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!

Neighborhood News!

We had crazy weather last weekend!  It hailed, snowed, thundered, and poured rain! In three days we received 2.62" of precipitation, including half an inch of snow!  Up in the Lakes Basin they got two feet of new snow! It was great to get the extra moisture, and our water year total is now 50.43"! Yay! In contrast to that cold weather, a very warm dry spell is predicted for next week or more, with temperatures up in the 80's!

Light snow on the Ridgetop

Brewer's Blackbirds (female - male) - Euphagus cyanocephalus

New Arrivals - Migratory Songbirds

Every year Migratory Songbirds arrive in our neighborhood.  Some stay and raise their young here, while others just pass through. Last Spring, there was a definite lack of our usual summer songbirds, due to the lingering snow and cold temperatures. This year, to my delight, it's looking like our usual summer residents and visitors are back to their normal pattern.  Some of them are short-distance migrants, while others are long-distance migrants.  The following information from https://birdsoftheworld.org explains the differences.

“Types Of Migration

 The term migration describes periodic, large-scale movements of populations of animals. One way to look at migration is to consider the distances traveled.

 Permanent residents do not migrate. They are able to find adequate supplies of food year-round.

 Short-distance migrants make relatively small movements, as from higher to lower elevations on a mountainside.

 Medium-distance migrants cover distances that span a few hundred miles.

 Long-distance migrants typically move from breeding ranges in the United States and Canada to wintering grounds in Central and South America. Despite the arduous journeys involved, long-distance migration is a feature of some 350 species of North American birds."

Brewer's Blackbirds are definitely short to medium distance migrants, and probably drop down to the foothills or the central valley for the winter.  In the Spring they migrate up to our neighborhood to nest and raise their young!

Bullock's Oriole (adult male - 1st year male) - Icterus bullockii

Bullock's Orioles are LONG distance migrants.  They migrate down to central Mexico and northwestern Costa Rica for the winter, a distance of over 4,000 miles!  In the Spring, they migrate back up to the western half of the U.S. to breed and raise their young. 

This year, the first male Bullock's Oriole arrived in our neighborhood on April 21st!  Since then I have also seen a 1st year male, maybe two, in a particular area of our neighborhood. I have not as yet seen a female, but that doesn't mean that there isn't one in the area. I'm thrilled that they are back, as last year, not one nested in our neighborhood!

Bullock's Oriole (1st year males) - Icterus bullockii

1st year males look a lot like the females, except for the dark black stripe that extends down from their beak onto their chest. Adults mainly feed on insects, but also eat fruit and plant nectar.

Black-headed Grosbeak (female) - Pheucticus melanocephalus

I saw the first male Black-headed Grosbeak on April 12 this year!  Just this week, the females have arrived!  They will pair off soon, and start nesting. They migrate to our neighborhood from southern Mexico, a distance of approximately 2,700 miles!

House Wren (adult) - California Scrub-Jay (adult) 

Troglodytes aedon - Aphelocoma californica

Every Spring two House Wrens establish their territories down the road from our home.  They are short distance migrants and probably spend the winter in the foothills of California. They will breed and raise their young in our neighborhood!  I've only seen their tiny fledglings once!  So cute! Hope I see them again this year!

A Scrub Jay just arrived this week!  What a surprise!  They are year-round residents of the foothills, and rarely come up to our elevation.  Every once in a while, one of them shows up and hangs out for a bit. I thing they're just gorgeous and are a real treat to see in our neighborhood!

Olive-sided Flycatcher (adult) - American Dipper (adult) 

Contopus cooperi - Cinclus mexicanus

In the field guides, the Olive-sided Flycatcher's repeated call is "What peeves you?".  When you hear it in the field, the accent is definitely on "peeves".  We think a better phrase would be "We love you", with the accent on "love"!  This little gray and white bird is another LONG distance migrant. The majority of these birds breed across northern Canada and southeastern Alaska. In the fall they will migrate south to southern California, or Mexico, or Central America, or maybe even as far south as Bolivia, a distance of approximately 5,300 miles!!

I wanted to update you on the status of the American Dipper nest that I wrote about on April 12th. The nest is still intact and the parents are flying back and forth feeding the nestlings! Yay! I'll post more photos soon! So glad that they're being successful this time around!

Leaf Beetle - Red Admiral Butterfly

Chrysomelidae Family - Vanessa atalanta

New Insect Sightings!

I saw numerous Leaf Beetles this week!  They are tiny, about half an inch in length including the antennae, and are in the Chrysomelidae Family. Their brilliant, metallic, blue-green color was amazing!!! This iridescence occurs naturally in some beetles, some butterflies, and some birds. The color is not from pigment, but rather from structure. Interestingly, the color works as camouflage, not as warning to a predator or as an advertisement for a mate!

