I got up around 5:30 and was out the door by about 6:15 am to go to the Effie Yeaw Nature Preserve for my regular Tuesday trail-walking gig. The weather was beautiful: about 53° when I got to the preserve and about 70° when I left. Sunny and a little bit windy.
I saw LOTS of birds’ nests: European Starlings bringing some twigs for the nesting cavity and some bugs and worms for the hatchlings. (I could hear the babies squawking inside the tree); Phoebes bringing bugs for their babies; an Oak Titmouse carrying fecal sacs out of her nest; a male House Wren showing a nesting cavity to a female, even going to far as to get into the cavity himself, stick his head out and sing to her. Hah!
CLICK HERE for the album of photos.
Saw lots of squirrels, especially young Fox Squirrels who were running around, jumping, and putting just about everything they could into their mouths. Generally, acting “squirrely”. Hah!
I found some caterpillars I’d never noticed before on the Redbud trees. They were pale green and had folded themselves inside the soft leaves of the tree. You’ll never guess what they’re called… Redbud Leaf-folder Moth caterpillars. Sometimes the names are like, “Duh!”, obvious.
I also found caterpillars on the leaves of the blackberry bushes, and these guys were tricky. They had an escape hatch, so if I touched the front of their silk “nest”, they would zip out the back and fall onto the leaf below them. Some of them had black faces and some of them had reddish-tan faces. I haven’t really ID-ed them yet.
And, of course, there were Tussock Moth caterpillars everywhere. Here’s a video snippet of an active guy on the top of one of the water stanchions at the preserve: https://youtu.be/Bj9nZiy_EmI
I think I’d mentioned before about the fact that I was finding tiny dirt-clod turrets on the trail. They look like “hoodoos”; y’know like the big stone ones at Bryce Canyon, but on a tiny-tiny scale. I couldn’t figure out what was making them, so I put my naturalist students on the hunt for information. Naturalist graduate Deborah Dash sent me some photos of the Diadasia bees and the turrets they make, but all of the photos were from the top of the turrets not the side, so I couldn’t really compare them to the photos I had. But, that tip led me to look up other Diadasia bees, and I think I found the right one. I now believe these are the turrets of the “aggregate nests” of the solitary, native Mallow-Loving Digger Bee, Diadasia sp., subgenus Coquillettapis, This website shows how the turrets are created. So neat! (http://nathistoc.bio.uci.edu/hymenopt/Diadasia%20Coquillettapis.htm)
Near the end of my walk, I couldn’t understand why I was so frigging tired. Then I looked at the time and realized I’d been walking for FIVE HOURS! Yikes! I get so wrapped up in what I’m seeing on the trail that I lose track of time.
Species List:
- Acorn Woodpecker, Melanerpes formicivorus,
- American Bullfrog, Lithobates catesbeianus,
- Ants, Little Black Ants, Monomorium minimum,
- Ash-Throated Flycatcher, Myiarchus cinerascens,
- Asian Lady Beetle, Harmonia axyridis
- Azolla, Water Fern, Azolla filiculoides,
- Bedstraw, Cleavers, Galium aparine,
- Bewick’s Wren, Thryomanes bewickii,
- Black Bean Aphid, Aphis fabae,
- Black Phoebe, Sayornis nigricans,
- Black Walnut Erineum Mite galls, Eriophyes erinea,
- Black Walnut, Juglans nigra,
- Blue Elderberry, Sambucus cerulea,
- Blue Oak, Quercus douglasii,
- California Ground Squirrel, Otospermophilus beecheyi,
- California Manroot, Bigroot, Marah fabaceus,
- California Pipevine Swallowtail butterfly, Battus philenor hirsuta,
- California Pipevine, Dutchman’s Pipe, Aristolochia californica,
- California Scrub Jay, Aphelocoma californica,
- California Towhee,
- Coffeeberry, Frangula californica,
- Columbian Black-Tailed Deer, Odocoileus hemionus columbianus,
- Common Catchfly, Silene gallica,
- Convergent Lady Beetle, Hippodamia convergens,
- Coyote Brush Bud Midge gall, Rhopalomyia californica,
- Cranefly, family Tipulidae,
- Cutworm, Olive Angle Shade Moth, Phlogophora iris,
- Desert Cottontail, Sylvilagus audubonii,
- Dog Vomit Slime Mold, Fuligo septica,
- Dogtail Grass, Cynosurus echinatus,
- Eastern Fox Squirrel, Sciurus niger,
- Elder Moth, Achatodes zeae
- European Starling, Sturnus vulgaris,
- Fiery Skipper, Hylephila phyleus,
- Himalayan Blackberry, Rubus armeniacus,
- House Wren, Troglodytes aedon,
- Interior Live Oak, Quercus wislizeni,
- Lazuli Bunting, Passerina amoena (stripe across wing),
- Live Oak Gall Wasp gall, 2nd Generation, Callirhytis quercuspomiformis
- Mallow-Loving Digger Bee turrets, Diadasia sp., subgenus Coquillettapis http://nathistoc.bio.uci.edu/hymenopt/Diadasia%20Coquillettapis.htm
- Northern California Grape, Vitis californica
- Oak Apple Wasp Gall, Andricus quercuscalifornicus,
- Oak Titmouse, Baeolophus inornatus,
- Orange Tortrix Moth, Argyrotaenia franciscana
- Painted Lady butterfly, Vanessa cardui,
- Periwinkle, Vinca major,
- Pipevine Swallowtail butterfly, Battus philenor hirsuta,
- Plum, Prunus cerasifera,
- Poison Hemlock, Conium maculatum,
- Poison Oak, Toxicodendron diversilobum,
- Purple Needle Grass, Nassella pulchra,
- Redbud Leaffolder Moth, Fascista cercerisella,
- Red-Shouldered Hawk, Buteo lineatus,
- Rio Grande Wild Turkey, Meleagris gallopavo intermedia,
- Rusty Tussock Moth caterpillar, Orgyia antiqua
- Showy Milkweed, Asclepias speciose,
- Silver Hairgrass, Aira caryophyllea,
- Spittlebug, Meadow Spittlebug, Philaenus spumarius,
- Spotted Towhee, Pipilo maculatus,
- Tree Swallow, Tachycineta bicolor,
- Valley Oak, Quercus lobata,
- Western Bluebird, Sialia mexicana,
- Western Fence Lizard, Sceloporus occidentalis,
- Western Gray Squirrel, Sciurus griseus,
- Western Redbud, Cercis occidentalis,
- White Horehound, Marrubium vulgare,
- Winter Vetch, Vicia villosa,
- Woodland Skipper, Ochlodes sylvanoides,
