A Brief Blog about Murmurations!

Red-winged Blackbird - Aegelaius phoeniceus 

Once again I've been too busy with that Lakes Basin book to post my blog this week.  So here's a brief blog about a murmuration of birds that we came across on the way to Gray Lodge last week. Murmurations are very large groups of birds that fly in tight synchronization with each other, often in response to a predator. As the birds fly together, they contract, expand, twist, twirl, bend, balloon, and dive together, creating incredible abstract shapes in the sky! They are absolutely astonishing and wild to watch!  

Traditionally, the word "murmuration" only referred to the acrobatics of huge groups of European Starlings, but now it is known that true blackbirds can fly in "murmuration" style as well. We first noticed the murmuration as I was driving along a two-lane road through agricultural fields on the way to Gray Lodge.

We couldn't tell what kind of birds they were, as they were silhouetted and moving fast in the air! I wondered how they flew together in synchronization, without crashing into each other. The following information about how birds navigate as a group is from https://www.audubon.org/magazine/march-april-2009/how-flock-birds-can-fly-and-move-together. It's fascinating!

"Each bird in a flock observes and responds to the movement of no more than seven neighboring birds. Mainly birds to its sides and to its front! This response by one bird creates a chain reaction that ripples quickly through the rest of the flock. Members of a flock do not stay an exact distance away from each other, like dots on a grid. This space fluctuates, with the priority being to maintain the space ahead of each individual, not so much the space to the sides or above and below. This "ripple effect" explains some of the flight behavior in flocks, but doesn't explain everything. Researchers believe that other factors affect the behavior of flocks, such as sound or even rushing air from a close neighbor. There is still a lot to learn and discover!"

Luckily they all landed in some bare-limbed trees along the road! The sound of their raucous calling was overwhelming and astounding! I quickly parked and got out of the car to watch them.

I made a movie of them landing and resettling in the tree tops, before they took off "en masse" again!  Such a wonderful sight!  We saw the actual murmuration while I was driving, so I wasn't able to film it. However, there are lots and lots of videos of murmurations on YouTube.com, try this link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0sE10zUYyY.

Red-winged Blackbirds - Aegelaius phoeniceus 

As I zoomed in with my camera, I was able to identify them as mostly male and some female, Red-winged Blackbirds! Red-winged Blackbirds live across the US year-round. Additionally, some travel north to Canada to breed. 

I wondered why they were all flying together in such a huge group. From what I've read about this behavior so far, it sounds like they mainly fly together to avoid predation and to share information about food sources. Interestingly, their genus name, Agelaius, derives from the Greek word meaning “belonging to a flock.”

Red-winged Blackbirds and ONE Yellow-headed Blackbird

Aegelaius phoeniceus - Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus

Apparently these large groups of Red-winged Blackbirds may also include Grackles, Rusty Blackbirds, and Starlings. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to stay long enough to really study them. Later, when I was looking closely at my photographs I noticed ONE YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD!!!  WOW!

Yellow-headed Blackbird - Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus

I think the one Yellow-headed Blackbird among the thousands of Red-Winged Blackbirds was quite unusual!  Yellow-headed Blackbirds, normally overwinter in the southern U.S. and down into Mexico. In the spring, they migrate to the Prairie wetlands of the U.S. and Canada to breed, as well as to the wetlands along the eastern side of the Sierras. We've seen them in Sierra Valley in the spring, where they nest every year! We've never seen them in California's Central Valley. The one we saw, somehow got off-course in its migration north!

European Starlings (non-breeding) - Sturnus vulgaris

 I didn't see any European Starlings in the group of Red-winged Blackbirds, but we did see some at Gray Lodge. These birds are invasive, non-native species that are detrimental to native songbirds, as they out-compete cavity-nesting birds for nest sights.

What's blooming?

What's happening on the River?

What's happening in the Lakes Basin"

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

Your questions and comments are always appreciated. Please email me at northyubanaturalist@gmail.com. Thank you!

