A Day on the North Yuba River!

North Yuba River - 8/23/23

This week I finally spent a day on the North Yuba River that runs through our neighborhood.  It's been a while since I had the time to linger on the river.  It is such a beautiful river, clear glass-green in color, running over miles and miles of water-sculpted bedrock and river rocks, bordered by willows, grasses, and giant-leaved Indian Rhubarb, surrounded by conifer covered ridges, and filled with wildlife of all types!

For several years there has been a dead tree trunk in the river, down-river from the bridge. In the high water of last winter it got washed downriver and ended up on top of this big bedrock boulder! I've seen Canada Geese on this rock, as well as Spotted Sandpipers, and Black Phoebes.  River Otters are occasionally present here, as the water is deep and trout are sometimes abundant. Almost daily in the summer, Common Mergansers swim by with their ducklings.  Kingfishers and Ospreys often fly overhead.  It is just one of the many magical spots on the North Yuba River and it has been our swimming hole for 30+ years! We affectionately call it "Big Rock"!

Cooper's Hawk - Accipiter cooperii

River Birds

On the morning of my day on the river, I was astounded to see a Cooper's Hawk land on the dead tree trunk perched on Big Rock! WOW! It actually stayed on the log for 20 seconds, looking all around before it took off!  I've never seen one on the river before. Cooper's Hawks are uncommon and mainly live in dense forests, but can also be found in open fields. Their main food is other large birds such as doves, pigeons and robins. They will also prey on squirrels, rabbits, mice and reptiles. 

Cooper's Hawk - Accipiter cooperii

They can readily pursue prey through dense thickets or forests. Their short wings and rudder-like tail makes them able to make quick, sharp turns. They grab prey with their feet, and will drown or squeeze them to death! They can see 2-3 times farther than humans! It's a rare event that a Cooper's Hawk doesn't catch its prey, unless a tree intervenes! Almost one fourth of the museum specimen Cooper's Hawks that have been examined, have breastbones that have healed fractures! These hawks are uncommonly seen in our area, although they live here year-round. How lucky to see this beautiful raptor on the river!

Osprey - Pandion haliateus

Lately there has been an Osprey on the river.  I love looking for it every day.  They are such handsome birds!

Their are many classifications (or subgroups) of raptors, such as accipiters, buteos, falcons, eagles, harriers, kites, ospreys, and owls. Ospreys are the only bird in their classification! They are unique among raptors in their hunting method of diving feet-first into water to capture fish. They are usually successful in 1 out of every 4 dives. No other raptors use this method of hunting. They also have small barbs on the pads of their feet to help grab slippery fish. After they have caught a fish and are back in the air, they maneuver the fish to face forward, using the fish’s streamlining to reduce aerodynamic drag. They then carry the captured fish to an elevated and prominent perch to be eaten. 99% of their diet is fish. They are large birds with a wingspan of 63", a length of 23", and a weight of 3.5lbs!!!

Common Merganser female & duckling - Mergus merganser

There's a nearby creek that feeds into the North Yuba.  It's usually cooler than the river, but there's a great swimming hole where they join.  I often go down in the late afternoon to jump in!  Right now it's a little chilly for me, about 58°, so I've been wading along the shore instead of swimming. To my delight I spotted a Common Merganser family near the shaded mouth of the creek!  I quickly hid in the willows and waited to see if they would come out into the river. 

Common Merganser female & ducklings - Mergus merganser

Within a few minutes, they came out of the creek and sped off downriver!  How fun! The average brood size of the Common Merganser is 9-12, but they have been known to have as many as 17 ducklings! This spring was probably a tough time to raise ducklings, with the river being fast, high, and cold.  So the survival rate of ducklings was probably low, or maybe the females didn't lay as many eggs.  For quite a while I thought that they weren't going to have any ducklings, so I'm happy to see this trio of ducklings with their mom! 

Within 1-2 days after the ducklings leave their nest, they are capable of swimming, diving, and feeding on their own! The mom will stay with them for approximately 2 months, warding off predators such as minks, otters, foxes, and herons! In the Fall, they will migrate to southern California or Arizona for the winter.

