategy, these succulents go dormant in the winter, and enter into a state of temporary metabolic inactivity or minimal activity. They are in the Crassulaceae family of plants that have thick succulent leaves, a thick waxy cuticle and Crassulacean Acid Metabolism. The thick leaves provide storage areas for water during dry conditions. The thick waxy cuticle helps keep the plant from drying out or freezing. 

The Crassulacean Acid Metabolism is a modified form of CO2 fixation and photosynthesis that takes place at night.  Instead of the stomata being open during the day, in succulents the stomata are open at night. As a result, the loss of water (transpiration) during the day is minimized and carbon dioxide (CO2) uptake occurs in the dark.  

Orbus-seeded Liverworts - Targionia hypophylla

  

Also living among the moss, ferns and lichens are the plants that I thought were fern gametophytes, but are actually liverworts! Like ferns and mosses, Liverworts produce spores rather than flowers and have gametophyte/sporophyte stages. Rather than having distinct stems and leaves, liverworts have a combined structure called a thallus that branches creating flattened lobes.

  

Liverwort Life Cycle ©Wikimedia Commons

The life cycle of a Liverwort is similar to, but different than, a fern life cycle. Refer to my blog "Local Ferns" on 12/11/2021, to compare them!

Microscopic image of a Tardigrade
©https://cloudfront.net/images

Also living among the moss and lichens are one of my favorite tiny critters, the Moss Piglets/Water Bears/Tardigrades. I have written about them in previous blogs, but just had to mention them again because they are so cool!  They are active in the damp, wet time of the year, and dormant in the hot and dry seasons.  They are usually clearish and can be seen with a dissecting microscope, but not with your naked eye.  They have eight legs, with three claws each, and two cell piercing stylets which they use to suck the juices out of plant cells, nematodes, and rotifers. They have nervous and digestive systems, but no circulatory or respiratory systems!  The following detailed information about them is from the website at

https://infinitespider.com/tardigrades-introducing-moss-piglet-water-bear/.  This website also has directions on how to collect and observe Tardigrades if you're curious!

"Tardigrades belong in the phylum Tardigrada.  They're aquatic invertebrates commonly found in the base of mosses and lichens; though they can also be found around the world, from the heights of the Himalayas to the depths of hot springs. They are known as extremophiles, meaning that they can live in places on Earth that most creatures couldn't handle. They can endure temperatures of absolute zero, pressure higher than that of the deepest oceans, radiation that would kill all other animals, and they can go without food or water for more than 10 years!

If their little ponds or the water around the base of the mosses where they live dries up then the tardigrades undergo ANHYDROBIOSIS or life without water. The water bear injects sugar into its cells to replace water loss. It then pulls in all its legs, curls into a barrel shape called a 'tun', and enters a death-like state. This can last up to 10 years (but they can also revive with water in about an hour)! Water bears can also enter cryobiosis (dormant state due to cold), osmobiosis (dormant state due to solutes like salt in water), and anoxybiosis (dormant state due to lack of oxygen). The ability to withstand extreme temperature, pressure, radiation, dehydration, toxins and the vacuum of outer space have made water bears highly valued and studied by researchers. They are the only animals proven to survive in space, and they were sent up in the Space Shuttle Endeavour and the Italian STS-134 probe."

Convergent Ladybird Beetles - Hippodamia convergens

Due to the warm temperatures Ladybird Beetles are busy mating and crawling all over the place! They're on tree trunks, twigs, pine needles, leafless bushes, and in the grasses. It's kind of scary to see them active this early! We are all hoping this warm weather is just temporary, and winter storms will return soon!

Downy WP (fem.) - Red-breasted Sapsucker (adult) - Downy WP (male)

Dryobates pubescens - Sphyrapicus ruber - Dryobates pubescens

Downy Woodpeckers live here year-round. They will excavate a roosting cavity for winter, and return to it every night! Yesterday I saw a male and female perching near each other. They are probably a "couple" as Downy Woodpeckers pair bond in the fall. They mainly eat insects, fruits, and berries.