Down in Gray Lodge!

sleeping American Wigeons - Northern Pintails - sleeping Northern Pintails

with Snow Geese in the background

Mareca americana - Anas acuta - Anser caerulescens

On Tuesday, we decided to drive down to Gray Lodge with our friends Rod and Rochelle.  We were hoping to see the Snow Geese before they headed north to their arctic breeding grounds, and we were in luck!  There were thousands and thousands of Snow Geese at the Wildlife Area! During the day, these geese spend their time preening their feathers, socializing, vocalizing constantly, and sleeping! They are also watching for predators or intruders, such as Bald Eagles, foxes, coyotes, humans, and helicopters.

The air was filled with their constant calls, one of my absolute favorite sounds to hear in the winter. The sky was also occasionally filled with the Snow Geese themselves, when thousands would be startled by something and take to the air. After a threat had passed they would circle around and re-land in the wetlands! What an amazing sight to see!

Snow Geese - Anser caerulescens

When they flew close to us, we could see their black wingtips! 

Snow Geese - Anser caerulescens

There are thousands of Snow Geese that spend the winter at Gray Lodge! If you visit Gray Lodge, you'll notice that the geese aren't feeding! They mainly roost there during the day, and leave at dusk to forage at night in the surrounding wetlands and agricultural fields of California's Central Valley.

Northern Pintails - Black-necked Stilt

Ana acuta - Himantopus mexicanus

There are also thousands of ducks overwintering at Gray Lodge. Many of them breed in the north central part of the U.S., central and western Canada, and Alaska. Unlike the Snow Geese they appear to be feeding in the Gray Lodge wetlands. Most of them are dabbling ducks, which feed by sifting pond water through the lamellae (comb-like structures) inside their bills, for plant matter, insects, and worms. In some areas the water was quite shallow, only a few inches deep. The ducks look like they're floating, but they were probably standing!

Black-necked Stilt - Himantopus mexicanus

This week there seemed to be an abundance of Black-necked Stilts at Gray Lodge. They were mingling with the dabbling ducks in the shallow wetlands. They live year-round in California's Central Valley and southern Coast.

The following information is from the Cornell website https://birdsoftheworld.org/.

"Black-necked Stilts are among the most conspicuous and readily identified of all shorebirds. They have the second-longest legs in proportion to their bodies of any bird, exceeded only by flamingos.

They have 3 visual feeding methods: Pecking, Plunging, and Snatching. Pecking method consists of visual search for prey while standing still or walking slowly, followed by a quick jab of the bill to capture prey on mud or near water surface; head does not go under water. In Plunging method, head and upper breast enter water to capture food from within the water column. Snatching method involves capture of a flying insect with bill.

In freshwater wetlands they eat: crawfish ; water-boatmen ; adult and larval beetles , especially crawling water-beetles, predaceous diving beetles, water-scavenger beetles , and aquatic species of weevils; fly larvae, especially soldier flies and brine flies ; snails ; small fish ; and frogs ."

Greater White-fronted Geese - Anser albifrons

Bird names are often a wonder.  For instance, why name a shore bird with BRIGHT RED legs the "Black-necked Stilt"? Why name a goose with a pink bill the "Greater White-fronted Goose"?  I would have named them "Red-legged Stilts" and the "Pink-billed Geese"! I guess their obvious characteristics weren't the criteria for the name givers! 

I've written a lot about all the ducks, raptors, shorebirds, and songbirds at Gray Lodge in previous posts. Just search for "Gray Lodge" or a bird species in the "search this blog" bar on the top right of this blog.  In the meantime here are a few of the ones we saw this week.

Green Heron - Butorides virescens

I love seeing these beautiful chicken-sized birds!

Great Egret - Ardea alba

Adult Great Egrets obviously don't have many predators or need for camouflage!  Their bright white feathers stand OUT in the wetlands.  I looked up their predators, and it turns out that most predation happens to the young while they are in the nest.

