North Yuba Naturalist: Rain & Ripening Fruit

Steller's Jay in the Rain

Last Saturday, Sunday, and Monday it rained, for a total of 1.18"! Yahoo!!! It was a real soaker, just like the rain we got a few weeks ago. It smelled heavenly, and everything feels renewed and refreshed! To me the fragrance is nature's camphor, but "petrichor" is the official name. Petrichor was coined by Australian scientists in 1964 to describe the unique, earthy smell associated with rain. It is caused by the water from the rain, along with certain compounds like ozone, geosmin, and plant oils. There's no other fragrance like it, and it's one of my absolute favorites! Fingers crossed that these rainstorms keep coming!

Apples & Gnats

Ripening Fruit!

We have lots of domestic fruits growing in our neighborhood, including apples, pears, plums, persimmons, cherries, and grapes. There is also an abundance of thriving non-native Himalayan Black Berries. Because these domestic crops have been growing for close to a 100 years in our area, the native animals have become somewhat dependent on them.

Last year, a late snow in the Spring caused an overall crop failure in our county, as well as many surrounding counties! Native plants were also affected by the late snow, and even the Oaks were mainly barren of acorns last Fall. This was a considerable hardship for the local wildlife. In contrast, this year the domestic plants are all loaded with ripening fruit, and the native plants are making seeds and berries! This means that food is plentiful for our local wildlife once again! Yay!

Steller's Jay - Cyanocitta stelleri

This was a great year for apples! There are hundreds of them on the local trees! Right now they are just starting to ripen, and lots of wild critters are eating them. Steller's Jays are opportunistic omnivores, that live here year-round. I was delighted to come across one pecking on an apple!

Douglas Squirrel/Chickaree - Tamiasciurus douglasii

Our local Chickarees also live here year round. They eat a variety of native , leaves, flowers, fungi, seeds and berries. Every year they store seeds and seed-filled cones in scattered caches, to help survive the winter. They do not hibernate, and remain active in the winter. Apparently they enjoy eating the local domestic fruits as well!

Columbian Black-tailed Deer - Odecoileus hemionus columbianus

Columbian Black-tailed Deer eat a wide variety of shrubs, grasses, flowers and fruits. This doe and her fawn were enjoying the fallen apples in one of our neighborhood orchards.

Unknown plum

There are three kinds of domestic plums in our neighborhood, and they're all delicious! Two of them are small, about an inch wide and fat, but they're my favorite. One is peachy in color, the other is dark purple. The skins are a tiny bit tart, but the flesh is juicy and sweet. Lots of animals like to eat them!

Black-headed Grosbeak female eating unknown plums

Pheucticus melanocephalus

At this time of year many birds are in the process of switching from a diet of insects to a diet of fruits and berries. The colder weather has made the insects mostly inactive and hard to find, whereas many fruits have recently ripened.

Unknown plums

These purple plums are regular sized plums and the favorite of the local Black Bears. A bear can just about eat a tree-full of plums in one evening!

Himalayan Blackberries - Rubus armeniacus

As their name implies, Himalayan Blackberries are not native but they are prolific in California! Right now they are loaded with ripe berries that many critters feast on.