Belted Kingfisher (female) - Ceryle Alcyon

One of our year-round river residents, the Belted Kingfisher, is always a joy to see.  This once perched nearby and spent some time watching me!  Like the Osprey, Kingfishers mainly eat fish, usually small ones in the shallow water.  They will also eat crayfish and tadpoles. 

Great Blue Heron (adult) - Ardea herodius

Another year-round resident, the Great Blue Heron flew over as I lingered on the river.  These large Herons search for food day and night!  They are 46" in length, with a wingspan of 72"!!! In addition to fish, they eat crayfish, frogs, aquatic insects, amphibians, small mammals, and other birds! They are usually solitary except during breeding season. They are the only species of Heron seen above the foothills.

Willows and airborne seeds - Salix sp.

Along the river shore are thickets of willows.  Right now the last of their fluffy seeds are being blown off the bushes and into the air.  One bush probably produces a million seeds annually! Just lovely to watch!

Dragonfly Wing

Dragonflies!

At this time of year, there are also hundreds of dragonflies flying above the river!  At the end of the day they glint and flash in the sun, as they pursue and capture insect prey. I can watch them for hours!

Dragonflies are in the order "Odonata", which means "toothed ones"! Their sharply serrated mandibles earned them this name! They will catch an insect in the air, tear off its wings with their mandibles, and eat the prey while still flying! Dragonflies can move each of their wings independently and can fly in any direction, including sideways and backwards. They can also hover in one spot for a minute or more! Some dragonflies can fly fast, up to 18 mph! 

Autumn Meadowhawk - Flame Skimmer

Sympetrum vicinum - Libellula saturata

Most of the dragonflies above the river look coppery, red, or green in color.

Here are my guesses as to what they are!

Common Green Darner - Anax junius

Dragonfly eyes are huge, and have 30,000 facets and near 360 degree vision! They also see in color, usually up to 4x more colors than humans see!

Rain Bejeweled Dragonfly Wing

Rainbow Trout (fry) - Oncorhynchus mykiss irideus

Tiny River Critters

I don't fish, but I went looking for them in the North Yuba River this week! I found lots of tiny "fry" in the shallows, but no big trout.

Fish start as eggs which hatch into larvae. The larvae are not able to feed themselves, and carry a yolk-sac in their bellies which provides their nutrition. At this stage they are called "alevins". When they have developed to the point where they can feed themselves (mainly zooplankton), the fish are called "fry". When they develop scales and working fins they are called "fingerlings". This juvenile fingerling stage lasts until the fish is fully grown, sexually mature, and interacting with other adult fish.

Water Strider Nymphs - Adult Water Strider - Gerris sp.

I also found 100's of these tiny, wildly gyrating bugs on top of the water in a side pocket of the river! They are the nymphs of Water Striders which start out as eggs that hatch into nymphs. The nymphs have 5 instars (periods of growth) between molts. In about 60 to 70 days the nymphs become adults. As adults they prey on spiders and insects that land on the water, as well as nymphs of their own species! Birds are the main predators of the adults. To avoid predation the adults can fly away or dive under water!

Water Striders are known for their curious ability to "walk-on-water"! They are able to do this for a variety of reasons. They use the natural surface tension of water, along with a water-repellent body covered in LOTS of fine hairs (up to several thousand hairs per mm), as well as long thin legs that distribute their body weight over a large area. The round shadows they cast, from the tips of their legs, are caused by the dimples their feet create on the surface of the water!

 Scarlet Monkeyflower - Blazing Star

Mimulus cardinalis - Mentzelia laevicaulis 

 

Wildflowers

These beautiful wildflowers are blooming right now among the dry river rocks. There aren't a lot of them, just a few clusters scattered here and there.  Such  beauty!

Dark storm clouds last Week

Stormy Weather!

We had stormy weather a week ago, with a total rainfall of .50"!! Yay! This brings our water-year total to 83.53"!!! Yahoo! It poured off and on for days!  A real SOAKER, just when we needed it. The forest was getting crispy! Additionally, this week the temperatures have lowered into the 80's and the nights are in the 50's, such a wonderful change in the weather! I hope the rainstorms keep coming, and keep the fire danger down.

One evening we decided to drive up to the Lakes Basin to see the clouds and rain and sunset skies.  It was gorgeous!  I'm not often up there at that time and it was such a delight!  On our way home we came upon this incredible rainbow,  that lasted for a few glorious minutes!  Such amazing beauty!

