Green Lynx Spider - Peucitia viridans
Black Swan Preserve
Last Monday, my friends Patti and Mike and I were lead on a hike by Hank Meals through the Black Swan Preserve. It was a beautiful Blue Oak Woodland, filled with waist-high grasses, wildflowers and RAIN! One of the absolutely coolest critters we saw was the Green Lynx Spider pictured above! I spotted it on a yellow wildflower where it's green body stood out! I had never seen a GREEN spider before, in my whole life, neither had any of my friends! However, it turns out that these spiders are fairly common in California, just super camouflaged! How cool to see one of them! WOW!!!
The following information about them is from bugguide.net. "The lynx-spiders are so called because some species chase their prey with great rapidity over herbage and the foliage of trees and shrubs; they even jump from branch to branch like the attids; but other species lie in wait near flowers and spring upon insects that visit flowers." J.H. Comstock 1912
Hank wrote a blog about the Black Swan Preserve in 2019, from which I have taken an excerpt about the history of the preserve. You can read the whole blog at https://yubatreadhead.blogspot.com/2019/01/black-swan-preserve-where-deer-creek.html.
"On the border between Yuba and Nevada Counties is a former gold mining location where nature is reclaiming what was once a stark industrial site. The Black Swan Preserve is located in the blue oak–gray pine savannah belt near Smartsville, CA and it’s at a low enough elevation to be accessible all year. Here the Bear Yuba Land Trust maintains a two-mile loop trail circling a pond and wetland where there was once a hydraulic mine. The trail was made possible by a partnership between the Bear-Yuba Land Trust and California Fish and Wildlife. It’s the first trail in what will eventually become a larger network of trails accessing more diverse ecosystems in the area.
The trail circles an intact wetland that is critical habitat for the endangered Western pond turtle, as well as bass, and an array of waterfowl including the American Dipper and Belted Kingfisher. Known endangered species on the properties include Valley Elderberry Longhorn Beetle, Western Burrowing Owl, and Black Rail. Adjacent grassland pastures, rolling hills and meadows provide habitat for bears, bald eagles, mountain lions and deer. Near the confluence of Deer Creek and the Lower Yuba River there is riparian habitat, blue oak woodland, wetlands and groundwater-fed ponds."
Looking down at the former Black Swan Hydraulic Mine site
Initially the trail led us up to the top of a hydraulicked butte, where we could look down at the pond that was formed after the mining operation ended. Currently, you cannot hike the traditional two mile loop trail, as beavers have taken over the last section of the trail by the pond, and the water is too deep and muddy to hike through.
Hydraulicked Bluff
We then hiked down to the pond's edge, where we could see the hydraulicked bluff we had just been on top of. The overcast created beautiful, soft lighting on the landscape.
Mallard - Canada Geese
Anas platyrhynchos - Branta Canadensis
We didn't see any beavers on the pond, but there was one lone female Mallard and a group of four Canada Geese with one gosling!
Lark Sparrow - Chondestes grammacus
We heard lots and lots of birds, but the rainy weather kept us from stopping and looking for them. I did manage to get a photo of a Lark Sparrow! Love their rusty cheeks and crown!
Deer Creek
Hank led us to this beautiful view of a Deer Creek waterfall! There were lots of swallows nesting along the rocky, bedrock and boulder-lined creek.
Blue Oak Woodlands
We only saw a few other people that day as we hiked a 6 mile loop through the Oak woodlands. The rain started falling around 11:00 am, and by 3:00 pm we were pretty soaked! It was wild and fresh, but luckily not cold! Everything was bespotted by raindrops, which made it even more beautiful!
Leichtlin's Mariposa Lily - Calochortus leitchtlinii
There was a wide variety of wildflowers growing amongst the grassy fields! Here are some of the ones we saw! Such beauty!
Winecup Clarkia - Common Madia - Narrrowleaf Flax
Clarkia purpurea - Madia elegans - Linum bienne
Roundtooth Ookow - Bridge's Triteleia - Twining Brodiaea
Dichelostemma multiflorum - Triteleia bridgesii - Dichelostemma volubile
Inside Out Lily - Fairy Lanterns - White Brodiaea
Odontostomum hartwegii - Calochortus albus - Triteleia hyacinthina
Foothill Penstemon - Chines Houses - Slender Larkspur
Penstemon heterophyllus - Calochortus albus - Delphinium gracilentum
California Buckeyes - Aesculus californica
The California Buckeyes were in total full bloom, and so beautifully fragrant!
Hank enjoys the view to the northwest!
It was a fabulous rainy day in the foothills, with Hank as our guide.
We hope to visit this amazing area for years to come!
Western Buttercup - Ranunculus occidentalis
Carman Valley
On the previous Friday, my husband and I, along with our friends Mary and Patti, drove over to Carman Valley to see what was blooming! Carman Valley is located near Sierra Valley. We were a bit early for the full bloom, but thousands of Western Buttercups filled the meadows as far as we could see! Mixed in with the Buttercups were lots of American Wintercress flowers (pictured below), which are also bright yellow in color. We hope to come back in another week or so, to see the usual thousands of Common Camas, Bistort and Larkspurs in bloom!
American Wintercress/Yellow Rocket - Western Peony - Snowplant
Barbarea orthoceras - Paeonia brownii - Sarcodes sanguinea
On the pine-needled covered, shady forest floor we discovered Western Peonies, Woolen-Breeches, Mahala Mat, and Snowplants in bloom!
Woolen-breeches - Mahala Mat
Hydrophyllum alpestre -Ceanothus prostratus
Unusually the Woolen-breeches have their flowers at the base of their stems, not on the tops! The Mahala Mat flowers are quite tiny, but up-close their yellow stamens, spoon-shaped exerted petals, and folded-in central petals are amazing!!!
Mountain Bluebirds - Sialia currucoides
Perched on an old wooden corral, we were lucky enough to see several brilliant-blue Mountain Bluebirds! The males are just exquisite with their sky blue heads, breasts and backs, highlighted by their even deeper-blue wings. The females are overall gray in color, with some blue on their wing tips. In the past, I saw one Mountain Bluebird nest in a fence post. Hopefully these will nest here, and we'll see them feeding their young when we come back in a week or two! Apparently they spend their winters in northern Mexico and come here to breed and raise their young!
Wood Ducks - Aix sponsa
We also visited a pond in another part of Carman Valley, and right away I spotted a pair of Wood Ducks! Wow!!! These have probably spent the winter in the foothills or Central Valley of California, and are here to breed and raise their young. The males have such striking, colorful plumage! What a lucky sighting!
Beaver Lodge
The pond may have been created years ago by the damming of beavers! There is a beaver lodge visible at the far end of the pond, and the trees along the edge of the pond have been cut down by beavers for use in the dam as well as their lodge. Their favorite food is the cambium layer of deciduous trees, not evergreen trees.
A tree recently being "cut" by beavers.
They will gnaw a "waist" into the tree, which eventually causes the tree to fall down.
Beaver cut evergreen trees
Here are just a few of the many beaver-cut trees bordering the pond. Since they are gray and bleached by the sun, they were apparently cut down quite a while ago. I hope when we return in the near future, that we get lucky and maybe see a beaver or two!
What's happening on the river?
What migratory songbird birds have arrived recently in our neighborhood?
What's happening in the Lakes Basin?
Check back for the answers to these questions and more on Sunday, May 24th.
Your questions and comments are greatly appreciated! Please email me at northyubanaturalist@gmail.com. Thanks!
