Berries, Nuts, and Seeds in Abundance!

 Chipmunk in Bitter Cherry Bush - Tamias sp. & Prunus emarginata

Right now there is a lot of ripe food in the forests of the Lakes Basin! In the past few weeks wild berries have turned red, green cones have matured, and flowering plants have gone to seed.  Evidence of animals eating this abundance is everywhere!

It appears to be quite a berry year!  Some years there aren't many berries at all.  It took this photo several years ago (and used it in a blog) but just had to post it again.  I love how this chipmunk is touching a bitter cherry and is ready to eat it!

 Bitter Cherry - Prunus emarginata

This year the Bitter Cherry bushes are loaded with berries!  It's a valuable food source for the local mule deer, black bear, small mammals, rodents, and various birds.

Blue Elderberry - Red Osier Dogwood - Mountain Ash

Sambucus Mexicana - Cornus sericea - Sorbus californica

There are many plants "in berry" right now.  Blue Elderberry, Red Osier Dogwood, and Mountain Ash are some of the most common ones. These are all eaten by the local mammals and birds.

Mountain Ash - Sorbus californica

This year the Mountain Ash has an ABUNDANCE of berries! The berries are eaten by a variety of birds, as well as squirrels, rabbits, bear, and deer.

Red Fir Cones - Abies magnifica

This year there are TONS of green cones on the firs and pines in the Lakes Basin. Depending upon the species of tree, cones can take 2-3 years to mature. The cones we are seeing now started growing several years ago. Most of the literature I've read, states that trees produce lots of cones when they are stressed. For the past four years, we've been in an extended period of drought and the trees are stressed by the lack of water. 

White-headed Woodpecker (female) - Clark's Nutcracker (adult)

Dryobates albolarvatus - Nucifraga columbiana

Many birds eat the seeds from conifer cones.  These seeds (or nuts) are the main source of food for White-headed Woodpeckers and Clark's Nutcrackers.

California Red Fir - California Red Fir - Western White Pine

Abies magnifica - Abies magnifica - Pinus monticola

The woody, green cones visible on the trees are the female cones that contain seeds. The male pollen cones are tiny in comparison, don't look like cones, and disintegrate within a season. FIR cones sit upright on the tops of the trees (except for Douglas Fir cones, which hang down). PINE cones hang down from the trees. Most of the woody cones you find on the ground are female pine cones. Female fir cones are not as woody, and usually dry-up and fall apart while they are still on the tree. 

Chipmunk - Tamias sp

Chipmunks hibernate during the winter. Right now they are eating lots of food, and storing up some fat for the winter. Their diet consists of conifer seeds, fungi, flowers, berries, various nutlets, and insects. They will also store small caches of food underground, to consume before and immediately after hibernation.

Chipmunks and Squirrels are busy right now cutting green cones off the trees, and eating or storing the ripe seeds. Like skinny left-over corn cobs, the woody cores of cones litter the forest floor!

Chickaree/Douglas Tree Squirrel - Tamiasciurus douglasii

Chickaree/Douglas Tree Squirrels do not hibernate in the winter! They store 100's of cones on the ground, in large caches for winter! They will dig down through the snow to eat the seeds in these stored cones! They do not live underground. Their nests are mainly found in hollow trees, or abandoned woodpecker cavities, 15'-20' above the ground. They will also sometimes build a ball or cup-shaped nest out of leaves and twigs, up in the branches of a tree.

Cassin's Finches - Red-breasted Nuthatch - Mountain Chickadee

 Haemorhous cassinii - Sitta canadensis - Poecile gambeli

Every time I drive on a forest road lately, in certain areas large flocks of birds take off from the ground when I approach.  I'm assuming they're foraging on the ground for seeds.  Seeds make up the diet of many, many birds especially in fall and winter.  We recently saw lots of Cassin's Finches in one area, where the nasal calls of the Red-breasted Nuthatch were frequently heard, and Mountain Chickadees foraged on the forest floor!