On another rainy afternoon in our neighborhood, this beautiful pastel rainbow appeared!  WOW!!!

Who's scat is that?

What's happening in the Lakes Basin?

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

Your questions and comments are greatly appreciated!

Please email me at northyubanaturalist@gmail.com 

Too Busy to Blog

 

I'm taking a break from blogging this week, just too much going on! The good news is that we got over half an inch of rain this week, and more is on the way! Yay! Check back next week for my latest natural history news.  Thanks!

Hiking in the Lakes Basin

The higher elevations in the Lakes Basin are mostly free of snow and currently in full bloom! I hiked in the Lakes Basin five times in the past two weeks, re-visiting areas that had previously been snow covered, as well as areas I hadn't been to this year.  It was glorious!  I love the dramatic giant boulders, sculpted peaks, cascading hemlock forests, and rock covered slopes of the higher elevations. 

 

Hiking off-trail and exploring new areas is also delightful!  I just love taking off up a rocky slope to see what's growing and living there!  I never know what I might find!

 We visit one off-trail area every year, to see the blooming Sierra Primrose flowers. These flowers are endemic to California, found only in the Klamath and Sierra mountain ranges.  The plant is a "subshrub", or a dwarf shrub that is only woody at its base.  Shrubs can be deciduous or evergreen. It grows at 7,000'-12,000' in elevation, usually on damp rocky slopes.  I've only come across it in a few places in the Lakes Basin. 

This year there was still a large, hard-packed field of snow lingering on the ledge where the primroses grow!  More snow than we've ever seen there before! Luckily there were a few small patches of Sierra Primrose flowers in bloom at the recently melted edge of the snow! I also wondered if it is an evergreen shrub, as I could see green leaves under the hard-packed snow. I'll have to come back back again in a couple of weeks to see how the bloom has progressed! This is one of my absolute favorite areas in the Lakes Basin!

un-named lake - 7/30/23

Helgramite Lake Area

I also re-visited the area around Helgramite Lake, that was snow-covered into July!  All the snow is gone now, and the lakes have finally warmed up!

Meadow near Helgramite Lake

Mountain Bluebird (juvenile) - Yellow-rumped Warbler

Sialia currocoides - Setophaga coronata

Near Helgramite Lake is a lovely wet meadow, around 7,000' in elevation, that I love to explore. When I visited it two weeks ago, it was still very wet, and only a few plants were in bloom. There were, however, a good variety of songbirds in the area.

Green Rein/Bog Orchid - Acrid Buttercup - Primrose Monkeyflower

Platanthera sparsiflora - Ranunculus acris - Erythranthe primuloides

I had never seen the Bog Orchid in this meadow before, but there was a nice, small, group of them on the southern end of the wet area.  The Acrid Buttercups weren't carpeting the wet meadow, they were in scattered small groups along the edge.  The Primrose Monkeyflower however, carpeted the wet edges of the meadow.

Alpine Shooting Star - Bog Laurel - Little Elephant's Head

Primula tetandra - Kalmia polifolia- Pedicularis attolens

The Shooting Stars were bordering one area, and almost done blooming.  The Bog Laurel was gorgeously blooming in a few shady areas, and the Little Elephant's Heads were just starting to bloom in the wet meadow.

Chipmunk (species unknown) - Tamias sp.

I was hoping to see a Yellow-bellied Marmot or two, as I usually do in this area, but none were in sight.  I did see several chipmunks scurrying around, eating plants and seeds, and climbing trees.  The species is hard to determine in chipmunks as they look so similar.

Clark's Nutcracker (adults) - Nucifraga columbiana

I was also lucky to see and hear a pair of Clark's Nutcracker up near Helgramite Lake on the same day. We only occasionally see them at the higher elevations in the Lakes Basin. What a treat it was to watch and listen to these raucous members 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."

Green-tailed Towhee- Pipilo chlorurus

I saw several Green-tailed Towhees in the area. The "green" is a dull mustard-yellow-green, but the crest of their head is a lovely rusty red.