I was also delighted to see a Red Admiral Butterfly!  Although these butterflies are apparently common across the U.S., I've never seen one before!  They overwinter as adults, and in the spring lay their eggs on plants in the Nettle family.  As adults they eat the sap of trees, the juices from fermenting fruit, and the liquid in bird droppings! Visiting flowers for nectar is their last food choice!  What an unusual butterfly!

Echo Azure Butterflies - Nelson's Hairstreak Butterfly

Celastrina echo - Mitoura gryneus nelsoni

This week, I also came across a group of Echo Azure Butterflies "puddling". This is a common behavior that many butterflies engage in, mostly males. Puddling sites can occur in a variety of places: mud, dung, fermenting fruit, carrion, urine. Butterflies are attracted to these sites because they can sip up the salt (sodium) and minerals found there.  When these tiny butterflies open their wings, they reveal their beautiful sky-blue color.  They also feed on the flower nectar of buckbrush, buckeye, toyon, blackberries, and others.

I also identified, for the first time, some tiny, dusty-orange butterflies that were feeding on the onion flowers in our garden. They are called Nelson's Hairstreaks!  Their eggs are laid on the needles of Incense Cedar trees, which the caterpillars eat once they hatch.  Adults feed on the nectar of flowering Buckbrush, Pussy Paws, and composites.

Indian Warriors - Pedicularis densiflora

What's Blooming?

Wildflowers are showing up everywhere, and the trees and shrubs are in bloom as well! It's gorgeous out there!  With warm weather coming up it won't be long until we're in full bloom!  How exciting!

The Indian Warriors featured above grow near Joubert's Diggins, one of the ponds I regularly write about.  They don't grow in our area.  They are related to Indian Paintbrush and are in the Broom-rape Family.  Here's what the California Native Plant Society says about them in their book Wildflowers of Placer and Nevada Counties.

"Indian Warrior is parasitic on the roots of shrubs, mostly on members of the Heath Family such as Manzanita and Madrone. This allows it to live in shady environments because it is not solely dependent upon sunlight for photosynthesis to survive. The colonies under a favored host tend to expand over the years."

Indian Rhubarb - Darmera peltata

Right now the river is running high and no Indian Rhubarb is showing yet.  However in the creeks they are in full bloom!  The huge leaves are full of life themselves, often harboring a wide variety of insects!

Braun's Giant Horsetail  (vegetative form and spore bearing form) 

Equisetum telmateia ssp. braunii

This week I went to see if the Braun's Giant Horsetails were in bloom, and they were!!!  What fun! I've only found them in one spot, along a small creek off of Highway 49! Horsetails have been around a long time, and are considered "living fossils"! During the Devonian period, approximately 3,500 years ago, they were as thick as forests and as big as trees!

Horsetails are actually classified as ferns! Like ferns, mushrooms, and mosses, horsetails reproduce via spores not seeds and do not have flowers. They can also reproduce directly from underground rhizomes. This particular species is dimorphic, with infertile vegetative stems that are green and photosynthetic, and fertile stems that are brown and not photosynthetic, but do produce strobili (a structure resembling the cone of a conifer) covered with sporangiophores that produce spores.

Horsetails are also called "Scouring Rush", because pioneers used them to scrub pots and pans. Their hollow, jointed, ridged stems have silica in their cells which makes them tough!

Forktooth Ookow - Naked Broomrape

Dichelostemma congestum - Aphyllum purpureum

The Forktooth Ookow is in the Brodiaea Family. What's amazing about these plants is that they have long, 3'-4' lily-like leaves! The leaves are what caught my attention last year, way before the plants bloomed.

Luckily the Naked Broomrape flowers were in bloom on the Canyon Creek Trail  this week. They grow in a wet, rocky, mossy seep alongside saxifrage, of which they are root parasites. They are quite small, only about 2" tall. Their hairs glistened incredibly if you look at them with a hand lens! Their unusual name is derived from; "broom" = European plants called brooms, "rape" = rapum or cluster of tuber like roots, and "naked" = leafless. They are in the same Broomrape Family as the Indian Warriors! This is the only area I've ever seen them!

Spotted Coralroot Orchid - Corallorhiza maculata

My husband and I walk almost daily on a dirt road in our neighborhood. I'm always looking for changes in the plants along the road. Two Thursdays ago, before the rain, I came across this unusual looking pinkish stem with tight, deep-red buds!  It didn't have any green leaves so I thought it might be some kind of Broom-rape or Orchid.  Over the course of 7 days, the buds gradually opened to reveal tiny spotted orchids!  It was a Spotted Coralroot Orchid!  I have seen these flowers often in the woods, but have never seen it in bud!

