A few Mammals!

Black Bear - Ursus americanus

I don't often see large mammals in my neighborhood, but in the last month I've lucked out!  About a month ago I went for a late afternoon walk and came upon this young Black Bear in the woods! Surprisingly, it stared at me for a few minutes through a tangle of young cherry trees but didn't take off! It definitely was only a couple of years old and not an adult. I left after a few minutes, as I didn't want to alarm it. Half an hour later, I went back to the same sight and it was gone. This was the first bear I've see all year!  

Black Bear - Ursus americanus

I think this Black Bear was a youngish bear because of its size and behavior. It wasn't aggressive at all, and more curious than an adult would be. The following information about bear cub behavior is from two different websites.

https://wildlife.ca.gov/Conservation/Mammals/Black-Bear

"Cubs will follow their mother everywhere she goes, learning from everything she does, including how and where to find food, what food sources are safe, what is dangerous and to be avoided. Unruly cubs are often disciplined by their mother's growling, grunting, and swats. Mothers may carry their cubs in difficult or steep terrain when they are small. Upon independence, cubs will disperse to find new home ranges to settle in."

https://bear.org/bear-facts/family-breakup

"[Black Bear] Family bonds remain strong right up to the day of family breakup. In the days before family breakup, they play together, groom each other, sleep together, and suckle. Like human youngsters, yearling bears sleep very soundly, trusting their safety to the alertness of their mother.

Family breakup happens suddenly during mating season in May or June when the mother is nearly ready to mate.

The sudden presence of a male can precipitate family breakup. At first, the mother is torn between her yearlings and the persistent male, but within a day after family breakup, she will chase her yearlings away whenever she encounters them.

Littermates also separate from each other. Each settles in a separate area within its mother’s territory. The mother then avoids those areas, giving the yearlings nearly exclusive feeding rights.

Without their mothers, the yearlings are initially skittish, spending long periods up trees. They become covered with ticks. By the end of the summer, they develop into confident little bears.

Most sons voluntarily leave within a couple years after family breakup. Most daughters eventually establish territories in or near their mother’s territory."

Columbian Black-tailed Mule Deer (doe) - Odocoileus hemionus columbianus

For the past five mornings, I've seen two Mule Deer does eating the rotten apples in our yard!  The apples have been on the ground for more than a month, but I've only seen a few bear scats full of apple chunks in the area. Usually, the bears eat them all up, this year they didn't. They did, however, eat about 300 pears off of our pear tree as well as a ton of wild domestic grapes!

Columbian Black-tailed Mule Deer (doe) - Odocoileus hemionus columbianus

I really enjoyed watching them every morning. Sometimes they were eating in the pouring rain! Female Mule Deer usually travel in multigenerational family groups of related females, and their offspring. Bucks older than yearlings will often leave their family groups and travel independently or in small groups with other bucks.

Grey Fox - Urocyon cinereoargenteus

To my delight I briefly saw a Gray Fox a few weeks ago! These beautiful animals live here year-round, but I haven't seen one in a long time! I have written about them a bunch in my previous blogs. You can search for the blogs that they are featured in, by typing in "Gray Fox" in the search bar on the top right of my home page.

Muskrat - Ondatra zibethicus

An Evening in Sierra Valley!

Last week we went over to Sierra Valley for a dinner picnic at the Steel Bridge! It was an absolutely beautiful evening with clouds and shadows racing over the snowy peaks and valley floor. The light changed so fast that it was exciting to watch! Shaded ridges would be suddenly lit-up by low sunlight piercing through the clouds. It was enchanting! It was also COLD! My friends dropped me off so I could walk, photograph, and observe the changing beauty, while they watched from the warmth of the car! What a gift it was to be out there surrounded by such beauty!!!

To my absolute delight a Muskrat appeared in one of the ponds off the road! I quickly snapped a photo, and then it dove underwater and didn't resurface. I haven't seen a muskrat here for four years! I was thrilled!!! 

These aquatic mammals measure 12.5" in length, with a 9.5" tail, and a weight of 24-63 oz! They live in swamps, marshes, and wetlands in large family groups. Marshes where the water level remains constant are their preference. They are proficient swimmers, can stay underwater for 12-17 minutes, and have partially webbed hind feet! Their fur is thick and traps air, which provides insulation and adds buoyancy! The roots of aquatic plants, and other vegetation is their main diet. They eat one third of their weight daily! Burrows are dug in the banks of wetlands, to stay in during the heat of the day as well as at night. Nests are built out of piles of vegetation on a base, such as a tree stump, typically surrounded by water. What amazing little critters these are!

