I was about 20 minutes early for a meeting a the Effie Yeaw Nature Preserve, and I got a few photos while I was waiting. I take my camera and cell phone with me everywhere I go.
Start Time: 9:00 am Start Temperature: 45ºF End Temperature: 48º F Weather: Overcast, foggy, sprinkling rain Total Hours in the field (includes travel time): 2 Miles Walked: 0.25 Number of Individual Species Noted Today: 8
Start Time: 7:30 am Start Temperature: 54ºF End Temperature: 61º F Weather: Overcast, no rain Total Hours in the field (includes travel time): 4 hours Miles Walked: 3.5 Number of Individual Species Noted Today: 47
I got up around 7:30 am and headed out to the Effie Yeaw Nature Preserve. I REALLY needed to get outside and walk. My car, Vincenzo, is still in the shop today, so Melissa let me borrow her car. It was 54º at the river and overcast. The cloud cover all day but we didn’t get any rain.
I only got periodic glimpses of the deer at the preserve, but there were a lot of different bird species around, the lichens were all fluffed up from the rains, and the fungi are starting to make an appearance like the crust fungi, jelly fungi and some spent Barometer Earthstars,
I get excited about weird things… like the first slime mold sighting of the season! Woo-hoo! I found a small specimen of Red Tube Slime Mold (Stemonitis fusca), also called Brown Tube Slime Mold or “Birthday Cake”. It starts out pure white, then the tubes lengthen and stand up on threads and the whole group turns red or pink or burgundy. Then as the mass goes to spore, it all turns brown and disintegrates into “dust”. ((The “Birthday Cake” variation of this slime mold retains light-colored tops of each of the stems, so it looks like frosting on top of a Red Velvet cake.)) You can see a video of how this slime mold forms at: https://youtu.be/A0__v5nMGaI
Red Tube Slime Mold, Stemonitis fusca
I saw a lot of evidence of mole activity on and around the trails, and one spot where it looked like a coyote had dug into the ground trying to get one of them.
I also found a Jerusalem Cricket in one of the puddles on the trail. It was dead, drowned, and I wondered if it had been driven there by Horsehair Worm parasites. I took photos of the cricket but didn’t cut it open to see if there were any worms in its brain or body.
Jerusalem Cricket, Stenopelmatus fuscus
In the river I tracked a huge, well-traveled, worn out Chinook Salmon in the shallows along the bank. There were gulls and Turkey Vultures sitting along the river waiting for the fish to die.
Chinook Salmon, Oncorhynchus tshawytscha, swimming in the shallows
I ended up walking for about 3 hours and then headed back home.
Start Time: 7:00 am Start Temperature: 36ºF End Temperature: 51º F Weather: Overcast; rain pending; some ground fog Total Hours in the field (includes travel time): 3.25 hours Miles Walked: 2.5 Number of Individual Species Today: 20
Rio Grande Wild Turkeys, Meleagris gallopavo intermedia, males
It was a very chilly 36º this morning when I headed out to the Effie Yeaw Nature Preserve for my regular volunteer trail walking gig. I was ahead of the rain for my entire walk, but the heavier rain clouds were starting to move in just as I left.
I love this time of year for several reasons, and one is because the “big boys” are out in nature right now in their full regalia… and some of the yearlings are just starting to get their “nubs.” Because the adult bucks are in rut right now, too, they’re all walking around in their manly-man scent. You can smell them before you see them: that animal hide and musk scent. I love it.
Columbian Black-Tailed Deer, Odocoileus hemionus columbianus. 4-Point buck approaching and crossing the trail in front of me.
I also saw quite a few does and some fawns, including some young boys who were just starting to get their nubs or were in their first-year spikes, but still hanging out with mom and their siblings. Among the big bucks, I didn’t see the 5-pointer today, but I did see two handsome 4-pointers.
Columbian Black-Tailed Deer, Odocoileus hemionus columbianus . A more “blonde” 4-pointer.
And the deer dominated the day for photo-taking. There wasn’t much else showing itself, and I didn’t see any bees in or around the “bee tree” (probably because it was still so cold, and “winter is coming”.) I walked for about 2½ hours and then headed out.
I got up around 6:30 this morning and headed out to the Cosumnes River Preserve for a walk. It was 38º when I got there, and I was glad I’d brought my heavier coat with me.
There were far less birds there today than there were when my friend Roxanne and I were last there on the 15th, so birdwatching was exceedingly disappointing. I saw two photographers and a small group of birders out along the boardwalk, but none of them were having any luck. The crisp fresh air was nice, but from a nature walk standpoint it was pretty much a bust… But then I saw the North American River Otter, Lontra canadensis.
I took the trail that went from the boardwalk to Franklin Blvd., and then walked along the side of the road where there’s a slough that runs alongside it. I saw the otter on the opposite side of the slough, preening. I moved as quietly as I could and got photos of through the scrubby trees that stand between the road and the water.
I saw the otter preening, swimming, and digging in the mud to roust out some catfish. He caught one of them, ate it and then swam right up in front of me to check me out before heading off on the rest of his morning jaunt. The closest he got was about 8 feet, so I was able to get a good shot of his face floating on the surface of the water, and also got quite a few videos of him.
When I got home, I made sure to get him recorded in the “Otter Spotter” database with the River Otter Ecology Project .
When I was driving home, I saw quite a few hawks in the trees and along the fence lines, a pair of American Kestrels and a Prairie Falcon. But the standout was a gorgeous juvenile Golden Eagle sitting on the top of a short tree right at the freeway access point. I couldn’t get photos because there were cars behind me all the way. Dang it!
Species List:
American Coot, Fulica americana
American Kestrel, Falco sparverius
American Pipit, Anthus rubescens
Brewer’s Blackbird, Euphagus
cyanocephalus
Canada Goose, Branta canadensis
Golden Eagle, Aquila chrysaetos
Greater White-Fronted Goose, Anser albifrons
Greater Yellowlegs, Tringa melanoleuca
House Finch, Haemorhous mexicanus
Marsh
Wren, Cistothorus palustris
Northern
Harrier, Marsh Hawk, Circus hudsonius
Northern
Pintail, Anas acuta
Northern
Shoveler, Anas clypeata
Pied-Billed
Grebe, Podilymbus podiceps
Prairie
Falcon, Falco mexicanus
Red-Winged
Blackbird, Agelaius phoeniceus
River
Otter, North American River Otter, Lontra canadensis
I got up around 7:00 am and headed out to the Effie Yeaw Nature Preserve for my weekly volunteer trail walking gig. The weather was lovely, about 49º at the river and mostly sunny. I really needed to get outside into my happy, green “therapy place” and start recovering from the trauma of yesterday.
Not a lot to see today, though, although I did get to see one of the big-big bucks, the 5-pointer. He was sitting down right on the side of the trail and didn’t move as I walked by and took photos of him… until I stepped back to get a shot of the doe behind him. I guess he didn’t like that and got onto his feet and stepped out a little bit, before going back to stand by the doe. They both eventually walked off, him following her across the trail and into the woods. Such a handsome thing.
