We awakened this morning to a clear and sunny January day, the window providing a clear and unobstructed view of San Francisco and a walk was in order. Just in case many of you haven't noticed, we NEED RAIN. We have had no measurable rain since November 21 and the Ridge is beginning to tell that story.

We entered through the Escobar Gate, walking the hard surface of the fire road and looking at the dried grasses from last season. I saw no basal leaves of Shooting Stars and the Yarrow is still under 3 inches long. Much of the Dirca seems to be waiting for rain for I saw no flowers and many of the plants have only one or two buds showing swelling. The only plant is flower was on trail C, a Hillside Gooseberry that had several dozen flowers. A few mushrooms were evident, mostly in deeply shaded areas and one Dead Man's Foot (a weird fungal growth that erupts from the earth as an indescribable mass) near the Owl Oak on the fire road.

Other than 3 Turkey Vultures, 2 Red-Tailed Hawks, 1 CA Thrasher and 4 Black-Tailed Deer it was quiet. Areas where we normally encounter wet and soggy trails are dry. I found Buckeyes that had little swelling on the branches that normally would have some leaves by this time of year. The live oaks at our house are dropping extra leaves this winter it seems to me. This may be more of my lack of observation this time of year when I would likely be inside during the rains, not outside watching the leaves dropping from the trees.

Many of you will have noted I mentioned Black-Tailed Deer, a subspecies of California Mule Deer which live farther north.
black-tailed deer (Odocoileus hemionus columbianus)

RAIN, RAIN, RAIN

Normally, awakening between 3:00 and 5:00 AM is a wasted time struggling between getting back to sleep and making plans for the forthcoming day. This morning was an exception in that I became inspired.

It started with the thought that Mary and I still needed to figure out what we wanted for the window at the EcoCenter down at the Baylands. This is a building the Environmental Volunteers are restoring for the City of Palo Alto in exchange for the use of the building for the next 40 years. We, as donors, were asked to provide some sort of saying that would be placed in one of the porthole-like windows. We have looked at some Native American quotes and I think have narrowed it down to a couple. Anyway with all brain connections zapping I got to thinking about the new center and the celebrations that will happen. Gradually I came to realize that I needed to include some Native Americans to bless the site. Bless it in what way, you ask? Thanks for asking!

GREAT SPIRITS
BLESS THIS SITE
Where ancient people gathered food
and today's people gather knowledge

I am not a religious person but do have spiritual feelings.

A listing of all birds heard or seen while at Santa Cruz Island of the Channel Island group off the coast of California. Must have been seen or heard and confirmed by at least one other individual:

Western Grebe, Eared Grebe
Sooty Shearwater, Black-vented Shearwater
Brown Pelican, Double-Crested Cormorant
Brant's Cormorant, Pelagic Cormorant
Great Blue Heron, Turkey Vulture
Cooper's Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestral, Merlin
Peregrine Falcon, American Coot
Willet, Whimbrel
Marbled Godwit, Black Turnstone
Heerman's Gull, Western Gull
Common Murre, Mourning Dove
Northern Saw-whet Owl, Anna's Hummingbird
Allen's Hummingbird, Acorn Woodpecker
Northern Flicker, Black Phoebe
Say's Phoebe,
Island Scrub Jay, Common Raven
Bewick's Wren, Northern Mockingbird
Orange-crowned Warbler, Yellow Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler, Spotted Towhee
Song Sparrow, Golden-crowned Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco
Western Meadowlark, Turkey

Has anyone else seen an Osprey flying around Searsville Lake? We were out this morning walking along the lake trail, on our way to the dam when an Osprey flew the length of the lake, headed downstream toward SLAC. I am certain it was an Osprey which I have see here in the past. Other than that not too many birds out at 11:00 AM but the ones I remember are: American Coot, Pie-billed Grebe, Northern Flicker, Acorn Woodpecker, Dark-eyed Junco, California Towhee, Turkey Vulture. In the flora department I think seeing the transformation of flowers into seed pods is marvelous, especially the Globe Lilies. The wild Allium is doing well and there was one fine example of an Indian Pink that I caught a good photo of. Lots of Ithuriel's Spear, some Chaparral Pea, and a few Clarkias still surviving this cool and wet spring.

A walk today, early afternoon; in the order they appeared to us; plants needed to be in bloom:

Western Bluebird, Shooting Star (D. clevelandii), Red Maids, Manroot, Fremont's lilly, Indian Warrior, Leatherwood, Erodium, Ceanothus, Lasthinia, American Kestrel,(my first at the Ridge in several years), Lomatium utriculatum & dasycarpum, Linanthus, White-tailed Kite, Northern Flicker, CA Buttercup, Brown Towhee, Gold-crowned Sparrow.

My favorite today was seeing the Kestrel. Flew right over our heads about 30 feet off the ground. In the open Serpentine grassland.

