We have had some unusually HOT weather these past two weeks, with temps in the 80's! The lush green grasses have been quickly turning brown, so we knew we'd better get to Table Mountain before it dried up! Last Monday my friends Nancy, Patti, Mike, and I drove up there to see what we could see!
North Table Mountain Ecological Reserve is a flat topped butte, next to the town of Oroville, Ca. The top of it is capped by an ancient lava flow. It is one of the few places in California that has never been impacted by agriculture. Some cattle are allowed to graze there in the wet months, but apparently cause little impact on the native wildflowers.
North Table Mountain became an ecological reserve in 1993, when Francis Carmichael, a local rancher, sold 3,315 acres of it to the State of California, to be managed by the California Department of Fish and Game. Now it is open to the public. Land passes are required, and can be purchased online at https://www.ca.wildlifelicense.com/internetsales.
The majority of the "tabletop" had dried up already, but there were lots of wildflowers bordering all the small flowing creeks! Went spent the day following these creeks and "botanizing" along the way!
Butter and Eggs/Johnny Tuck - Rusty Popcorn Flowers - White-tipped Clover
Tryphysaria eriantha - Plagiobothrys nothofulvus -Trifolium variegatum
These flowers were found in both the dry and wet/damp areas. The Rusty Popcorn Flowers have bright yellow centers when they first bloom, which fade to white as the plant ages.
One of the many creeks on the top of North Table Mountain
The sky was overcast and lovely, and fresh cool breezes came and went while we hiked. Since there weren't thousands of wildflowers in bloom, we found some plants we hadn't noticed before! Always a delight for us amateur botanists!
Hartweg's Doll Lily/Inside Out Lily - Table Mountain Meadowfoam
Odontostomum hartwegii - Limnanthes douglasii ssp. nivea
Mike and Patti had never seen the Inside Out Lilies before, and Nancy and I hadn't seen them on Table Mountain before! It turns out that they are the only species in their genus, and are found only in California!!! Wow!
Table Mountain Meadowfoam was a growing in the dry as well as the wet/damp areas, and was a familiar plant to all of us. I love the thin, clear, converging lines on their petals.
Bent-stem/Dudley's Monkeyflowers - Erythranthe geniculata
There was a long beautiful bank of basalt columns along one creek, that were encrusted in a gorgeous, colorful variety of lichens! Growing in small niches on these columns, were Bent-stem/Dudley's Monkeyflowers that we weren't familiar with, as well as some Pipevines that we didn't know grew on Table Mountain!! So exciting!!!
Bent-stem/Dudley's Monkeyflowers - Erythranthe geniculata
I couldn't get enough photos of the Monkeyflowers on the
lichened columns! Such beauty! We lingered there for quite some time among the ancient basalt columns!
Pipevine Swallowtail caterpillars on Pipevines
Battus philenor hirsuta - Aristolochia californica
Patti spotted a huge patch of Pipevine across the creek and in the sun that had lots and lots of the Pipevine Swallowtail caterpillars on it!! We scrambled up the rocks and checked them out. Not surprisingly we didn't see any Pipevines in bloom, as they bloom in February, but we only saw one seed pod! Maybe they didn't bloom much this year, or the flowers dried up in the heat???
We had been seeing Pipevine Swallowtail Butterflies all day, sipping nectar from all the wildflowers. They weren't in large clusters or groups, but they were flitting around the whole reserve! I wondered why they weren't getting eating by birds. It turns out that they are inedible to predators, because they ingest toxic aristolochic acids from their Pipevine host plant when they are caterpillars. These acids stay in their bodies even when they pupate into adults!
Pipevine Swallowtail caterpillars on Pipevines
Battus philenor hirsuta - Aristolochia californica
After Pipevine Swallowtail Butterflies mate, the female lays her eggs (which also contain toxic acids) on the underside of Pipevine leaves. When the caterpillars first hatch, they stay together in small groups and feed on Pipevine leaves. When they grow larger they head out on their own to feed and pupate. It takes approximately one week for an adult to develop and emerge from it's chrysalis. The adults usually live for a month, feeding on wildflower nectar.
