Unusual Sightings!

Mountain Lion - Puma concolor - Photo ©by Clinton Hayes

 This Mountain Lion is not in a cage, it's behind a fence in my neighbor's garden!!! One evening about two weeks ago, my neighbor, Clinton Hayes, took these photos from his living room window! The Mountain Lion was only about 15' or 20' feet away from his house! At first glance he thought it was a fox, but then quickly realized it was a Mountain Lion!  Yikkes!!!  We all watched from behind his window for a few minutes, and it definitely watched us!!! What a beautiful animal! It was so amazing to see!!! I left to get my camera, but it sat up when it heard me open the downstairs door and immediately took off! Rats! How lucky that Clinton got these photos!

This is the second time I've seen a Mountain Lion up close. My first encounter happened on July 26th, 2020, right in the same neighborhood! Check out my blog from that date to read about the encounter!

Mountain Lion - Puma concolor - Photos ©by Clinton Hayes

The main food of our local Mountain Lions is Mule Deer. They will also eat mice, rabbits, hares, raccoons, and domestic animals. They are most active from dusk to dawn, and can travel long distances looking for prey, up to 15 miles in one night! They have a poor sense of smell, but have excellent vision and hearing. They rely on surprise to catch their prey, and can leap 40 to 45 feet in one jump! They usually kill one deer every 9-12 days. They will eat up to 20 lbs. at one time. They will cover the remaining carcass with leaves, dirt, and/or pine needles, and feed from it over a period of several days.

Mountain Lions weigh from 140-180 lbs., and are 7'-8' in length.

The foot print of a Mountain Lion is 101 mm, about the size of a baseball. They keep their claws retracted, and are not usually visible in their tracks.

We have not seen the Mountain Lion again since that evening, but stench of a dead deer filled the neighborhood a few days later!

 Warbling Vireo on a nest - Vireo gilvus

Uncommon Bird Sightings!

To my delight a friend of mine spotted a Warbling Vireo on a nest last week!

I had seen empty Warbling Vireo nests before, but never saw the birds!  How lucky we were to see this occupied nest! The nests are quite distinctive. They are always on the fork of a leafy tree branch, and are "woven" around the branches! It takes the female about 7 days to build the nest. Riparian areas are where they choose to nest. These little birds fly all the way up from western Mexico to breed and nest across the U.S. and western Canada. The following information about Warbling Vireos is from the Cornell website https://birdsoftheworld.org/.  

"In early stages of nest construction, material woven over and under, back and forth across forked twigs to which nest attached, thus beginning rim of nest. Next, rim is rounded and bound, often by spider silk, into shape that will support completed nest. Nest is then built in a “downwards and outwards” fashion. Female flies to nest site, perches on rim of nest and dips her head down into nest to place and weave material, giving impression that nest is at lining stage. On most occasions, after material has been incorporated into nest and nest is about 50% complete, female enters nest to sit and mold it. Time spent building nest includes 8.0% weaving nesting material and 7.8% spent sitting on or molding nest."

The female will lay 3-4 eggs in the nest, and the male and the female will share the incubation of the eggs for approximately the next 12 days. Both parents will feed the nestlings. Nestlings fledge in approximately 14 days. Parents will continue to feed the fledglings for approximately 14 more days.

Red-breasted Sapsucker (juvenile) - Sphyrapicus ruber

To our delight we also saw a few juvenile Red-breasted Sapsuckers! I haven't seen a juvenile in years!  Although not as brilliantly colored as the adults, the juveniles are still strikingly feathered!  As their name implies, these birds mainly eat sap. They drill horizontal rows of small "wells" into the bark of firs and fruit trees, and eat the sap that accumulates as well as any insects that get stuck. Since we have snow and cold temperatures here in the winter, Red-breasted Sapsuckers do not live here year-round. They only come up to our neighborhood to breed. In the winter they usually live in the central valley or coastal areas of California, or east of the Sierra Nevada into Nevada. Other populations live year-round on coast of northern California, Oregon, Washington, and Canada.

Dark-eyed Junco (juvenile) - Junco hyemalis

We also spotted a juvenile Dark-eyed Junco!  I first saw one of these years ago, and had to get an expert to identify it. None of the field guides have images of juvenile Juncos!  The pale lemon-yellow breast, belly, and undertail were NOT like the adults at all, but the thickish, pinkish bill was. These birds are short-distance migrants.  They spend the breeding season in the higher elevations, and the winter at lower elevations in California.

