I got up around 5:45 this morning and headed out to the Effie Yeaw Nature Preserve for my weekly volunteer trail walking gig.  It was clear and about 41° at the river, but warmed up to about 60° by the time we left.

I wanted to get there around 7:00 – forgetting that with the Stupid Time Change it would still be DARK when I got there.  My friend Roxanne and “The Other Mary” (Mary Messenger) showed up, too, and we all had to laugh about standing around in the dark until the sun came up.  What was cool, though, was the fact that the Worm Moon was still up, so we were able to get photos of that…and we could hear a Great Horned Owl hooting in a nearby tree (but it was too dark to see it).

Once the sun came up a bit, we started walking in earnest and came across deer and turkeys right away.  Several of the turkeys were up in the trees, and we were able to get some silhouette shots of them with the few morning clouds painted by the rising sun behind them.

Later, Roxanne and I came across a small flock of the males following after a small flock of females.  (By that time The Other Mary had left; she’s still dealing with sciatica and couldn’t walk without pain anymore.) One of the female turkeys settled down in the grass, but presented her SIDE, not her back, to the males.  For a moment, I thought maybe she was injured or something, but no.  She eventually got up again and walked away when the males converged on her.  Wutta tease! 

Because it’s breeding season, all of the tom are looking fabulous in their iridescent copper and gold feathers and brightly colored faces.  We also saw a leucitic tom among them.  (Leucism is a condition in which there is partial loss of pigmentation in an animal—which causes white, pale, or patchy coloration of the skin, hair, feathers, scales or cuticle, but not the eyes.)  He had white edges on many of his feathers and a bright white bar across one wing.  I don’t know if that odd coloring if off-putting to the females, but the males kept trying to run him off so they must’ve considered him “competition”.

Mama Red-Shouldered Hawk was up in her nest, and we saw several other hawks, including a Red-Tail along the trail.  One of the Red-Shouldered Hawks flew right down in front of us and landed on a tree stump, where it posed for a while.  The lighting kind of sucked, but we were still able to get some photos of him.

There were quite a few deer out today, mostly does and their yearlings, but we also found a small bachelor group of bucks, all of whom had just recently lost their antlers.  We could still see the swollen pedicles on the top of their heads.  We did come across one buck, though, who was still hanging onto his rack, an impressive 4-pointer.

We’re also starting to see the birds “fight” for nesting spots and doing some of their early courtship behavior. We spotted an Acorn Woodpecker checking out a nesting cavity in one of their granary trees. He got inside of it for a bit, but then came out to chase off some European Starlings and Tree Swallows who were also looking at the tree.  Starlings and Tree Swallows can’t excavate their own cavities, so they depend on the woodpeckers to do that for them. 

We watched one female Starling doing her courtship thing where she acted like a baby bird, flapping her wings and peeping loudly, to try to get the males to bring her something. I got a little video snippet of that behavior. It’s kind of funny because the females are SO LOUD when they’re doing that.

Among the other birds we saw today were Oak Titmice, Bewick’s and House Wrens, Bushtits, some Western Bluebirds and Turkey Vultures, among others.  We also got to see some Cottontail rabbits and a Jackrabbit along the trail.

Except for the invasive Periwnkle, there aren’t a lot of wildflowers blooming at the preserve yet. (The weird weather has them sooooo confused.) But we did find a couple of Blue Dicks and some Fringepod along the trail.  The warm weather made the Pipevine Swallowtail butterflies emerge a little earlier than usual and now they’re having trouble finding nectar to drink… 

I was happy, though, to see the bees in the “Bee Tree” again.  I thought they’d left, but now I think they were just hibernating.  Waiting for it to warm up again and for the flowers to start budding.  All of the oak trees in the preserve have their pollen-bearing catkins out right now, so the bees have something to collect until the flowers bloom.

We’re not seeing the galls of the Live Oak gall wasps yet, though, and that’s a little troubling.  We’re seeing a LOT of Two-Horned galls, though, which is unusual at the preserve.

At one tree, Roxanne and I stopped for several minutes and got loads of photos of the different lichen on it. We also saw tiny bundles of dried Witch’s Butter (jelly fungus)in among the lichen, and that was kind of surprising to see considering how dry it’s been lately.  I thought the jellies would be long-gone by now.            

CLICK HERE for the full album of photos.

Roxanne and I actually walked for about FIVE HOURS (!); it was noon when we left the preserve.  I was really astonished that I’d lasted that long.  I think I was buoyed up by adrenaline; we kept finding one interesting thing after another to photograph. 

