Lakes Basin Wildflowers!!!

Right now the Lakes Basin is in the middle of an incredible wildflower bloom!  The meadows are blooming, the forest is blooming, and the treeless rocky areas are blooming! Woody shrubs and delicate wildflowers are all in bloom! We don't remember it ever being in such profuse bloom before! 

Sierra primroses - Primula suffrutescens

Sierra Primroses!

In the past three weeks, my friend Nancy and I went on hikes in the Lakes Basin to see some of our favorite wildflowers! The Sierra Primroses pictured above are one of our absolute favorites! Many years ago on a cross-country hike, we came across a shady, higher elevation, rock ledge garden with thousands of Sierra Primroses in it! Every year since then, Nancy and I have hiked up to this amazing garden. The bloom varies year to year. This year there weren't as many flowers as last year, but there were still hundreds of them! 

            

Sierra primroses are technically classified as subshrubs (low-growing, woody-based shrubs). Their stems and base become woody over time, which helps them survive extreme high-altitude conditions, snowpack, and rock crevices. They are no more than 6" tall.

The "Primrose Path"

 

The path to the primroses doesn't look so steep in this photo, but it is, with a bit of boulder hopping included! The "garden" is at 7,100' in elevation. 

Long-leaved Asters - Mountain Spirea

Aster ascendens - Spirea splendens

We saw a lot of other wildflowers in bloom in the Primrose Garden!

Hope you enjoy the photos!

Crimson Columbine - Primrose Monkeyflower

Aquilea formosa  - Erythranthre pulsiferae

Round Lake 

In the afternoon, beautiful clouds came in and filled the landscape as we left the Primrose Garden and hiked, in a round-about way, back to our car. 

Shasta Knotweed - Sierra Sedum

Polyganum shastense - Sedum obtusatum

On a dryish open slope we found these fairly uncommon wildflowers!

Sierra Laurel - Western Labrador Tea

Leucothoe davisiae - Rhododendron columbianum

In the shady forests there were lots of blooming woody shrubs!

Hidden Lake

Sugarsticks and Drummond's Anemones!

The week before our hike to the Sierra Primroses, Nancy and I hiked part of the Mt. Elwell Trail to find two different wildflowers, Sugarsticks and Drummond's Anemones.  Surprisingly BOTH were in bloom!!  These flowers are quite uncommon, so we really lucked out on seeing them!!!

Sugarsticks - Allotropa virgata

 We found a good number of Sugarsticks that day in an old growth forest of Red Firs. This is the only place in the Lakes Basin that we have seen them! Some were just emerging. Others were over a foot tall with their characteristic red stripes. They are really unusual looking. They have no green parts, and don't produce any chlorophyl. They are myco-heterotrophs, organisms with the ability to parasitize fungi. They feed primarily on mycelium, the vegetative part of a fungus, consisting of a network of fine white filaments/hyphae. Sugarsticks feed primarily on the mycelium of Matsutake mushrooms, which in turn tap into the roots of trees!


Sugarsticks - Allotropa virgata

These Sugarsticks were more mature and producing their bright red seed pods, that contain tiny seeds! The seeds are incredibly small and contain almost no energy reserves, they cannot grow independently. To germinate, they must land in the soil and be infected by a specific underground fungal network. The seed tricks the fungus into providing the nutrients and sugars needed to sprout.

They also reproduce clonally through an extensive lateral root system, that is 2'-4' deep! Since they are underground, buds on the lateral roots can survive a fire if the trees supporting the fungus don't die. They are in the Ericacaea (Heath) Family, and are the only species in the genus Allotropa. They are related to Snow Plants, Pinedrops, and surprisingly Prince's Pine/Pipsissewa! Sugarsticks were declared a "sensitive" species in 1998. How lucky we were to find these unusual flowers in bloom!