Red-tailed Hawk - Red-shouldered Hawks 

Buteo jamaicensis - Buteo lineatus

We saw lots of raptors at Gray Lodge, mainly Red-tailed Hawks.  We did however see a very distant Bald Eagle, as well as the distant Red-shouldered Hawks pictured above!

Red-eared Sliders - Trachemys scripta elegans

Unfortunately we saw several non-native/invasive Red-eared Slider Turtles in the wetlands.  These turtles are extremely detrimental to the native Western Pond Turtle. The following information is from the californiaherps.com website.

"The Western Pond Turtle is in decline throughout 75 - 80% of its range. There a number of reasons for this decline.

Beginning in the 19th century, the commercial harvesting of Western Pond Turtles for food was a major threat to the species. That trade continued at least into the 1930's.

Another cause for the decline of the species was the massive wetland drainage projects in the Great Valley of the early 20th century which destroyed numerous wetlands and lakes and altered rivers, all of which destroyed or reduced suitable habitat for the Western Pond Turtle. Tulare Lake, now gone, was once the home to an estimated 3.5 million pond turtles, almost all of which are now extinct in the area. The destruction or degradation of other wetlands throughout the state has certainly also added to the decline.

The introduction of non-native turtles into Western Pond Turtle habitat, especially the two most successful invasive turtle species, the Red-eared Slider and the Painted Turtle, has been another cause of the decline of the Western Pond Turtle. Both species are common in the pet trade and feral turtles now found in California were most likely released by their owners. Since the Western Pond Turtle is the only native freshwater turtle in its historic range, it did not develop the ability to successfully compete for resources with other species of turtles, and both the Red-eared Slider and the Painted Turtle produce nearly twice as many offspring as the pond turtle which allows them to overwhelm and out-compete the pond turtle population.

Another threat to the pond turtle has been the American Bullfrog, an invasive species that has spread throughout the state. In 1994 report, Dan C. Holland writes that the invasive bullfrog (Rana catesbeiana) is a known predator of Western Pond Turtles, and the report includes a picture of a bullfrog preying on a juvenile pond turtle in San Diego County. Bullfrogs breed in such large numbers that adults can eventually eat so many hatchling turtles that few turtles can survive to adulthood and after the existing adults die off there will be no more turtles at that location."

Coral Tooth Fungi - Hericum coralloides

While we were in the preserve, Rod spotted a toothed fungi growing on the trunk of a Cottonwood Tree!  We weren't sure what species it was.  Rod didn't think it was a "Bear's Head" (Hericum abietis), but agreed that it was a relative.  He later identified it as a Coral Tooth Fungi (Hericum coralloides) in the toothed fungi family, which inaturalist.org agreed. The main difference is that the Bear's Head Fungi grows on conifers and the Coral Tooth Fungi grows on hardwoods!  How cool!  We had never seen this fungi before!  WOW! For more information on fungi, check out the mykoweb.com.

Parrot's Feather - Myriophyllum aquaticum

In some of the canals, there was an aquatic plant that looked like it was covered with yellow flowers.  We had a close look and realized that there weren't any flowers, just yellow leaves.  It turns out that it was an invasive, noxious weed that originally came from the Amazon River, called "Parrot's Feather"!!!  The leaves are so finely divided they indeed look like feathers! In the Spring this plant does have tiny 1/16" white to pinkish flowers at the base of the leaves. 

It can grow into large mats, that can choke waterways, and shade out and kill the native aquatic plants and the critters that depend on them. I hope the local agency has plans to get rid of this plant!

The Sutter Buttes as seen from Gray Lodge

As the day came to a close, we reluctantly headed home from Gray Lodge, after another exquisite day among thousands of birds!  Such Beauty!!!

What's happening on the river? 

What's happening up in the higher elevations, like Yuba Pass?

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

Your questions and comments are always appreciated. Please email me at northyubanaturalist@gmail.com. Thank you!

Neighborhood News!