Green-tailed Towhees migrate up from Mexico to breed in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California, as well as most of the western U.S. They prefer dense, scrubby habitat with a few trees, ranging from 4,000' to 10,000' in elevation. Small insects and berries are their main foods. I always see several of these lovely birds up in the Lakes Basin during the summer.

Olive-sided Flycatcher - Contopus cooperi

I kept hearing a repeated three-note bird call in the forest, and finally spotted an Olive-sided Flycatcher emitting the call!  It also had a HUGE Bumblebee in its beak!  It flew from perch to perch, keeping me in its sight, and the Bumblebee in its beak!  There must have been a nest with nestlings in it nearby, but I didn't see one.  I was more familiar with its other call that sounds like it's saying, "Quick THREE Beers" or "What PEEVES you?"  We prefer to think it's saying "I LOVE you!"

When its nestlings have fledged, this little flycatcher will fly all the way down to Bolivia to spend the winter!

Haskell Peak 5/9/2013 - Haskell Peak Cairn (inset) 8/6/23

Haskell Peak

Last Sunday I hiked up to Haskell Peak, at 8,107', with several friends!  It's a steep, two mile, uphill climb, with a gain of 1,000+' in elevation, but the view is worth it!  Unfortunately, it was hazy and not that great for "vista" photos, but it was still lovely to be up there! I hadn't been up to the peak in ten years, and the rock cairn had changed shape since then!

Brewer's Angelica - Scarlet Gilia - Western Eupatorium

Angelica brewerii - Ipomopsis aggregata - Ageratina occidentalis

All the meadows we encountered on the hike up to the peak were filled to overflowing with flowers!!!  Up near the peak itself were quite a few Brewer's Angelicas, Scarlet Gilias, and a few Western Eupatoriums.  So lovely!

Un-named spring-fed pond

On the way up to the peak, we looked for and found a lovely, small, spring-fed pond that a friend of mine had told me about.  It had lots and lots of tadpoles and other critters living in it, so we stayed, explored the pond, and had our lunch there!

Common Garter Snake - Sierra Chorus Frog - Tadpole unknow sp.

Thamnophis sirtalis ssp. fitchi - Pseudacris sierra - unknown sp.

This Valley Garter Snake is not poisonous, but can bite! They tend to live near wet areas where they eat fish, toads, frogs, tadpoles, salamanders, birds, small mammals, earthworms, slugs and leeches. 

There were a zillion tadpoles and lots of tiny frogs in the pond. Pacific Tree Frogs breed from January to May. The female lays an egg mass containing 10-70 eggs. It takes about 3-4 weeks for the eggs to hatch. The colder the water is, the longer it takes for the eggs to hatch. This is the embryonic stage of a frog. Once they hatch, they will remain tadpoles for approximately 3 months before they are fully formed adults!!

We also saw some salamander larvae, but I couldn't get a photo of them!

Lost Lake - 8/2/23

Lost Lake

My friends and I hiked up to Lost Lake, around 7,000' in elevation, about a week ago.  It is a smallish pond, that totally dries out every year.  This year there was lots of water and lots of critters in the pond! We spent a delightful hour watching all the aquatic invertebrates, including tadpoles, damselfly nymphs, fairy shrimp, and Southern long-toed Salamander larvae!

Spiny-tailed Fairy Shrimp - tadpoles sp.? - Damselfly nymphs sp.?

Southern long-toed Salamander larva

 Streptocephalus sealii - sp? - sp? - Ambystoma macrodactylum sigillatum

I wrote all about these aquatic invertebrates in my blog "Ponds and Lakes", August 24, 2019.  Check it out for tons of information on these critters and more!

Applegate's Paintbrush - Hoary Asters - Leopard Lilies

Castilleja applegatei - Dieteria canescens - Lilium pardalinum

The meadows were incredible on the way to Lost Lake, just a tangle of wildflowers!!!  It is an unbelievable wildflower year!

Sooty Grouse (female and juvenile) - Dendragapus fuliginosus

To our total surprised we flushed out at least 5 Sooty Grouse while we were hiking along the trail, probably an adult with juveniles!  They were too quick for me to get photos.  The photos above were taking two years ago in the Lakes Basin. 

