Quiet Owls

Well, I’m way behind and trying to catch up…

I wanted to visit Monte Bello to see if we could refind the Long-eared Owl that we had heard on a night hike last year. It was earlier in the year (2/5 versus 3/10/12), but time, unlike the owls, had flown by. Six of us were able to go.

The evening was foggy. We walked the usual route and had dinner at the “gravel pit”, starting out at 6:00.

There were a few mushrooms, coral fungi, popcorn flower, a tick, 9+ deer, Band-tailed Pigeon and Wild Turkey. The sag pond at the nature trail intersection barely had any water; the area around it was soggy.

Near the gravel pit, three newts rambled into three separate holes in a row in the side of some raised dirt near the trail. We saw around ten newts altogether.

We heard distant Northern Pygmy Owl, and some Western Screech-owl calls, but no other owls.

Surprisingly, we saw a bat. Not surprisingly, the fluorescent millipedes (probably Xystocheir dissecta in the order Polydesmida), were out. Other finds were turret spiders, harvestmen, some small beetles, tiger beetle larvae (Omus), California Slender Salamander, Arboreal Salamander, and distant treefrogs called. We found some different fluorescent lichens.

The highlight, for me, was when we reached the old walnut grove. A Western Banded Glowworm (Zarhipis integripennis) larva or larviform female, was in the middle of the trail! Unfortunately, it wasn’t glowing.

Western Banded Glowworm (Zarhipis integripennis)

This was the first one of this family that I’ve seen on MROSD preserves. Here is a paper on their natural history. Page 244 says actively hunting larvae don’t glow. In the excitement of the moment, we (I) forgot to look for compound eyes or genitalia, which would distinguish the female from a larva.

We got back at 10:00.

Night on Froggy Mountain, Skyline Ridge

2/24/12, Friday, was warmer than on our scouting hike. The temperature ranged from about 63F down to 55F. The sky was clear, but got partial clouds later. Out of 31 people who made reservations or were on the waitlist, 13 canceled, 11-16 expected, only 4 showed up, including a friend of one of the two docents (JW and LE) who joined us.

We started off at 4:40. We stopped at the northwest corner footbridge of Alpine Pond, and found a pair of newts in amplexus. Rounding the corner, we stopped to check the view, and found a male Bufflehead, Ring-necked Duck, and a female Hooded Merganser sharing a resting spot. Red-winged Blackbirds were singing, and one treefrog called briefly.

At 5:00 we came out into the open on Ipiwa Trail. A coyote, presumably the same one that we’d seen on the 18th, patrolled the ridge, and a few deer were downhill. We examined the various animal scats along the way. It was clear enough to see the ocean as we approached the overlook. We turned left to have dinner at 5:20 along the wide trail above, deciding not to disturb the curious deer ahead of us by making another left. Three heads peered over the rise of the trail, and a few browsed to the north.

Sunset over Ipiwa

Close to 6:00, around sunset, we proceeded back down to the overlook and around the chaparral. Silk Tassels were showing tassels, manzanita had blossoms, and buckbrush was in bloom and fragrant. We stopped to have a sniff of a Holly-leafed Cherry (Prunus ilicifolia) leaf, which smells like almond. According to the USDA, native peoples did use parts of this tree as food and medicine, prepared properly. Parts are toxic, and the leaves contain hydrocyanic acid (explaining the smell). A question came up about other organisms with cyanide, and I mentioned the millipedes we often see. We also had a discussion about  using wild plants (in places where it is legal to collect/pick) for food, and the possible dangers of doing so.

We heard a Great-horned Owl briefly; as we waited unsuccessfully for more calls, a pair of Wrentits in the shrubs near us had a long twittering conversation.

At 6:15 we reached the Sunny Jim intersection, and at 6:40 we stopped before turning right to go to Horseshoe Lake. Venus, Jupiter and the crescent moon were up. A bat or two flew by. [edit: There was also a brush rabbit who, in typical rabbit style, remained mostly motionless even though out in the open with eyeshine reflecting off my red flashlight. ] We could hear the treefrogs calling, and we played calls of Sierran Treefrog and California Red-legged Frog for the participants. Someone asked about bullfrogs, and we explained that they aren’t native here in California, and eat the native frogs and other animals.

This time we walked along the shoreline trail, but in one spot that was accessible, I didn’t see any newts or frogs. We went back to the bridge, and while some were star watching, I checked the area below the bench. There were a couple of newts in the water, but I couldn’t find any treefrogs visually, despite a few of them calling from nearby. The bulk of them seemed to be calling from the other sides of the lake, and many more called than on Saturday. It was far short of being deafening though. KG spotted a large owl flying by high overhead.

