The North Yuba River

North Yuba River - 6/2/23

The North Yuba River is running at 3,170 cfs (cubic feet per second) with a height of 8.5'. It was a lot higher back in January of this year, with a rate of 10,000 cfs and a height of 13'!  However, last year in June, it was running at only 600 cfs with a height of just 3.75'.  Where we live the river widens, flattens out, and slows down.  Upriver the riverbed narrows, the descent is steep, and right now white water is crashing down the canyon!  It's amazing to see!

North Yuba River - 6/2/23

Here's a short video of some white water on the North Yuba River.

Spotted Sandpiper - Actitis macularius

Due to the rapid flow and increased volume of the river, things have changed on the North Yuba River.  There aren't any Ospreys or Bald Eagles catching fish in the river, as it is too fast. The number of adult Mergansers and Canada Geese is about the same, but I haven't seen any ducklings or goslings yet.  Right now the river would be pretty treacherous for tiny waterfowl.  Additionally, I haven't seen any River Otters, or bear or deer on the river.  Again, the rate of flow is probably the deterrent.  Maybe everything is just being delayed, and in another month things might get back to normal.  Or maybe not.  We'll just have to wait and see.

To my delight the usual small population of Spotted Sandpipers has returned!  I noticed them just a few weeks ago. Currently they can be found along the river's edge foraging for aquatic and airborne insects.  So lovely to see them back in our neighborhood, after spending the winter in Mexico or as far south as Brazil! 

Spotted Sandpipers are quite unusual in their breeding and nesting habits. The females usually arrive before the males, in the Spring. The females practice polyandry and will mate with up to 3 different males, if they are available. However, some females are monogamous, and will mate with only one male. Competition between females can be quite aggressive, if the male population is low. The nests are begun by the females and finished by the males. The nests are built on the ground, in the shade of shrubs, and about 100 yards from the shore. Each mated male will have it's own nest. The males brood 3-5 eggs for 19-22 days, and protect the baby birds when they hatch. The females may help with the care of the baby birds, if they only have one mate. The young birds are born precocial, and can walk and feed themselves within hours!!! Their main food is flying and aquatic insects. They are able to fly within 18 days! 

Common Mergansers (females - males) - Mergus merganser

 

I've seen a few pairs of Common Mergansers on the river so far.  Hopefully, they will produce some ducklings in another month or so.  They probably spent the winter in California's Central Valley or coastal areas.

Since I haven't been able to explore the Lakes Basin due to the snowy conditions, I've been admiring all the local wildflowers this past month.  Highway 49 is currently bordered in a profuse display of wildflowers.  

Here are some of the ones I enjoyed!

Purple Milkweed - Asclepias cordifolia

Pipestem - Heermann's Golden Sunburst - Deerbrush

Clematis  lasiantha - Pseudobahia heermannii - Ceanothus integerrimus

Roundtooth Ookow - Foothill Penstemon - Forktooth Ookow

Dichelostemma multiflorum - Penstemon heterophyllus  

Dichelostemma congestum

I'm not totally positive on the identification of the Forktooth Ookow.  What was amazing about these plants is that they had long, 3'-4' lily-like leaves! The leaves are what caught my eye a month ago, and now the flowers are finally blossoming!  So lovely!

Brewer's Rock Cress - Showy Phlox - Wild Carnation

Boechera breweri - Phlox speciosa -  Petrorhagia dubia

The first half mile of the Canyon Creek Trail is sunny and usually covered in wildflowers at this time of year!  I've been going there quite often to see what's blooming.  It parallels the North Yuba River, and sometimes I see River Otters!

Yellow Cat's Ear - Calochortus monophyllus

Mountain Jewel Flower - Sierra Iris - Common Manroot

Streptanthus tortuosus - Iris hartwegii -  Marah fabacea

Canyon Dudleya - Pacific Sedum - Wallflower

Dudleya cymosa - Sedum spathulifolium - Erysimum capitatum

Tollbridge Road parallels the North Yuba River on the shaded south side.  Different flowers grow here than out in the sunny areas.  It is a delight every time we walk it!

Arrow-leaf Balsamroot - Interior Rose - Slender Larkspur

Balsamorhiza sagittata - Rosa woodsii var. ultramontana

Delphinium gracilentum

Small-leaved Montia - Star Flower - Douglas' Sandwort

 Montia parvifolia - Lysimachia latifolia - Minuartia douglasii

Western Wood Pewee - Tree Swallow - Cedar Waxwing - (all adults)

Contopus sordidulus - Tachycineta bicolor - Bombycilla cedrorum

New Arrivals!