Drummond's Anemone - Anemone drummondii

To my delight, we weren't too late to see the Drummond's Anemones in bloom! However we only found three blossoms! All around them were the dried seed heads and stalks of ones that had already bloomed! Every year we come here to see these beautiful wildflowers, as we've never seen them blooming anywhere else in the Lakes Basin! Such a lovely reason for a hike!

en.Wikipedia.org states: "Each Drummond's Anemone produces several showy flowers, each with five to eight petal-like sepals but no petals. The sepals are usually white (occasionally bright blue to purplish blue) with a distinct blue tint especially on the underside. The flower center is filled with many yellow-anthered stamens. Anemone drummondii is native to western North America from California to Alaska. It is found in mountainous environments such as the Cascade Range, Sierra Nevada, and the Rocky Mountains extending from open coniferous forests to rocky slopes at alpine elevations."

Leopard Lilies - Monkshood

Lilium pardilinum - Aconitum columbianum

A Variety of Wildflowers and Meadows!

 On another day, my husband and I drove around to several beautiful meadows to see what was blooming! Once again, I have no time to write. Enjoy the photos! Or better yet, go see them in person!!!

Little Elephant's Head - Pedicularis attolens

Little Elephant Heads are smaller in size than the Elephant's Head (Pedicularis groenlandica), with trunks that curve up, and ears that hang down! Both species are typically found in wet meadows. 

Oregon Checker Mallow - Sidalcea oregana 

The Lakes Basin has lots and lots of meadows. This one is off the first half-mile of the Forest Service 09 Road. It is a dryish meadow that is bursting with White Brodiaea, Bolander's Yampah, and Oregon Checker Mallow.

White Brodiaea -Triteleia hyacinthina

Tinker's Penny - Hipericum anagalloides

In the wet grassy areas on the edge of another meadow, I came across a tiny, yellow flower I hadn't seen in a few years! They were Tinker's Pennys and are in the St. John's Wort Family. They usually grow on the edge of lakes or ponds, and are semi-aquatic, capable of surviving long periods of submersion!

Slender Penstemon - Penstemon gracilentius

In the shady forest there a thousands of gorgeous Slender Penstemons! 

Such beauty!

Mountain Spirea - Spirea densiflora

The Mountain Spirea is such a beautiful bright rosy-peppermint-pink! It's soft appearance is due to hundreds of tiny stamens!

Alpine Aster - Orostemma apligenum

Asters were growing by the thousands in the shady forests! 

Alpine Aster - Orostemma apligenum

Unbelievably beautiful in the sun and shade!

Bridge's Gilia - Navarettia leptalea

Surrounding the big boulders at the edge of a wet meadow was a carpet of hundreds of lavender-pink Bridge's Gilias! These flowers are tiny, but definitely worth getting down on your knees to look at. Such Beauty!

What's happening in my neighborhood?

What birds have arrived?

What's happening on the river?

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

on Sunday, July 19th!

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

Sierra Valley Baby Birds and More!!!

View north from the Steel Bridge - 5/30/26

In the past two weeks I was lucky enough to go over to Sierra Valley four more times! I just LOVE going over there.  It's so alive with all the birds and wildlife! And the Big Sky is so conducive to wonder and peace! However, once again I don't have time to write a lot today, so I hope you enjoy the photos!

Pied-billed Grebe - Podilymbus podiceps

Sierra Valley Birds

 

The baby birds were bigger than they were three weeks ago but were still begging for food from their moms!  This little grebette was never far from its parents or its siblings!

Pied-billed Grebe - Podilymbus podiceps

This adult Pied-billed Grebe had three grebettes that were in its care. One of them was a little smaller than these two, perhaps it had hatched a little later. The parents will feed the grebettes for about a month! After that, they will feed themselves independently.

Pied-billed Grebe - Podilymbus podiceps

The following information about Pied-billed Grebes is from the Cornell website at https://www.allaboutbirds.org/.

"Part bird, part submarine, the Pied-billed Grebe is common across much of North America. These small brown birds have unusually thick bills that turn silver and black in the summer. These expert divers inhabit sluggish rivers, freshwater marshes, lakes, and estuaries. They use their chunky bills to kill and eat large crustaceans along with a great variety of fish, amphibians, insects, and other invertebrates. Rarely seen in flight and often hidden amid vegetation, Pied-billed Grebes announce their presence with loud, far-reaching calls.