It took from 7:20 to 7:40 to get back to the big intersection, then to 7:55 to the overlook. We found newts still in land phase, around four from here back into the woods. One, near the overlook, was right next to a very cold banana slug. It had gotten windy, and we didn’t hear any more owls.

We looked for the small dirt turret with two beetle larvae holes, and found those along with some nearby small, fluorescent honey mushrooms. There were around seven Polydesmid millipedes (probably Xystocheir dissecta taibona, common in Santa Clara County according to Rowland Shelley). The first one was in the area that we had stopped at, and I picked it up to show. This one felt threatened for some reason, as it released defensive secretions, a brown goo. Someone remarked that it had pooped, so being me (and knowing that some millipede poop looks like pellets), I smelled it to see if it had the odor of almonds. It did, so everyone had a sniff. It was a nice connection to the Holly-leafed Cherry. These millipedes don’t have eyes, and they produce hydrogen cyanide.

Back at the Alpine Pond crossroads at 8:45, we went around the east side this time, stopping at the deck to try for bats over the water, without luck. Some frogs called.

We arrived back at the lot a bit before 9:00.

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See  Secret Weapons: Defenses of Insects, Spiders, Scorpions, and Other Many-Legged Creatures , page 43, by Eisner for more on millipedes and cyanide.

Butano SP Fire Road

Butano Fire Road ridgetop (click for a larger image)

On  2/21/12, we tried out a new trail for DWB’s class. The Butano SP map doesn’t show the mileage since it’s a fire road, but my GPS said 7 miles (Google also measures out to about the same). It didn’t seem like it at the time, as the climb was gradual. But I could feel it afterwards.

The coast was partially foggy, but here the sun was warm. In the shade of the woods, it was sometimes cool enough to want a jacket.

I took a slight detour off the main trail and saw a cottontail run as it was flushed by the group ahead.

There was a lot of Ramalina hanging, and thick Usnea. Some plants blooming that I didn’t photograph but noted were Woodland Pea, Milkmaids, Spring Vetch, and Pink-flowering Currant.

We passed more than ten banana slugs; one was munching on one of the various mushrooms. I got a glimpse of one long-furry-tailed rodent running across the trail.

Bird-wise, we passed Red-tailed and Red-shouldered Hawks along the coast. I heard Bewick’s Wren, a Selasphorus hummingbird’s wing buzz, Hutton’s Vireo, Golden-crowned Kinglets and Pacific Wren chatter.

Some photos are here.

GPS track in Google Earth

In Search of Slime

We had no winter rain when we did our scouting trip on 1/9/12. JO, DP and I hiked the Stevens Creek Nature Trail loop from 10:25-3:10 and found few slime molds, and some dried up fungi. On our old Madrone, we found a couple small patches of yellow slime mold fruiting bodies, and the Stictis and tiny fungal bells that we’ve seen in previous years.

Stictis at El Corte de Madera

We saw another set of fruiting bodies, few milkmaids in bloom, a small slug, Slender Salamanders, and a couple sets of puffballs in different places. The highlight of the scouting trip was a new millipede species for us, under a log. There was also a strange, stiff hair-like bunch of something on the cut end of a log. The water in the creek was very low, and the small sag pond was only damp.

The rain came on 1/19-20, but there wasn’t enough time to allow for much to happen by 1/21. The temperature was in the low 40′s according to weather.com; it was certainly less than 50F, partly cloudy. Two participants joined us, including one other docent.

We started off at 12:45. Someone spotted a large, rose-like Polypore, of which there were a few at the bottom of a tree. We found several instances of Tremella, a yellow jelly fungus that is parasitic on other fungi. The hair-like stuff was now pliable due to the recent rain. There was also a brown jelly, slime mold sporocarps, Calocera cornea which had rehydrated, and a white jelly resembling Pseudohydnum gelatinosum. This time we saw three newts, one Slender Salamander, and one small slug.

Once we reached the creek crossing, we knew that we had passed the best section for slime molds. The group decided to finish the loop but walk at a faster pace. The small sag pond now had some water, but it was brown and still low.

We did see birds’ nest fungi on the Canyon Trail, and the bottom layer of a patch of slime mold fruiting bodies on a piece of fallen wood. When near the large sag pond, we heard a Pileated Woodpecker. We arrived back at 4:30.

You can see more photos here.

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For more on slime molds (Myxomycetes), see The Eumycetozoan Project.
Another gallery can be found here: Photo Gallery of Myxomycetes.

Gold Country 2011

A friend and I decided to take another short trip to Gold Country during the holidays. We’d gone in 2008 for a longer stay. This time, we stayed two nights. After some searching for lodging, we decided on a house on 217 acres. We decided to take it instead of staying in town, as we’d be able to wander the property, which has trails, and we could wander at night if we wanted to.

