joerich's Journal

I have been thinking that I need to keep a better journal about my nature wanderings, both physical and mental.

I have come up to Coyote Pond almost everyday for a week now. I saw a rat scurry under a ledge about a month ago when walking on the middle trail, the one below the ridge top and I set a trail camera on it. The first time was just overnight and I got a photo of a upper portion of a rodent https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/214418884 but was not able to identify it. So I put it back for about four days and it took about 850 photos, of which only a few were of critters and the great majority was taken when the sun shine through the trees creating moving shadows in the wind. I have put it back out and will leave it longer this time. I have set the timer so that it only takes photos from after sunset to about noon, when there is no sun shining in the field of view.

I have also observed the many many California Buckeyes along the top of the ridge and along the bottom trail, the Enchanted Trail. On the first trip there were many Ichneumonid Wasps mostly on the California Buckeye https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/214268020,https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/214268022. However, when I went back on subsequent days I did not see any of these wasps, which I find strange.

I have seen three California Pipevine Swallowtails in the area, two of which I was able to photograph https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/215572651, https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/214672746. This makes me believe that there are California Dutchman's Pipevine in the area. I have searched both sides of Orchard Creek above Coyote Pond under the area of dense trees and have not found any. However, there are large parts where I cannot search due to the dense brambles in the understory. As an aside, I have planted a single Pipevine plant and it has started to put on leaves. More on this in another issue.

So, now to the Western Honey Bees (WHBs). There is a large area of California Buckeye in bloom (I will have to use the mapping function on my GPS to determine the actual area) and several areas of blackberry Brambles on which there are thousands of WHBs but I find very very few other pollinators such as Yellow-faced or California BBs. One area of brambles I have watched is an area at the upper end of the dense wooded area along Orchard Creek (this area https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/215317906). The bramble area is a triangular patch about 105 feet by 50 feet or roughly 300 square yards. I also estimate that there may be 5 WHBs per square meter, or 1500 WHBs (there seem to be more) but only maybe two BBs. But the other thing I notice is that a BB will land on a flower but only stay for a very brief period when I have seen them on isolated flowers away from the patch spend longer. I believe this is the threat that WHBs pose to our native bees.

While searching the understory for the Pipevine plant today I heard a soft Great Horned Owl call, then another. I estimated which tree it could be in and walked out from under the trees. I saw a shadow which I thought could be the owl, took some pictures, then started to take a circumferential route about the tree. Immediately the "shadow" moved behind some dense leaves, telling me it was the owl. I left it at that point and went back under the trees. https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/215774451

And I saw a coyote. I saw one a week or so ago on my morning walk, but this one I was able to photograph. https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/215774447

And I got a flat tire on my bike and had to push it home. All in all, a good day.

Yesterday I surveyed the turtles on Coyote Pond, Lincoln, Placer County CA looking for Western Pond Turtles. Here is the count

Pond Slider (Trachemys scripta) 44
Western Pond Turtle (Actinemys marmorata) 2

Autumn is in the air and some of the birds which I haven't seen all summer are returning. However, I have yet to see the bluebirds. The question I have is why did the small passerines leave as we have had a very mild summer following a wetter than normal winter. I saw an article the other day saying that insects do very poorly following warmer than normal winters, or cooler and wetter than normal springs. We had the latter, so maybe there is not many insects.

I just recently discovered that we have another invasive species which I fear is going to be as noxious as the Yellow-star Thistle, although not as thorny. This is the Stinkwort. It is everywhere that there was an excess of moisture last winter - along trails where rain runoff accumulated, along now dry vernal pools, and in areas adjacent to creeks and marshes. Today I tried to document it along the trail which runs from Twelve Bridges Southcreek Trailhead (on Twelve Bridges Dr) to the park at Twelve Bridges Middle School and over to Southcreek Granite Park Trailhead (on Granite Park Ct). I documented fourteen patches of Stinkwort, some small, some large, and I skipped over a few more where there were only one or two plants. This plant seems to be spreading like wildfire. Hopefully I can do a comparison next year.

Now I need to plot the areas in the preserve where Yellow-star Thistle is so thick one cannot walk through. I wonder what coyotes, raccoons, bobcats and foxes do when the YST is so thick - do they go through unencumbered or do they have to travel around the thick patches.

Last Friday morning I visited another Turkey Mullein patch which I now call patch 5. It was around 9 in the morning and the temperature was probably between 85F to 90F. There was a lot of activity on this patch this morning and I got several new species, including a Familiar Bluet which I caught predating another insect, an Acmon Blue, a Gray Hairstreak, a fly from the Bellula Species Group, and a couple of what I think are Anthophorula bees.

This morning I went to another patch, which I call patch 1 because it was the first patch I noticed the amazing ecosystem that is associated with Turkey Mullein - Croton setiger. The first time I was on this patch there were many small plant fleas which I think are Longitarsus. However, today I saw none of these insects. Maybe the reason for the lack of these beetles is that their season has past, or maybe it is the high temperature days we have been having. I collected two samples and brought them home to photograph them using my Raynor 1.5 close-up lense on a tripod. One sample I think are pupae of some beetle, possibly Longitarsus. The other sample turned out to be some growth, maybe a fungus.

