Back in the Lakes Basin!

Sierra Buttes - 5/17/22

The snow has been melting up in the Lakes Basin, so we've started hiking up there again! It is so nice to be back in our favorite, local, "wilderness"! Around 6,000' most of the snow is gone, but there are still lots of big patches of snow at higher elevations. Spring is JUST starting up there, and wildflowers are springing up!  Songbirds have returned, and the air is filled with their songs, calls, chirps, and warbles! It's wonderful!

Long Lake - 5/24/22

One of the hikes we went on was to Hidden Lake, via a cross-country route.  We hiked up a snow-free, south-facing boulder field to get to it.  We like to go there to see these uncommon flowers, Drummond's Anemones, that bloom in the early Spring. Our route was snow-free until we got to the forest near Hidden Lake, where there was still 6" or more of snow on the ground!  Needless to say, the Drummond's Anemones weren't even tiny plants yet.  The area where they usually grow, was still snowy and flooded from snowmelt!  It was still a great hike with fabulous views to the south of Long Lake and the Sierra Buttes!  We'll have to go back again in a few weeks to see if the anemones have blossomed!

Snow Plants - Sarcodes sanguinea

The bright-red Snow Plants are just starting to emerge in the Lakes Basin.  These unusual flowers have no chlorophyll, and are parasitic on False Truffles (Rhizopogon ellenae).  The truffles themselves have a symbiotic relationship with tree roots. The tree roots supply fixed carbon to the truffles, and in return the truffles provide mineral nutrients, water, and protection from pathogens to the tree!  The snow plant takes advantage of this symbiotic relationship, and taps into the fungal/root network and steals sugars!  They can grow to be about a foot or more in height, and an inch or two in stem width!

Steer's Head - Dicentra uniflora

This flower is one of the most aptly named flowers I've ever come across!  It indeed looks like a Steer's Head skull, except that it's a miniature one!  These flowers are one of the first to bloom as the snow recedes, but they are so little (about half the size of your pinky fingernail) that they are super hard to find.  The leaves are way more visible, but they closely resemble the leaves of the local violets, which often cause "false hopes"!  Also, there aren't a lot of them around.  During the course of one whole day we only saw three of them!  They do tend to grow near each other.  So if you see one, carefully look for more in the immediate vicinity.  Additionally, they flower and go to seed within a week or so, so luck needs to be on your side if you want to see them in bloom!  Good luck! They're delightful!

Fawn Lily - Erythronium purpurascens

Fawn Lilies are also one of the early bloomers in the Lakes Basin, popping up in graceful beauty soon after the snow melts!  They grow from bulbs, but can also produce seeds.  Once the flowers are pollinated the petals turn from white to pale pink!  These lovely "ladies" can grow in large groups of a hundred or more individual plants!  

Spring Beauty - Claytonia lanceolata

Spring Beauties are another tiny early-spring bloomer on the forest floor.  The plants can be numerous and cover large areas.  The flowers are tiny, approximately the size of your fingernail.  Their real beauty is only visible if you look at them closely.  The petals have fine, branching, magenta-purple stripes that radiate out from the center of the flowers.  Get down on your hands and knees to enjoy their finely detailed beauty!

Spreading Phlox - Phlox diffusa

Blooming in the areas that are exposed and already hot and dry, are carpets of Spreading Phlox.  Thousands of these flowers grow low to the ground, colored from white to rosy-purple.  Their fragrance is one of my favorite "bouquets" that signal the arrival of spring in the Lakes Basin.  Luckily these plants keep blooming into the summer, and their fragrance greets me on hike after hike!

Globe Gilia - Gilia capitata

Back in my neighborhood, wildflowers are thriving!  Here are some of the ones that have blossomed in the last few weeks!  Enjoy!

Canyon Dudleya - Sierra Stonecrop

Dudleya cymosa - Sedella pumila

Sierra Iris - Iris hartwegii

Mountain Jewelflower - Milkwort Jewelflower - Mountain Jewelflower 

Streptanthus tortuosus - Streptanthus polygaloides - Streptanthus tortuosus

White Brodiaea - Roundtooth Ookow

 Triteleia hyacinthina - Dichelostemma multiflorum

California Skullcap - Scutellaria californica

Bridge's Rose - Winecup Clarkia - Kellogg's Monkeyflower

Rosa bridgesii - Clarkia purpurea - Diplacus kelloggii

Great Blue Heron - Ardea herodias

New River Residents!

A few new birds have arrived on the river this week!  We usually have just one Great Blue Heron year-round on our river.  However, this week another adult has shown up!!!  Perhaps these two will become a mated pair!  How exciting!

Common Merganser (female) and 8 ducklings

 Mergus merganser

To my delight, last Wednesday my husband and I spotted a mama Merganser on the river with her eight ducklings!!!  We had just been talking about the fact that we hadn't seen any female Mergansers in a couple of weeks. We had guessed that they were probably incubating their eggs, and then we saw this little family on the river!  How wonderful! 

Spotted Sandpiper - Actitis macularius

The Spotted Sandpipers returned this week to raise their young!  Yay!  I saw three or more of them flying and calling down by our swimming hole! I just love their polka-dotted breasts and bellies! 