We left around 10:25, and got to the New Melones Lake Visitors’ Center around lunchtime. Nearing our destination, we spotted a Bald Eagle flying over the hills.

We had lunch, while watching birds and a few honey bees. Acorn Woodpecker, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, and Lesser Goldfinch were plentiful, and we also saw and heard White-breasted Nuthatch, Western Bluebird, Black Phoebe, Northern Flicker, Oak Titmouse, American Robin, Dark-eyed Junco, Lincoln’s Sparrow and crowned sparrows. After lunch, we walked partway on the Norwegian Gulch Trail. It looked different. When the trail started to head downhill, we didn’t remember it being so close to water. We stopped and turned around, as there were some people with their dogs at the water, and we could hear them from where we were.

Since it was after check-in time, we decided to take care of that. We drove around the property to find the house and where to check in, and noticed a plethora of birds: Spotted Towhee, Cedar Waxwing, American Robin, European Starling, California Quail, Northern Flicker, Acorn Woodpecker, Western Bluebird.

After unloading, moving a millipede from the bathtub, and placing a trail camera, we headed over to Natural Bridges Trail. Our mistake last time was that we walked past the end of the drive rather than entering the actual trail, close to the gate. It was after 4:00, but since the trail was only .7 miles, we figured we had enough time. We left the trailhead at 4:25, and got to the stairs and We saw and heard many Hermit Thrush, Spotted Towhee, and Ruby-crowned Kinglet, and Acorn and Nuttall’s Woodpecker, Wrentit, and California Towhee. We also saw some interesting plants, including Red Berry and Mountain Mahoghany.

We got down to the stairs and first bridge/outlet at 5:10.  After about 20 minutes of exploring, we started back up. I didn’t realize that the bridges were actually further, but it was getting dark anyway. We usually have our flashlights with us, but I wasn’t sure if they locked the gate. The crescent moon and Venus were close together, and we stopped to take photos. We were back at the trailhead at 5:55, then headed over to Murphy’s for dinner. We had a tasty meal, but it took a long time.

Natural Bridges Trail

Back at the house, we put a log in the fireplace and moved some chairs closer. We noticed something on the carpet–leaves? A closer look revealed two small Western Fence Lizards! They were mostly immobile. The smaller one did climb a little on my hand; both seemed calm and allowed us to look at their ventral sides. Another surprise was a small jumping spider (Salticid) on the wall.

I slept well both nights, and during the first night, I woke to hear a Great Horned Owl hoot quickly nearby, with a “wah” sound after. I’m not sure if that was the owl, or something else. I also heard, at another time, something walking through the fallen leaves. There was what appeared to be raccoon scat by the back walk.

The large blackberry tangle, that was the highlight of the picture window view, attracted many birds. After breakfast the next morning, we took a hike on the property to see what else was around, at 11:00. It wasn’t clear from the map where the start of the trail was, and we climbed over some old barbed wire where it appeared to be. Making our way through oaks, lots of Hermit Thrush called and sometimes made their appearances. Frozen dewdrops on the grass, and frosty leaves looked magical. We climbed up to the ridge,  finding different scats and shrubs, and a partial deer skull showing the complex sutures, along the way. We reached the opening of the woods at 12:30, and entered grassland. It took us another 20 minutes to explore and stop at a place that we could see part of New Melones Lake. Some dry Birdsfoot Fern, and a dragonfly interested us, and I found a louse fly in my pocket.

Besides some of the birds we’d already seen there, we added Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Black Phoebe, Golden-crowned Sparrow, Oak Titmouse, Lesser Goldfinch, Pacific-slope Flycatcher, White-breasted Nuthatch, Lincoln’s Sparrow, Bewick’s Wren, Hutton’s Vireo, Common Raven, and Red-tailed Hawk, Western Scrub-jay, and Northern Mockingbird.

We started down, and wandered to the right, ending up on the wrong side of a fence on the other side of which was our house. There were a couple of large, machine-dug holes. We picked our way through manzanitas, and refound the trail. At the same fence that we’d climbed over before, we found a mantid ootheca on the post.  We had a late lunch after arriving back at the house at 2:30.

As we left to go to town, a flock of Wild Turkeys moved around the barn. We paused to watch two of them lock heads. Arriving in Murphy’s close to 5:00, we found that most of the shops closed at that time. We walked to the end of town to work up an appetite, then picked a place that had a couple of interesting dishes on the menu. Unfortunately, they weren’t serving one of them, and what we picked for our entrees was disappointing and not what we expected.