Gray's Lovage - Anderson's Thistle - Cow Parsnip

Ligusticum grayi - Cirsium andersonii - Heracleum maximum

A LOT of the flowering plant in the Lakes Basin have recently gone to seed. Recently I've noticed the Cow Parsnips, Gray's Lovage, and Anderson's Thistles releasing seeds.  Many more are still in bloom and will go to seed over the next few weeks.

 Corn Lilies -Veratrum californicum

Late Bloomers!

The meadows have mainly dried, but some of them still have plants in bloom.  This year the Corn Lilies didn't bloom.  There probably wasn't enough water for them to produce flower stalks at the right time.  Maybe next year! I think they're gorgeous even when they dry up!  Enjoy these late bloomers!

Hooded Ladies Tresses - Sneezeweed - Western Ladies Tresses

Spiranthes romanzoffiana - Helenium bigelovii - Spiranthes porrifolia

Subalpine Aster - California Grass of Parnassus - Fireweed

Aster intergrifolius - Parnassia palustris- Chamerion angustifolium

Yarrow - Bolander's Yampah - Ranger Buttons

Achillea millefolium - Perideridia bolanderi - Sphenosciadium capitellatum

Damp Earth Art

Once again, more HOT weather has come in this week with no rain in sight. 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.

This is a Rainbow Trout in a meadow creek!

What's changing 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!

Lakes Basin Sightings!

Rufous or Allen's Hummingbird (male) on a Hemlock - Selasphorus sp.

Since the air has been clear this summer, I go up to the Lakes Basin to hike as often as possible.  One week, I even went up there 5 times! The more I get out there, the more I see!  I love seeing familiar birds, mammals, and plants all thriving together year after year.  I also love seeing new species of any kind!  This year I've seen quite a few new plants, more mammals than usual, and some birds that I haven't seen for a while.  It's been fabulous and fascinating! 

The humming bird pictured above might be a Rufous or an Allen's Hummingbird.  Apparently these two hummers are very difficult to differentiate in the field.  Neither one of them breeds in our area, but they migrate through in the spring and fall.  The Rufous Hummingbird is the more likely choice, as its broad migratory path includes our area.  The Allen's Hummingbird migrates through central California, but not so much up in our area.

I saw several of these beautiful orange and green hummers up on a rocky slope where there were so many Crimson Columbines blooming that they were a tangle of blossoms!  I watched them feed on the columbines, chase each other, and check me out, for an hour!  So glad they migrate through our area!  Such beauty!

Western Tanager - Piranga ludoviciana

Almost every time I've hiked in the Lakes Basin this summer, I've seen a male Western Tanager or two!  Their bold coloration makes them hard to miss! In comparison the females have dull, greenish-yellow heads and breasts, and are quite camouflaged!  The males will start molting their bright red feathers this month.  By October they will only have a reddish cast around their bill.  These gorgeous birds will migrate down to southern Mexico or Central America for the winter.

Black-backed Woodpecker (female) - Picoides arcticus

One late afternoon, just as I was getting into my car to head home, a female Black-backed Woodpecker landed on a nearby tree!  WOW!  It was only there for a few seconds before it flew off!  I noticed it because it had a very harsh call. I've seen these "uncommon to rare" birds several times in the last few years!  They mainly feed on wood-boring beetle larva in the trunks of recently-dead and dying trees.  Unfortunately, lots of trees are dying in our forests because of these beetle larvae. Will this make the local Black-backed Woodpecker population increase?  I hope so!  Since the early 1900's, the population has been in decline due to the practice of fire suppression and the logging of burnt forests.

Olive-sided Flycatcher (adult) - Cassin's Finch (female) - Mountain Bluebird (male) 

Contopus cooperi - Haemorhous cassinii - Sialia currucoides

The three birds pictured above are commonly seen in the Lakes Basin.

The Olive-sided Flycatcher repeatedly calls "What PEEVES you? according to the John Muir Laws natural history book.  We think he's saying "I LOVE you!"

This little flycatcher will fly all the way down to Bolivia to spend the winter!

The female Cassin's Finches are camouflaged quite well with their streaky breasts.  I'm pretty sure this one had a young fledgling nearby (see photo below). They will spend the winter in Nevada, Idaho, Utah, or even in northern Mexico.  