Red-breasted Sapsuckers are also here year-round. This one was visiting the rows of small wells it had drilled in the trunk of an apple tree. It will eat the sap that oozes out of the wells, as well as any insects that get stuck in the sap! They will also eat the cambium layer of the tree, that is just under the bark! I just love its brilliant-red head, neck and breast!

Pacific Chorus/Treefrog - Pseudacris regilla

I went for a short walk down in Canyon Creek and was surprised to see a Tree Frog, in brown camouflage, in one of the shallow ponds! They come in 3 different color phases, green, brown, and gray. They change their color to blend into the background. The less contrast between their color, and their immediate environment, the less chance they will be spotted by predators. The complete color change takes approximately two weeks.

These tiny frogs are only 2" big, but they have loud voices! The male frogs (Female frogs don't croak!) are some of the loudest croakers of the frog world! Right now is the time that males are croaking to attract a mate. Breeding season is from January to May.  Male frogs have a dark patch on their throat, which is their inflatable vocal sack. They usually croak at night, in ponds, where the females will lay their gelatinous eggs after mating. The tadpoles will hatch from the eggs in 1-3 weeks. The newly hatched tadpoles spend 7 to 12 weeks in their pond, maturing into an adult frog.

They spend the winter buried under forest duff. Just like insects, fish, and plants they replace fluids in their body with a type of anti-freeze to keep their cells from freezing. Once they emerge in Spring, they eat spiders, beetles, flies, ants and other insects. When they sense that an insect is near, they commonly twitch a toe to attract it, then snatch it up with their tongue!

Red-shouldered Hawk - Buteo lineatus

I've seen a Red-shouldered Hawk in our neighborhood several times over the last two weeks! I wonder if it's the same one that caught a quail near our garden a few weeks ago. Typically they live in lower elevations, but have increased their range up into our area. Riparian areas are their preferred habitat. Red-shouldered Hawks eat reptiles, amphibians, small mammals, and occasionally birds, such as Mourning Doves, House Sparrows, and Starlings. 

Every time I've seen it, it has been perched along the edge of the river.  One time I saw it was quite near the river shore.  It was perched on some branches that were on the ground.  As I watched it, it flew out of sight to the right.  Moments later a Bald Eagle took off from the same area and flew upriver!  WOW!!!  It happened so fast I didn't get a photo, but it was wonderful to watch!  Perhaps the Red-shouldered Hawk was trying to get a fish that the Eagle might have been eating!  I'll never know!

River Otter - Lontra canadensis

Around 4:30 one afternoon we were walking along the river when I spotted a River Otter just upriver from us! It dove underwater, surfaced on the shoreline for a few seconds and then totally disappeared! WOW!!! I only got one lucky photo during the seconds that we observed it! What a treat to see this beautiful animal!

Botta's Pocket Gopher - Thomomys bottae

Up at the cemetery before the big snowstorm, I spotted a Botta's Pocket Gopher flinging out dirt from underground. Now that the snow is melting I'm finding 2" wide, raised mounds of dirt that are a maze of connecting squiggly lines. These raised mounds are the result of the gopher compacting the snow into tunnels, on the surface of the ground under the snow, and then filling them with dirt from underground! They dig tunnels underground while looking for roots and bulbs to eat, as well as to make sleeping/nesting chambers. Their large front teeth are located in front of their "lips", which can close and keep dirt out of their throat! They are called "pocket" gophers, because they have external cheek pouches in which they carry food or dirt!

Damp Earth Art

Once again we had more sunny days in the 50's, cold nights in the 20's, and some very WINDY days! The lack of rain is worrisome, and none is in the  forecast for next week. Please join me in my continuing hope for precipitation! Perhaps our collective efforts may help it happen. I'm going to keep posting rain inspired writings, art, etc. on my blog at dampearthart.blogspot.com. Any submissions would be greatly appreciated.

What's happening down in the foothills?

What's happening on the river?

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

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