An Incredible Morning!

Hooded Oriole - Icterus cucullatus

Orioles!

On Thursday morning, I went down to refill our bird feeders and saw this unbelievably beautiful bird on one of the hummingbird feeders!  WOW!!!  I was so excited!  I took a bunch of pictures, and then went and looked it up in my field guide.  It turned out to be a Hooded Oriole, which I have never seen before!  Apparently I was super lucky to have seen it, as this is not its usual habitat!  

Hooded Oriole - Icterus cucullatus

When I went back down to the feeders there were TWO brightly colored birds!  At first I thought the second bird must be another Hooded Oriole, but it turned out to be a male Bullock's Oriole!  The two orioles were taking turns at the hummingbird feeder!!!

The one at the feeder in the picture below is a Bullock's Oriole, and the one waiting for a turn is the Hooded Oriole!  After the Bullock's Oriole finished he took off, and the Hooded Oriole took his place!  It was unbelievable!!!

Bullock's Oriole on feeder while Hooded Oriole awaits turn!

I am so curious as to why and how they showed up here together!  Both the Hooded Oriole and the Bullock's Oriole overwinter in southern Mexico, and sometimes as far south as Costa Rica!  They have flown approximately 3,000 miles from their winter habitat to our neighborhood!!!  Literature states that the Hooded Oriole has been known to have an agonistic (combative) relationship with Bullock's Orioles.  They have also been known to nest and forage for food near each other!  These two look like they're cooperating with each other!  It's all so intriguing and amazing!

Hooded Oriole (male) - Icterus cucullatus      Bullock's Oriole (male) - Icterus bullockii

Bullock's Orioles nest in our neighborhood every year.  This is their normal habitat.  Typically, males arrive in mid-April, a week or two ahead of the females.  They seem to prefer the Black Locust trees for their nesting sites.  The male above was the first one I've seen this year!  More of them should be arriving soon!

At this time of year, Hooded Orioles are common in north-western Mexico, parts of the American southwest, as well as the coast and southern end of California.   Riparian areas that have palm trees are their preferred habitat.  Palm frond fibers are their usual nesting material.  If there aren't any palm trees available, they will also nest in cottonwoods or sycamores.  They eat large insects, nectar, and fruit, and often feed at hummingbird feeders.  Apparently the range of these orioles has expanded into suburban areas and ranches in the foothills of the Sierra, where palms have been planted.  We don't have any palm trees in our neighborhood, but there are a few cottonwood trees. 

Both of these orioles hung around for most of the day on Thursday, but I haven't seen them since.  The Bullock's Oriole should stay and nest in our neighborhood.  Will the Hooded Oriole nest in the local Cottonwoods?  Hopefully next week I'll have more oriole tales to relate!  I feel so privileged to have seen these two extraordinary birds together at our feeder!  

Black-headed Grosbeaks (female - left, male - right) - Pheucticus melanocephalus

These Black-headed Grosbeaks also showed up last Thursday!  They too have migrated thousands of miles from their winter habitat in southern Mexico to our neighborhood.  Every year, they breed and nest in this area.  Seeds, fruits, and insects are their preferred food.  Last year I only found one of their nests, even though there were approximately 40 of them coming to our sunflower seed feeders!  Hopefully I'll find more nests this year! 

California Scrub Jay - Aphelocoma californica

This Scrub Jay also showed up last Thursday!  He appeared in our garden in the late afternoon, and is still in the area today (Sunday).  Scrub Jays aren't usually seen in our neighborhood!  They prefer to live in the oak woodlands of the foothills, where there are plenty of acorns to eat!  They also like sunflower seeds, and there are plenty of them in our feeders.  It will be interesting to see if it stays in the area! 

       Hairy Woodpecker - Picoides villosus      Downy Woodpecker - Picoides pubescens 

(both males)

Also on Thursday, while I was watching the orioles and grosbeaks, a Downy Woodpecker landed in the top of an Alder tree near our garden!!!  You can really see the difference between them, in the two photos above.  The Hairy Woodpecker is definitely bigger, and has a much bigger bill than the Downy Woodpecker.  Both of these birds are found year-round in our neighborhood.  This is the first time I was able to photograph a Downy Woodpecker!   

South Yuba River State Park - 4/9/18

Spring in the Foothills!