I have been wondering how the temperature affects the insects, so this afternoon I went back to patch 5, then to 3 and 4. When it was in the 90s there was a lot of activity on Patch 5. Today, when it was 103F, there were was very little activity. The great majority of the insects were on the underside of the leaves, maybe taking advantage of the shade. On patch 3 and 4 I noticed several Tripartite Bees on the underside of the leaves - these bees seemed to be torpid. I did see a Western Honey Bee on Pennyroyal which was quite active.

Last week I discovered an incredible ecosystem built around Turkey Mullein. I have seen this plant many times while walking the fields here but never gave it much attention probably because it lies low and does not have showy. However, I noticed a pollinator on it - what I thought was a black fly. Taking a closer look I saw these little insects which looked like fleas and could hop like a flea if I got too close. I took photographs of several different insects but when I got home and started looking at the photos I found many more which I had not noticed in the field. Many of these were hiding under leaves so the next day I went back to search under leaves. I then found there were probably ten to twenty more insects under the leaves than on the surface. I can only speculate that they were there partly to stay cool, partly to hide.

Today I visited another patch in the same field maybe a quarter mile south of the first patch. It had even more plants, however, and even though it did have various insects on them, I did not see a single "flea". Noticing this absence, I went back to the original north patch and I did find the 'fleas" there.

We have had some hot temperatures - yesterday it was 110F (43C). This morning while walking the field it was 92F (33C).

I was surprised to discover that Turkey Mullein is not in the Mullein genus but is in fact a spurge. I downloaded an association map for Turkey Mullein and am slowly entering the species into a spreadsheet to aid in identifications, as well as to serve as a checklist of what I have seen. So far I have not found the "flea" insect on the associations list.

More to follow as I explore this ecosystem.

Last spring I was monitoring three hawks nests, a Red-tailed, Red-shouldered and a Cooper's. This year, I have not found and active hawks nest but I have found two Great-horned Owl nests, both now with owlets. One of the owls is occupying last years Red-shouldered Hawks nest.

During the last week the grass has grown quite tall. Even though the flowers are blooming heavily, they do not seem as spectacular this year, or even last week. The Goldfields are also getting past prime. Soon the sheep will be on the fields.

I have decided to start making journal entries of where I set my trail camera and the results. This is because I am starting to forget some of the places where I have had it set, although I can always go back and find them either on my computer where I have stored the photos, or on iNat.

I recovered the trail cam I had placed in the west field along the northwest creek in 12 Bridges Preserve on 12 February. The camera was placed on an opening in the reeds at what appeared to be a place where animals crossed the creek. And when I collected the camera there appeared to be a fresh small canid track in the mud, however, there were no canids in the pictures.

There were 118 photos taken over the six days. From these, I posted 6 observations, 4 of birds, one of a Muroid and one of a Black Tailed Jackrabbit. There were actually more birds and jackrabbits in the photos, but I did not post duplicates - maybe I should so as to better show the numbers seen. The jackrabbit and two of the bird species (doves, meadowlarks) appeared to be drinking water from the creek in some of the pictures.

There is a field at 38.840002, -121.271484 which I had yet to walk, so today I made a quick survey. It being October the fields were dry, but there is one small creek, probably spring fed. I walked in along the creek from the South Creek Wilson Park Trail Head area. There was a large variety of plants, some of which I captured in photographs and posted. I did see a Black Tailed Jackrabbit which I did not photograph, and I was able to photograph a Red-tailed Hawk, which took off from the creek area when I parked my bike. It was being harassed by another small hawk, maybe a Kestrel, given the size. Besides observing a few other birds and a few dragonflies, there was not much fauna about.

I did find the skull of an interesting small carnivore, maybe a Bobcat, and a long leg bone of probably a sheep.

Collected the remnants of a metalized balloon and disposed.

Here in the central valley northeast of Sacramento the seasons are changing. There is not much color here, but a few of the gum trees are showing color. But what I notice most are the birds. The small birds, such as some of the sparrows, bluebirds, etc. are forming into groups again. The Canadian Geese have also come back - they disappeared locally in the early summer, probably after having their young, and are now back on some of the ponds and fields around the 12 Bridges Preserve, Lincoln CA area.

I "discovered" Vinegar Weed this summer. It has a very amazing flower. I found a website talking about the interaction of between pollinators and the flower and became intrigued because the only pollinator I had observed was the Western Honey Bee. So today I went to the field to see if I could spot more pollinators.

I believe the Vinegar Weed is a little past prime as it seems that most of the flowers appeared a little wilted. The various pollinators were quite active and did not dwell on any flower long, it seems, except for a Cabbage White. So it was very hard to photograph them.

I saw six different pollinators today.
Large Carpenter Bee - https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/136340397
Cabbage White - https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/136340393
Skippers - https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/136340392
Wasp - https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/136340389
Western Honey Bee - https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/136340382
Tripartite Sweat Bee - https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/136340381

Here is the pollinator / plant site I was referring to above: https://www.amateuranthecologist.com/2015/08/trichostema-lanceolatum.html