These birds are large, with a length of 17-22", a wingspan of 26", and a weight of 2.3 lbs. I loved the intricate feather pattern, that definitely provided camouflage. They are listed as "uncommon" in our area, although they live here year round. In the winter adults and juveniles feed exclusively on conifer needles. Right now they're eating the leaves and flowers of herbs; leaves, flowers, and berries of shrubs; conifer needles; and invertebrates. What a delight it was to see them!  WOW!!!

Ok, this week I promise to spend some time on the North Yuba River, 

and I'll let you know what's going on!

Check back next week for the latest natural history news in my area!

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

Down in the Garden!

Western Tiger Swallowtail- Papilio rutulus rutulus

 In our neighborhood, most of the native flowers have already blossomed and gone to seed.  I seriously searched for blooming plants on my morning walks this week, but only found a few Indian Pinks and some native Pipestems/Clematis flowering!  Because we have lots of non-native flowers in bloom in our garden right now, it has become a fabulous spot to watch moths, butterflies, beetles, wasps, spiders, grasshoppers, and birds! 

The Western Swallowtail Butterflies have been around for a few months, lots and lots of them!  More than I have ever seen!  Here is some information about them from  https://www.butterfliesandmoths.org

"Life History: Males patrol canyons or hilltops for receptive females. Females lay eggs singly on surface of host plant leaves. Caterpillars feed on leaves and rest on silken mats in shelters of curled leaves. Chrysalids hibernate.

Caterpillar Hosts: Leaves of cottonwood and aspen (Populus), willows (Salix), wild cherry (Prunus), and ash (Fraxinus).

Adult Food: Nectar from many flowers including thistles, abelia, California buckeye, zinnia, and yerba santa.

Habitat: Woodlands near rivers and streams, wooded suburbs, canyons, parks, roadsides, and oases."

Snowberry Clearwing Moth- Hemaris diffinis

A few large, unusual, and uncommon moths showed up in our garden this week. They were Hummingbird Moths, specifically Snowberry Clearwing Moths! I see them once in a while in our garden. Their clear wings beat so fast, it's almost impossible to see them! They also fan out their tail scales and hover in front of flowers, just like Hummingbirds! I've watched them feed on our Butterfly Bush for several days! They are a large insects! At first I thought it was a Bumblebee, but then I realized the abdomen was much longer. The following information on this moth is from the website https://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/pollinators

"Perhaps one of the most delightful insect visitors to your garden is the hummingbird moth. Several species of the genus Hemaris deserve this name and for very good reason. They fly and move just like hummingbirds. Like them, they can remain suspended in the air in front of a flower while they unfurl their long tongues and insert them in flowers to sip their nectar. They even emit an audible hum like hummingbirds.

Like the majority of moths and butterflies, the adult hummingbird moths feed on nectar from a variety of flowers, but their larvae/caterpillars need more specific food plants, such as several species of honeysuckle, dogbane, or some members of the rose family such as hawthorn, cherries, and plums.

The females entice the males with an aroma or pheromone that they produce from glands at the tip of the abdomen. After mating, they lay their tiny, round, green eggs on their larvae host plants, usually on the underside of the leaves. 

The caterpillars have a horn at the rear end and are commonly green, well camouflaged among the leaves. When they are fully-grown they drop to the ground, spin a loose cocoon and pupate, partially protected by leaf litter. That leaf litter so hated by some gardeners provides a shelter to this beautiful pollinator. In the north, where the season is short there is only one generation per year; the pupa spends the whole winter well hidden and the adult does not emerge until the next spring."

White-lined Sphinx Moth on Beebalm - Hyles lineata

This year is also an incredible year for White-lined Sphinx Moths.  I usually see them in our garden in early spring, and only just a few of them.  Lately I've seen them in our garden AND in the Lakes Basin Meadows!  Wow!  They are large moths, and their wings move so fast they are just a blur!  The caterpillars of these moths are huge, measuring almost 5" in length! They voraciously eat blooming wildflowers! After 2 weeks of eating, the caterpillars burrow into the ground to pupate. After 2-3 more weeks, they emerge as adults. In Spring the adults will mate, and the females will lay eggs! They are also called the "Hummingbird Moth", because of their size, and the way that they hover and rapidly flap their wings!  The additional information about them is from https://www.butterfliesandmoths.org.