The male Mountain Bluebirds are such a brilliant sky blue! These beautiful birds are known to breed in the Lakes Basin!  They will migrate down to southern California, or northern Mexico for the winter.

Clark's Nutcracker (adult) - Nucifraga columbiana

I was also lucky to see and hear a Clark's Nutcracker up at one of the lakes last week!  I haven't seen any in several years!  It flew around the lake calling loudly, landed high in a dead tree, dropped down to a fallen tree in the lake, and drank some water!!!  WOW!!!  We only occasionally see them at the higher elevations in the Lakes Basin.  What a treat it was to watch and listen to this raucous member of the Corvid family!  The following information is from the website allaboutbirds.org at the Cornell Lab.

"High in the mountains of the West, gray-and-black Clark’s Nutcrackers swoop among wizened pine trees, flashing white in the tail and wing. They use their dagger-like bills to rip into pine cones and pull out large seeds, which they stash in a pouch under their tongue and then carry away to bury for the winter. Each birds buries tens of thousands of seeds each summer and remembers the locations of most of them. Seeds they don’t retrieve play a crucial role in growing new pine forests.

The Clark's Nutcracker feeds its nestlings pine seeds from its many winter stores (caches). Because it feeds the young on stored seeds, the nutcracker can breed as early as January or February, despite the harsh winter weather in its mountain home."

Dark-eyed Junco (juvenile) - Cassin's Finch (juvenile) - Green-tailed Towhee (juvenile) 

Junco hyemalis - Haemorhous cassinii - Pipilo chlorurus

Just this past week I've seen several juvenile songbirds in the Lakes Basin! Odds are quite slim that a baby bird survives, so I am so pleased to see these young ones that have made it!  I'm not positive that the juvenile on the left is a Dark-eyed Junco.  I've posted it on iNaturalist.org and I'll let you know what they decide.

California Mule Deer - Odocoileus hemionus californicus

To my complete SURPRISE I came across a buck on one of my cross-country hikes!  The buck was just as surprised!!!  He popped up and jaunted down the hillside, pausing to turn and look at me several times as he went. 

California Mule Deer - Odocoileus hemionus californicus

I rarely see deer in the Lakes Basin. This one had a black-tipped tail and HUGE ears, which identified him as a California Mule Deer.  Another local deer, is the Columbian Black-tailed Deer.  However, it's ears aren't as large, and the tail is black from the top to the tip.  Both deer are considered Mule Deer.

About a week before I saw this buck, I surprised a doe in the same area! I only got a glimpse of her, and wasn't quick enough to get a photo. Rats! Male and female deer don't hang around together.  They only get together in the fall to briefly mate. Females usually group together with other females.  Males may stay alone, or travel with a group of other males.

Yellow-bellied Marmot - Marmota flaviventris

One morning, on a hike with my husband, I spotted this lovely Marmot on a rock! It looked like a young one! It posed so beautifully for me!  WOW!!!  It's the second one I've seen this year.  

I've written a lot about Marmots in previous blogs. Use the "search this blog" bar on the top right to read more about them.

Chipmunks (unknown species) - Tamias sp.

There are several different species of chipmunks in the Lakes Basin, all in the Tamias genus, but it's difficult to determine which ones were visible. Individual species are determined by fur color, stripe color, ear size, distinctive markings, and geographic location. Some of the possible species are Lodgepole Chipmunk, Long-eared Chipmunk, Yellow-pine Chipmunk, and Shadow Chipmunk!

All chipmunks have black and white facial stripes, and 5 dark stripes separated by 4 pale stripes on their back and sides. They also have large, internal, fur-lined pouches to carry food. At this time of year, Chipmunks are busy storing seeds, nuts, fruits, and forbs for the winter. They do not hibernate. Instead, they sleep a lot and wake up periodically to eat their stored food. Their winter burrows are usually underground or in a hollow tree limb.

Crimson Columbine - Aquilegia formosa

Wildflowers!

Although the meadows and slopes are drying up, there are still LOTS of wildflowers in bloom!  Some of the ones pictured below are ones that I've never seen before. Others are ones that I haven't seen in quite a while!  Enjoy the beauty!