On Monday, my friend Nancy and I went down to the oak woodlands in the South Yuba River State Park.  It was SO beautiful!  Everything was blooming, including the grasses and trees.  We walked most of the trails and spent the whole day botanizing!  If you live in the area, you should really go check it out soon!  It's gorgeous!  Here are just a few of the flowers that we saw!

 Pallid Owl's Clover                         Lotus Silverleaf                      Fawn Lily

     Castilleja lineariloba                 Acmispon argophyllus             Erythronium sp.

            Redbud Tree                     Hansen's Larkspur              Chinese Houses     

         Cercis occidentalis              Delphinium hansenii         Collinsia heterophylla

Pipevine Swallowtail Butterfly - Battus philenor 

 Wild Hyacinth - Dichelostemma multiflorum

There were also hundreds of  Pipevine Swallowtail Butterflies, sipping nectar from all the wildflowers.  They weren't in large clusters or groups, but they were flitting around the whole park!  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 Butterflies mating - Battus philenor

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.  

Pipevine or Dutchman's Pipes - Aristolochia californica 

 Pipevine Swallowtail caterpillar - Battus philenor

The Pipevine or Dutchman's Pipes is one of the earliest blooming native wildflowers.  We were lucky to find a few of the flowers on the trailing vine, being green and brown in color they are somewhat hard to detect!  These plants are not carnivorous, but they have an odor that attracts carrion-feeding insects.  These insects crawl inside the pipe-shaped flower and pollinate the blossom!  Amazing!

It's nesting time!  What kind of nest does a Northern Flicker make?

Where are those deer?

What other birds will show up?

The scat in last week's blog was mostly deer hair, 

and was probably from a young Mountain Lion!

What plant is making these tassels?

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

Your questions and comments are greatly appreciated!

You can leave a comment by clicking on the "No Comments" below

or

email me at northyubanaturalist@gmail.com

Thanks!

It's Springtime!

Most of the fruit trees in my neighborhood started to bloom this week!  There are several old orchards here, that were planted many years ago.  We have lots of cherry trees, an apricot tree, and several apple trees on our property.  Right now, the white cherry tree blossoms among the filigree of bare branches is stunning!  The heavy rain that's predicted over the weekend will possibly prevent the blossoms from being pollinated.  Hopefully, some of them were pollinated on the warm, sunny days we had at the beginning of this week.  We are glad to get the rain, and hope the storms keep coming!  

   female willow catkins                                male willow catkins

Crab Spider - Misumena vatia   

The female willows, after being green and quiet for a month, are now covered with pistils with over 142 flowers per catkin!  The male willows still have some unopened catkins.  The older male catkins still have lots of stamens and anthers, but are a bit past their prime. 

All kinds of native bees, beetles, and gnats are busy pollinating the blooming plants.  I found this spider in one of the female willow catkins.  It had a dead fly in it's grip!  I think it's a Crab Spider.  The name refers to the crab-like shape of the body and its ability to walk sideways and backwards, just like a crab. Crab Spiders are active during the day.  They can slowly change their color from white to yellow to orange to green, depending on the color of the plant they're on.  It can take 1-2 days for the color to change.  This one really matched the color of the unopened hairy pussy willows.  These spiders do not spin webs, but rely on camouflage and ambush to catch their prey.  They prefer bees, flies, and butterflies, but will eat a variety of insects that come to feed on the nectar or pollen of a flower.  They don't "eat" their prey with their jaws.  First they inject their prey with venom that paralyzes them.  Then they bite a small hole in their prey and vomit their digestive fluid into the prey's body!  This fluid dissolves the prey's internal organs and muscles!  This dissolved solution is then sucked out!  Geez!   

Pine Siskins - Spinus pinus

Project Feederwatch Update

Officially, Project Feederwatch ended on Friday, April 6.  I really enjoyed watching the birds that came to our feeding station, and reporting the statistics to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.  I recorded a total of 27 bird species coming to our feeders.  I have already signed up for the next season which starts on November 11, 2018.  If you are interested in joining Project Feederwatch, and becoming a citizen scientist, visit their website at www.feederwatch.org.