These grebes often avoid danger by submerging, crocodile-style, with just the eyes and nostrils above the surface."

The following information about Pied-billed Grebes is from the Cornell website at https://birdsoftheworld.org/.

"This grebe is seldom seen in flight, in part because it migrates by night, landing on the nearest body of water before or at dawn, and in part because it usually prefers to escape danger either by crash-diving, when it may kick water several feet into the air, or by stealthily sinking out of view. When hiding, it may remain underwater with eyes and nostrils just above the surface.

Pied-billed Grebe with a fish - Podilymbus podiceps

This adult Pied-billed Grebe caught a fish and tried to give it to its offspring, but for some reason it was difficult for the young Grebe to grasp the fish!

Pied-billed Grebes - Podilymbus podiceps

Here it is offering it to its offspring.

Pied-billed Grebes - Podilymbus podiceps

The young Grebe grabs the fish! Yay!

Pied-billed Grebes - Podilymbus podiceps

The young Grebe drops the fish!

Pied-billed Grebe - Podilymbus podiceps

So the adult grabbed the fish again and offered it to the young grebe again, and again, and again!  Eventually, the little one got a good hold on the fish and was able to get a bite of it before it dropped the fish again! So fun to watch!

American Coot and a cootling - Fulica americana

Three weeks ago the baby cootlings all looked like the one in the above photo. Now, most of them are much bigger and look totally different. The one pictured above must be from a second brood, typical of American Coots. 

American Coot - Fulica americana

This is what they look like now! They are mainly self-feeding now, but the parents also continue feeding the young coots until they are about a month old.

Willet - Tringa semipalmata

We drove down to the Feather River Land Trust's new bird blind to see what we could see. On the way there we passed several adult Willets on top of fence posts.

  

Willet - Tringa semipalmata

They were calling a lot from the posts and we thought that maybe they had some offspring nearby.

Willet - Tringa semipalmata

Sure enough, my friend Tammy spotted a juvenile Willet in the grasses!! How cool! I've never seen a young Willet before!  

The following information about young willets is from the Cornell website at  https://birdsoftheworld.org/. 

"Both adults share in chick-rearing duties: adults lead, follow, and gather young; brood young; perform antipredator behavior/respond to predators with alarm calls/mobbing and vigilance. Brood territories defended by adults against other adults and young. Females abandon chicks approximately 2 weeks after hatching but males continue their presence with broods for at least 2 weeks after females depart. Departure of females from brood, as in most other biparental sandpipers, varies with date of hatch: females stay longer with early-hatching broods, sometimes to fledging. Males may desert when young fledge, some protect young for up to 1 week after fledging

Chicks peck and jab at vegetation from day of hatch, presumably for insect and other invertebrate prey. Not fed by parents."

Sandhill Crane - Antigone canadensis

To our complete delight we saw a pair of distant Sandhill Cranes with two offspring! WOW!!! I have never seen young Cranes before! They were quite a distance away, but a thrill to watch!

Sandhill Crane - Antigone canadensis

The following information about young Sandhill Cranes is from the Cornell website at  https://birdsoftheworld.org/

"Both parents feed young and generally keep them separated, perhaps to reduce sibling aggression, but perhaps also to minimize the likelihood that one predator could get both chicks. During the first 10 days or so after hatching chicks are mainly fed bill-to-bill by parents.

Food items too large for a chick to take whole (particularly animal items) may be broken by a parent and fed in pieces. Young become more self-feeding after half grown. Food items may be dropped at the feet of young by adults leading them to feeding opportunities. Food begging by young continues sporadically until independence, although occasionally parents will offer food to the chick, even without begging. These behaviors may be more socially (parent/chick bond) or physiological (hormonally stimulated) than nutritionally necessary.

