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!