After dinner, we stopped at the pond on the property. The water smelled somewhat stagnant, and there were no signs of life. There were a few dessicated mushrooms in the ground, and we found an odd styrofoam-feeling cocoon? partially wrapped in oak leaves. Something was loose inside.

Wednesday was our last day, and while we got our things together, the Wild Turkey flock walked around the house. Two of the turkeys scuffled, and one or two others seemed to get into the act also. They didn’t lock heads this time, but kicked. We looked at them more closely to try and figure out their genders.  They didn’t appear to be adult males, and at least a couple of them looked younger. More bird species showed up: House Sparrow and White-crowned Sparrow.

We stopped at the pond on the way out to find the cocoon again, and also found a fallen mud bird nest. Another interesting find was a pecked oak apple gall with a lacewing egg on the opened part! A few American Coots and Ring-necked Ducks floated on the water.

It was almost lunchtime, and we decided to stop in town. Mineral was open, which gave us wonderful, creative vegetarian meals.

After a walk around town, Calaveras Big Trees was our last hike. It was 3:40 when we got going again. We took the North Grove Trail, but because there were a relatively large number of people with loud kids, we split off and took the Grove Overlook Trail. We did manage to hear Red-breasted Nuthatch, Common Raven, and a White-headed Woodpecker. We couldn’t find that in the trees though.

Back at the lot at 5:25, only two other cars were left. As we pulled out of the parking lot, we saw the only snow we’d seen on the trip, a 15′ strip along one part of the lot. Without stops, it took us almost 2.5 hours to get home.

Here are more photos.

Monte Bello OSP

After the previous night hike at this preserve, I wanted to take another look at the Legionary Ants we found. I joined KG and PB on their scouting trip on 10/21. I hadn’t been up to Black Mountain since we did a group overnight a couple of years ago.

Many tiny fence lizards ran across the trail. The busy harvester ant nest had little or no activity. Perhaps the army ants drove them away.

One of the Calisoga burrows by the sag pond had housecleaning done; silky dirt with debris encircled the hole, the one that was “stuffed” with silk the previous week. We didn’t see any babies in the other hole.

Before 5:00, we crossed paths with a male tarantula. His abdomen was small, but didn’t have a bald patch like a lot of the ones we’d seen in Mt. Diablo on 10/12. We found several holes on the way up, including at least two tarantula burrows. A female tarantula hawk (Pepsis) was checking a trailbank for prey.

Yet another male tarantula crossed the trail, and we watched him go the opposite way from where we found a burrow. As we were taking photos, he turned around and climbed up a steep, almost vertical dirt trailbank. Last year we saw one tarantula, and before that we hadn’t seen one for a few years.

Some odd repeated calls came from the canyon, maybe wild turkey hens.

There was a very large deadman’s foot kind of fungus, shaped like a ball, but with cocoa-like spores.

We got to Black Mountain around 6:30. The wind was cold enough that I wanted a jacket on top of my two layers.
At 7:10, the too-bright light on one of the utility buildings made us wonder how it affected the nocturnal animals and migrating birds. We’ve seen this light from a distance off the preserve.

Campers were at the backpack camp, and we spoke to the ranger who had driven up to check on them.

There was a surprising number of Jerusalem Crickets on the trail. Usually we’re lucky to see one. I didn’t count, but I’m sure we saw more than seven. Two were injured and being scavenged by ants. We checked a hole in the dirt trailbank at one of the tree clumps, and it had a spider at the opening. We found one centipede, several Western Black Widows, and a millipede. Like the widows we’ve seen at Long Ridge, these seem to like spinning their webs over a shallow hole in the lower part of a trail bank hidden by grass or oats.

We looked for the tarantula burrows that we’d found on the way up.  We located one. I noticed that it also had recent housecleaning, with the dirt piled up around the opening. I wanted to see if it felt like the Calisoga’s housecleaning debris, so I felt some between my fingers. Somebody was home, and ran out! The spider startled us, and we watched it until it turned around and went back in, its body just fitting the hole. Although not fat, it looked in good shape. We thought of taking a video, so we got ready and tried touching the debris. Since we were touching the outside of the pile instead of picking some up, it took a little longer for it to come out. It crept closer to the entrance and did come out, and stayed there for three minutes, unmoving, until I got tired of holding the camera. I wanted to catch it going back in, and it didn’t take much since just the movement of an arm caused it to back in. Thank you for letting us see you.

Out of the wind, it was a little warmer. We heard a distant Barn Owl as well as Western screech-owl as we checked all the trailbank holes.

Back at the sag pond, we looked into the Calisoga holes. There weren’t any Solifugids on the trail back to the lot; maybe it was too cool. The astronomers were gathered when we returned a little early.