Life History: Adults usually fly at dusk, during the night, and at dawn, but they will also fly during the day. Caterpillars pupate in shallow burrows in the ground. Massive population buildups occur which stimulate emigrations to colonize more northern areas.

Caterpillar Hosts: A great diversity of plants including willow weed (Epilobium), four o'clock (Mirabilis), apple (Malus), evening primrose (Oenothera), elm (Ulmus), grape (Vitis), tomato (Lycopersicon), purslane (Portulaca), and Fuchsia.

Adult Food: Nectar from a variety of flowers including columbines, larkspurs, petunia, honeysuckle, moonvine, bouncing bet, lilac, clovers, thistles, and Jimson weed.

Habitat: A wide variety of open habitats including deserts, suburbs, and gardens.

Fritillary Butterfly - unknown genus/species

Identifying Butterflies can be a little difficult sometimes.  In the Fritillary Group of Butterflies, I find it particularly hard, as they are so similar.  So I don't know what the genus and species are of the butterfly pictured in the above photo.   Interestingly, violets are the host plant of all the larva of the local Fritillaries!  Right now the adults are really feeding heavily on our Butterfly Bush!

Common Checkered Clerid Beetle  - Trichodes ornatus

There are a whole bunch of beetles in our garden right now.  Some are very tiny and hard to see while others are quite visible.  Beetles are one of the most important pollinators in the insect world.  They eat pollen, not nectar, as well as plant parts!  The following information is from http://ucanr.edu/sites/PollenNation.

"Beetles make up the largest group of pollinating animals because there are so many of them! They are responsible for pollinating 88% of the 240,000 flowering plants around the world! Research has shown that beetles are capable of seeing color, but they mainly rely on their sense of smell for feeding and finding a place to lay their eggs. Many beetle species eat pollen, so the plants they visit must produce a lot of pollen to make sure that there is enough left to pollinate the flower after the beetles are done eating!"

Black Ichneumonid Wasp  - Dusona sp.?

Most adult wasps feed on nectar, not other insects!  That's why there are so many in our garden!  The following information is from https://www.westernexterminator.com.

"A wasp's diet varies between species. In most instances, wasps feed their larvae bits of insects that they have killed and chopped up, but the adults feed on sugars from nectar, aphid honeydew, or a sugary liquid produced by their larvae. Most species of wasps are actually parasitic insects, which means they lay their eggs inside other insects and they rarely bother us humans. The wasps that you see most often are the social wasps that come searching for human food."

Unknown Social Wasps

There is a shed down by the garden, and when I opened the screen door I found this wasp nest on the inside frame.  I couldn't identify them, but they are obviously "social" wasps.  I took this photo in the early morning, when it was too cold for the wasps to move.  It looked like they were definitely protecting their brood.  

There are about 20 species of social wasps in North America. These wasps are in the family Vespidae and typically fall into three groups: yellowjackets, hornets and common paper wasps. The following information is from the website https://genent.cals.ncsu.edu.

"Eusocial behavior among wasps is found only in certain members of the family Vespidae. These insects are commonly called paper wasps, hornets, and yellowjackets. They build communal nests by mixing wood fibers with saliva to form a paper-like material that can be molded into brood cells and other nest components. The brood comb (cells where larvae are reared) is always constructed like an inverted umbrella with open ends of the hexagonal cells facing downward. Workers usually cling to the underside of the comb as they guard the nest, feed the larvae, and perform other housekeeping chores. All social wasps are carnivores; their prey consists mostly of caterpillars and flies. The wasps chew up their victims’ bodies into a paste that can be fed to their larvae and, in return, the larvae produce a nutritional syrup that is consumed by the adults. A small colony of 200 yellowjackets may kill and eat about 5000 caterpillars over the course of a summer."

Goldenrod Crab Spider (female and male) - Musumen vatia

So of course there are predators in our garden, waiting on the flowers for an unsuspecting insect to stop by. Crab Spiders are perhaps the most obvious. The name refers to the crab-like shape of the body and its ability to walk sideways and backwards, just like a crab. Crab Spiders are active during the day. They can slowly change their color from white to yellow to orange to green, depending on the color of the plant they're on. It can take 1-2 days for the color to change. This one really matched the color of the unopened hairy pussy willows. These spiders do not spin webs, but rely on camouflage and ambush to catch their prey. They prefer bees, flies, and butterflies, but will eat a variety of insects that come to feed on the nectar or pollen of a flower. They don't "eat" their prey with their jaws. First they inject their prey with venom that paralyzes them. Then they bite a small hole in their prey and vomit their digestive fluid into the prey's body! This fluid dissolves the prey's internal organs and muscles! This dissolved solution is then sucked out! Geez!