Rufous Hummingbird (female) - Selasphorus rufus

There's a higher elevation meadow near Yuba Pass that I usually visit in August to see the Rufous Hummingbirds feeding on Anderson Thistles.  Since it's been a hot and dry summer so far, I thought maybe they might already be there, so my husband and I decided to drive up and check it out. To our delight there were indeed lots of female Rufous Hummingbirds feeding on the blooming thistles!  Such beauty!  I was thrilled to see them again!

I turns out that these hummers breed from southern Oregon to southern Alaska, and then return to southern Mexico for the winter. They don't breed in our area. Right now the females and juveniles are migrating through, on their way to Mexico! The males probably passed through sometime in late June or early July.

We stayed, watched and listened to the Rufous Hummingbirds chattering away as they flew, hovered, and fed in the thistle patch. It is truly one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen! How lucky to be surrounded by such joyful beauty!

Monarch Butterfly - Danaus plexippus

Uncommon Insects

On the Round Lake Trail, we were lucky to see a Monarch Butterfly!  The first one this year!  It's strikingly colored and patterned wings look like stained glass to me!   The following information about Monarchs if from the website https://www.fs.usda.gov/wildflowers/pollinators/Monarch_Butterfly/migration.

"Monarchs have up to four generations each summer, each one traveling a little further north than the last. The last generation of the year migrates south. Monarchs living west of the Rocky Mountain range in North America overwinter in California along the Pacific coast near Santa Cruz and San Diego. Here microclimatic conditions are very similar to that in central Mexico. Monarchs roost in eucalyptus, Monterey pines, and Monterey cypresses in California.

The life cycle of a Monarch Butterfly only takes 6-8 weeks. It begins in the Spring, when female Monarch Butterflies lay 100's of eggs on the underside of Milkweed leaves. Four days later the caterpillars hatch out of their eggs! These newly hatched caterpillars will eat only Milkweed leaves for the next 2 weeks. Then each caterpillar will form a chrysalis and pupate. After 10 days a new adult butterfly will emerge from each chrysalis, and start the whole process again. This process will happen four more times in the Summer. As adults, they feed on nectar from a variety of wildflowers."  (The one pictured above is sipping nectar from Angelica flowers.)

"All mating stops in September. The last generation of Butterflies born in the Summer, is the one that migrates south for winter (all the other generations die after they mate, and lay eggs). This last generation of the year does not become reproductive and is said to be in “reproductive diapause”. These butterflies become reproductive in February and March as they move north, laying eggs on milkweeds as they progress northward into the United States. Some of these butterflies can live as long as 9 months!

Unfortunately, due to the use of systemic pesticides in agriculture, the majority of native milkweeds have been killed in many areas. This lack of milkweed plants has caused a huge decline in the population of Monarch Butterflies."

Snowberry Clearwing Moth - Hemaris diffinis

A large, unusual, and uncommon moth showed up in our garden this week,  a Snowberry Clearwing Moth (also unofficially called a Hummingbird Moth)! I see them once in a while in our garden. Their clear wings beat so fast, it's almost impossible to see them! The following information about 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 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 larval food 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."

 Woolly Aphids - Eriosomatinae 

I've seen these wooly insects before, usually on alders near creeks, but never studied them.  It turns out that they are Woolly Aphids in the Eriosomatinae family. They're pretty unusual looking insects!!!

The following information about them is from https://en.wikipedia.org 

"Woolly aphids are sap-sucking insects that produce a filamentous waxy white covering which resembles cotton or wool. The adults are winged and move to new locations where they lay egg masses. The nymphs often form large cottony masses on twigs, for protection from predators.

Woolly aphids occur throughout the Northern Hemisphere. Many of the numerous species of woolly aphids have only one host plant species, or alternating generations on two specific hosts. They have been known to cause botanical damage and are often considered a pest. While most damage is minor, they can spread plant diseases and fungi. Some species can produce galls as well.

Woolly aphids feed by inserting their needle-like mouthparts into plant tissue to withdraw sap. They are able to feed on leaves, buds, bark, and even the roots of the plant. As a result of feeding on the sap, woolly aphids produce a sticky substance known as honeydew, which can lead to sooty mold on the plant."

I failed to get a close-up photo of one of the Woolly Aphids, 

but I did make a movie of them moving!

Four-spotted Skimmer - Libellula quadrimaculata

We saw two new species of dragonflies up in the Lakes Basin this week!  The one pictured above is a Four-spotted Skimmer.  The following information about them is from the website https://uwm.edu/field-station/bug-of-the-week/four-spotted-skimmer/.