Here's what the California Native Plant Society says about them in their book Wildflowers of Placer and Nevada Counties. 

"Coralroots are mycoheterotrophic, dependent on mycorrhizal fungi (Russula) for nutrients, and are apparently restricted to dry acidic soils covered by decomposing litter."

Sierra Buttes 4/30/24

The Lakes Basin still has a good amount of snow, and the Gold Lake Road isn't open yet.  The county hopes to have the road open by next week.  I can't wait to get back up there and on the trails again!

What's happening in Sierra Valley?

What insects are out and about?

Where are the bear and the deer?

.After 8 years of posting my blog, I've decided that I'm only going to post my blog twice monthly from now on.  My next post will be on the weekend of May 25th. See you then!

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

Neighborhood News

North Yuba River - 11/29/23

The weather has gotten a lot colder, down to 27° at night and in the low 50's during the day, and it's been quite blustery this week. Just a few trees and shrubs still have some fall color, but most of the leaves have dropped off. We got .10" of rain on Thursday night, and more is predicted for this weekend. Up in the Lakes Basin there are patches of new snow in the woods, and icy snow on part of the Gold Lake Road! Winter is definitely here!  

Howard Meadow - 11/25/23

My husband and I drove out to Howard Meadow last Saturday and it was freezing!  The wind was blasting, the puddles in the road were totally frozen, and there was a slippery inch of icy snow on the road!  It was still lovely to be there and see the "winterized" meadow!  We also, tried to drive up the Gold Lake Road to the trailheads, but long sections were covered in an inch or so of packed icy snow, so we turned around and headed back home.  That might be our last visit to the Lakes Basin for a while!

Rainbow Trout - Onchorhynchus mykiss irideus

Since the cold weather kept us at home, I walked a lot in my neighborhood this week. Three days in a row I saw several large Rainbow Trout in the river below our bridge! They looked like they were 15"-18" in length! Wow! I haven't noticed any big fish in the river all summer. Maybe they're showing up now that the Common Mergansers (major fish eaters) are almost all gone! It takes about 1 year for a trout to reach a length of about 6 or 7 inches. At about 2-3 years of age they will have grown to around 18 to 20 inches in length and have become mature adults, ready to reproduce.

Rainbow Trout - Onchorhynchus mykiss irideus

The most common fish in the North Yuba River are Coastal Rainbow Trout, which are native to California, but have been planted locally. There are also non-native German Brown Trout, that swim up to spawn from Bullard's Bar Reservoir. Occasionally you might also find a non-native Brook Trout that has flowed out from a higher elevation lake, during the high water of Spring.

Rainbow Trout - Onchorhynchus mykiss irideus

Right now the river is a chilly 42 degrees! Being coldblooded, trout become less active when the the water temperature drops below 40 degrees. Their metabolism and respiratory rates slow down. Adult trout usually stay in deep pools during fall and winter. To keep from being eaten, young trout stay away from adult trout! They tend to spend the winter in shallower pools near the shore, where overhanging branches provide cover.

Common Merganser - Mergus merganser

Local Birds!

There weren't many Common Mergansers on the river this year. Due to the high water last Spring, there weren't many females that successfully raised their young. I did see two different females that had 7 and 8 ducklings. Unfortunately most of the young ducks didn't survive.  I've only seen two juveniles on the river with their mother, for the past two months.  Lately I've only seen one lone adult (possibly a juvenile) on the River, that will probably leave for lower elevations soon. Common Mergansers do not stay here for the winter, they migrate down to the rivers, ponds, and lakes in California's Central Valley.

American Dipper - Cinclus mexicanus

American Dippers live here year-round. They hunt for aquatic insects and their larvae, small fish, and snails, in fast moving rivers and streams. A dense layer of downy feathers keeps them warm in the cold water. They also waterproof their outer feathers with oil. Using their tails as rudders, they swim with their wings! They do not have webbed feet, but have long, sharp toes for gripping slippery rocks! At night Dippers sleep in trees with dense foliage, with their bills tucked under their wings.

Canada Geese - Branta canadensis

The Canada Geese in our neighborhood didn't have any goslings this year!  Not even one!  They nest way earlier than the Common Mergansers and the river water was too fast, cold, and high last Spring.  The adults, that may have been born here, stuck around all summer feeding on aquatic plants!  Lately, they've formed largish groups of 9-12 adults, on the river.  If the winter weather this year isn't too snowy, some of them may stay for the winter, or they may all head down to California's Central Valley.

Red-tailed Hawk - Buteo jamaicensis

Just yesterday I spotted a Red-tailed Hawk perched on a dead tree along the river corridor!  I haven't seen one in our neighborhood for quite a while! They usually hunt in meadows and fields for small mammals, snakes, lizards, and other birds. They use the perch-and-wait method of hunting. Once prey is sighted they will drop from their perch, flap-and-glide downward, thrust their legs forward when about 3m from prey, and grab prey with their feet. 

