Sierra Valley Spring 2022
In Celebration of the Earth and all its Beauty!
On Earth Day and every day, I hope this year brings better environmental awareness and action than in the recent past. We can't do enough to protect our precious earth! Learn as much about your environment that you can. Support environmental agencies, such as The Nature Conservancy, Audubon, The Environmental Defense Fund, any amount helps. Limit your impact on the earth. Reduce, reuse, recycle! Get out in nature as often as you can, and make it part of your life. Treasure it! The beauty and peace are endless!
Redbud - Cercis occidentalis
Recent Foothill Sightings
Since there is way too much snow in the Lakes Basin to hike, we revisited several areas in the foothills over the past two weeks to watch the progression of Spring, including South Yuba River State Park, Daugherty Hill Wildlife Area, and The "Other" Spenceville Wildlife Area. Each area had it's own unique features, and they were all gorgeous!
At the South Yuba River State Park, there are still lots of wildflowers in bloom! New ones have arrived since I was there last, and butterflies are now fliting around the flowers! So many colors! Such beauty! Temperatures are warming up, so the peak bloom may not last that much longer. If you haven't visited there yet, you should go soon!
True Baby Stars - Wally Basket/Ithuriel's Spear - Purple Chinese Houses
Leptosiphon bicolor - Triteleia laxa - Collinsia heterophylla
unknown Lupine - Lupinus sp.
Monarch - Pipevine Swallowtail
Danaus plexippus - Battus philenor hirsuta
I was thrilled to see some butterflies among the flowers. I didn't recognize the Monarch because of those dark brown shapes on the wings, but inaturalist.org identified it for me. Perhaps it's an oldish one that's "aged" a bit.
The Pipevine Swallowtail was lovely to see! After these butterflies mate, the female lays her eggs on the underside of Pipevine plant leaves. When the caterpillars first hatch, they stay together in small groups and feed on Pipevine leaves. The leaves contain aristolochic acids that are ingested by the caterpillars, which in turn makes them unpalatable to predators. These acids stay in their bodies even when they pupate into adults! When the caterpillars grow larger they head out on their own to feed and pupate. It takes approximately one week for an adult to develop and emerge from it's chrysalis. The adults usually live for a month, feeding on wildflower nectar.
Northern Flicker - Western Bluebird - California Scrub Jay
Colaptes auratus - Sialia mexicana - Aphelocoma californica
The Northern Flicker and the Western Bluebird may stay in the foothills year-round like the Scrub Jay. They may also migrate up to the mid-elevations in the summer to breed, as the temperatures warm up.
Fairy Lanterns - Calochortus albus
unknown composite - Pretty Face - Woodland Star
unknown sp. - Triteleia ixiodes - Lithophragma bolanderi
The South Yuba River is quite full and rushing along from all the recent snowmelt.
My friends, Diane and Keith, and I revisited the Daugherty Hill Preserve to see if the wildflowers were blooming. The first half mile was PACKED with flowers and no cows. However, once we got past the gated fence that keeps the cows within the preserve, wildflower numbers dropped significantly! It was still gorgeous with the new leaf and grass greens! Here are some of the flowers we saw.
Henderson's Shooting Star - Broadleaf Filaree - Butter & Eggs/Johnny Tuck
Primula hendersonii - Erodium botrys - Triphysaria eriantha
The Blue Oak Trees were REALLY blooming! These trees are monoecious, having both sexes on the same tree. The male flowers form pollen-laden tassels. The females are tiny, pinkish-brown, capsule-shaped buds at the leaf axils, which will form into acorns.
Sutter Buttes & blooming Buck Brush - 4/7/23
Ceanothus cuneatus
The Buck Brush was in full bloom, super fragrant, and buzzing with bees!
The Sutter Buttes were a distant backdrop to the blooming Ceanothus!
The third area we visited is called "The "Other" Spenceville Wildlife Area". The terrain was rolling hills with gullies and creeks, vegetated by Blue Oaks, Gray Oaks, Coyote Brush, and many other shrubs. Like Daugherty Hill there are lots of cows, and the wildflowers are minimal. However it is lovely, easy walking through a green, green landscape!
Lewis's Woodpecker (male) - Melanerpes lewis
Within our first five minutes of arriving, this beautiful Lewis's Woodpecker landed nearby on a dead shrub! I hadn't seen any of these gorgeous, large, woodpeckers for several years. They are one of my absolute favorites! The males have beautiful rose-pink feathers on their belly and red feathers on their face! We saw about 5 male woodpeckers in two hours, but no females. Females lack the red and pink feathers of the males, and are quite camouflaged. Except for the Pileated Woodpecker, they are bigger than most woodpeckers, with a length of 11", and a wingspan of 17.5". They are relatively uncommon in our foothill area, and are not predictably present in winter. They are irruptive in behavior In California, in response to weather and the availability of food.
Lewis's Woodpecker - Melanerpes lewis
Unlike most woodpeckers, Lewis's Woodpeckers do not drill holes in tree trunks looking for insects. They mainly catch large insects in the air during the summer. They will however, glean insects from tree trunks and branches year-round. Fruits and berries are also eaten in season. In the winter, when flying insects are scarce, they mainly eat acorns, nuts, and corn. They usually harvest acorns off the trees, rather than off the ground. They will hammer an acorn open and then store individual pieces (rather than the whole acorn) in the natural crevices of tree trunks. Acorns and nuts are also stored for consumption in winter. These winter caches are vigorously defended!
They prefer to nest in burnt pine forests, in large decaying snags, mainly in the Coast Range of California, and the east side of the Sierra. They do not have the ability to hammer and chisel extensively into a tree trunk (they're built differently than most woodpeckers), so if they can't find an old cavity, they will make a new one in soft, decayed wood.
Blue Oak Woodland - Quercus douglasii
I really enjoyed our time there, despite the cows! We probably saw at least 20 cows, but I didn't take a single picture of them! It was peaceful, beautiful, and so different from where we live! A lovely, lovely day!
Sierra Buttes 1/29/20
What's happening up at the Sierra Buttes?
What birds, bugs, and blossoms are thriving in my neighborhood?
Check back next week for the answers to these questions and more!
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