Some new birds have arrived this week, including a Western Wood Pewee, a Tree Swallow, and surprisingly a Cedar Waxwing!  Cedar Waxwings usually eat fruit, but at this time of year they feed on insects and flowers!  A few years ago a Tree Swallow nested in a nearby telephone pole.  Hopefully this one will too!  A Western Wood Peewee has made a nest on the river's edge for several years in a row.  Maybe this is the same Pewee! How fun to see these new birds!

Bullock's Oriole (female) -Icterus bullockii

To my absolute DELIGHT I saw a female Bullock's Oriole this week!!!  I've seen several males this past month, but no females.  Usually by now, they are nesting in our neighborhood.  In fact, for the past six years a female has nested in a tree right across the road from us!  This year she hasn't shown up and I've been hoping and hoping that she will. Just this week, I was out wandering one morning and I heard an Oriole calling!  I scanned the trees and spotted a female, searching for insects in a Live Oak tree!  She moved too quickly for a good photo, but at least I finally saw a female! Yay!!! Fingers crossed that she nests in our neighborhood! She has flown all the way from her winter home in Mexico or perhaps even Guatemala!

Sierra Buttes -  5/31/23

Lakes Basin Update!

I didn't hike on snow up in the Lakes Basin this week but we did drive up the Gold Lake Road. The county had it plowed almost a mile past the road to Salmon Lake.  They estimate that they won't have it all the way open until the middle of June!  WOW!  I'm going back up to hike on the snow on this coming Monday, and I'll let you know how it goes

What's happening in the Lakes Basin?

What's blooming in Carman Valley?

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

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

Down in the Garden

Grizzly Peak and Black Locusts in Bloom - Robinia pseudoacacia

Almost every late afternoon, my husband and I go down to our garden to sit and enjoy its beauty for a while!  We have a lovely view of Grizzly Peak and the surrounding ridges, as well as the neighboring forest.  Right now the Black Locust trees are in FULL bloom and filling our neighborhood with fragrance and an overabundance of white flowers!

American Robin (adult) - Northern Flicker (male) - Black Locust

Turdus migratorius - Colaptes auratus - Robinia pseudoacacia

Black Locust trees are native to the Southeastern United States, but have spread throughout North America. They are considered to be an invasive species in our area.  However, I've noticed that Black Locusts are the favorite tree of many of our local birds! It is one of the tallest deciduous trees in my neighborhood, and birds love to perch and nest in them. Three out of the three old Bullock's Oriole nests I've found, have been in Locust Trees.  I also saw the Evening Grosbeaks eating the seeds out of the dried Locust pods, when they first arrived this Spring! Additionally, the nectar from the blossoms is eaten by many insects and birds. I think that even though it is an invasive species, through my observation it appears to be beneficial to the birds! I'm glad that they grow here! So beautiful!

Western Tanager (male)  - Calliope Hummingbird (male)

Piranga ludoviciana - Stellula calliope

There's been a male Western Tanager stopping by our garden lately!  Such incredible coloring in its feathers!  I haven't spotted a female yet, but they are drab olive-green and quite camouflaged.  What a thrill it is to see these tropical migrants returning to our neighborhood!

Hummingbirds have returned to our garden!  The Bleeding Hearts and the Wallflowers  are their flowers of choice right now! I saw this little hummer feeding on the Bleeding Hearts a few years ago, and wanted to share it once more as it is a Calliope Hummingbird.  

The Calliope Hummingbird is uncommon in our area.  These hummingbirds are the smallest bird in the United States, measuring 3.25" in length, and a 4.25" wingspan!! They nest between 4,000' and 11,000' in the Sierras! So I luckily saw him while he was passing through our area! They feed mainly on nectar and tiny insects. The female makes a tiny well-insulated nest, that holds two, tiny, .5"eggs. The incubate their eggs for 15-16 days. The altricial nestlings fledge about 18-21 days after they are born. I would LOVE to see one them! In the winter they migrate to the lower elevations and coastlines, sometimes as far south as Mexico!

Western Fence Lizard - Sceloporus occidentalis

We've been see quite a few lizards scurrying through our garden, and climbing our nearby woodpile.  They are mainly Western Fence Lizards. The following information is from www.californiaherps.org, a great website for information on reptiles and amphibians, and lots of good photos.

