In the River Corridor!

The North Yuba River Corridor - 9/13/25

The river is pretty low right now, and surprisingly COLD! I went in twice recently and had to spend a lot of time warming up on sundrenched boulders afterwards! An advantage of the cold water, is that it slows the growth of algae on the underwater rocks. Some years the rocks are so slimy with algae it's difficult to walk around without slipping. This year, it's not bad at all. 

One of my favorite things to do is to go down in the late afternoon, sit on a rock in the middle of the river and watch the dragonflies! Right now there are hundreds of them zipping around! The low sun glints off their wings in flashes of gold and copper! Such beauty!

Common Green Darners - Anax junius

The most common dragonflies on the river are the Common Green Darners. They have transparent wings, a green thorax, and a brown abdomen. During their short time as an adult, dragonflies eat a LOT of insects! They will catch an insect in the air, tear off its wings with their mandibles, and eat the prey while still flying!  

Dragonflies can move each of their wings independently and can fly in any direction, including sideways and backwards. They can also hover in one spot for a minute or more! Some dragonflies can fly fast, up to 18 mph! They can also fly long distances! One species of dragonfly holds the record for the world's longest insect migration, a distance of 11,000 miles!

Pacific Spiketail - Cordulegaster dorsalis

I found this dead dragonfly on our road and photographed its huge eyes up close. This dragonfly has blue eyes. Other species have brown, red-brown, black or green eyes. Dragonfly eyes have 30,000 facets and a near 360 degree vision! They also see in color, usually up to 4x more colors than humans see!

River Otters - Lontra canadensis

My neighbors recently saw three River Otters swimming in the river one evening!! They called to let me know what they had just seen, and I immediately set out in my car with my fingers crossed. Unfortunately I didn't see them, but it was nice to know that they are still around. I haven't seen an Otter in the river for more than a year. I took these two photos on September 2nd, 2014! They were headed upriver, and I photographed them from the bridge as they approached, and then as they swam away upstream.

River Otters - Lontra canadensis

My friend Keith recently asked me where River Otters sleep. I knew that they live in underground dens, possibly with an underwater entrance, when they have newborn babies. They don't dig their own dens, they borrow them from other animals or take them over after the animal leaves. Since there aren't any beavers or muskrats in our area, they probably take over fox dens that don't have an underwater entrance. The rest of the year they probably sleep in the root cavities of big trees, hallow logs, or in rock crevices along the shoreline. 

Rainbow Trout - Onchorhynchus mykiss irideus 

River Otters eat fish, crayfish, frogs, ducks, insects and even small mammals. They can be seen at anytime during the day, and even at night when they use their whiskers to detect vibrations from prey! The most common fish in our river is Rainbow Trout, that are planted by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife Agency.

Sacramento Sucker Fish - Catostomus occidentalis

To my COMPLETE surprise, I saw two LARGE Sacramento Suckers in the river this week!!!  They haven't been commonly seen in the river for years! The story was that the River Otters ate them all. I found a small dead one on shore last year, which my neighbor said that a fisherman probably left. This species thrives in water that is cool and clear, and in reservoirs of moderate elevation. They can live up to 10 years. Sucker Fish are native bottom feeders and eat algae, small invertebrates, and plant matter. 

Are they back because the River Otters aren't as numerous? Will the River Otter population increase if they have indeed returned? Hopefully, I can find out more information in the near future.

Common Merganser (adult) - Wood Duck (female)

Mergus merganser - Aix sponsa

Another surprising sighting was a female Wood Duck! Wood Ducks are very uncommon on the North Yuba River. I've only seen them a few times. What is really unusual about this sighting is that there doesn't appear to be a male Wood Duck in the area, and that this female is surprisingly keeping company with a Common Merganser! Wow! 

California Fuschia - Epilobium canum

Late Bloomers!

There are still a few plants in bloom in our area. Apparently they are adapted to dry conditions. One of my absolute favorites are the brilliantly colored California Fuschias!  This plant is a shrub, that can be covered in hundreds of bright red blossoms. Hummingbirds often frequent them for nectar.

Evening Primrose - Oenothera elata

Evening Primroses are native to our area. The open in the evening and stay open overnight until midday. Their scent attracts moths at night, but I have also seen Hummingbirds feeding on their nectar. The plants are 3-8' tall, and the flowers are several inches wide!

Scarlet Monkeyflower - Erythranthe cardinalis

Scarlet Monkeyflowers are native perennials. They grow along the river edge, as well as irrigation ditches! They are pollenated by hummingbirds and butterflies. The plants are 1-3' tall. The flowers are about and inch and a half long.

Rabbitbrush - Ericameria nauseosa

Rabbitbrush is a native shrub that grows in sunny, dry areas. I also grows in deserts, and on the east side of the Sierra.

Big Leaf Maple in the pouring rain!

It Poured!

On Thursday this week, the sky clouded up with dark threatening clouds in the late afternoon. We decided to go down to our greenhouse and be "in" the possible storm! We weren't disappointed, as it POURED as soon as we got into the greenhouse and continued, off and on, for an hour!  Wow!

The sound of the rain was intense and the fragrance of the damp earth was heavenly! Enjoy this NOISY video! The total rainfall was .25"!

Then the sun came out and there was a glorious light show 

on the clouds and ridges as the storm broke up!

Such beauty!

What's happening in the Lakes Basin?

Are signs of Fall showing up?

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 October 4th for my next natural history blog.