Red-tailed Hawks are classified as "buteos" which are medium to large, stout bodied hawks, with broad wings and fan shaped tails. Many species have a variety of color phases. Red-tailed Hawks are large birds with a wingspan of 49", a length of 19", and a weight of 2.4lbs. They are one of the most common buteos seen in North America.

Peregrin Falcon - Falco peregrinus

One late afternoon this week I spotted a Peregrin Falcon perched in a dead tree that borders the river canyon in our neighborhood!  WOW!!!  I haven't seen one of these amazing falcons in a few years!  The prominent dark "mustache", below its eye, is a distinguishing feature!  It was quite a distance away, and the light was fading, so I didn't get a great photo, but it was thrilling to watch it!  I stayed for about 15 minutes until it took off! What a gift! Such beauty!

Peregrin Falcons have speed and extraordinary vision on their side. They are the fastest animal on earth! Their top diving speed can reach 238 mph! WOW!!! For this speed they need to start their dive at at least 3,280' off the ground, and the dive must be vertical! Most of their dives, or stoops, start at 705' to 1049' off the ground. If their dives aren't vertical, their diving speed is typically 66-86 mph. As they dive they spiral down to their prey, rather than turn their head!

Peregrin Falcons are formidable predators! The following quote from the Cornell website birdsna.org explains their hunting methods in detail. "They have several methods of attack, including stooping (diving), ringing up, direct pursuit, contour-hugging, shepherding, running or hopping, and flapping on the ground. Most often stooping falcon pulls out of dive some meters behind escaping prey and shoots forward at great speed to grab or strike prey, or repeatedly stoops to force it down into water or onto open ground where it can be grabbed. Sometimes stoops directly down on prey, striking it in head, wing, or back, killing it or breaking a wing. They usually grab prey with their feet and bite into the neck. Sometimes prey is killed by strike of impact, but usually they are only stunned. Captures mainly by grabbing prey with feet (binding) but rarely kills small prey by forcing talons into body as accipiters do. Instead, falcon bites into neck, disarticulating cervical vertebrae and severing nerve cord; even with prey killed in stoop, falcon bites into neck before feeding begins." 

Mountain Chickadee - Ruby-crowned Kinglet 

Poecile gambeli - Regulus calendula

Over the past two weeks small flocks of little birds have arrived in our neighborhood! Some of them have come down from the colder, higher elevations and will spend the winter here. Others are passing through on their way further south, or down to the foothills. This happens every fall, and I rejoice every time they arrive!

I've been seeing small flocks of Mountain Chickadees in our neighborhood lately! They live up in the higher elevations most of the year. During winter they sometimes migrate down to our neighborhood, but not every year.  I don't think they've been here for several years. They do not migrate outside of the U.S. They eat scale insects and conifer seeds in the winter. I love to see and hear these lovely little birds!

Ruby-crowned Kinglets are named for the bright scarlet "crown patch" the male exhibits when excited or antagonized. Most of the time the crown isn't visible. These tiny birds mainly inhabit the snow-free foothills during winter. In Spring they move up to the Lodgepole/Hemlock forests to breed, around 9000' in elevation. They have been coming to our neighborhood every winter for years! Their fluffy, thick plumage keeps them warm at night. For food, they glean small insects off of twigs and branches.

Dark-eyed Junco (male) - Junco hyemalis

The Dark-eyed Juncos have just come down from the Lakes Basin, where they breed in the Spring. They will spend the winter here in our neighborhood.  There are six subspecies of Dark-eyed Juncos in North America. The ones we have locally are the "Oregon" subspecies. Males have black hoods. Females have gray hoods. They are common and widespread across the U.S. in winter. Seeds are their preferred food. 

 Coral Mushroom - unknown genus/species

Local Mushrooms!

Mushrooms have been popping up everywhere since we got some rain. As usual I haven't learned to identify many of them yet, just too busy, but here are photos of the most recent "uprisals"!

unknown fungi 

Questionable Stropharia - Stropharia ambigua

unknown fungi 

Hawk Wing - Sarcodon imbricatum

My friend Diane found these mushrooms near her home In Pike and took these photos!  I've never seen this kind before! They are quite beautifully marked!  They are also a large "toothed" fungi! What a find!

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

 Mushroom gills, pores, and teeth

 Western Polypody Fern - Polypodium hesperium

What's happening with the local ferns, mosses, and lichens?

What's happening in the foothills?

Check back next week for the answers to these questions and more.

Your comments and questions are greatly appreciated, 

please email me at northyubanaturalist@gmail.com.