Douglas Squirrel/Chickaree - Tamiasciurus douglasii

Last week I spotted a Chickaree with something in its mouth on a nearby tree. To my delight it stopped and ate its "lunch" while keeping an eye on me! I was surprised to see that it was eating the larvae in a Ruptured Twig Gall. I have seen woodpeckers feeding on these galls, but never a squirrel! I made a short movie of it chewing on the gall, which you can see just below the gall photo. 

Ruptured Twig Gall (made by a tiny wasp - Callirhytus perdens)

These galls are made by tiny wasps that lay their eggs on the twigs of deciduous trees, mainly Black Oak and Live Oak in our area. As the larvae develop under the bark, the twig ruptures and eventually expels the larval capsules onto the ground. The linear fissures remaining on the stem become black.  

It cracked me up the way this cute little Chickaree rapidly chewed the woody gall, like it was a kebab! Chickarees eat a wide variety of seeds, nuts, fruits, insects, fungi, and plants.

Downy Woodpecker feeding on a Ruptured Twig Gall

Dryobates pubescens - Callirhytus perdens

Woodpeckers will also eat the grubs found in galls. I watched this Downy Woodpecker feed exclusively on these ruptured twig galls for several minutes! Galls containing larvae are an important food source during the winter, when insects and their larvae are scarce.

Downy Woodpecker feeding on a Mossy Rose Gall

Dryobates pubescens - Diplolepsis rosae (gall wasp)

In the winter, I have often seen Downy Woodpeckers also feeding on the larvae in Mossy Rose Galls. The larvae inside these galls are pretty big, about half an inch long! The following information about these galls is from https://bygl.osu.edu.

wasp larvae in Mossy Rose Gall

"The hairy-looking galls are produced under the direction of the gall-wasp, Diplolepis rosae (family Cynipidae). Ridding roses of the galls rids them of the wasp.

The wasp occurs both in Europe and North America and will produce their characteristic galls on several species in the Rosa genus. They are most commonly found in Ohio on hybrid tea roses; however, I've also seen them on multiflora rose. Old galls look like a ball of moss stuck on the rose stems, thus the common name.

Cutting the current galls open will reveal individual chambers, each housing a single wasp larva. The overall size of the gall depends on the number of larval chambers. Single-chambered galls usually measure less than 1" in diameter. Multi-chambered galls may measure over 2" in diameter, filaments included.

The wasps have one generation per year. Females initiate gall formation when they use their ovipositors (= stingers) to insert eggs into leaf buds in the spring. The resulting wasp larvae exude chemicals that further direct gall formation.

The galls change color from light green to crimson red as the wasp larvae mature. Late instar larvae spend the winter in dark reddish-brown galls and new adults emerge in the spring. Spent galls become grayish-brown and often remain attached throughout the season.

As with most plant galls, mossy rose galls cause no harm to the overall health of their rose hosts. In fact, I believe they add ornamental value to roses, but I may be gall-biased: love thou the rose gall." 

Hairy Woodpecker - Dryobates villosus

Hairy Woodpeckers look a lot like Downy Woodpeckers, except that their bill is much longer.  The Hairy Woodpecker measures 9.25" in length, the Downy Woodpecker is 6.75" in length. They too probably eat larvae out of galls, although I've never seen them pecking at galls. Also like Downy Woodpeckers, they are year-round residents in our area, and in the winter they sleep in tree cavities at night. 

Northern Flicker - Dryobates villosus

The Northern Flicker is another woodpecker that lives year-round in our area.  They feed mainly on insects on the ground, such as carpenter ants and beetles in the spring and summer, and switch to fruits and seeds in the fall. Right now they are probably feeding on poison oak berries and a variety of native seeds. The male Northern Flicker can be distinguished by its bright red malar, which the female doesn't have. Northern Flickers will hammer holes in trees when making a nest, but not to get wood-boring grubs to eat. They will however, hammer into the ground when searching for insects. I've never seen them pecking at galls.