Photos are here.

Arachnophilia! at Monte Bello OSP

Ant Cricket (Myrmecophilus) near ant nest

Is that guy cute or what? Only 2-3mm long. Read on…

JO, SW, KG and I scouted our hike the night before. Usually we have more time in between, but it had rained on the prior Monday when we had planned to scout. 10/14/11 was a glorious night as far as arthropods go. The weather was in the low 70′s, with some high clouds. I forgot my boots, but as it turned out, it was ok. We saw a few new things, so that made up for it. 10/15 was cooler, and a little windy.

An Osprey soared to the east. We started off at 5:25, and about 10 minutes later on Saturday.

We passed a few ant holes, but as we rounded a curve, we came upon a very busy one. Ants were busily carrying eggs or larvae. As we watched transfixed, I turned and saw a male tarantula crossing the trail ahead of us! For whatever reason we haven’t seen many of these in the past few years. The ants would still be there, so we all gathered around to watch the tarantula walk. Every once in a while he would stop and do a little repeated bounce with his abdomen. I’m not sure what that was about. Some hikers came by and said they also had seen one.

As we returned to the ants, I  saw a tiny reddish brown oval running around near the ants. It didn’t resemble anything I’d seen before, so I managed to catch it in a vial. It was a tiny ant cricket. When I put it back, I blew it off my finger–that caused the ants to speed up. We figured that the CO2 caused them to react as though a predator was near.

On Saturday, we found some small red ants in a nest near the busy larger black ant nest. I don’t remember seeing these before. A lizard was half in a hole, only its back half showing.

The next sighting along the trail was a medium-sized wolf spider. On Saturday, a similar one walked past us in the parking lot.

We’d seen a bowl-and-doily spider, so we stopped to talk about that and discovered a small orb nearby. There was a lack of large orb webs this fall, unlike last year.

We had dinner at the sag pond, arriving there around 6:20 on Friday and about 10 minutes earlier on Saturday. The three spider holes were open, and we were able to see tiny round light-colored babies in one hole. While talking about spider taxonomy, we heard a Virginia Rails call. Sunset was around 6:30.

It took us about 40 minutes on Saturday to reach the first set of woods, where we’d seen the first scorpion (Uroctonus mordax) on Friday. A bat fluttered overhead. We found several scorpions, and refound the trapdoor spider holes (Cyrtaucheniids). Unlike at Long Ridge, the spiders were not at the door. We also checked the hard dirt turret that PB had found previously, which had at least a partial loose silk covering. There was no covering, and the spider perched at the top. A photo revealed that it had finer, denser hairs on its legs compared to Antrodiaetus riversi photos. The turret was taller than the typical A. riversi turrets we see, which are usually not plain dirt.

Scaphinotus beetles were more common than darkling beetles (we only saw one), and on Friday, we found at least four different millipedes and two different centipedes. Several tiger beetle larvae were visible. Either this is a good year for them, or we’ve not had the search image to find them. An Arboreal Salamander was cozy in a trailbank hole, which seems to be where we see them.

Having spent almost an hour along that stretch on Saturday, we decided to skip going to Indian Creek and the gravel pit where we’d only seen a tiny Solifugid on Friday. We continued down the hill, and found one mushroom, being munched on by three crickets. Besides some distant Great-horned Owls, one Barn Owl called.

At about 8:30 we reached the nature trail intersection. We checked the tarantula hole that was stuffed loosely with silk on PB’s hike, and surprisingly, it was open. We didn’t see the spider, but KG found a small Calisoga on the other side of the trail. It was still and cooperative, so we got good looks.

Since we hadn’t yet shown the participants actual turret spiders, we went the .2 miles down the nature trail. Many turret spiders were visible, and JO found a small Hyptiotes with an atypical triangle web between two branches of a fallen log. We also found two fluorescent Polydesmid millipedes, another surprise.

It took an hour to return from the intersection. We stopped to view a Tetragnathid and check the sag pond spider holes.

See photos here.

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Update 10/23/11: It appears that, based on my red ant photo, these are army ants! Legionary ants in the genus Neivamyrmex, either N. opacithorax or N. californicus. The busy larger black ants are harvesters, Messor andrei, and they were moving brood probably because of the army ants. See antweb.org for data on ant species.

In Search of Slime

JO, JH and I had twelve people on our inaugural slime mold hike, including four docents and a biologist-by-training. No one ‘fessed up to being a newbie. At least one non-docent had been on one of our bug hikes, and the (Big Basin) docent had also been on some of our hikes.
The weather was relatively warm, low-to-mid 60’s.

We started out at 12:45, and made a quick stop at the pot-shaped ant nest that we’d seen on the 15th. Turning right at the bench, we gradually headed down into the woods.