Northern Harrier (male) - Circus hudsonius

Before the sun went down, we were thrilled to watch a Northern Harrier hunting nearby! It flew over the grass for quite awhile, with it's head tilted down to the ground looking for prey. It was identifiable as a male by its gray and white feathering. Females are overall brownish in color, with a streaky brown and white breast. Northern Harriers typically fly low, skimming over the grasses, tules, and sagebrush while hunting for prey. They are a medium size raptor, measuring 18" in length, with a wingspan of 43", and a weight of 15 oz. They eat medium to small birds and mammals, as well as reptiles and frogs. Unlike other raptors, they rely on auditory clues from their owl-like facial disc of feathers, which helps them locate prey acoustically! They can be found in Sierra Valley year-round.

Sierra Valley to the east

Here is a selection of photos that I took that evening. Hope you enjoy them!

The same view a minute later!

A wider view from farther away!

A similar view 10 minutes later!

An eastern ridge, lit up by the sunset!

The last of the light!

What's happening in the Marysville Rice Fields?

What does the Ramshorn Trail look like this year?

What's happening in the foothills?

After 8 years of posting my blog, I've decided that I'm only going to post my blog every TWO weeks. Check back on December 13th for my next natural history blog.

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

In Gratitude!

In deep gratitude for all the beauty that surrounds us!

Happy Thanksgiving!

A Multitude of Mushrooms!

Hare's Foot Inkcap - Coprinus lagopus

All plants have certain conditions in which they thrive. Technically mushrooms aren't plants, but they grow and thrive when temperatures are cool and rain has saturated the forest floor. In the past two weeks we have had 5" of rain, 3.5" of it in the last 48 hours!!! As a result of this cool, wet weather, mushrooms have been popping up everywhere!

There are over 11,000 named mushrooms in California, and 3,000 different types of fungi (including yeasts, rusts, smuts, mildew, molds, and mushrooms). Identifying mushrooms can be quite challenging. Following a key in a mushroom field guide is a good beginning, but then it gets complicated. There are lots of key elements to a mushroom that need to be studied before it can be identified. You need to know where the mushroom was found (what kind of habitat), what kind of spore bearing structures it has (gills, pores, teeth etc.), what does its base look like, what color and shape are its spores etc. etc.  I personally haven't dedicated my time to identifying mushrooms. I've found the best way to identify mushrooms is to go out in the field with an expert. Definitely don't eat any mushrooms unless an expert has identified them for you.

Although I don't know many of the local mushrooms I still delight in looking for them. Some of them are so unusual and intriguing! Here is a collection of the photos I took in my neighborhood in the past two weeks, since the rains have fallen. 

 

Hare's Foot Inkcap - Coprinus lagopus

 

The Hare's Foot Inkcap pictured above, and at the top of the page, is so unique that it is fairly easy to identify. I had never seen these delicate, gray, slender mushrooms. Apparently I came across them at the end of their life. When it first comes out of the ground the cap is a super-fuzzy, longish, bell shape. Over a period of several days this cap flattens out, and then rolls inward.  I went back to look at them after we got 3.50" of rain, and there was no trace of them! They were so delicate, they must have been pummeled by the rain!  

Unidentified Mushroom

I don't know what kind of mushroom this is, but I found it intriguing as it appears to have another fungus growing on it!  All those fine "hairs" with tiny droplets on their ends are probably a different type of fungus that has invaded this mushroom! I've never seen this before! I need to ask an expert about this! I'll get back to you about it soon!

 

Unidentified Mushroom

I like the shagginess of this mushroom!

Unidentified Mushroom

This mushroom was HUGE!  The stalk was a good inch and a half wide, and the cap measured six inches across!  There are a LOT of these mushrooms in our neighborhood!

Shaggy Parasol - Lepiota magnispora

Because of the dark spot in the middle of this mushroom's cap that gives it a "nipple-like" appearance, it is easy to identify. I hadn't noticed how shaggy the stems were until I got home and looked at this photo on my computer.