Table Mountain Heart

The Heart of Nature

Nature truly touches my heart and is the love of my life! I have found it to be my absolutely favorite companion. It’s healing, invigorating, stimulating, inspiring, calming, wondrous, and amazing all at the same time! Wherever I look there’s peace and beauty. So in celebration of love, here’s a Valentine from the woods for all of you!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Mossy Heart Rock - Bird nest entrance in tree trunk - Lichen Heart

Old see-thru heart in a dead tree - Puffball Fungi - Houndstongue

Frosted Heart Rock - Heart Rock - Dead locust branches heart 

Grizzly Peak at 4,569' in elevation 2/8/23

We received 4.56" of rain this past week!  The snow level stayed high for the entire 5 days, with rain below 6,000' until the tail end of the storm!  We are thrilled we got all that rain, and not 4.5 feet of snow!  I haven't yet been up to the Pass to see how much is up there, but I hope to get up there soon.  More rain is in the forecast for the end of next week.  Our water-year total to date is 25.84". Fingers crossed that the storms keep coming!

What's happening on the river?

Have the Snow Geese left Gray Lodge yet?

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

Your questions and comments are always appreciated.  Please email me at northyubanaturalist@gmail.com.  Thank you!

Local Ponds & Ducks!

Wood Duck Pond

This week I drove down to a pond that I only frequent in the winter. It's located about an hour from our home, down in the upper foothills. I had my fingers crossed that there would be some Wood Ducks present, like the previous four years. When I arrived at the pond it looked mostly unoccupied, but then at the far northern end I spotted some Wood Ducks in full view! I only got a few quick photos of them before they hid themselves in the tules that bordered the pond. Yay, Wood Ducks! I was delighted to see them once again! 

Wood Duck (male) - Aix sponsa

The males are so beautifully colored and strikingly marked! The females, like most female birds, are way less colorful and more camouflaged. Wood Ducks feed on nuts (especially acorns), seeds, algae and other water plants, butterflies and moths, beetles and insects, ants, dragonflies, slugs, and snails.

Wood Ducks live in California year-round, from the coast to the foothills. They nest in the foothills of the western Sierra, usually below 3,000' - 4,000' in elevation. They are tree-cavity nesters, but do not use abandoned woodpecker cavities, except for the large ones made by Pileated Woodpeckers. They mainly use natural cavities that have formed in a mature tree, often where a branch has broken off due to heart rot. 

Wood Duck (male - female) - Aix sponsa

The Wood Duck is the only North American duck that regularly produces two broods in one 5-6 month breeding season! The female lays 10-13 eggs in her feather-lined nest, anytime between March and June. The incubation period is 30 days. The ducklings are born precocial, and leave the nest usually within 24 hours after hatching. They jump to the ground and their mother leads them to water, where they immediately start feeding! After approximately 30 days, the female abandons the young ducklings, to start another brood! This pond is in the right elevation/location for these ducks to nest, and I have seen young Wood Ducks here in the past!

2/3/2024

Joubert's Diggins

I check the ponds in the above photo at least once a week.  Lately there has been an increase in the waterfowl population, as well as the arrival of two new species!

Ring-necked Duck - Athya collaris

In addition to the two separate ponds pictured above, there is a third pond that you have to hike downhill to see. When I got there, there was a single male Ring-necked Duck swimming around with four Bufflehead Ducks! I had never seen a Ring-necked Duck at any of the three ponds before!  What a surprise! The ring around the male's neck is barely visible, if at all. I think they should have been named the Ring-BILLED Duck! 

These ducks are uncommon in our area. In the fall they come down from the subarctic deltas, taiga, and boreal forests across Canada where they breed and raise their young. They spend the winters in the lower US and Central America. In California they are common on the coast, across the central valley, and into the foothills, where there are low elevation lakes and ponds. 

Ring-necked Duck - Bufflehead (2 females - 1 male) 

Athya collaris - Bucephala albeola

I found it so interesting how the Ring-necked Duck hung around with the Bufflehead Ducks. I didn't see any other Ring-necks in any of the ponds. Like Buffleheads, Ring-necked Ducks dive for their food in shallow water. Except possibly during breeding, diets of male and female are similar, consisting mostly of plant foods (seeds and below-ground plant parts). 