Pot-shaped ant nest?

Our first slime stop was at a small fallen branch and clump of moss on which we’d found pink sporangia. What was left was puffy capillitium, the netlike structure inside the fruiting body, a darker pink than last week. There we talked about the myxomycete life cycle.
Shortly afterwards we reached the next log and tilting tree where we have found slime molds and other interesting organisms before. The log had small, golden brown round sporangia, and a couple small clumps of white sporangia. On the tree were golden brown slime mold sporangia, possibly the same as on the log, an Ascomycete, Stictis radiata, and some tiny bell-shaped two-toned fungi. The beetle larva that we’d seen on the prehike wasn’t in the same piece of wood. We did find three Slender Salamanders, but no Ensatinas like last week.

Slime mold

Unfortunately I didn’t recognize the curve near the creek that had a log with small, white, cup fungi with frilly edges and upon examination of the photo I’d taken, had lavender-colored Collembola. There was one small log near a curve that had a tiny, gray fungus edged with white, very pretty. Some of the smaller ones looked like cups, but the larger was flat against the wood.

Lachnum sp? and lavender Collembola

A few more similar slime molds plus one good patch of white balls on stalks, various mushrooms but no slimy “cowboy’s handkerchiefs” as there were a week ago, a black jelly fungus, coral fungi, a resupinate yellow fungus with raised pointy bumps, some brown puffballs, a couple of mushrooms with rodent teethmarks, and Xylaria hypoxilon kept us busy until the creek. We got there around 3:00. The water was a few inches deep at the crossing, but rocks were available for hopping. There were a few newts in the pool, and large Water Striders. The yellow plasmodium that we’d seen last week had crawled off and was nowhere to be found.

Near the fourth bridge, the Toothed Jelly Fungi were still in good shape, and the uprooted reddish-purple Russula that we’d found last week had decomposed to basically flat, white remains that still fluoresced under UV.

Heading up the hill, the stump with Tremella and Stereum was missing the Tremella. The Hygrocybe conica that was bright yellow last week was black today. A Great Horned Owl hooted, and JO found a Shoulderband (Helminthoglypta) snail shell. I’d been hoping for a live snail in lieu of a slug, but we had none. (All the Banana Slugs seem to be at lower Purisima.)

Under a few of the logs were crickets and spiders, including wolf spiders. I also noticed a few flying insects along the way, and last week we got a look at a small robber fly.

We got back around 4:40 and spent a few minutes looking at flatworms in the seasonal puddle near the fire break.

No fungi or slime molds were collected, as this is a preserve. But you can see what we visually collected on this and our scouting hike on 1/15, here.

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For more on these fascinating and beautiful organisms, see this site, especially the first two pdfs. This site also has a gallery, and this German site has great images.

Fungi of the Sierra Nevada

I took the SFSU field campus class, Mushrooms of the Sierra Nevada, from June 6-11, 2010. We left around 9:30 on Sunday.

We stopped in Auburn for about 1.5 hours, to try to see the Painted Redstart that had shown up there. Surprised at some giant Amazon archers that seemed very out of context while trying to find the location.
We didn’t have luck with the bird, but the site was interesting as there was a “creek” that ran along the road, in a culvert and ditch, in which horsetail and other water plants grew. The house near which the redstart hung around had a nice pond, and various dragonflies visited and oviposited.

Flame Skimmer (Libellula saturata)

We had lunch in Ashford Park. We used a picnic table near a small pool with water vegetation, large fish and bullfrogs. It was warm but pleasant.

Resuming our trip via 49, we arrived around 4:30 and had a little time to unload, unpack and walk around a bit.

After a vegetarian dinner by the new cook at the campus, we had our orientation meeting for the class.

Red-breasted Nuthatch, Steller’s Jay, Warbling Vireo, Cassin’s Vireo, Western Tanager, Mountain Chickadee, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Western Wood-pewee, Dark-eyed Junco, and others sang in the morning and during the day.

On Monday the 7th, we had breakfast, made our lunches, and had lecture (as we did on all days, from about 8:00-10:30). We then headed across the road up the pine-debris-strewn hill to see what we could find. It was warm and sunny with a few clouds.
Besides mushrooms, we found a few Lycogala slime molds that look like small pink balls. Up near the road and vacation housing development were mushrooms that grow in burn areas.

We brought our collections back and had lab from 3-6:00. We used keys, dissecting and compound microscopes to view fungal basidia, cystidia and spores.

Dinner was another light one, Israeli couscous with salmon mixed in, and we saw a presentation after that.

