The view north from the Steel Bridge - 5/30/22
In the last month and a half I've visited Sierra Valley four times! Every time I go, I see amazing wildlife! Last week I wrote about the Pronghorns we've seen. This week I'll focus on the wildflowers and the birds! Right now there are lots of flowers in bloom, the valley is green and lush, and many different migratory birds have arrived for the summer.
Canal filled with blooming California Damasonium
Damasonium californicum
In addition to the main Feather River channel in Sierra Valley, there are miles of water-filled, small canals along the roadsides. Right now some of the canals are overflowing with California Damasonium, a native pond-dwelling plant. The one inch, white flowers have delicately fringed petals! Such abundant beauty!
Porterellas with unidentified composites
Porterella carnosula
Stunning lavender swaths of blooming Porterella flowers, intermixed with yellow composite flowers, painted parts of the valley floor! I have never seen this many Porterellas (millions!) before! We were stunned and amazed by this show of flowers! What a gift!
Western Blue Flag Iris - Larkspur sp. - Meadow Penstemon
Iris missouriensis - Deplphinium sp. - Penstemon rydbergii
Many other flowers grew along the roadsides and out in the fields. Although not as prolific as the Porterella and Damasonium, they were delightful to see!
Tansy leaf Evening Primrose - Buttercups sp. - Yellow Owl's Clover
Taraxia tanacetifolia - Ranunculus sp. - Castelleja campestris
There were definitely more flowers in Sierra Valley this week than I've ever seen before! If you can, get over there and see this incredible spectacle before it dries out!
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Sandhill Crane - Antigone canadensis
The birds were also incredible these past few weeks! To our delight a Sandhill Crane couple built their nest in an area that was visible from the road, so we checked on it every time we went to Sierra Valley. Sandhill Cranes mate for life. Both parents share in the 30-day incubation of the eggs. One time while we were there, the adult got off the nest and revealed two large eggs! (see inset photo above)!
Sandhill Crane - Antigone canadensis
Adult Sandhill Cranes are not sexually dimorphic, so I couldn't tell if it was a male or a female on the nest. It was such a rare treat to be able to see these nesting Cranes!
(I have written a LOT about Sandhill Cranes in past blogs. If you'd like to learn more about them, just enter "Sandhill Crane" in the "search this blog" bar on the top right of this page.)
Sandhill Crane - Antigone canadensis
Another time we were there both parents were off the nest and calling to each other! Just this week, the eggs apparently hatched and the family is gone! We saw one egg in the nest, which upon closer examination with my telephoto lens I realized was an empty eggshell! We did see a very distant pair of cranes, perhaps they were the ones that had the nest, and are now raising their young!
White-faced Ibis - Plegadis chihi
To our delight, last week there were hundreds of White-faced Ibis feeding in the fields! In the right light you can see the maroons, browns, and greens of their iridescent feathers. They have incredibly long, curved bills with which they probe the wetlands for insects, crustaceans, earthworms, and fly larvae.
Willet - White-faced Ibis
Tringa semipalmatus - Plegadis chihi
Willets also forage in the wetlands for insects, mainly beetles, as well as aquatic insects, spiders, and fish. We only saw a total of three Willets in our visits to Sierra Valley. I love the busy brown and white barring in their plumage.
American Bittern - Botaurus lentiginosus
To my TOTAL delight, just yesterday we came across an American Bittern! WOW!!! They are secretive and uncommon, so every time I see one I am thrilled! This one fortunately froze in position and didn't move for five minutes!!! I was able to walk past it and back again, at a distance, and take tons of photos. Bitterns are large birds, though not long legged. Their body is 28" long, and they weigh 1.5 lbs!
American Bittern - Botaurus lentiginosus
The photo above shows their traditional pose, with their beak pointing up. The striping on their chest works like camouflage when they're in the tall reeds. We just lucked out seeing it out in the open!
(I have written a LOT about American Bitterns in past blogs. If you'd like to learn more about them, just enter "American Bittern" in the "search this blog" bar on the top right of this page.)
American Coot - American Coot baby - Pied-billed Grebe
Fulica americana - Podilymbus podiceps
There were many kinds of waterfowl in the wetlands, but I don't have time to write about them all today. I did want to mention that the insert photo above is a bad photo of a very secretive baby Coot, with a bright orange-red bill! We also saw a baby Pied-billed Grebe, but it was too quick to photograph! How exciting!
Redhead (male-female) - Aythya americana
I had never seen a Redhead before, so I was thrilled to see several,
including a couple! Apparently, some of the females practice "nest parasitism", and will lay their eggs in other ducks nests, just like the native Brown-headed Cowbirds!
Ruddy Duck (female-male) - Oxyura jamaicensis
These broad-billed ducks are hard to photograph, as they duck underwater if they sense you're looking at them!
Yellow-headed Blackbird (male - female) - Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus
There were lots of songbirds but the species that stood out the most were the male Yellow-headed Blackbirds. They were SO stunning! Their loud, coarse, calls filled the air along the wetlands!
Yellow-headed Blackbird (male - female) - Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus
In comparison, the female is quite drab! These birds will nest and raise their young in Sierra Valley. In the fall, they will migrate as far south as southern Mexico to overwinter!
A recent raindrop!
Damp Earth Art
We got an AMAZING 1.25" of rain over last weekend!!! YAHOO! The petrichor was such a welcome fragrance! Just wonderful! More rain is predicted for the next 48 hours! I hope it POURS! Hopefully more storms will keep coming. 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!
This is a Red-tailed Hawk wing feather! Check out the following website if you need to identify a bird feather, https://www.fws.gov/lab/featheratlas. It's amazing!
Where did all the songbirds in our neighborhood overwinter?
What's happening in the Lakes Basin?
Check back next week for the answers to these questions and more!
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Your questions and comments are greatly appreciated. Please feel free to email me at northyubanaturalist@gmail.com. Thanks!
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