"Males have blue markings on the sides of the belly edged in black, and two blue patches on the throat. Females have faint or absent blue markings on the belly. Males establish and defend a territory containing elevated perches where they can observe mates and potential rival males. Males defend their territory and try to attract females with head-bobbing and a push-up display that exposes the blue throat and ventral colors. Territories are ultimately defended by physical combat with other males. Courtship and copulation typically occurs from March to June. Egg laying occurs 2 - 4 weeks after copulation. Females dig small pits in loose damp soil where they lay 1 - 3 clutches of 3 - 17 eggs usually from May to July. Eggs hatch in about 60 days, usually from July to September.

They eat small, mostly terrestrial, invertebrates such as crickets, spiders, ticks, and scorpions, and occasionally eats small lizards including its own species.

In California, western black-legged ticks (deer ticks) are the primary carriers of Lyme disease. Very tiny nymphal deer ticks are more likely to carry the disease than adults. A protein in the blood of Western Fence Lizards kills the bacterium in these nymphal ticks when they attach themselves to a lizard and ingest the lizard's blood. This could explain why Lyme disease is less common in California than it is in some areas such as the Northeastern states, where it is epidemic."

Western Yellow-bellied Racer Snake - Botta's Pocket Gopher

Thamnophis elegans - Thomomys bottae

  

This year we have a Western Yellow-bellied snake in our garden! It moves super fast and is very hard to photograph. The following information about them is from www.californiaherps.org.

"Diurnal, often seen actively foraging in the daytime with head and forward part of the body held up off the ground searching for prey with its acute vision. Climbs vegetation and seeks shelter in burrows, rocks, or woody debris. Very fast-moving and alert, quickly fleeing when threatened, this snake is difficult to get close to.

Eats lizards, small rodents, small birds, frogs, salamanders, small snakes. Lays eggs in late spring or early summer which hatch in two to three months."

One morning this week, one of the Iceland Poppy plants was jiggling away!  Unfortunately, it was a gopher that made it jiggle. It had cut off the poppies roots!!! RATS! I stomped the gopher tunnel flat right away, but I know that won't deter the gopher. Maybe the Yellow-bellied Racer will eat it!  Fingers crossed!  Gophers dig tunnels underground while looking for roots and bulbs to eat, as well as to make sleeping/nesting chambers. Their large front teeth are located in front of their "lips", which can close and keep dirt out of their throat! They are called "pocket" gophers, because they have external cheek pouches in which they carry food or dirt.

Carpenter Bees - Bumblebee (inset photo)

 Xylocopa sp. - Bombus sp.

The onions in our garden are now blooming and attracting a variety of pollinators!  Carpenter Bees have been there for days, drinking the nectar from the flowers!  Many other kinds of pollinators are also busy getting the nectar and pollen, including Bumblebees!

Adult male and female Carpenter Bees hibernate in separate tunnels, in winter. In the Spring, they mate and then clean out an old tunnel, or create a new one, for their larvae. The female lays 6 to 8 eggs. Each egg is placed in a separate chamber, along with some "bee bread" (a ball of nectar and pollen). The chamber is then sealed off with wood particles. When the egg hatches, the larva eats the bee bread, pupates, and emerges out of its chamber as an adult. This complete metamorphosis takes several months! Meanwhile, the adult males and females can be seen feeding on nectar throughout the Summer. They do not eat wood. Male Carpenter Bees don't sting, as they have no stinger. Females do have a stinger, but rarely sting!

Pale Swallowtail Butterfly - Papilio eurymedon

Butterflies!

Two types of Swallowtail Butterflies have been feeding on the garden flowers and local lilacs for a few weeks now, the Pale Swallowtail and the Tiger Swallowtail.  Pale Swallowtail Butterflies are common throughout the western U.S., where they live year-round. They overwinter as a chrysalis. As adults they feed on a wide variety of flowering trees, shrubs, and flowers.  

Variable Checkerspot Butterfly- Propertius Duskywing Skipper

Euphydryas chalcedona - Erynnis propertius

There are 165,000 known species of butterflies found on every continent except Antarctica.  Each species of caterpillar feeds on a specific species of plant.  Their eyes are made of 6,000 lenses and can see ultraviolet light.  A butterfly's antennae, palps, legs and many other parts of the body are studded with sense receptors that are used to smell. The sense of smell is used for finding food (usually flower nectar), and for finding mates (the female smelling the male's pheromones).