I'm still feeding the birds, but I've replaced the bird house and table with hanging bird feeders.  So far the birds are gradually coming to the hanging feeders.  The Pine Siskins didn't hesitate at all, and flocked to the finch feeder right away!  At this time of year, the large Pine Siskin flocks have broken up into small nesting colonies.  Mated pairs will be established by mid-April.  A mated female will construct a nest, on a horizontal conifer branch that is concealed by foliage.  She will use a variety of materials to construct the nest, such as fine rootlets, grass, stems, twigs, cedar bark, lichen, moss, animal hair, leaves, and string.  It usually takes 5-6 days for the nest to be completed.  The female then lays 3-5 eggs in the nest, and broods them for approximately 13 days.  The male feeds her during this entire incubation period!  After the eggs hatch, the male continues feeding the female, and she in turn feeds the nestlings regurgitated food for the first 7-8 days.  Both parents feed the nestlings for the remaining 5 days of nesting, and for the following 3 weeks after the nestlings fledge.  I hope these Pine Siskins stay and make their nests here!  

Anna's Hummingbirds - Calypte Anna 

female - left     male - right 

        

  I'll keep the two hummingbird feeders up until next Fall.  Right now there are 4 males and 2 females coming to the feeders.  I watched the two hummingbirds above "court" yesterday!  The female was perched and watching the male (Check out his tiny toes!).  Facing the female, he hovered up and up (approximately 120 feet!) into the air, and then dove down (at 27 meters per second!) and swooped back up, emitting a loud "chirp".  The chirp is made by the wind in the tail feathers when the hummer dives!  He repeated this performance 2 times.  They also "talked" a lot, making chittering tiny rattling calls back and forth!  I never knew hummingbirds had conversations until we put up some feeders.  They actually talk a lot!! 

Gray Fox - Urocyon cinereoargenteus

The squirrels, skunks, and foxes have moved on to other food sources. I saw this fox across the street from the bird feeders.  He watched me for a little while, then he picked something up off the ground and trotted away!  I don't know what he had in his mouth!  Maybe it was a mouse, or a woodrat.  I think this is a different fox from the previous two I've photographed.  I compared the coats of the other two, and this one is marked differently!  He does have those slanty eyes of the first fox I saw.  Perhaps he's one of her offspring!

Common Merganser - Mergus merganser

(females in front - males in back)

Down at the River!

The signs of spring are obvious down at the river.  The Common Mergansers are back, frogs have emerged from their winter torpor, and water striders are busy zipping around on the surface!  

Common Mergansers are mainly found in fresh water lakes, rivers and streams.  They are diving ducks, and fish is their primary food.  They will also eat mollusks, crustaceans, worms, frogs, small mammals, and plants. Right now, the females should be preparing a nest in a tree cavity, which they occasionally line with dry grasses or down.  The eggs will be laid in the next few weeks, with a clutch numbering up to 17 eggs, but usually 10!!!  The female will incubate the eggs for 28-35 days.  They have a very high success rate of eggs hatching, around 98%.  The young are born precocial and can feed themselves immediately by dabbling in the shallows.  They start diving for food after 1-2 days!   The young will stay around the mother for weeks or months after hatching, sometimes even riding on her back!  I saw a female Merganser with 4 small ducklings last summer.  I saw them again in the fall, but there were only 3 juveniles with her.  I had no idea that they laid so many eggs!  I'll have to look around for holes in tree trunks on the edge of the river.  I would love to find a nest!

    Sierran Tree Frog tadpoles                                    Foothill Yellow-legged Frog     
Pseudacris sierra                                                        Rana boylei  
                  

I found these tadpoles in a pond on the Canyon Creek trail.  They are probably Sierran Tree Frog (formerly called Pacific Tree Frog) tadpoles.  In a few more weeks they should mature into adults.  I'll check back in a week or so.

I think the adult frog above might be a Foothill Yellow-legged Frog!  In California, they have disappeared from 45% of their range, because of air-borne pesticides, introduced non-native fish and bullfrogs, and water release from dams.  They are known to inhabit our area, along the rivers and streams.  This one was on the shore of the No.Yuba River, and jumped into the shallows when I approached.  April is the beginning of mating and egg-laying for frogs.  The male will grasp the female from the back.  This position is called "amplexus."  The eggs are fertilized externally.  The female will lay 300 to 2,000 eggs at one time in shallow slow-moving water, on the downstream side of rocks, pebbles, or vegetation.  The eggs will hatch within 5-37 days, depending on the water temperature.  The tadpoles will transform to adults within 3-4 months! 

River Otter tracks - Lustra canadensis                 Water Strider - Gerridae sp.    

