Most of the deciduous trees and shrubs are still green up in the Lakes Basin. The meadows however, have dried and turned a rich golden color. Now is the time to walk out in them! You won't get your feet wet or covered in mud, and there are hundreds of beautiful, copper-colored, dried plant stalks carrying a variety of seed heads scattered throughout the meadows.
This past summer these meadows were filled with green grasses and a rainbow of wildflowers that provided pollen and nectar for insects and birds, as well as forage for large mammals. Now that the plants have dried and produced seeds, they provide even more food for birds and mammals!
There are five main modes of seed dispersal: gravity, wind, ballistic, water, and animals. The gravity and wind methods are self-explanatory. The "ballistic" method refers to seed pods that burst open and propel seeds. The water method is the dispersal of seeds via rain, rivers, streams, and lakes. The animal method has two processes of dispersal; through the droppings of animals, and by "sticking or hooking" on to an animal's fur or feathers.
Gray's Lovage - Ligusticum grayiThe flowers in the Carrot (Apiaceae) family form beautiful, brittle, seed-filled umbels in the fall. Gray's Lovage is one of the most common ones. When we found them last week they still had thousands of dry dill-like seeds. They were so beautifully delicate and golden!
Cow's Parsnip - Heracleum maximum
Cow Parsnip is also in the Carrot family but is much larger than Gray's Lovage. It's taller, 3-10' compared to 1-2', and the umbels are much bigger. The seeds are not ribbed like the Gray's Lovage, and are flat and thin. Like Gray's Lovage, they grow in wet/damp meadows.
With wind dispersal, the seeds are simply blown about and land in all kinds of places. To help their chances that at least some of the seeds land in a place suitable for growth, these plants have to produce lots of seeds.
Fireweed Seeds - Chamerion angustifolium
Fireweed produces lots of hairy, fluffy, tiny seeds that glow in the afternoon sun!
Dandelion seed head - Agoseris grandiflora
These seeds have bristles that function like a parachute and float on the wind. On average, a single dandelion plant can produce 10 flower heads. Each flower head has 150-200 florets, and each floret produces 1 seed. That means that a single plant can produce up to 2000 seeds!
Chickaree or Douglas Squirrel - Tamiasciurus douglasii
Down in the Garden!
There are still lots and lots of dried sunflower heads down in our garden that a variety of critters are eating right now. Interestingly, our local Chickarees have been climbing the sunflowers, cutting off the entire seed heads, and carrying them off to eat in the future! This year there aren't many walnuts available for them to store, due to a late frost last spring, so they're stashing sunflower heads instead! We love watching them run along the top of our garden fence with a sunflower head in their mouth! I haven't yet found out where they're stashing them, but maybe I will soon!
Chickaree or Douglas Squirrel - Tamiasciurus douglasii
Steller's Jay - Cyanocitta stelleri
A variety of birds are also feasting on the seeds. Some are year-round residents, while others are just migrating through. The Steller's Jays live here all year, and are quite acrobatic when eating sunflower seeds!
Just this week a pair of Scrub Jays showed up for a day in our garden! Normally these birds live down in the foothills, but every once in a while they visit our neighborhood, usually in the fall. What a treat it was to see them!
Green-tailed Towhee (adult) - Spotted Towhee (male)
Pipilo chlorurus - Pipilo maculatus
A beautiful Green-tailed Towhee showed up this week in our garden! It was probably on its migration south to Mexico for the winter. They pass through our neighborhood every year in the Spring and Fall. The Lakes Basin is one of their favored breeding and nesting grounds.
The Spotted Towhees live here all year. I love their striking red, black and white feathering! They forage on the ground for fallen seeds, rather than feed on the seed heads. They use a backwards-forwards hopping-scratching method to uncover seeds.
Lesser Goldfinch (female) - Lesser Goldfinch (male) - Carduelis psaltria
The Lesser Goldfinches are still foraging on the sunflower seed heads that the Chickarees haven't been able to harvest! I love their tiny little calls to each other. There has also been a juvenile goldfinch that flutters and flutters its wings ever hopeful that an adult will feed it, which I never see happen. It is full-sized and fully capable of feeding itself so I'm sure it's fine!
White-crowned Sparrow (first year) - White-crowned Sparrow (adult) Zonotrichia leucophyrs
The White-crowned Sparrows have just arrived in our garden. They have come down from the higher elevations to spend the winter. The first-years look so different than the adults, that I initially thought they were a different species!
Lincoln's Sparrow - Golden-crowned Sparrow
Melospiza lincolnii - Zonotrichia atricapilla
The Song Sparrows and the Golden-crowned Sparrows have just arrived for the winter as well. They may stay here all winter or migrate down to the foothills if the winter is too snowy. I'm love seeing them return to our garden!
Convergent Lady-beetles - Hippodamia convergens
Just this week thousands of lady-beetles have arrived for the winter in our neighborhood!!! Right now they are busy mating, and will become dormant as the temperatures become colder. They are just one of the numerous seasonal changes that we're experiencing in these first days of Autumn!
Damp Earth Art
This week was sunny and in the 80's during the day and 50's at night. No rain is in the immediate forecast. 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 in the Lakes Basin?
What's happening on the River?
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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