I got up at 5:00 this morning and took my time getting ready to head out to the Effie Yeaw Nature Preserve for my trail-walking thing there. It was cool for most of the day – a rainstorm is supposed to move in tomorrow – so it was perfect walking weather. I was joined by fellow volunteer Mary Messenger – the Other Mary.
We saw the usual suspects like deer, House Wrens, and suchlike. One humorous encounter was with a European Staring who had its adult feathers in but was acting like a brat. It was sitting in a tree just opposite where I had seen the fledglings poking their heads out of the nesting cavity last week. It was making a lot of very loud squawks and peeps, and flapping its wings trying to get attention. Might have also been a female looking for a mate to come feed her. Whichever. She was so loud and so animated; you couldn’t miss her.
Another funny moment was walking in on a pair of Fox Squirrels who I think were making out. Hah! Get a room, you guys!
CLICK HERE for the album of photos.
I saw another Starling in another part of the preserve that was taking twigs OUT of her nesting cavity, which I thought was weird. And we saw a male Mourning Dove picking up bits of grass and carrying them to his mate in a tree off the trail. A House Wren was carrying food to his babies… Everyone was moving stuff around.
I also saw a pair of Wood Ducks. They flew into a tree overhead, and then the female flew to an adjacent tree and “disappeared”. She flew out to the first tree next to the male, then flew back to the other tree and disappeared again. I tried to see where she was hiding out and assumed she might have had a nest in a cavity in the tree, but I just couldn’t see her. Then she flew out one more time, and this time she had something orange and fuzzy in her bill. She flew off with it, and the male followed her. I couldn’t tell what it was, really, and wasn’t able to get any photos of it, but I think she was retrieving a duckling that was refusing to come down from the nest! I’d never seen or heard of anything like that; it was kind of amazing.
And we caught a glimpse of a young coyote. He came out onto the trail in front of us with a short growl and then ran off into the high grass where we lost sight of him. He was pretty small, probably a teenager. After we saw him, we kept an eye out for mom and dad; they usually travel in a pack when the pups are young.
We walked for about 4 hours, which is pretty much the limit for both of us, and I headed back home.
Species List:
- Acorn Woodpecker, Melanerpes formicivorus,
- American Bullfrog, Lithobates catesbeianus,
- American Robin, Turdus migratorius,
- Ash-Throated Flycatcher, Myiarchus cinerascens,
- Asian Lady Beetle, Harmonia axyridis,
- Black Grosbeak, Pheucticus melanocephalus,
- Black Phoebe, Sayornis nigricans,
- Blessed Milk Thistle, Silybum marianum,
- Blue Elderberry, Sambucus cerulea,
- California Buckeye Chestnut Tree, Aesculus californica,
- California Pipevine Swallowtail Butterfly, Battus philenor hirsuta,
- California Pipevine, Dutchman’s Pipe, Aristolochia californica,
- Coffeeberry, Frangula californica,
- Columbian Black-Tailed Deer, Odocoileus hemionus columbianus,
- Coyote Brush Bud Gall Midge, Rhopalomyia californica,
- Coyote, Canis latrans,
- Darkling Beetle, Eleodes dentipes,
- Desert Cottontail, Sylvilagus audubonii,
- Eastern Fox Squirrel, Sciurus niger,
- Elegant Clarkia, Clarkia unguiculata,
- European Starling, Sturnus vulgaris,
- Goldwire, Hypericum concinnum,
- Great Egret, Ardea alba,
- Greater Periwinkle, Vinca major,
- House Wren, Troglodytes aedon,
- Italian Thistle, Carduus pycnocephalus,
- Katydid nymph, Microcentrum rhombifolium,
- Miniature Lupine, Lupinus bicolor,
- Mourning Dove, Zenaida macroura,
- Oak Apple Wasp Galls, Andricus quercuscalifornicus,
- Oak Titmouse, Baeolophus inornatus,
- Olive Tree, Olea europaea,
- Pacific Pond Turtle, Western Pond Turtle, Actinemys marmorata,
- Painted Lady Butterfly, Vanessa cardui,
- Pinacate Beetle, Eleodes pimelioides,
- Red Harvester Ant, Pogonomyrmex barbatus,
- Red-Shouldered Hawk, Buteo lineatus,
- Red-Tailed Hawk, Buteo jamaicensis,
- Rusty Tussock Moth caterpillar, Orgyia antiqua,
- Spittle Bug, Meadow Spittlebug, Philaenus spumarius,
- Spotted Towhee, Pipilo maculatus,
- Swainson’s Hawk, Orion, Buteo swainsoni,
- Tree Swallow, Tachycineta bicolor,
- Wavy-Leafed Soap Plant, Soaproot, Chlorogalum pomeridianum,
- Western Gray Squirrel, Sciurus griseus,
- Winter Vetch, Vicia villosa,
- Wood Duck, Aix sponsa,