The inset photo is the male crab spider, that is mainly just interested in mating with a female and simultaneously not getting eaten by her!

Unidentified Spider

There are a bunch of different spiders in our garden.  I couldn't identify the one in the above photo, but I'm sure it's also hanging out and hoping to nab an unsuspecting insect, or trap one in its web.  I'll submit this photo to bugguide.net and see what they say.

Katydid (?) - Scudderia sp.

I found this grasshopper or katydid with a bright green body in our garden this week! It looked like it was brand new and had maybe just molted out of a nymphal stage!  See the translucent exuvia below it? These insects will go through several molts over a period of 60-90 days, until they have matured to adults. As adults they feed on plants, including leaves and flowers.

Anna's Hummingbird (female) - Calypte anna

The most common Hummingbird in our garden are the Anna's Hummingbirds.  Hummingbirds have the highest metabolism of any warm blooded organism! They have to eat a lot to stay alive, but they actually spend 75-80% of their day perching, and only 10-15% of their time eating! The wildflower nectar that they eat is 55% sucrose, 24% glucose, and 21% fructose! They also supplement their diet with insects, such as mosquitoes, gnats, aphids, and spiders! At night they go into a state of torpor, to conserve energy, which slows their metabolic rate to 1/15 of their normal rate! Torpor also causes their body temperature to drop from 40 degrees to 18 degrees, their heartbeat rate drops from over 1,000 beats per minute to 50-180 beats per minute, and their respiration rate (normally 250 breaths per minute) slows down as well!

Spotted Towhee (juvenile) - Pipilo maculatus

I'm happy to report that there are several juvenile songbirds in our garden!  They are no doubt eating the insects that are feeding on the plants! I don't have time to write about them, but thought you might enjoy these photos.

 

Bullock's Oriole (juvenile) - Icterus bullockii

Western Tanager (juvenile) - Piranga ludoviciana

Swamp Onion - Allium validum

I've been lucky enough to get up the Lakes Basin four times in the past eight days! I hiked by myself up to the Helgramite Lakes, to Smith Lake and Howard Meadow with my husband, to Lost Lake with some friends, and Haskell Peak with some other friends!!  What a great, delightful week! I am filled with beauty!  We saw thousands of gorgeous wildflowers in the wet meadows.  If it continues to stay hot, they won't last but another week or two.  Get out there if you can! It is absolutely amazingly beautiful!

Corn Lily - Veratrum californicum

I mentioned this before in recent blogs, but this is an incredible year for blooming Corn Lilies!  There are hundreds and sometimes thousands of them in the Lakes Basin meadows!  What a delight to see them blooming so profusely!

Western Tofieldia/False Asphodel - Triantha occidentalis

This lovely white flowered plant is actually a carnivore! It has a unique feature of trapping small insects near its insect-pollinated flowers. Flower stems are coated with sticky hairs that produce a digestive enzyme known as phosphatase, which digests the small insects. The hairs can catch midges and gnats but are not sticky enough to capture larger insects like bees and butterflies that pollinate the flowers!  How cool!

Leopard Lily - Lilium pardalinum

In some areas of the Lakes Basin there are thickets with hundreds of Leopard Lilies this year!  More than we've ever seen!  They are so beautiful, I never tire of photographing them.

Bog Asphodel - Narthecium californicum

You need to look at these lovely flowers up close.  With a hand lens they're just amazing!  Their "hairy" stamens are unbelievable when magnified!  

 Green Rein Orchid/Bog Orchid - Plantathera sparsiflora

 To me these small orchid flowers look like a woman's head with a bonnet on it! 

Bigelow's Sneezeweed - Helenium bigelovii

Sierra Rein Orchid/White Bog Orchid - Plantathera dilitata

What's happening up in the Helgramite Lake area?

What's happening on the North Yuba River?

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

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