Unidentified Mushroom

I took this photo to show how numerous some of the mushrooms are in our area right now! These mushrooms were fairly small, but I counted 63 of them in this one location

Unidentified Mushroom

These mushrooms were like tiny little parasols!

Unidentified Mushroom

These little ones were salmon colored!

Unidentified Mushroom

These petite mushrooms had found a perfect wooden ledge to grow on!

Unidentified Mushroom

These mushrooms had slightly peaked caps!

Unidentified Mushroom

I found this unusual fungi growing on the cut end of a fallen, dead, log.  It had just rained, so that's why this is beaded with moisture. I have no idea what it is called, but found it to be fascinating! Up close, the tube ends look like tiny trees in a snow covered forest! 

Shaggy Mane - Coprinus comatus

Shaggy Manes are easily identified because they are so unique!

They are related to the Hare's Foot Inkcap pictured at the top of this blog.

They grow quickly and dissolve to a thin black stalk within days! The photo on the right shows a Shaggy Mane beginning to dissolve!

Common Puffball - Lycoperdon perlatum

These puffballs are about an inch in width. When they dry out, a small hole opens on the top of the cap, through which spores are dispersed. They are super common in our area.

Questionable Stropharia - Stropharia ambigua

This mushroom is really common in my neighborhood. I really like the lacy, 

zigzag remnants of a veil around the rim of the cap.

Helicopter Logging

An Assault on my Peace of Mind

For the past month, the Forest Service has been performing a "Forest Mitigation" helicopter-logging operation in my neighborhood. Unfortunately, the main landing is directly up the hill behind our house, and the noise is deafening. The helicopter is so loud it shakes the windows in our house. I find it totally unbearable. They are scheduled to keep this operation going, six days a week, from 7:00 am to 5:00 pm, until December 15th!!!  

Trees being hauled away by a helicopter

It makes me wonder how all the wildlife is doing with this constant thunderous racket. It can't be a welcome change for them either. Flying above the river corridor has got to be disturbing for its residents. It is all very unsettling and has really curbed my neighborhood walks and observations. All I can hope for, is that they finish earlier than Dec 15th. Maybe more heavy rain will come and end it sooner than later. Fingers crossed!

What will the weather bring?

Where are all the mammals?

What's happening in the foothills?

After 8 years of posting my blog, I've decided that I'm only going to post my blog every TWO weeks. Check back on November 29th for my next natural history blog.

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

Local Color!

Big Leaf Maples - Acer macrophyllum

Local Color!

Up in the Lakes Basin there are still a few astounding groups of golden Cottonwood and Aspen trees, but the majority of of the trees, bushes, and ground cover have lost their leaves and color. However, at lower elevations the trees and shrubs are still in vibrant warm hues!  In my neighborhood the Black Oaks, Big Leaf Maples, Creek Dogwoods and Indian Rhubarbs are glowing with oranges, golden-yellows, and even some pinks! It's a photographers paradise!

Black Oaks - Quercus kelloggii

The best fall colors happen after a spring and summer that are somewhat wet, followed by a sunny autumn with warm days and cool, but frostless, nights.

As the nights get longer in the fall, the transportation of chlorophyll from the leaf to the branch, and from the roots to the leaves becomes blocked. As the chlorophyll is blocked from the leaves, it disappears completely.

This lack of green chlorophyll allows the yellow (xanthophylls) and orange (carotenoids) pigments to be visible. The red and purple pigments (anthocyanins) are manufactured from the sugars that are trapped in the leaf. These pigments are what cause the vivid color changes in leaves!

So far we've had the perfect weather for vivid fall colors! Rain is in the forecast for this week, so hopefully the fall colors will last a while longer!

Black Oaks on Highway 49 - Quercus kelloggii

The beautifully colored Fall leaves don't last forever. As the days shorten and temperatures drop, not only do the leaves change color, but a process called "abscission" begins. The leaves don't just fall off the tree, they are actually being pushed off the tree by the tree itself! Keeping lots of dead leaves on a tree could cause breakages from the weight of snow accumulating on them. As Fall progresses a layer of cells, known as the abscission layer, starts to grow between the end of the leaf stalk and the twig supporting it. These cells slowly grow and cut the leaf off from the tree without leaving an open wound.