The night was colder than the previous one. Tuesday the 8th took us to Wildplum Campground, 500’ lower in elevation. This area had a creek nearby, and we found a bonanza under one of the logs near the creek: small pink millipedes, and a crust fungus with slime mold fruiting bodies on it. There was also a small, soft polypore “cupcake”.

Small polypore (Oligoporus leucospongia)

After lunch, we went to Greenacre, across the road from Bassett’s. Dennis saw bear. We found a large custardy-looking slime mold on pine needles (Fuligo). On the way back to campus, we made an ice cream stop at Bassett’s.

Pasta with morels, and baked chicken was a welcome dinner.

The evening presentation was on Hawaiian fungi. Some of the stinkhorn fungi looked like tropical flowers or starfish, not like fungi at all.

On Wednesday, we went to Chapman Creek Campground. There was some snow, with a lot of snow melt. By the car was a large Gyromitra montana. We went up the trail and hill, and found many small, slight bumps in the ground which unearthed mushrooms. I saw something out of the corner of my eye then, and went over to investigate. It was a small pile of bear scat, adorned with orange eyelash fungi, Cheilymenia fimicola!

Cheilymenia fimicola

After our field lunch, we returned to the campus to look for fungi there. KS and I went up past the upper tents to the water tank area. We found some delicate Mycena that smelled like bleach, on a log. While removing some of those, we disturbed a Collembola and a click beetle.

Dinner was tasty, a Mexican-style black bean dish, with garlic-infused pork and salsa.

The evening presentation on fungi of Pohnpei in Micronesia was interesting, in particular the bioluminescent fungi.

Thursday’s morning lecture included spring Ascomycetes. I find those more interesting.

We headed off to a marsh area on Gold Lake Road. There was more water than usual, and I had to watch where I stepped to avoid having the water go into my boots. We were looking for matchstick fungi, but none of us found any. We did find small brown cup fungi beneath corn lilies, Sclerotinia veratri. Later in the lab, I picked off the moss and other plant material to expose the flat, black sclerotium. Looking in another area with moving water, I saw something small and red. Closer examination revealed a very small, colorless club fungus growing on the dead corn lily leaves. I found more. They reminded me of fertile horsetail, and later we found a few. Our Typhula specimens were dried in preparation for the herbarium because these were apparently fresh (sclerotia red instead of brown).

Before we left for Sand Pond and lunch, someone found Puccinia on the other side of the road. This rust causes the plant (Arabis, in this case) to produce a false flower which insects prefer over the real flower.

Mountain Quail could be heard at Sand Pond. I saw a couple of large tadpoles swim away, too fast to see what kind they were, but they were not black.

After lunch, we went partway around the pond trail. We didn’t find a lot, but I found a small cut branch with a lavender-colored crust, and small, black balls on the end, like some slime molds. Under the microscope, chains of spores showed up, and this meant it was a Pyrenomycete.

Dinner was also tasty on this night, consisting of Mahi-Mahi and baked halved yellow squash.

This was the last night, so it was a free night. I decided I’d read over the material, but fell asleep around 9:00. I think that was the coldest night, as I felt a little cold even with the cotton blanket I had over my sleeping bag.

After a blueberry pancake breakfast, we had our 42-question “final”. 23 specimens were laid out in the lab, and we attempted to answer questions related to each.

While on my way back to my tent to get my things together, I found a beetle with red elytra and legs on a stump. Later while pointing it out to PN, I found another on the same stump.

After saying goodbye, we left around 11:30, deciding not to go along on the informal foray. I wanted to visit Antelope Valley again. We only got a few miles in, as the road became very rutted. There were a couple of boards strewn in the road, under which were large black crickets, and a small lizard. We didn’t get to the area I wanted to stop at, but we had lunch among the brittlebush and pines. After lunch, we spent a little time looking at the flora, including the colorful lichens, and whatever insects we could find.

Returning via 80 south of Sierraville, we stopped at a rest stop (the Donner Pass one was closed) and at a truck stop. The gas station there had some surprising things for sale—for example Kettle Chips Spicy Thai, my favorite chips when I eat them, and gummy insects.

We got back to my house around 7:00. The weather here had been warm, but it was pleasant when we returned. I was glad to be home.

Here are some photos.

Christmas Bird Count 2009

The count happened this year on 12/20. HF, KG and I met around 7:30, and headed out around 8:00. Before we left, I checked the feeders, but there were only a couple of House Finches. It was overcast, and chilly.
We got to MB’s house around 8:15. A Red-breasted Nuthatch’s beeping greeted us. We missed Pine Siskin this year, but got a Fox Sparrow and a Hairy Woodpecker, with a total of 21 species.

