I headed out to the Effie Yeaw Nature Preserve.  It was about 56° when I got there, but it was up to around 75° when I left.  When I got there, I was happy to see my friend and fellow-naturalist Roxanne there, too. She’s helping me out with the Monarch monitoring facet of my volunteer work at the preserve. I really appreciate her help, too, because it makes the somewhat tedious process of looking over each milkweed plant go more quickly. 

Still no sign of Monarch eggs or caterpillars, and what was odd was we didn’t see much in the way of other insects either.  We did find some spiders (including a White Crab Spider and a little Jumping Spider), some aphids, a single praying mantis, and a couple of beetles but that was it.  The lack of critters was rather surprising and made me wonder if the area had been sprayed or something.  We worked on the plants for about 90 minutes and then went for a short walk through the preserve.

 Although we heard a lot of different birds, we didn’t see any Wild Turkeys today, which was very unusual. They’re normally all over the place. We came across two bucks but no does and no fawns. Both bucks were in their velvet.  One was a nervous youngster who was just getting his first antlers (a “spike buck”), and the other was a laid-back 3-pointer who was just lying in the grass on the side of the trail.  He kept an eye on us but didn’t move from his spot. I guess he figured we were no match for him, so we weren’t much of a threat.  He was gorgeous. And because he was so still, we were able to get quite a few good photos of him.

CLICK HERE to see the album of photos.

The most exciting thing to me that we came across on our walk was sighting a few different species on a Blue Oak tree (Quercus douglasii) along the River Trail.  It had both Saucer Galls (Andricus gigas) and newly budding Crystalline Galls (Andricus crystallinus). The saucers start out flat and then form cups (some with smooth edges and some with serrated edges). The Crystalline Galls start out like tiny dark-pink urns and then swell up and get their sparkly spines. We hadn’t seen any galls at all on the “Frankenstein” hybrid tree further up the trail, so finding the galls on the Blue Oak by the river was rewarding. 

It was nice to see that this particular Blue Oak was also getting acorns on it. These oaks don’t produce acorns in drought years, and when they do produce acorns, they’ll produce a lot one year (a “mast” year) and then produce far fewer for the next two or three years.  So, as I said, it was nice to see this one with acorns all over it.  (The acorns usually take a year to develop.) Blue Oaks are also endemic to California, which means they’re found here and nowhere else on the planet.  It’s also one of the oak trees that is immune to the fungus that causes Sudden Oak Death.  Very cool trees.

Oh, and we found a Treehopper – but it jumped away before I could get a photo of it.  Those things are sooooooo weird-looking with their hunched backs. The one we saw was a Buffalo Treehopper (Stictocephala bisonia): mostly green with some burnished gold edges on it.

We walked the trails for about 2 hours.

Species List:

1. Blue Oak, Quercus douglasii,
2. Brass Buttons, Cotula coronopifolia,
3. Buffalo Treehopper, Stictocephala bisonia,
4. California Mugwort, Artemisia douglasiana,
5. California Pipevine Swallowtail Butterfly, Battus philenor hirsuta,
6. California Praying Mantis, Stagmomantis californica,
7. California Wild Grape, Vitis californica,
8. Canada Goose, Branta canadensis,
9. Columbian Black-Tailed Deer, Odocoileus hemionus columbianus,
10. Common Buttonbush, Cephalanthus occidentalis,
11. Common Merganser, Mergus merganser,
12. Common Snowberry, Symphoricarpos albus,
13. Convergent Ladybeetle, Hippodamia convergens.
14. Crystalline Gall Wasp, Andricus crystallinus,
15. Desert Cottontail, Sylvilagus audubonii,
16. European Honeybee, Apis mellifera,
17. Flax-Leaf Horseweed, Erigeron canadensis,
18. Green Lacewing, Chrysoperla carnea,
19. House Wren, Troglodytes aedon,
20. Italian Thistle, Carduus pycnocephalus,
21. Jumping Spider, Phidippus sp.,
22. Mallard, Anas platyrhynchos,
23. Moth Mullein, Verbascum blattaria,
24. Mushroom Headed Mayfly, Small Minnow Mayfly, Callibaetis ferrugineus ferrugineus,
25. Oak Titmouse, Baeolophus inornatus,
26. Occidental Grasshopper, Trimerotropis occidentalis,
27. Oleander Aphid, Aphis nerii,
28. Poison Oak, Toxicodendron diversilobum,
29. Red-Shouldered Hawk, Buteo lineatus,
30. Saucer Gall Wasp, Andricus gigas,
31. Showy Milkweed, Asclepias speciosa,
32. Sweet Pea, Lathyrus odoratus,
33. Tarweed, Common Madia, Madia elegans,
34. Wavy-Leaf Soap Plant, Soap Root, Chlorogalum pomeridianum,
35. Western Fence Lizard, Sceloporus occidentalis,
36. White Alder, Alnus rhombifolia,
37. White Crab Spider, Misumessus sp.