I was wondering why oak trees retain their leaves longer than other local deciduous trees, and this is what I found out. Oak leaves last longer because oaks form an abscission layer much later than other species of deciduous trees. Oak leaves often remain attached to the tree throughout the winter. This retaining of dead leaves is called "marcescence." Trees that exhibit marcescence are called "everciduous."

Indian Rhubarb & Willow - Darmera peltata & Salix sp.

Indian Rhubarb grows along rocky streams and river beds throughout the Sierra, up to 6,600' in elevation. The leaves are huge, up to 2' wide, and the leaf stalks can be 1-3' tall! They grow from rhizomes that hug the underwater rocks. In fall, the leaves turn yellow-orange and sometimes a lovely salmon pink in color! They are one of my absolute favorite river plants!

Indian Rhubarbs - Darmera peltata

 

In a few weeks, depending upon the weather, these leaves will collapse and start to break down. Heavy rains will speed up their decline. In the Spring, new leaves will grow from their thick, underwater rhizomes that cling to the river rocks.

Mountain Dogwood - Cornus nuttallii

If you see some brilliant pinkish-red in the forest, chances are it's Mountain Dogwood, one of my favorites! 

Golden Pholiota - Pholiota aurivella

Fungi!!!

Due to the recent rain and cooler temperatures, Fungi have started popping up in our neighborhood as well as in the Lakes Basin! Golden Pholiota are found on logs, stumps, or wounds of living trees, and occasionally on woodchips!  They are gilled fungi. The following information about fungi is from the website at:

https://ucmp.berkeley.edu/fungi/fungilh.html.

" Fungi are heterotrophs, because they are not able to ingest their food like animals do, nor can they manufacture their own food the way plants do. Instead, fungi feed by absorption of nutrients from the environment around them. They accomplish this by growing through and within the substrate on which they are feeding. Numerous hyphae network through the material in which they are growing. The hyphae secrete digestive enzymes which break down the substrate, making it easier for the fungus to absorb the nutrients which the substrate contains.

This filamentous growth means that the fungus is in intimate contact with its surroundings; it has a very large surface area compared to its volume. While this makes diffusion of nutrients into the hyphae easier, it also makes the fungus susceptible to desiccation and ion imbalance. But usually this is not a problem, since the fungus is growing within a moist substrate.

Western Varnished Conk - Ganoderma oregonense

The Western Varnished Conk is aptly named with its glossy surface. To me, its surface feels like polished leather, and isn't slimy or wet like it looks!  It is a pore fungi, with millions of tiny pores on its under-surface, and is usually found on dead or dying conifers.

"Most fungi are saprophytes, feeding on dead or decaying material. This helps to remove leaf litter and other debris that would otherwise accumulate on the ground. Nutrients absorbed by the fungus then become available for other organisms which may eat fungi. A very few fungi actively capture prey, such as Arthrobotrys which snares nematodes on which it feeds. Many fungi are parasitic, feeding on living organisms without killing them. Ergot, corn smut, Dutch elm disease, and ringworm are all diseases caused by parasitic fungi.

Mycorrhizae are a symbiotic relationship between fungi and plants.

Most plants rely on a symbiotic fungus to aid them in acquiring water and nutrients from the soil. The specialized roots which the plants grow and the fungus which inhabits them are together known as mycorrhizae, or "fungal roots". The fungus, with its large surface area, is able to soak up water and nutrients over a large area and provide them to the plant. In return, the plant provides energy-rich sugars manufactured through photosynthesis. 

Because mycorrhizal associations are found in so many plants, it is thought that they may have been an essential element in the transition of plants onto the land." 

Gills - Pores - Teeth

To reproduce, mushrooms produce spores. Basidia are the microscopic, club-shaped, spore-bearing structures in mushrooms. There are four main structures in mushrooms that contain the basidia; gills, pores, teeth, and clubs or branches! Most people are familiar with the gill structure pictured above left. Pores are found on Bolete fungi and others, and are the small holes (actually tubes) on the smooth underside of the mushroom cap. Teeth are found on Lion's Mane fungi as well as others, and look like tiny hanging icicles. Clubs and branches are found on Coral Fungi. Thousands and thousands of basidia are arranged along the outside edges of the gills, the insides of the tubes that end in pores, and on the outside of the teeth, clubs, and branches!

Yellow Coral Mushroom - Ramaria rasilispora

Coral fungi have upright branches which are covered in microscopic spores!

