I headed out to the Effie Yeaw Nature Preserve to do my volunteer work there on the Monarch Larvae Monitoring Project and my trail-walking gig.  It’s supposed to get up to 100° today, so I wanted to get out there as soon as the sun came up to beat the heat.  It was 63° when I got to the preserve around 6:00 am and was already up to 80° by 9:30 am when I left.  I think it would have been hotter except that there was some cloud cover along the river that held off the sunlight for an extra hours or so.

I’m still not seeing any evidence of Monarchs in my plot, but no one else is recording any either, so I’m figuring they’re just not around. My friend and fellow-naturalist Roxanne showed up around 6:30 and we finished up the Monarch work very quickly. We found quite a few different spiders, including a pair of Yellow Sac Spiders and a Western Spotted Orbweaver, along with a couple of katydid nymphs and lots of Oleander Aphids.

We then went for a short walk and came across quite a few different galls including some Erineum Mite Galls on the Black Walnut trees, Two-Horned and Kernel galls on the Live Oak trees, and Saucer and Crystalline galls on the Blue Oaks.  I’m bringing the naturalist class to the preserve next weekend, so we tried to remember which trees had the best galls on them so we could show them to the students.

The big moment of the walk, though, was coming across a doe and her fawn.  Mama was pulling down leaves from the trees for the fawn to eat, and at one point, he looked up, right at us, while he was chewing on a stem.  So cute! His mom was trying really hard to keep him safe and sheltered, so we didn’t get to see him for very long before she took him into deeper brush in the shade.  Still, I was able to get a few photos.

CLICK HERE for the album of photos.

Species List:

1. Anna’s Hummingbird, Calypte anna
2. Bewick’s Wren, Thryomanes bewickii
3. Black Walnut Erineum Mite Gall, Eriophyes erinea
4. Black Walnut, Juglans nigra
5. Blue Oak, Quercus douglasii
6. Bush Katydid (nymphs), Scudderia furcata
7. Bushtit, Psaltriparus minimus
8. California Ground Squirrel, Otospermophilus beecheyi
9. California Oak Worm, Phryganidia californica
10. Columbian Black-Tailed Deer, Odocoileus hemionus columbianus
11. Consperse Stinkbug (nymph), Euschistus conspersus
12. Crowned Whitefly, Aleuroplatus coronata
13. Crystalline Gall Wasp, Andricus crystallinus
14. Dog Vomit Slime Mold, Fuligo septica
15. Eastern Fox Squirrel, Sciurus niger
16. Evening Primrose, Oenothera biennis
17. Great Mullein, Verbascum thapsus
18. Green Lacewing (eggs), Chrysoperla carnea
19. Interior Live Oak, Quercus wislizeni
20. Jumping Oak Wasp Galls, Neuroterus saltatorius
21. Kernel Gall Wasp, Callirhytis serricornis
22. Oleander Aphid, Aphis nerii
23. Pacific Aster, California Aster, Symphyotrichum chilense
24. Pink Grass, Windmill Pink (seeds and bracts), Petrorhagia dubia
25. Pumpkin Gall Wasp, Dryocosmus minusculus
26. Red-Shouldered Hawk, Buteo lineatus
27. Rio Grande Wild Turkey, Meleagris gallopavo intermedia
28. Saucer Wasp Galls, Andricus gigas
29. Saw-whet Owl, Sophia, Aegolius acadicus
30. Showy Milkweed, Asclepias speciosa
31. Trashline Spider, Cyclosa conica
32. Two-Horned Gall Wasp, Dryocosmus dubiosus
33. Urchin Wasp Galls, Antron quercusechinus
34. Valley Oak, Quercus lobata
35. Wavy Leaf Soap Plant, Soaproot (seeds), Chlorogalum pomeridianum
36. Western Fence Lizard, Sceloporus occidentalis
37. Western Spotted Orbweaver Spider, Neoscona oaxacensis
38. White Hibiscus, Rose Mallow, Hibiscus lasiocarpos
39. Yellow Sac Spider, Cheiracanthium inclusum