River Otters live here year-round feeding on fish, frogs, newts, aquatic garter snakes, aquatic insects, and young or mature molting ducks.  I have come across their tracks several times, and luckily saw a pair of them last summer.  Right now is the time that the females will be giving birth to their pups, in a den near water.  The usual number of pups born is 3.  The pups are born furred but helpless.  They open their eyes after 1 month, and are weaned at 3 months.  They usually stay with their mother until they are 6 months old. 

You won't see lots of River Otters in one location, as they need a lot of fish to survive.  They usually eat 2.2 lbs to 3.3 lbs of fish daily!  They will  range from 1-56 miles in search of prey!  They can swim underwater at 6-8 mph, and can hold their breath for up to 8 minutes!  They rely on surprise to catch their prey, and rarely chase fast moving fish.  They close theirs ears and nose underwater, and use their long whiskers to detect fish in dark deep water.  They are large animals, with a length of 35"-52", a height of 12"-25", and a weight of 11-30 lbs!  

The adult Water Striders I saw may have over-wintered as adults or hatched from eggs.  I'll do some research, and let you know what I find!

Hairy Woodpecke - Picoides villosus

Hairy Woodpecker

I've seen this Hairy Woodpecker several times in the same area these past few weeks!  I don't usually see them that often.  The other day he was busy preening, stretching, and head scratching!  Birds can manipulate all their feathers while cleaning them.  Sometimes the birds look a bit rumpled after a preening session, but they quickly put each feather back in place.  I found this great explanation on how birds move their feathers at www.toughlittlebirds.com.  "Each feather sits in a follicle on the bird's skin. Each follicle grips the base of its feather with muscles to prevent the feather from falling out. The follicles are connected to each other through a network of tiny muscles in the skin. These muscles are what allow the bird to move its feathers: through muscles acting on the base of the feather, the bird can raise or lower the feather. By contracting muscles between follicles, some birds can also pull feathers closer together."  Amazing isn't it?    

Hairy Woodpeckers probably mate for life, and right now they're busy making a nest site.  They usually excavate a nest in the trunk of a dead or dying tree, or large branch, approximately 50'-60' off the ground.  The female will usually lay 4 eggs.  The male and female will share the incubation period  of 11-12 days.  Once hatched, the nestlings are fed by both parents, and fledge after 28-30 days.  The parents feed the fledglings for an additional 3-4 weeks.  Their main food is insects.  We've had Hairy Woodpeckers nest on our property two times in the past, in standing rotten tree trunks.  It would be great if they nest here again this year!

Hairy Woodpecker - Picoides villosus

Sierra Buttes 4/2/18

I went cross-country skiing again this week.  Unfortunately the Gold Lake Road was about 80% bare ground!  Five days ago there was a solid 9" on the ground.  Sheesh!  So I went up to Yuba Pass and skied for a couple hours on two feet of packed snow.  It was lovely.  I'll check and see if more snow fell in this storm, or if it all melted away.

Last week I spotted another Meadowlark up at a friend's house!  It was dusk, so there wasn't much light, but I managed to get a picture of it flashing its white tail feathers!  Yahoo!

This is a sun dog, and its formal name is a parhelion. It is a concentrated patch of sunlight occasionally seen about 22° to the left or right of the Sun. They occur when sunlight refracts through icy clouds containing hexagonal platecrystals.

Whose scat is that?

Where are the deer?

What's going to bloom next?

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

Your comments and questions are greatly appreciated!

You can post a comment by clicking on the "No Comments" below

or

email me at northyubanaturalist@gmail.com

Returning Birds!

Northern Flicker (male) - Colaptes auratus

This week started with a few rainy days, then the weather changed to dry, warm, and sunny.

Temperatures were in the 60's to low 70's!  Several species of birds, that have been gone all winter, have returned to our neighborhood.  Northern Flickers announced their arrival with long, loud calls of repeated notes.  They have also been drumming on the trunks of trees, and even on metal stove pipes, to get the attention of prospective mates!  They are in the woodpecker family of birds, but do not peck away at tree trunks for insects to eat.  They forage for insects, seeds, and snails on the ground.  However, they do excavate nests in the trunks of dead or live trees.  Both the male and the female participate in the nest making, which may take up to two weeks to complete.  I'm hoping I find one of their nests this spring.  That would be so exciting!  They are such beautiful birds, with their dramatic barred and dotted feathers!