A butterfly's feet have sense organs that can taste the sugar in nectar, letting the butterfly know if something is good to eat or not. Some females also taste host plants (using organs on their legs) in order to find appropriate places to lay their eggs. These receptors (called chemoreceptors) are nerve cells on the body's surface which react to certain chemicals.

American Lady Butterfly - Vanessa virginiensis

This past week there have been a few American Lady Butterflies flying around our neighborhood!  It turns out that they haven't just hatched out, they have migrated here! They are winter residents of the southern United States, Mexico, and Central America south to Colombia. In the Spring they migrate to, and temporarily colonize, the northern United States, southern Canada, the West Indies, and Europe. Wow! 

Morels - Morchella sp.

About two weeks ago, some Morel mushrooms popped up in a shady, damp area right near our garden!  The spores are found on the walls of the honey-combed exterior.  Morels are hard to see in the forest, because they are so camouflaged in the decaying leaf litter. When you finally see one, you will probably see a lot more that you hadn't noticed before! This year I only saw five morels.  In the past I've seen as many as 13 of them.  It's always fun to hunt for them, and get reunited every year!

Sardine Lake - 5/19/23

Lakes Basin Update!

We drove up to Sardine Lake and Sand Pond last week.  Both of them are totally melted out, and the trail to Upper Sardine is mostly snow free. I hope to get up to Upper Sardine Lake soon!

Salmon Lake - 5/19/23

We hiked back up to Salmon Lake on four feet of snow a week ago.  To our surprise it was STILL mostly frozen!  I didn't get up there this week, but my friend Diane skied to Gold Lake, and the Gold Lake Road had only been plowed as far as the turn off for Salmon Lake! Things are moving slowly up in the Lakes Basin!

What's happening on the river?

What's blooming in my neighborhood?

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

Unfortunately, you can no longer sign up to get my blog via email. Just go to northyubanaturalist.blogspot.com directly.

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

A Snowy Spring in the Lakes Basin!

Sierra Buttes -  5/11/23

With the weather all of a sudden turning warm and being in the 80's last week, my friend Diane and I decided to hike up to Salmon Lake, at 6, 501' in elevation, before the snow melted.  She skied and I hiked on top of 6 feet of snow on the Gold Lake Road!  It was packed but not icy, and we weren't punching in at all.  So the hiking and skiing were great!  No one else was on the road that whole day, so we had the Lakes Basin to ourselves! What a treat!  

Compared to last year, on May 5, 2022, we drove on the newly plowed Gold Lake Road to the Graeagle Creek Trail (around 5,200' in elevation), and hiked on the snow-free trail!  On May 17th, I walked into Salmon Lake on patchy snow from the Gold Lake Road, and the lake itself was totally melted out and snow free!  The Water Year total for 2022 was 56.51".  The Water Year total-to-date for this year is 82.66"!  What a difference between the two years!  Looks like the hiking trails in the Lakes Basin might not open up until mid-June this year! 

Sierra Buttes from the Salmon Lake Road -  5/11/23

Being on the Gold Lake Road, we had incredible views of the Sierra Buttes that day!  I never tire of seeing them!  Such grand beauty!  It was great to be back in the Lakes Basin!

The Gold Lake Road had only been plowed less than a mile up past Salmon Creek Campground.  It has probably been plowed some more this week, and we're going back on Friday to check it out.  Hopefully we'll still be able to walk on top of the snow.

Salmon Lake - 5/11/23

It was about 2.3 miles to the lake.  When we got there we were astonished to see the lake almost totally frozen and still covered in a foot or more of snow!  Wow!  Only a small section on the east shore had melted out.

Yellow-rumped Warbler - Setophaga coronata

We had lunch at Salmon Lake, and enjoyed watching the few birds that were along the lakeshore!  Two Yellow-rumped Warblers were "flycatching" insects from the leafless willows along the shoreline!  I couldn't help but wonder if they were the ones that had flown past me in my neighborhood last week! 

Dark-eyed Junco - Canada Goose

  Junco hyemalis - Branta canadensis

There were also a few Dark-eyed Juncos, a single Canada Goose, and a pair of unknown ducks (too far away) on the melted edge of Salmon Lake!  Spring has barely started in the Lakes Basin!