Bufflehead (4 males - 2 females) - Bucephala albeola

Buffleheads are fairly common at Joubert's Diggins. This week I saw a combined total of 6 males and 4 females, on the three ponds. They must be pairing up by now. In the spring the majority of them will migrate north to Alaska and northern Canada to breed, while some may stay and breed in our local Lakes Basin!   

Bufflehead (female - male) - Bucephala albeola 

The male Bufflehead is definitely more boldly marked than the female! Buffleheads are cavity nesters, usually cavities excavated by Northern Flickers and, occasionally, Pileated Woodpeckers. They avoid cavities with broken/open tops.

Hooded Mergansers ( female - male) - Lophodytes cucullatus

This pair of Hooded Mergansers has been residing on these ponds for about a month.  Just this week I saw an additional male!  These ducks will fly north to western Canada to breed, in the spring.  In the meantime, I love seeing them in our local ponds! Their diet consists of fish, crayfish, aquatic insects, amphibians, as well as a small amount of plants.

Mallard (female - male) - Anas platyrhynchos

A pair of Mallards showed up this week!  I wonder if they're the same pair that's been here in the winter for several years.  They will stay and raise their young in these ponds. They feed on a wide variety of plants and animals.  The following information about their diet is from birdsoftheworld.org.

"Omnivorous and opportunistic, generalist feeder. During breeding season, eats mostly animal foods, including insects such as midge larvae, and other Diptera, dragonflies, and caddisfly larvae, aquatic invertebrates such as snails and freshwater shrimp, and terrestrial earthworms. Outside of breeding season, diet predominately seeds from moist-soil plants, acorns, aquatic vegetation, and cereal crops (especially corn, rice, barley, and wheat). Agricultural foods usually dominate diet during autumn migration and often during winter, depending on the relative availability of natural versus agricultural foods. In winter, urban Mallards often rely entirely on human-provided food, such as bread or seeds."

Charles Marsh Pond

I've only seen Hooded Mergansers at the Charles Marsh Pond so far.  There are six of them, probably three pairs. I never tire of seeing them! They are only here for the winter and will fly north to western Canada to breed and raise their young. Like Wood Ducks, Hooded Mergansers nest in tree cavities! Suitable cavities occur in live or dead tree trunks, large limbs, broken off limbs, and at the top of broken off tree trunks.

Hooded Mergansers (males) - Lophodytes cucullatus

The following information is from birdsoftheworld.org.

"The Hooded Merganser is the smallest of three North American mergansers (Hooded, Common, and Red-breasted) and the only one restricted to this continent. Breeding throughout a wide area in the forested east and northwest -- where suitable nest cavities enhance adequate brood habitat -- it is most common in the Great Lakes region."

Hooded Mergansers (male - female - male) - Lophodytes cucullatus

"Favorite winter habitats include forested freshwater wetlands, brackish estuaries, and tidal creeks. Unlike other mergansers which feed almost exclusively on fish, Hooded Mergansers have a more diverse diet, diving and capturing small fish, aquatic insects, and crustaceans, particularly crayfish, with the aid of eyes well-adapted to underwater vision."

1/23/23

Winter Snowpack Update

Ten days ago, on January 23, my husband and I drove up to the Lakes Basin to check on the snow conditions. To our surprise the southern side of the Buttes, viewed from Sierra City, was almost totally snow free!

1/23/23

The east-facing side of the Sierra Buttes was snow covered, but the trees were snow free and the forest floor only had 6" of patchy wet snow!

Saddleback - 2/3/24

However, this week snow has finally fallen at the higher elevations, while it continues to rain in our neighborhood.  I am really enjoying the lack of snow shoveling this winter!  More cold weather is in the forecast for the coming week, again with high snow levels. I hope the higher elevation snowpack really builds up this week! So far our water-year precipitation total is 22.34".

Where are the mammals?

What's happening on the river?

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

Your questions and comments are always appreciated. Please email me at northyubanaturalist@gmail.com.