Northern Flicker (female) - Colaptes auratus

Northern Flickers are sexually dimorphic.  The males and females differ in appearance.  The most obvious difference is the bright red "malar" on the male's head, which is absent in the female.

       American Robin - Turdus migratorius      Western Meadowlark - Sturnella neglecta

Lots of American Robins arrived to breed and make nests this week.  They are one of the earliest nesting bird species, and often have 2-3 broods in one season!  Right now they're looking for mates and feeding on grubs, worms and caterpillars!  The photo of a bird's back from last week, is a photo of a Robin.  Did you guess correctly?

This is the first Western Meadowlark that I've seen in our neighborhood!  They normally live in large open grasslands, prairies, meadows, and marshy areas.  What caught my eye was how it was flashing its outer white tail feathers, which I failed to photograph.  Perhaps this one was just passing through, on it's way to Sierra Valley! 

Rainbow in my neighborhood

Down in the Garden!

As the rain diminished, a beautiful rainbow formed right over our garden!  How lovely!  Can birds see rainbows?  They probably can, but it might look different than the way it looks to us.  Recent studies have shown that birds see a much wider range of color than humans, including ultra-violet light!

           Anna's Hummingbird (male)                           Rufous Hummingbird (female)                               Calypte anna                                             Selasphorus rufus                                                  

The hummingbirds continue to delight me with their own rainbow of colors!  They have prism-like cells in the feathers of their neck, throat, and forehead that reflect the rays of the sun, and cause their brilliant metallic colors.  They are sexually dimorphic, with the males being the most colorful. They are constantly chasing each other away from our two feeders.  In fact most of their time is spent defending their food source and perching, with only 15% of their time used for feeding.  So far a male Anna's Hummingbird appears to be "the boss", but that could change!    

A Rufous Hummingbird showed up this week, raising the total number of hummers at our feeders to 5!  These orange-hued hummers are only passing through our neighborhood, on their way from their wintering grounds in Mexico to their breeding grounds in Alaska, a total journey of 3,900 miles!!!  Amazing!  

  

  Brewer's Blackbird  - male left, female right               Mourning Dove adult                    Euphagus cyanocephalus                                Zenaida macroura    

A flock of Brewer's Blackbirds returned from their wintering grounds in Central America, this week!  They will stay here to breed and raise their young.  They are sexually dimorphic, with the male being more dramatically colored.  They love to eat seeds, grains, and insects, and are seen daily at our feeder.  I haven't seen the Red-winged Blackbirds lately.  Have they left our neighborhood?  I'll have to check and see if they're hanging around my neighbor's pond.

A pair of Mourning Doves showed up at our feeder this week!  Usually they live year-round at lower elevations, but I have seen them in our neighborhood in the past.  They are sexually monomorphic, and both male and female look the same.  They are enjoying our bird feeding station, as agricultural grains and grass seeds are their preferred food.  I love hearing their soft melodic song!

              Columbian Black-tailed Deer                                          Gray Fox                          Odocoileus hemionus columbianus                        Urocyon cinereoargenteus 

Mammal Update!

At last I saw an actual deer, and not just its tracks!  Several of my neighbors have seen them as well.  The young will be born in June-July, so right now they're busy foraging on local shrubs and forbs.  The males have dropped their antlers. Male and female both are losing their heavier winter coats.  These deer are crepuscular and mainly active at dawn and dusk, but are also seen during the day and at night.  I hope to come across more of them as spring progresses.  My neighbor had a Mountain Lion on his porch one night this week!  This will probably make the deer leave the area again!

The new Gray Fox that showed up a month ago is still visiting our bird feeding station in the late afternoon and evenings.  I often find his seed filled scat on the table!  I hung up the bird feeders this week, and am gradually cutting back on the seed I put on the table and the ground.  Hopefully, this will discourage the squirrels, foxes, and skunks from feeding at our station!

Sierra Valley 3/28/18

Valley Birds!

My friend Judy and I drove over to Sierra Valley this Wednesday to check out the birds. The weather was sunny and warm and the wind was calm!  It was so beautiful!  We drove around for several hours and saw Sandhill Cranes, White Pelicans, seagulls, Canada Geese, American Coots, a Golden Eagle, blackbirds, sparrows, ducks and songbirds!