Black Bear - Ursus americanus

I had been wondering how the wildlife was faring with all the snow on the ground.  We didn't see many tracks at all, but the snow wasn't fresh and was quite hard.  To my delight I came across a Black Bear track on the Gold Lake Road on our way back!  It hadn't been there on our way in to Salmon Lake!  There were some bare areas around the shrubs on the west facing slopes, so hopefully the bears are able to find some insects or plants to eat!

Carman Valley - 5/15/23

Carman Valley

Carman Valley is a beautiful small valley west of Sierra Valley.  Right now, at one end of the valley, there is more water than I've ever seen there before!  It's a lovely little wetland that supports a variety of wildlife.  Cows don't graze there and in wet years the wildflowers are plentiful.  Right now the meadows are super wet and beginning to fill with blooming wildflowers! 

Spotted Sandpiper (adult) - Actitis macularia

The wetland usually contains a small variety of birds, including Tree Swallows, ducks, Sandhill Cranes, and shorebirds, but doesn't have the bird population found in Sierra Valley.  I usually see an Osprey, some Wood Ducks, Mallards, Mountain Bluebirds, and Killdeers.  

Wood Duck (male) - Aix sponsa

To my delight, this year we saw a Wood Duck right away, an Osprey, and a Spotted Sandpiper for the first time!  They're all so lovely!  I'm going to go back again in a couple weeks to see if more birds have arrived.

Hooker's Balsam Root filled meadow - Balsalmorhiza hookeri

Away from the wetland, there is a long band of wet meadows that follows a creek drainage.  In another couple of weeks they will be filled with thousands of Blue Camas flowers, Bistort, Larkspur, and more Buttercups!

Hooker's Balsam Root - Balsalmorhiza hookeri

Hooker's Balsam Root is another favorite of mine! It grows in the hotter, drier areas and is low to the ground. What's REALLY cool about it is that it smells like CHOCOLATE! Check it out next time you see some of them. The fragrance is unmistakable!

Wet Meadow filled with Buttercups

In the past, a few people lived in Carmen Valley.  There is still an old Barn and fencing in some areas. No one lives there now, but it's fun to imagine living there!  Such a beautiful, peaceful area!

Beckwith's Violet -Viola beckwithii 

These delightfully colored little Violets were scattered along the edges of the wet meadows.  Such lovely markings!

Water Plantain Buttercup - Ranunculus alismifolius

The super wet meadows mainly had Water Plantain Buttercups growing in them. Another variety of Buttercups will bloom as the meadows dry out!

Meadow Baby Blue Eyes - California Hesperochiron

Nemophila pedunculata - Hesperochiron nanus

These flowers were growing along the edge of the road in drier areas.  The Meadow Baby Blue Eyes were tiny, about the size of your little fingernail.  The only blue on the blossoms were little dark dashes on the white petals.  There is another Baby Blue Eyes that is totally blue with a white center, but I didn't see any in Carman Valley.  

The California Hesperochiron were about an inch wide. Most of them are bright white, but some are tinged with pink.  They make a lovely carpet on the ground!

Black Bear - Ursus americanus

My friend Judy spotted a Black Bear in the distance, grazing on the meadow grasses!  Wow!  He didn't stay visible for very long, and quickly disappeared into the willows.  How wonderful to see!

Sierra Valley - 5/15/23

Sierra Valley

Since we were so close to Sierra Valley, we decided to drive over to the Steel Bridge to see if the water level had dropped.  Due to all the snow melting now, it had only dropped some, but not enough for all the birds to start nesting.  Most of the the birds that live near the Steel Bridge build their nests among the tules and cattails, either floating or hanging.  I think it will be another week or more before the bird population re-establishes itself to normal levels.  Or maybe they've all moved to a different part of the Valley where the water isn't so high.  I'll have to go exploring soon!

Yellow-headed Blackbird (female - male)

Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus

This week there were a few female Yellow-headed Blackbirds around!

Cliff Swallows - Petrocheilidon pyrrhonota

The Cliff Swallow population has boomed with 1,000 or more of these lovely little swallows nesting under the Steel Bridge.  Here's a video of them in flight at the bridge!

Cliff Swallows at the Steel Bridge

Willet (adult) - Ruddy Duck (male)

Tringa semipalmata - Oxyura jamaicensis

What bugs and blossoms are showing up?

What new birds will arrive?

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

Unfortunately, you can no longer sign up to get my blog via email. Just go to northyubanaturalist.blogspot.com directly.

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