Recent raindrops on Blackfruit Dogwood

Damp Earth Art

It was HOT and WINDY again this week. Luckily it rained last night, and there's a 20% to 50% chance for rain today and tonight!  I hope it POURS!  Hopefully more storms will come through soon. 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.

Wishing for peace in Ukraine and

an immediate end to this senseless war!

What's happening at the local ponds?

What's happening in Carmen Valley?

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

Unfortunately, you can no longer sign up to get my blog via email. Just go to northyubanaturalist.blogspot.com directly. It looks better than the emailed version!

Your questions and comments are greatly appreciated. Please feel free to email me at northyubanaturalist@gmail.com. Thanks!

Carman Valley

 

Carman Valley 5/6/22

One of my absolute favorite places to go in mid to late Spring is Carman Valley.  It is a lovely valley west of Sierra Valley, with a mile or more of wet meadows along Carman Stream. The valley doesn't have the bird population that Sierra Valley has, but it hasn't been grazed by cows in its recent past, and the wildflowers are plentiful. This year the wildflowers were more abundant than I've ever seen before, and the meadows were still full of water!  I've been over there twice already, and hope to go again soon before the meadows dry up!

View of Beckwourth Peak from Carman Valley 5/6/22

I've been a bit overbooked lately, putting on a community art show, so this blog is filled with photos, not words!  Next week I'll have more natural history information to share!  When I came home from Carman Valley, my camera was filled with beauty!  Hope you enjoy the photos!

  

Common Camas Lily - Camassia quamash

The wet meadows were overflowing with thousands of beautiful, knee-high, brilliant purple-blue, Common Camas Lilies! In the Nez Perce language, "camas" means "sweet." The bulbs of these plants were the most important bulb utilized by the Native Americans. Areas where these bulbs were abundant were sometimes fought over!

Western Bistorts - Common Camas Lily

Polygonum bistortoides - Camassia quamash

Among the Camas Lilies, thousands of Western Bistorts were also blooming! 

 Apparently all parts of the Western Bistort are edible, some raw, some cooked. The name refers to its twisted root.

Western Bistorts - Common Camas Lily - Buttercups

Polygonum bistortoides - Camassia quamash - Ranunculus sp.

Among the Camas and Bistorts were bright, shiny, butter-yellow, Buttercups!

It was a botanical paradise!

Common Camas Lily - California Hesperochiron -  Beckwith's Violet

Meadow Baby Blue Eyes - Fan Weed/Penny Watercress

Camassia quamash - Hesperochiron californicus 

Viola beckwithii - Nemophila pedunculata - Thlaspi arvense

In the drier areas different flowers were blooming, along with a few Camas.  Everywhere we went we found new kinds of wildflowers!  So exciting!

Water Plantain Buttercup - Ranunculus alismifolius

We found two species of Buttercups in the meadows, Water Plantain Buttercup (pictured above), and Acrid Buttercups (not pictured)!  Beetles were feasting on the Buttercup pollen!

Hooker's Balsam Root - Balsalmorhiza hookeri

Hooker's Balsam Root is another favorite of mine!  It grows in the hotter, drier areas and is low to the ground.  What's REALLY cool about it is that it smells like CHOCOLATE!  Check it out next time you see some of them.  The fragrance is unmistakable!

Mountain Bluebird (male) - Sialia currucoides

We didn't see a lot of birds in Carman Valley, 

but we saw some beauties and one "uncommon" species! 

Mountain Bluebird (male - female) - Sialia currucoides

The brilliant sky-blue feathers of the male Mountain Bluebird are just incredible! Such Beauty!

Great-tailed Grackle (?) - Quiscalus mexicanus (?)

I'm currently trying to positively identify this UNCOMMON Grackle.  It's probably a Great-tailed Grackle, as one was seen in Sierra Valley last year.  There's a very rare chance that it could be a Common Grackle.  If I had seen its tail, the identification would be instant, but I didn't.  Maybe it will still be there when I return again this coming week. Fingers crossed!

Killdeer (adult) - Charadrius vociferous

I love the bold feathering and the red eye-ring of these handsome shorebirds!

Recent raindrops on a Cherry tree leaf

Damp Earth Art

It was HOT and WINDY this week. There was even a small forest fire about 40 minutes away from us! Luckily the firefighters contained the fire and only 20 acres burned, and one structure was lost! Still kind of scary!

VERY WARM weather is coming this week, and possibly the following week. Hopefully another wet storm will come through soon. 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.

Wishing for peace in Ukraine and

an immediate end to this senseless war!

What's happening at the local ponds?

What's happening in the Lakes Basin?

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

Unfortunately, you can no longer sign up to get my blog via email. Just go to northyubanaturalist.blogspot.com directly. It looks better than the emailed version!

Your questions and comments are greatly appreciated. Please feel free to email me at northyubanaturalist@gmail.com. Thanks!

Neighborhood News!