Savannah Sparrow - Passerculus sandwichensis
We didn't see a lot of birds, but we heard them in the tree filled canyons. I did manage to photograph this lone Savannah Sparrow! These sparrows spend the winter in the southern U.S. or down in Mexico. They breed across the U.S. and up into northern Canada and Alaska. Right now some of them are back on Table Mountain to breed and raise their young!
Western Meadowlark - Sturnella neglecta
We also saw and heard several Western Meadowlarks! They are quite camouflaged when seen from the back. From the front, they have a beautiful golden-yellow breast and throat! Such beauty! They have probably flown up from California's Central Valley, to breed and raise their young on North Table Mountain.
The following information about Western Meadowlarks is from Cornell's website at https://birdsoftheworld.org.
"Female locates nest in pasture, prairie, or other grassland habitat; rarely in cultivated fields. Well concealed, on ground, often in shallow depression and usually in fairly dense vegetation. Nest constructed of coarse dried grasses, stems of forbs, or fine bark, more or less interwoven with and attached to surrounding vegetation and lined with finer grasses. Usually partially arched or roofed, with conspicuous runway extending from the nest entrance. Construction variable, from completely open nests without runways to nests with complete roofs and elaborate entrance tunnels, sometimes several feet long."
Western Meadowlarks usually lay 4-5 eggs in a nest. Eggs hatch within 12-13 days. Young birds fledge when approximately 21 days old.
Ravine Falls
We also made it to Ravine Falls that still had some thin streams of water falling. It sounded lovely in the cool, shaded ravine!
Canyon Delphinium - Purple Owl's Clover
Delphinium nudicaule - Castilleja exserta ssp exserta
Just above the waterfall, there is a shaded slope where bright red Canyon Delphiniums usually bloom. This year they weren't on their usual slope, but we spotted some a bit farther away on a really steep slope. Mike tried to climb down to them but it was TOO steep! I managed to peak at them with my telephoto lens. Such Beauty! Another treat was this unusual double-blossomed Purple Owl's Clover that formed a heart!
We reluctantly left Table Mountain in the late afternoon, with hopes to possibly visit again in the near future!
South Yuba River
During the recent hot weather, my husband and I met our friend, Suzanne, at South Yuba River State Park. We were curious to see what flowers had bloomed since we were there three weeks ago. We didn't see a many of flowers, just a scattering of a variety of species, but it had definitely leafed-out and gotten a lot greener!
South Yuba River and springtime Blue Oaks
The river was also a gorgeous green, and was fuller and faster than last time!
Orange Sulphur - Silver Bush Lupine - Pipevine Swallowtail on Hairy Vetch
Colias eurytheme - Lupinus albifrons - Battus philenor hirsuta - Vicia villosa
There were LOTS of Pipevine Swallowtail Butterflies feeding on flower nectar, as well as a few Orange Sulphur Butterflies!
Western Rattlesnake - Crotalus oreganus
It was definitely reptile weather, but we were still surprised to come across a Western Rattlesnake alongside the trail!!! WOW! It had 12 "buttons" at the end of its tail, which indicated that had been around a while. It didn't have the same markings of the rattlesnakes I have seen in my neighbor hood. The one's I've seen locally have lots of blotchy brown patches on their white body! This one has thin white bands on a brown body! We watched for a few minutes before it disappeared in the trailside grasses! How cool!
The following information is from the website at Mount Diablo Interpretive Association, https://www.mdia.org/articles/northern-pacific-rattlesnake.
"In late summer to early fall, we enter the birthing season for snakes. Rattlesnakes are one of the few live-bearing snakes (opposed to egg-lying). Mother rattlesnakes can give birth to 7-15 young who actually stay with her for the first couple of weeks. The young are distinctly patterned replicas of the adult except they initially have a single button on their tail. They will not get a second rattle until they shed their skin for the first time, generally within a few weeks. Rattlesnakes get a new rattle every time they shed and may shed three to four times in the same year. Therefore, the number of rattles does not tell the age of the snake. Secondly, as the snakes age, rattles will commonly break off."