Hiker's Gentian - Sierra Corydalis - Mountain Larkspur

 Gentianopsis simplex - Corydalis caseana - Delphinium glaucum

I haven't seen the Hiker's Gentians in several years, the Corydalis I haven't seen for 13 years, and the last time I saw the Mountain Larkspur (which are 4 feet tall!) was 4 years ago in Yosemite!!  It was like reuniting with some old friends!

Heart-leaved Arnica - Seep Spring Arnica - Monkeyflower (unknown)

 Arnica cordifolia - Arnica longifolia - Erythranthe sp.

Up at the higher elevations I came across some Heart-leaved Arnica, Seep-Spring Arnica, and an unusual Monkeyflower.  I hadn't seen these before!  I'll let you know what the Monkeyflower is soon!

Sierra Primrose - Primula suffrutescens

 

And of course, I had to go back to the Sierra Primroses again!  This time all the snow was gone, but there were even more primroses!  I've only seen them in two areas in the Lakes Basin.  Such beauty!

Marsh Cinquefoil - Bud Saxifrage - Coulter's Daisy

 Comarum palustre - Micranthes bryophora - Erigeron coulteri

The Marsh Cinquefoil I've only found in one spot in the Lakes Basin, and only a handful of plants were there.  The Bud Saxifrage is more widespread.  The Coulter's Daisy I encountered for the first time this summer in a higher elevation wet meadow!

Western Eupatorium - Fringed Pinesap - Wire Lettuce

Ageratina occidentalis - Pleuricospora fimbriolata - Stephanomeria tenuifolia

The Western Eupatorium is one of our favorites with its "exuberant stamens"!  We've only found it in a few locations, usually on rocky ledges.  The Fringed Pinesap I had never seen before this summer!  The Native Plant Society states, "Rarely seen. Consider yourself lucky to come across a group of them.  This plant is a mycoheterotroph - obtaining all of its nutrients from the fungus it feeds on, hence, no chlorophyll."  Wow!!!  The Wire Lettuce we only noticed this summer for the first time.  They are not plentiful, but definitely visible here and there along the Lakes Basin trails.

Wooly Sunflowers in Lincoln Meadow

 Eriophyllum lanatum

 To my delight there were thousands of Woolly Sunflowers in bloom in Lincoln Valley last week!  I have never even seen one of them before! So pretty!

Damp Earth Art

More HOT weather has come in this week, with no rain in sight. 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 this?

What's changing 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 Natural History

The North Yuba River flows right through our neighborhood, and is my haven during these hot summer days! Right now it is low, slow, and perfect for swimming! It is also a paradise for a naturalist! Insects, reptiles, amphibians, birds and mammals thrive in, above, and alongside this river.  I never know what I might come across when I spend time there.

Midges - Chironomidae Family

Right now there is an incredible insect hatch going on in the river! Thousands of Non-biting Midge adults are hovering just above the surface of the water!  

 Non-biting Midges are often mistaken for mosquitoes due to their similar size and body shape. They lay their eggs in shallow waters. The eggs sink to the bottom. In a few days the larvae hatch out of the eggs and burrow into mud, or construct a small tube in which they live, feed and develop. The aquatic larvae feed on detritus in the water and are a great source of food for fish and aquatic insects. After 2-7 weeks, the larvae turn into pupae. The pupae then swim to the surface and the adults emerge from their pupal exuviae (cast off skin). Adults do not feed and spend their short, 3-5 day lives mating!

Twelve-spotted Skimmer - Black Saddlebag Skimmer

Libellula pulchella - Tramea sp.

The biggest predator of midges are dragonflies!  There are lots and lots of adults above the river these days.  They catch bugs with their legs while in flight, and then eat their catch in the air.  Big dragonflies will eat their weight in insects in a day!  Midges and mosquitoes are their main prey.