"These are dragonflies of marshy lakes, fens, acid bogs, plant-filled ponds, and very slow streams. Adults are found over fields and along woody edges and they may form swarms over open water; juveniles are often seen far from water. They like to perch on emergent vegetation but are also found near or on the ground.

After mating (very) briefly in mid-air, the female lays eggs immediately. He does not retain a hold on her, but he does generally “hover guard” to protect her from both rival males and females. She dips her abdomen into the water as she flies above its surface, releasing as many as 3,000 white, gel-covered eggs that sink down and then stick to plants. The eggs soon turn brown; the  estimates of hatching times that range from five days to four weeks."

Chalk-fronted Corporal Dragonfly - Ladonia julia

The following information about the Chalk-fronted Corporal Dragonfly is from https://uwm.edu/field-station/bug-of-the-week/chalk-fronted-corporal-dragonfly/.

"The thawing of water in spring is a powerful and irrevocable signal, summoning the amphibians to breed and stirring young dragonflies (naiads) to complete their metamorphosis. Water changes temperature slowly, but the appearance of Chalk-fronted Corporals gives notice that the water has warmed. Chalk-fronted Corporals (Ladonia julia) are dragonflies whose range includes the northern half of the U.S. and southern Canada.

The name “Chalk-fronted Corporal” undoubtedly refers to the pale bars—“corporal’s stripes”—on the top of the first segment of an adult’s thorax. The adults’ thorax and the base of its abdomen are frosted with white pruinosity as the dragonfly ages. An opaque, pigmented (usually white/blue-white), waxy substance develops on the cuticle that covers the dragonfly’s exoskeleton, and it gives the abdomen (and sometimes other body parts) a powdered or hoary appearance. The brilliant white of a Common Whitetail’s abdomen is due to pruinosity. Female CfCs are a duller, browner version of the males with only a little pruinosity, and juveniles are a pinkish-brown with thin “shoulder” stripes and a black line down the center of the abdomen. All ages have small black spots at the base of each wing. They are about 1.6” long with a 2 ½” wingspread.

CfCs like swampy, marshy, boggy wetlands with plenty of decaying plant material in it (other members of the genus like less-congested waters), and they can abide somewhat acid water."

Thread-waisted Digger Wasp - Paradejeania rutiloides  

We went for a hike on the Round Lake Trail again and I caught this partial view of a large wasp with my camera (inset photo).  It looked vaguely familiar and it turned out to be a Thread-waisted Digger Wasp! Several years ago I had watched a Thread-waisted Digger Wasp put a small green caterpillar in a hole in the ground. It then put several more small pebbles in the hole to seal it up! Wow! I have since read that these wasps paralyze a caterpillar, put it in a tunnel in the ground, lay an egg on it, and seal up the tunnel with small rocks. The egg hatches into a larva which eats the caterpillar, pupates, and emerges out of the tunnel as an adult! As an adult they feed on the nectar of flowers!!  The adult in the inset photo was feeding on the nectar of Angelica flowers!

White-lined Sphinx Moth Caterpillar and Adult - Hyles lineata

We were up at Howard Meadow again when I saw this large (5" long!) White-lined Sphinx Moth Caterpillar with little white objects on its back.  These caterpillars are a type of Hornworm Caterpillar. You can see the orange "horn" on top of its end segment. It turns out that this caterpillar had been parasitized by a Braconid Wasp, and that the tiny white things were the cocoons of the wasps larvae! The following information on how a Braconid Wasp parasitizes a hornworm caterpillar is from https://www.thoughtco.com/what-are-braconid-wasps-1967998

"Braconid wasps that kill hornworms are larval parasitoids. The female braconid wasp deposits her eggs inside the hornworm caterpillar's body. The wasp larvae develop and feed inside the caterpillar. When they're ready to pupate, the braconid wasp larvae chew their way out of their host, and spin silk cocoons on the caterpillar's exoskeleton. The tiny adult wasps emerge from these cocoons a short time later.

The affected caterpillar may continue to live as the braconid wasps are developing inside its body, but it will die before it can pupate."

Insects have a lot of weird life cycles.  It's definitely "tough out there" in the wild, even among the insects!!!

What's happening in the Lakes Basin?

What's happening on the River?

Check back in two weeks for the answers to these questions and more!

After 8 years of posting my blog, I've decided that I'm only going to post my blog twice monthly from now on. My next post will be on the weekend of August 17th. See you then!

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