In the past two days, we got 3.70" of rain!!! This should make the wildflowers bloom more down in the foothills. Hopefully we'll be back soon to enjoy a continued bloom!
A week ago my husband and I, along with our friends Mary, Mike, and Patti, traveled over to Sierra Valley to hear a lecture on ungulates at the Feather River Land Trust Visitor Center! We drove out to the Steel Bridge before the lecture to see what birds had recently arrived!
Greater Yellowlegs - Tringa melanoleuca
Greater Yellowlegs migrate through Sierra Valley to their breeding grounds in the swampy, muskeg habitats of central Canada and southern Alaska. They spend their winters as close as northern Mexico or as far south as southern Chile! While in Sierra Valley they feed on small aquatic and terrestrial invertebrates, small fish, frogs, and occasionally seeds or berries. We only saw this lone adult.
Cinnamon Teal (male - female) - Spatula cyanoptera
The Cinnamon Teal breeds in freshwater or brackish wetlands in the northwestern half of the U.S., not in the prairie-pothole region of Canada. The males are gorgeously colored. The female isn't, which is a good strategy if you want to be undetected while on a nest. These Teals are known to stay year-round in California's Central Valley, or they could also migrate to breeding grounds in the western half of the U.S., including Sierra Valley!
Cinnamon Teal (male) - Spatula cyanoptera
The male Cinnamon Teal is so brilliant in its rusty-read mating colors! Even its eyes are red! The transition from the eclipse phase back to their mating colors begins in the fall and ends in early winter.
Mallard (female) - Song Sparrow
Anas platyrhynchos - Melospiza melodia
At the Steel Bridge, Mary spotted this female Mallard on a nest! The male was sitting down in the long grasses near the nest. Mallards are primarily seasonally monogamous. Nests are made on the ground in the cover of grasses etc., near marshes, ponds, or agricultural areas, where 1-13 eggs are laid.
Mallards usually nest on the ground, and will lay 1-13 eggs per clutch. Only the female hen will incubate and care for the young. The ducklings hatch within 28 days. They are born precocial with downy feathers and open eyes. They usually leave the nest within 24 hours of hatching, and start feeding immediately!
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Song Sparrows spend the winter in the lower elevations. They are mainly fruit and seed eaters but supplement their diet with a variety of invertebrates including spiders, snails, and even earthworms!
Marsh Wren (adult) - Cistothorus palustris
Their nests are initially made by lashing upright tules together with sedges and grasses, and then constructing a basket shaped nest "hanging" between them, with a short tunnel-like entrance on top.
The following information on Marsh Wren's is from Cornell's website birdsoftheworld.org.
"If female approaches male's territory, he flies toward her and, with tail cocked over his head, delivers rapid volley of songs. If she enters his territory, he flies toward his courting center (where his nests are under construction), and she sometimes follows. Escorted by the male, the female then visits and often enters several nests in succession. During this courtship, male does little singing but much displaying, often leading females from one nest to another, “nervously” bowing with tail held high, commonly touching back of his head. By destroying nearby nests, wrens undoubtedly reduce competition for food, both intra-and interspecifically, in immediate area around their own nests."
Sunset colors in Sierra Valley
After the talk at the Visitor Center, we had a lovely picnic outside with a fabulous view of Sierra Valley. The sunset colors were accompanied by the loud calls of Sandhill Cranes! We didn't see the cranes, but loved hearing them! We'll be back soon, to see what new birds have arrived for the summer!
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What's blooming locally? What's happening on the river?
Check back in two weeks, on Sunday, April 19th,
for the answers to these questions and more!
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Your questions and comments are always appreciated! Please email me at northyubanaturalist@gmail.com. Thanks!
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