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

Rain, Thunder, and Lightning!

my neighbor's house

It was a dark and stormy night...

 and we watched in trepidation as dark clouds gathered in the sky. The fear of lightning and possible wildfire was on everyone's mind. That night the thunder boomed, lightning flashed and flashed and flashed, and rain poured! 

In the morning the storm had ceased, and everything was refreshed, incredibly fragrant, and glistening. Three small lightning fires had indeed started in our area, but they were quickly contained by the local firefighters. The total rainfall for our neighborhood, was .90"!

Earlier in the week we had several moist, fragrant, cool evenings, with dark clouds, light spatterings of rain, and lovely breezes! There were only a few flashes of lightning, thank goodness, and no fires were started! We only got .08" of rain from those storms, but the Lakes Basin got 2.21" of rain! More showers are predicted for later this week, but no thunder showers! Yay!!!

Steller's Jay in Sunflowers - Cyanocitta stelleri

Down in the Garden!

Right now in our garden, the sunflowers are starting to go to seed. They are attracting a variety of birds and insects, that feast on the seeds, nectar, or pollen. 

Steller's Jays are year-round residents in our neighborhood, and are a joy to watch when they're feeding on the Sunflowers!  The flowers bounce up and down from the movement and weight of the Jays, causing them to shift and change position to get to the seeds. Often, I see them hanging upside-down, reaching at odd angles, or even hopping up from the ground to get to the seeds! They are quite the acrobats!

Lesser Goldfinch (female) - Spinus psaltria

Lesser Goldfinches pass through here every year on their way to the lower elevations for the winter. I just love to hear their tiny mournful calls! Each couple usually arrives with a few juveniles that are still "begging" to be fed! For the most part, the adults ignore the begging youngsters or only feed them occasionally. And indeed, if they're not fed, the fledglings will eventually eat some seeds on their own.

Lesser Goldfinch (male) - Spinus psaltria

The males have a distinguishing black cap that is absent in the females. I love to see this group of tiny garden visitors arrive every year! They are just one of the reasons I plant sunflowers in our garden.

Spotted Towhee (juvenile) - Pipilo maculatis

Like the Steller's Jays, Spotted Towhees are local year-round residents. Right now there are quite a few juveniles visible in our area. Juveniles and adults forage mainly on the ground and use a two-footed hop-scratch method to reveal seeds and insects under forest debris. I did, however, see a few of them up in the sunflowers checking out the seeds.

Spotted Towhee (adult) - Pipilo maculatis

The pattern and color of their feathers change, through molting, as the juveniles mature. Additionally, their eye-color turns from dark-brown to burnished-red. 

Chickaree/Douglas Squirrel - Tamiasciurus douglasii

The local resident Chickarees are busy harvesting Sunflower heads from our garden. I often see them running down the top of the garden fence with a freshly "picked" sunflower seedhead in their mouths! They will stash the seedheads for the winter, at the base of a tree, maybe under a log, or perhaps underneath some forest debris.

Chickaree/Douglas Squirrel - Tamiasciurus douglasii

They are also busy stashing walnuts from my neighbor's tree! They do this for most of the day, as they get ready for winter!

Two young Chickarees defying gravity at a rapid pace!

To my delight there are two young Chickarees hanging out in our area! It's been fun watching them scurry around and stare at me as I pass by. Just yesterday morning I caught them playing on a tree trunk. It looked like they were having a blast! Enjoy!

Western Gray Squirrel with Horse Chestnuts - Sciurus griseus

The Western Gray Squirrels are also stashing food for the winter.  Right now they're busy with the walnuts next door, but I also saw them collecting Horse Chestnuts further down the road! During the winter, they will survive on their stored food, as well as actively forage for food. 

I've been watching this Western Gray Squirrel hide individual walnuts in a variety of places. As soon as it finishes burying a walnut and leaves the area, quite often a Steller's Jay shows up! The Jay then digs up the walnut but doesn't eat it! Apparently they're just curious! 

Honey Bees

Sunflowers also provide a lot of nectar and pollen for the local insects. 

Here are just a few of the ones I've seen this week. We used to raise Honey Bees, but we stopped a while back. However, we still see lots of Honey Bees in our garden every year, and like to think that maybe they are descendants from the bees in our hives!

Bee Wolf - Bombus vosnesenskii 

The Bee Wolf is a wasp that preys on honeybees. Their yellow eyes make them easy to distinguish from other wasps. Adult females dig underground, branching burrows. Each side tunnel ends in a brood chamber where 1-6 paralyzed bees are deposited. The female Bee Wolf lays an egg on each bee and seals up the tunnel. When the larvae hatch they eat the paralyzed bees, pupate, and dig out of the burrow as adults!!!

Yellow-faced Bumble Bee - Philanthus crabroniformis

There are LOTS of Yellow-faced Bumble Bees in our garden right now. During the Spring and Summer, these Bumble Bees live in an underground burrow with one queen and 200-300 female worker bees. At the end of the summer the queen will lay unfertilized eggs from which male Bumble Bees will hatch. After they mate with a queen they leave the hive and do not return. Many of the males spend the night on our flowers!

Almost Full Moon 9/5/25

It will be a full moon this coming Sunday at 7:30 PM. I hope to get some photos and maybe there will be some clouds again as well! I got this photo last night and there was a definite ring of color around the moon, coloring the clouds!!!

What's happening in the Lakes Basin?

What's happening on the river?

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 September 20th for my next natural history blog.

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