Around 9:10, we arrived at Don Castro RRA. (In the past we’ve next gone to Lone Tree Cemetery, but my scouting turned up no Western Bluebirds anywhere.) We checked the spillway, then birded the swimming area and parking lot. I had found a way to get down to the pond below the spillway, but there was no point this time.
When I scouted the swimming area, a Red-breasted Sapsucker was chased off a dead tree by a Nuttall’s Woodpecker.

Nuttall

Pine Siskins called in the parking lot, and female Purple Finches foraged underneath some vegetation. A Downy Woodpecker took a liking to a pine just inside the swim area. A Greater Scaup was a little surprise, and so was a Green Heron.

We rejoined, then proceeded over the lawn, checking the corner of the lawn where there are some wooden steps. Last year, a Red-breasted Sapsucker was foraging on the corner tree on the other side of the fence. This year, there were piles of gray and black small body feathers on the steps. Perhaps a coot?

A pile of body feathers

The Shoreline Trail was next. From a high point, we found a Green Heron on the south side of the lake. Reaching the willows next to the creek, we took the inner path, as the one closest to the creek was rather overgrown. We heard Hairy Woodpeckers and Brown Creeper.
On my scouting trip, I watched the woodpecker on a stump. Nearby, I was able to watch the creeper go about its business. I also had heard an excited conversation between Hermit Thrushes.

Since we had gotten the Fox Sparrow at MB’s, and on my scouting trip didn’t see much in the way of new birds (not to mention the time), we skipped continuing on the Ridgetop Trail to the bridge and beyond, at the east end. We turned up the Ridgetop Trail, looping back. On the lawn east of the swim lagoon entrance, there was more activity since now there was sun. Two Oak Titmice came down to the ground near a barbecue. HF spotted a Golden Eagle to the north!
We had walked a little over a mile, plus the loop around the swim lagoon.

Juvenile Golden Eagle

We headed off to Five Canyons Shady Canyon Trail around 11:45, arriving at 12:10. We did not detect much activity, and missed Varied Thrush. There was occasional movement, but it was too dark to tell what they were. We didn’t go as far as the pond, which now has a bridge. On my scouting trip, I went all the way around the pond. There weren’t any birds on the pond, but there were a lot of different mushrooms along the trail. Along with Don Castro, I heard Hutton’s Vireos here, but missed them today.
We walked a little over a mile here as well, and left around 1:15 for lunch at Buffalo Bill’s.

It’s always a dilemma, how to catch the peak activity in multiple places. This year I opted to concentrate on the places where we would get the most variety, then hit the spots where we might get special birds or birds we hadn’t gotten yet.

After lunch and a Starbuck’s stop, we headed back to Five Canyons to try for Rufous-crowned Sparrow above Century Oaks Circle. No luck there, but we usually get some raptors. This time, we had two American Kestrels and a White-tailed Kite. We left around 4:00, having spent around an hour.

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Since I wanted to get back to Don Castro in time to watch the blackbirds come to roost, we skipped the other couple of cul-de-sacs in Five Canyons and took a quick drive through Lone Tree Cemetery. Still there were no bluebirds, and we didn’t spot the Red-breasted Sapsucker I’d seen in the morning while scouting.

Around 4:30, we took a new trail for us, off Ursa. There is a good view point of the cattails on the south side of the lake.
While scouting the day before I had arrived at the cattails around 4:20. Sunset was close to 5:00. A pair of Green-winged Teal floated near the cattails. Also that evening, a medium-large sized gray bird with a light band on its wings landed in the eucalyptus across the lake, but once in the tree, I couldn’t find it. I still don’t know what that was.

On count day, we did see two Great Blue Herons flying together. The blackbird flocks were gathering, flying back and forth over the lake, and when some unknown trigger occurred, a batch would dive into the cattails across the lake and right in front of us. The flock would continue to fly back and forth, build up again, and more would dive in. This happened several times, and the more birds in the cattails, the more settling noise and complaints. It was difficult to estimate the numbers while also trying to watch them to catch the light on their epaulets to see how many were Tricolored and how many were Red-winged.

Blackbirds gathering to roost

The last flock, perhaps two, were European Starlings. I could see no color, and they were making a “churr” noise. Once they dove in and everybody was settled, they all began to sing.

This was an experience, and I wished that I had a camcorder. We finished around 5:15.

After summarizing our counts, I headed to the post-count dinner. While we were inside, it had showered. After last year’s rain, we were happy that it had held off for us until now.

More photos here, including lots of mushrooms and fungi.

The bird list for this count is here.
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Next year, we should include Sulphur Creek Nature Center at least for the owl box. We seem to have a difficult time finding our target birds at the Shady Canyon Trail, at least at the time of day we usually end up there.