Black Bear - Ursus americanus

On one of my morning wanders this week, I ran into my friends Jack and Linda on the road.  They had JUST photographed a Black Bear in our neighborhood!  So, naturally I hot-footed it to the location where they had seen it, and luckily it was still there!  Yahoo!  I didn't want to disturb the bear, so I kept my distance, and zoomed in with my camera.  It was foraging in a small grassy area, mainly eating clover!  It didn't appear to be much interested in me, and only looked at me from time to time while it foraged! It was a medium-sized, very healthy looking bear! After just a few minutes I left the bear to himself. I very rarely see Black Bears during the day.  What a thrill it was to watch this one foraging on plants!

Black Bear - Ursus americanus

Black Bears average 3'-3'5'' in height, 4'6"-6'2" in length, and 203 lbs. - 587 lbs. in weight. Despite their large size, they are not usually predators.  They mainly eat insects, grubs, fruit, berries, twigs, bugs, leaves, nuts, roots, the cambium layer of trees, honey, and fish.  Occasionally the will eat small to medium-sized mammals and carrion. They are primarily nocturnal or crepuscular (active at dawn and dusk), but can be seen at any time of the day. Their range is typically 8-10 square miles, and occasionally up to 15 square miles.  Males and females are solitary except briefly during mating. However, offspring will stay with their mother for up to 17 months. I wonder if the three cubs I saw last September, are still with their mother.  Maybe this bear is one of those cubs!

Purple Nightshade - Solanum xanti

Wildflowers are blooming all over my neighborhood right now!  Such beauty!

Here are some of the ones that bloomed recently!  Enjoy!

 

Feathery False Lily of the Valley - Larkspur (species?) - Arrow leaved Balsamroot

Maianthemum racemosa - Delphinium sp. - Balsamorhiza sagittata

I've known the "Feathery False Lily of the Valley" as False Solomon's Seal 

for years!  This is the new name, as listed on calflora.org.

Valley Sky Lupine - Narrow leaved owl's clover/Valley Tassels

 Lupinus nanus - Castilleja attenuata

Pacific Bleedinghearts - Hartweg's Wild Ginger - Drops of Gold

Dicentra formosa - Asarum hartwegii - Prosartes hookeri

I've know the "Drops of Gold" as Fairybells for years! 

Again, another new name as listed on calflora.org!

Hartweg's Wild Ginger - Prosartes hookeri

I came across this large group of Wild Ginger flowers and couldn't resist taking a photo!  They are such unusual, hairy flowers!

Pacific Sanicle - Blue Dicks - Sicklepod Rock Cress

Sanicula crassicaulis - Dipterostemon capitatus - Boechera sparsiflora

Douglas' Sandwort - Minuartia douglasii

Thousands of these Sandworts formed a lacy, ground-mist on a limestone outcrop!

Western Azalea - Rhododendron occidentale

My husband's absolute favorite flower is Western Azalea. They aren't wildflowers, they're shrubs. We usually have to drive quite a bit higher or lower to see them. They're always in a streamside, damp, wet environment.  To my absolute delight, I found a large bank of them in full bloom right along the river in my neighborhood this week!  The fragrance of the hundreds of flowers was heavenly!  Some were mostly all white, some had pink on the back of their petals and a pink strip inside the flower, while others had a yellow stripe inside the flower.  It turns out that the Western Azalea is "variable in coloration"!  The length of both the pistil and stamens is amazing!  We had never noticed this bank of azaleas before! Considering the size and number of bushes, they've been here a long time!  What a treasure to find!

Poison Oak - Toxicodendron diversilobum

Poison oak is fully leafed-out and in full bloom right now, so beware.  The urishiol in the plants can cause a very irritating ITCHY, oozy, rash.  I never got a reaction as a kid, but now as an adult I really react.  So be careful and don't touch it, even though it's pretty!

Anna's Hummingbird (female) on Applegate's Paintbrush

Calypte Anna on Castilleja applegatei

Migratory Birds

Lots of birds have recently arrived in our neighborhood.  Some, like the Anna's Hummingbird pictured above are short-distance migrants.  Others are long distance migrants.  Some will nest in our neighborhood, while others are just passing through. I don't have time this week to write about each one.  I'll right more as the nesting season progresses.  In the meantime, here's photos of the ones that arrived in the past two weeks.  Enjoy!

Black-headed Grosbeak (female-male) - Pheucticus melanocephalus

Violet-green Swallow (females) - Tachycineta talassina

Nashville Warbler (female) - Leiothlypis ruficapilla

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

North Yuba River - 5/9/22

Damp Earth Art

It got COLD this week, and we got about an inch of snow on the ground and some rain! The official total is about .25" of precipitation, but our personal rain gauge measured 9/10 of and inch! 

WARM weather is coming this week, and possibly the following week. Hopefully another wet storm will come through soon. 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.

Wishing for peace in Ukraine and

an immediate end to this senseless war!

Snow Plant Emerging - 5/05/22

What's happening in the Lakes Basin?

What's blooming in Carmen Valley?

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

Unfortunately, you can no longer sign up to get my blog via email. Just go to northyubanaturalist.blogspot.com directly. It looks better than the emailed version!

Your questions and comments are greatly appreciated. Please feel free to email me at northyubanaturalist@gmail.com. Thanks!