I left the office early today and headed out to my weekly Certified Naturalist class for the evening. Tonight’s class was on Forests and Woodland Resources and the guest speaker was Zarah Wyly of the Sacramento Tree Foundation. I’d met her previously at last year’s acorn-gathering class at the nature center. She’s a funny and engaging speaker, as well as very knowledgeable, so it’s always nice to spend time listening to her. She identified all of the species of trees and shrubs within an hour or so walking distance from the nature center, so it was a great learning experience for those of us who don’t know a lot about the regional trees.
Before the class, I scouted around a little bit and got photos and video of a California Ground Squirrel doing its “alert call” for several minutes, several White-Breasted Nuthatches flitting from tree to tree – sometimes in groups and it made me wonder if they were adults with fledglings –a Scrub Jay picking berries from an Elderberry bush, and what I think was a Purple Finch (more colorful than the House Finches I’ve seen) singing in another Elderberry bush.
During the field study part of the class, we also saw a variety of birds along the way, and some Cottontail Rabbits, and a California Alligator Lizard. You know, those lizards that were all over southern California when we were kids? Well, now they’re considered “rare”. I didn’t know that – although I was suddenly aware of the fact that, yeah, I hadn’t seen any of them for decades. I see the Western Fence Lizards everywhere (the “blue bellied” ones that do push-ups), but I haven’t seen an Alligator Lizard in… forever. I got photos and some video of the instructor, John, sneaking up behind it so he could catch it and show it to us. He got it on the first grab.
I learned that Interior Live Oaks are the only ones in California that stay evergreen… that the “sycamore trees” along the riverside are actually London Planetrees… that Cottonwood trees are “beaver candy” (they’re the first trees beavers go for when they move into an area)… and that there is this totally weird-looking hybrid oak close to the nature center. (Zarah thinks it’s a cross between a Blue Oak and a Valley Oak. She said, “It’s kind of on the Valley side of Blue.”
We also learned about “mast years” for acorns. I had heard about them – they’re the years when the oak trees produce massive amounts of acorns – but I had no idea that the phenomenon was statewide. That is, ALL of the oak trees all over the state synch up and ALL of them produce an over-abundance of acorns at the same time. Then the mast year is followed by a year where there is a glut of mule deer, squirrels and mice; and the year after that there’s a massive glut of ticks everywhere; and the year after that there’s a massive population explosion of snakes… Kewl, huh?
There was also a brief discussion about Oracle Oaks, which are a recognized species of hybrid oak, a cross between the Black Oak and the interior live oak… and there are individuals of these trees along the American River Parkway. They’re more common further north though. You can read more about them if you want at: http://sierrafoothillgarden.com/2010/11/06/discovering-and-identifying-the-oracle-oak/.
As an aside: we learned that the mating pair of coyotes had their pups several weeks ago, and the pups are now out on the preserve… but no one will say WHERE exactly because the nature center doesn’t want the public tracking the babies down and annoying (or harming) them. Mama coyote had FIVE pups. In the class, they passed around a photo one of the on-site naturalists had taken of them… All five of them huddled together, heads up, curious, looking straight at the camera. A classic shot. And those babies are soooo cute!
Oh, and the nature staff gathered four Monarch butterfly chrysalises from the small stand of showy milkweed they have out in the front of the nature center, and one of the butterflies matured yesterday, and they were able to release it… So growing milkweed in your yard DOES work. FEED those Monarchs!
Training Workshop in Coloma, Ca in July.
I got word that the next Northern California UC California Naturalist Program Instructor/Partner Workshops are going to be held in Placer County in July (about an hour or so from the house in Sacramento). This is the next step in the process that Tuleyome needs to take to get the organization onboard to actually TEACH the naturalist classes. I asked Sara if I could sign up for it and she said, sure! So I’m booked for the workshops. It’s a 2-day thing over a Tuesday and Wednesday, so I’ll drive up on Monday night, stay in Placerville and then go to the workshops from there.
The first day covers all the necessities of building and executing the classes, the volunteer portal, iNaturlaist, homework and capstone projects; the CalNat system and partnering organizations; how to put a teaching team together; a week-by-week walkthrough of the classes required; and then techniques to market the classes you set up. The second day is a “play” day and includes a tour of the Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park and journaling in the field. Should be interesting stuff! These workshops come right on the heels of a 4-day weekend during which I’ll be going up to Mount Shasta for two days of dragonfly classes. I should be thoroughly exhausted by the end of that week!
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