 Sandhill Cranes and Crows - Grus canadensis & Corvus brachyrhynchos 

We lucked out and saw 9 pairs of Sandhill Cranes, scattered throughout the valley!  Most of them were quite a ways off, but the last pair we saw was only about 100 yards from the road.  They are such huge birds, with a body length of 46" and a wingspan of 77"!!!  Sierra Valley is the most southern location in California that nesting Sandhill Cranes are found.  The majority of Sandhill Cranes in California spend the winter in the Central Valley, and then migrate to southeastern Oregon, northeastern California, and northwestern Nevada to nest.      

We watched the pair above probe into the dirt looking for food.  They are mainly herbivorous, and eat cultivated grains, roots, and seeds!  They will also eat insects, small mammals, snails, reptiles and amphibians.  They always hunt on dry land, not in the wetlands.  They will make their nests on islands of dry ground in the middle of wetlands.  This helps keep predation of eggs and nestlings down, although usually only one out of two nestlings survive.  The eggs are in incubated for 30 days.  The nestlings are born precocial, and usually leave the nest within a day!  The parents will feed their chicks for their first three weeks, and then less and less until the chicks are fully independent in 9-10 months.  Sandhill Cranes mate for life, and their young stay with them for their first year.  I'll have to come back in another month to see what's happening!

Cliff Swallows - Petrochelidon pyrrhonota

We visited the "Steel Bridge" where there is an incredible view of Sierra Valley, and hundreds of Cliff Swallows are nesting.  It feels so alive there, with all the swallows chattering and swooping around!  We watched them repeatedly congregate and jostle for position, and then disperse all at once from the bridge cable.  They are the most colonial swallows in the world.  They follow each other to food sources (mainly flying insects), and preen, feed, and drink in groups.  A single colony may have up to 6,000 birds!  It takes approximately two weeks for the male and female to construct a nest out of 9,000 to 12,000 mud pellets.  The breeding pair will start sleeping in the mud housing, as soon as it is partially finished.  Inside the mud housing, they create a nest made of dry grasses and feathers.  Females will lay 1-6 eggs, and brood them for 10-19 days.  Swallows will also lay eggs and/or transfer their eggs into neighboring swallow nests.  The young are altricial when hatched, and are cared for by their parents for 20-26 days.  I couldn't find any statistics for the survival rate of broods.   I'll have to do more research and let you know what I find out, in my next blog.    

Vesper Sparrow  - Pooecets gramineus      Horned Lark (male) - Eremophila alpestris

     This sparrow was singing away in a dry roadside shrub near the Steel Bridge!  We thoroughly enjoyed his singing!   I think it might be a Vesper Sparrow, but I'm not sure.  Sparrows are kind of hard to identify!  Vesper Sparrows prefer to live in areas of sagebrush and grasses.  They forage on the ground for seeds and insects.  Nests are made of woven grasses, lined with fine rootlets and animal hair, and built on the ground.  The females will lay 2-6 eggs, with 1-2 broods per season.  Incubation takes 11-13 days.  Nesting takes 9-10 days.  The young are altricial when born.  Both parents feed the nestlings for up to 29 days.  The male eventually takes over the feeding of the young, while the female prepares for a second brood.  I'll have to look for nests when we go back next month.

This Horned Lark was foraging for insects and seeds among the dry grasses and shrubs when we spotted him.  These birds are sexually dimorphic, with the male being more colorful. They prefer to live in bare or nearly bare ground, such as tundra, desert, beach or short-grass prairie.  Usually they travel in flocks of several hundred birds, except during the breeding season.  Right now they are pairing off, mating, and making nests.  Nests are made out of dry grasses, rootlets, animal hair and feathers, in a shallow depression on the ground.  The female incubates 2-5 eggs for 11-12 days.  The nestlings are altricial when born, and are cared for by the parents for 8-10 days after they fledge.  The fledglings can run much sooner than they can fly.  They are completely independent in four weeks.

     

Sierra Buttes 3/28/18

I also skied up in the Lakes Basin this week.  It was incredibly beautiful!  There were about 9 packed inches of new snow on the ground.  I'm going skiing again this week and will post more about it in my next blog.

What is this?  What does it indicate?

What's happening down at the river?

Are the birds going to switch over to the new feeders?

I haven't figured out what kind of beetles are in last week's photo.  

What kind of frogs are croaking right now?

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

Your questions and comments are greatly appreciated!

You can post a comment by clicking on the "No Comments" below

or

email me at northyubanaturalist@gmail.com