Species List:

1. Acorn Woodpecker, Melanerpes formicivorus
2. Almond Tree, Prunus dulcis
3. American Robin, Turdus migratorius
4. Anna’s Hummingbird, Calypte anna
5. Audubon’s Warbler, Setophaga coronata auduboni
6. Azolla, Water Fern, Azolla filiculoides
7. Bedstraw, Velcro Grass, Cleavers, Galium aparine
8. Bewick’s Wren, Thryomanes bewickii
9. Black Phoebe, Sayornis nigricans
10. Black-Tailed Jackrabbit, Lepus californicus
11. Blessed Milk Thistle, Silybum marianum
12. Blue Dicks, Dichelostemma capitatum
13. Blue Elderberry, Sambucus nigra cerulea
14. Blue Oak, Quercus douglasii
15. Bur Chervil, Anthriscus caucalis
16. Bushtit, American Bushtit, Psaltriparus minimus
17. Cabbage White butterfly, Pieris rapae
18. California Buckeye Chestnut Tree, Aesculus californica
19. California Ground Squirrel, Otospermophilus beecheyi
20. California Manroot, Bigroot, Marah fabaceus
21. California Mugwort, Artemisia douglasiana
22. California Pipevine Swallowtail butterfly, Battus philenor hirsuta
23. California Pipevine, Dutchman’s Pipe, Aristolochia californica
24. California Scrub Jay, Aphelocoma californica
25. California Towhee, Melozone crissalis
26. Canada Goose, Branta canadensis
27. Cloudless Sulphur Butterfly, Phoebis sennae
28. Coffeeberry, California Buckthorn, Frangula californica
29. Columbian Black-Tailed Deer, Odocoileus hemionus columbianus
30. Common Fringepod, Thysanocarpus curvipes
31. Common Snowberry, Symphoricarpos albus
32. Common Stork’s-Bill, Red Stemmed Filaree, Erodium cicutarium
33. Coyote Brush, Baccharis pilularis
34. Cranefly, Mosquito Hawk, Tipula dietziana
35. Crown Whitefly, Aleuroplatus coronata [larvae]
36. Cumberland Rock-Shield Lichen, Xanthoparmelia cumberlandia
37. Desert Cottontail Rabbit, Sylvilagus audubonii
38. Eastern Fox Squirrel, Sciurus niger
39. European Starling, Sturnus vulgaris
40. Farinose Cartilage Lichen,  Ramalina farinacea [like Oakmoss but very thin branches]
41. Feral European Honeybee, Apis mellifera
42. Gold Dust Lichen, Chrysothrix candelaris
43. Golden Crowned Sparrow, Zonotrichia atricapilla
44. Great Horned Owl, Bubo virginianus
45. Green Shield Lichen, Flavoparmelia caperata
46. Himalayan Blackberry, Rubus armeniacus
47. Hoary Lichen, Hoary Rosette, Physcia aipolia
48. Hooded Rosette Lichen, Physcia adscendens [hairs/eyelashes on the tips of the lobes]
49. House Wren, Troglodytes aedon
50. Interior Live Oak, Quercus wislizeni
51. Killdeer, Charadrius vociferous [heard lots]
52. Live Oak Erineum Mite gall, Aceria mackiei [kind of looks like rust on the backside of the leaf]
53. Live Oak Gall Wasp, 1st Generation, Callirhytis quercuspomiformis [old]
54. Lords and Ladies, Wild Arum, Arum maculatum
55. Mallard duck, Anas platyrhynchos
56. Miniature Lupine, Lupinus bicolor [just the leaves right now, no flowers]
57. Mistletoe, American Mistletoe, Big Leaf Mistletoe, Phoradendron leucarpum
58. Mourning Dove, Zenaida macroura
59. Northern Flicker, Colaptes auratus
60. Nuttall’s Woodpecker, Picoides nuttallii [heard lots]
61. Oak Apple Gall Wasp, Andricus quercuscalifornicus [old]
62. Oak Titmouse, Baeolophus inornatus
63. Oakmoss Lichen, Evernia prunastri
64. Olive Tree, Olea europaea
65. Periwinkle, Vinca major
66. Pin-cushion Sunburst Lichen, Polycauliona polycarpa
67. Plum, Prunus cerasifera
68. Poison Oak, Pacific Poison Oak, Western Poison Oak, Toxicodendron diversilobum
69. Pumpkin Gall Wasp, Dryocosmus minusculus
70. Purple Deadnettle, Lamium purpureum [a kind of henbit but with a purple tinge to some of the leaves]
71. Red-Shouldered Hawk, Buteo lineatus
72. Red-Tailed Hawk, Buteo jamaicensis
73. Ribbed Cocoon-Maker Moth, Bucculatrix albertiella [cocoons]
74. Rio Grande Wild Turkey, Meleagris gallopavo intermedia
75. Ruby-Crowned Kinglet, Regulus calendula
76. Rusty Tussock Moth, Orgyia antiqua [cocoons]
77. Shrubby Sunburst Lichen Polycauliona candelaria
78. Snowy Egret, Egretta thula
79. Soap Plant, Wavy Leafed Soaproot, Chlorogalum pomeridianum
80. Spotted Towhee, Pipilo maculatus
81. Strap Lichen, Western Strap Lichen, Ramalina leptocarpha
82. Stream Mayflies, Family: Heptageniidae [exuvia]
83. Streambank Springbeauty, Miner’s Lettuce, Claytonia parviflora
84. Sunburst Lichen, Xanthoria elegans
85. Tree Swallow, Tachycineta bicolor
86. Turkey Vulture, Cathartes aura
87. Two-Horned Gall Wasp, Dryocosmus dubiosus 
88. Valley Oak, Quercus lobata
89. Western Bluebird, Sialia Mexicana
90. Western Chorus Frog, Pseudacris triseriata [heard]
91. Western Redbud, Cercis occidentalis
92. White-Breasted Nuthatch, Sitta carolinensis [heard lots]
93. Witches Butter, Tremella mesenterica
94. Yellow Starthistle, Centaurea solstitialis