Club/Thumb Fungi - Spathularia neesii

These odd shaped fungi are only about half an inch tall. I've only seen them growing in wet mossy areas. They do kind of look like naked thumbs! Spores are born on the outside of these club-like fungi!

Webs of the Bowl & Doily Spider - Frontinella pyramitela

Spiders and their Webs!

After we got 1.5" of rain in two days, we decided to go down to the Canyon Creek Trail for a short hike. As soon as we started our hike, spider webs caught our eye! They were beautifully backlit by the morning sun! Just gorgeous!!! 

Bowl & Doily Spiders (pictured above and below) are sheet web weavers. Sheet webs are horizontally spun, flat sheets of silk between tufts of grass or tree branches. These webs are made with individual strands or are woven as a thick sheet of silk, and the spider will also spin separate criss-crossed threads about the sheet. There are over 4, 600 species of sheet web weavers in the world! They are very tiny and don't use sticky thread, but rather entangle and snare prey in their dense webs.

Webs of the Bowl & Doily Spider - Frontinella pyramitela

The following information about the unusual habits of Bowl & Doiley Spiders is from two different websites. 

https://whatnext10.com/: "These spiders are pretty cool because they capture their prey in a rather unusual way. They are a very small spider, so stalking prey or actively hunting is difficult for them since some of their prey is bigger than they are. Instead, they build an intricate web that is made up of two parts. The top layer is a pretty tightly woven sheet that is somewhat concave instead of being completely flat. This sheet is the bowl. The bottom part of the web is more delicate and more loosely woven. That part is the doily, and it is where the spider lives. The web itself isn’t sticky like some spider webs are, but the tight weave of the bowl helps to trap small flies, gnats, and mosquitoes that fall into it. The concave shape also helps to hold them in the web. When the prey falls into the bowl, the spider comes from underneath and injects it with venom.

Interestingly, males of this species don’t build webs. Instead, they will “move in” with a female and the length of time that they stay depends on several factors. If a female has her web in a good spot for prey capture, there may actually be several males in the web with her. This is more common later in the spring and into the summer since that is the mating season. Female bowl and doily spiders, unlike the orchard web weavers, do not kill and eat their mates, and they may mate with more than one male. Similarly, males will often mate with multiple females. This time of the year, most of the webs, including the one I found, are only inhabited by one female spider."

https://u.osu.edu/:"This beautiful little spider, only about 1/8 inch long when full grown, builds webs throughout the prairie. They are most conspicuous on dewy mornings, where they are sometimes revealed in their thousands! The main web itself does appear to be bowl-shaped, but there are two other important components to this trap. There is a thin tangle of non-sticky threads above the bowl, and a second loose sheet of silk an inch or so below the bowl. The tangle sometimes intercepts flying insects, and when they hit the lines they tumble down into the bowl. The spider is waiting under the bowl, it feels the vibrations of the tumbling insect and rushes over to a point just below. If the insect hits the bowl, the spider lunges up through the bowl and bites it. We think that the function of the sheet below is to protect the spider from potential predators approaching from below, but nobody knows for sure."

Female Orb Weaver on her Web

The Orb Weaver web above was made by a female spider. The female spider doesn't get stuck in her own web because she mainly travels on the non-sticky structural lines. Sometimes she has to walk on the sticky spiral lines, but her hairy legs have an oil that keeps them from sticking! Male Orb Weavers don't make webs. They spend their time cruising for females to mate. At this time of year, the females are laying their last clutch of eggs, and will die at the first frost. The eggs will overwinter, up to several hundred eggs in one egg sac, and hatch in the spring.

A perfect Orb Weaver Web!

Male Orb Weavers don't make webs. They spend their time cruising for females to mate. At this time of year, the females are laying their last clutch of eggs, and will die at the first frost. The eggs will overwinter, up to several hundred eggs in one egg sac, and hatch in the spring, The eggs will overwinter, but the female and male spiders will die at the first frost. We haven't had a frost yet, so hopefully we'll see more spider webs tomorrow!!

What will the weather bring?

What's happening in the Lakes Basin?

After 8 years of posting my blog, I've decided that I'm only going to post my blog every TWO weeks. Check back on November 15th for my next natural history blog.

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

Whether you celebrate it or not,

I hope nature casts a spell on you!

Happy Halloween!

Check back this coming Sunday, Nov. 2nd, for the latest natural history news from my neighborhood!