Fledging usually occurs at 7 weeks for A. c. canadensis. Juveniles generally remain with the parents for 9-10 months, from nesting through fall migration, wintering and the first spring migration."

American White Pelican - Pelecanus erythrorhynchos

 

Two weeks ago, while I was at the Steel Bridge, an American White Pelican landed!  These beautiful birds look huge when compared to coots and grebes! They are indeed large, with a wingspan of 8'-10', a body length of 4'-5', and a weight of up to 16.4lbs!!! The one in the photo above had a fin like growth on its bill, that indicated it was in mating form!

American White Pelicans - Pelecanus erythrorhynchos

Just yesterday we were back on the Steel Bridge and there were more Pelicans there this time. They no longer had "fins" on their beaks, which indicated that the mating period was over. They were fishing along the edge of the Feather River headwaters! The two pelicans above, were swimming in an amazing synchronicity!

American White Pelicans - Pelecanus erythrorhynchos

This group of five Pelicans were fishing together! 

It was fascinating to watch as they hunted in unison! 

Black-necked Stilt - Himantopus mexicanus

Here are some photos of some of the other birds we saw. Such beauty!!!

Common Grackle - Quiscalus mexicanus

Sage Thrasher - Oreoscoptes montanus

Horned Lark - Eremophila alpestris

Horned Lark - Eremophila alpestris

White-faced Ibis - Pelagis chihi

American Pronghorn - Antilocapra americana

Sierra Valley Mammals

In another area of Sierra Valley, we were super lucky to see a female Pronghorn with its two young ones!  It was so amazing to see them!  I have never seen young pronghorns before!!! They took off into the far distance right after I took this photo!

The following information about Pronghorn offspring is from the website at https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Antilocapra_americana/.

"Females give birth to one or two fawns in the spring, typically they have a single young in their first year of breeding and twins in subsequent years. Females and their young form bands in the summer that roam over the territories of one to several males. Young are partially weaned by 3 weeks old, at which point they begin to eat vegetation as well. Most female pronghorns breed in their second year, at about 16 months old, although some females can breed as early as 5 months old. Males can breed in their first year, but rarely do because older, dominant males monopolize breeding opportunities. Males typically begin to breed in their third year.

Female pronghorns care for their young from 1 to 1.5 years after birth, after which the young will become independent. At the time of birth, the mother will consume the afterbirth to prevent detection by predators. She also consumes any excrement of the young for the first few weeks of their life to prevent detection by predators. For several days after birth young are weak and unable to keep the pace with adults, so mothers and young rest near a source of water until they gain their strength. Females leave their young in a hidden location in vegetation while they forage, but remain within two miles of them. Within minutes after birth, young pronghorns can stand on their own and they nurse within 2 hours. Within days of birth, young pronghorns can outrun a human and begin to travel and forage with their mother and other females and young in summer bands. Siblings are generally on their own until they begin to travel with their mother. Fawns play extensively in the summer herds, developing strength and dexterity. Male pronghorns do not help in raising offspring."

Northern River Otter - Lontra canadensis

On one of our visits to the Steel Bridge I watched four Northern River Otters swimming together down the headwaters of the Feather River!!! What a wonderful surprise! They were swimming fast and quickly passed under the Steel Bridge and kept going north!

Northern River Otter - Lontra canadensis

As they swam north, a tiny fish jumped out of the river to avoid them! A biologist I met, said that they may have been trying to herd fish together to catch them! Wow!!! I have never seen four Otters together at one time! How lucky I was to see them!

Coyote - Canis latrans

On another day we happened to see a Coyote out in the valley! They are year-round residents there but I don't often see them!

Sierra Valley looking south from the Steel Bridge - 6/20/26

I am so lucky to have this beautiful beautiful valley, and all its wildlife, so close to home! Without a doubt, I'll be back soon!

What's happening in my neighborhood?

What's happening in the Lakes Basin?

Check back for the answers to these questions and more in my next blog, two weeks from today, on Sunday, July 5th!

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