Black Phoebe (adult) - Brewer's Blackbird (female) - Western Wood-Pewee (adult) 

Sayornis nigricans - Euphagus cyanocephalus - Contopus sordidulus

Black Phoebes, Brewer's Blackbirds, and Western Wood Pewees also forage above and along the river. They perch and hawk insects out of the air above the river all the time. They are not known to eat midges, but there are plenty of other insects that they feed on, such as dragonfly, mayfly, and stonefly adults. They will also search among the dry river rocks for invertebrates to eat.

I rarely talk about these birds, but they are just as much a part of the river ecosystem as Mergansers, Sandpipers, Kingfishers, and Ospreys! They raise their young in nests built along the river. The Black Phoebes live here year-round, surviving on fruits and berries in the winter. The Brewer's Blackbirds migrate down to the foothills and California's Central Valley in winter. The Western Wood Pewee migrates down to Bolivia in the winter!

Spotted Sandpiper (juvenile/adult) - Actitis macularis

There are still some Spotted Sandpipers along the river shore foraging for invertebrates.  The adults are starting to lose their spots, and the juveniles won't have spots until they mature.  These lovely birds fly all the way down to Chile or Southern Brazil to spend the winter!!!

Common Merganser - Mergus merganser

There are still several Common Merganser families on the river. They have regrouped somewhat, but they're still on the section of the river near us. The juveniles will be able to fly within a month, and they will all depart in the fall for their winter habitat in the southern parts of California or Arizona.

Osprey - Red-tailed Hawk

Pandion haliaetus - Buteo jamaicensis

There is one old Cottonwood Tree on the river edge that Great Blue Herons and Ospreys like to perch in. One morning this week there was a Red-tailed Hawk perched there!  Unlike Herons or Ospreys that mainly eat fish, Red-tailed Hawks prey on birds, small mammals, reptiles and amphibians. They aren't here in large numbers so it was lucky to see one of these beautiful raptors!  The black on the end of its wings is a shadow not a pigment.

Columbian Black-tailed Deer - Odocoileus hemionus columbianus

Down in the Garden!

Our garden is another haven for us and the local wildlife. Right now the blackberries in our neighborhood are all ripening up and attracting lots of critters!  Across the street from our garden this morning a young buck was feasting on them!  We've also seen several bear scats that are FULL of blackberry seeds!  Most of all the other fruit crops in our neighborhood failed this year due to a late hard frost in March.

Himalayan Blackberries - American Robin (adult)

Rubus armeniacus - Turdus migratorius 

Lots of birds are also feasting on the blackberries that border our garden, such as Robins, Towhees, and Grosbeaks! Although we don't actually water the blackberries, they get water from the garden.  This makes them big and juicy, where a lot of the wild roadside blackberries are already dried up.

Northern Pacific Rattlesnake - Crotalus oreganus oreganus

To my surprise a Rattlesnake cruised by while I was watering the garden one evening this week!!!  I didn't have my camera nearby when it showed up, so the above photo is a picture of a dead Rattlesnake that I found a few years ago. In the 36 years we've lived here we've only seen rattlesnakes in the immediate area about 5 times.  Nevertheless, I will be a little more watchful in the garden until the weather cools off!

Honeybees - unknown native bee

Apis mellifera - unknown sp.

Right now our sunflowers are in full bloom and there are LOTS of different pollinators on them. We had a hive of honeybees for the past five years, but this year they swarmed! They have apparently found somewhere else to live locally, as there are lots of honeybees on our garden flowers!

Monarch - Anna's Hummingbird

Danaus plexippus - Calypte anna

Our Bee Balm is also in full bloom and along with the bees, Anna's Hummingbirds are feeding on their nectar!  To our delight a couple of Monarch Butterflies showed up in our garden this week!  Hopefully they will have a successful journey to their winter habitat along the California coast near Santa Cruz and San Diego.

Western Tiger Swallowtail - Papilio rutulus rutulus

There are also many other butterflies in our garden right now, feasting on the nectar of the recently blossomed zinnias, phlox and bee balm.

  

Lesser Goldfinch (male) - Carduelis psaltria

Newly arrived this week, the American Goldfinches have shown up and are eating the recently formed sunflower seeds!  I LOVE these colorful little birds, and welcome them back every year!

Damp Earth Art

More HOT weather has come in this week, with no rain in sight.  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 changing 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!