May 2007 e-mail
Ned,
(Ned has since died and traveled on to his final resting place among the tribal elders he respected and honored so much. He taught me; I tried to listen and comprehend his teachings, and in the end he reached out to me feeling that I might have retained some of his teachings. Check out IAIS, Washington, CT)

I have not been ignoring you intentionally, just pondering your request. I really don't have any favorite quotes or poems that I have committed to heart but do respond quietly within myself to words written with great thought. I do have a book that was given to me that has many quotations that tickle my inner self, either to inspire me to write something like it or just to say that I truly understand this item. The book, "A Nature Lover's Book of Quotations", has several that I will relate to you and give you the reasons that they stick with me so much.

The first is:
The quieter you become the more you will hear. __ RAM DAS
I really identify with this quote as I walk or hike throughout Jasper Ridge listening for the sounds of nature. The chirp of the chipmunk, the rustle of the lizard in the pathside grass. The calls of the raven, jay, kite, thrasher and quail. I hear things that others do not because I pay attention to those sounds and have learned to identify them. The extreme of this was walking one day when I heard a sound that was strange to me. I stopped, listened some more and found the source of the sound.... a trail of foraging ants! The scurrying back and forth of ants, some carrying larvae in one direction while others racing in the other with food items tightly clasped in their jaws. I could also smell them once I got close enough.

Another quote is:
We regard all created beings as sacred and important, for everything has a wochangi, or influence, which can be given to us, through which we may gain a little more understanding, if we are attentive.
BLACK ELK

The influence of quotes, such as the above, is to hopefully gain a little more understanding and to prepare to pass this understanding on to others as a means of feeling a part of nature not just an observer of nature.

Rock wrens showed up again here in Idaho last year after having disappeared for a number of years. Two nesting pairs have been seen here this year. One pair is still here; maybe both pair.

Can't remember the reason I went to the internet to find more information about them than Sibley's had, but I found out about their habit of building a rock pathway (or something like that) by their nest.

My brother in law happened to tell me that he knew where the wrens appeared to have a nest 2 years ago. I pulled the lumber from the spot and found it; probably lucky mice had not destroyed it. I was surprised by the rock's size. There wasn't much space under the board so I'm wondering how they did this. Did they? It certainly doesn't look like a random collection of rocks and right next to a nest.

Learn something new every day.

Jack,
Very interesting and much larger than I would have expected. I once had a small empty can that I used to hold old nails and screws and I kept it in a drawer down an an open space under the dining room. The can was one of those small #1 cans that hold about a cup and a half. I had inadvertently left the drawer slightly open for a while and then one day I opened it and a Bewick's wren flew out. She had filled the can with twigs and then made her nest just slightly below the rim. Actually it was much the size of a hummingbird's nest.

As to the stones it is hard to say but the way they are laid out as they are, looks unnatural, almost like a little porch. Now, if the rocks had been stacked up some to hold the board a little higher you might have had a scientific discovery.

Bob

Jack,

The more I look at the photos you sent the more I see. First was the rebar sticking out of the concrete foundation which, of course, made the original opening by not letting the wooden pieces sit right on one another. The rocks, shale or slate I guess, appears to be much in the manner that we humans set out slabs of rocks for our patios so that we have a nice surface to walk upon in our bare feet. Not to anthropomorphize these small wonderful creatures BUT ... can this be intelligent design at work and not the effects of evolution as described by Darwin? Does this go beyond evolution and into intuitive animal behavior yet to be described by science? Naw, it was described in Sibley’s so it is not new, yet a wonderful discovery.

We were out at the Ridge today and had a great hike after all the recent rains. Our trail route was 12 - 10- F - 3 -1 for a two and a half hour walk. One special note: I am certain I heard that special 'chittering' produced by Golden Eagles. We were near the junction of Trails 9 and 10, with the sound coming from the south, up the next ridge. This was the same area where we saw a Golden flying early last month.

Back to the walk. In addition to Goldfields, Trillium, Zigadenus and Shooting Stars we saw the red, white and blue of spring (Indian Warrior, Milkmaids and Hound's Tongue). There were few tracks except for one individual we nicknamed "Big Foot" for the size of the hiking boots he/she was wearing.. Our focus became the fungus family so here are a few we saw (and looked up):
Turkey Tails, Crown Cups, Witch's Butter, Earthstar, Candy Caps, Scarlet Waxy Caps, Chanterelle and Split Gill. This last one I termed a Turkey Tail at first but it was truly different. Shaped like a Turkey Tail it was hairy white on the upper surface but gilled underneath. The gills were grooved and radiating out from the stem attachment region. There was also a shelf fungus which may have been an Oak Conk or and Artist's Conk (the latter I think).

Twenty minutes or so after leaving the Preserve it began to rain gently but we no longer cared for we were safe in our home.

PRIBILOF ISLANDS BIRD LIST
JUNE 21-23, 2004

Mallard Long-tailed duck
Northern pintail Green-winged teal
Harlequin duck Northern Fulmar
Red-faced cormorant Least sandpiper
Rock sandpiper Red-necked phalarope
Parasitic jaeger Black-headed gull
Red-legged kittiwake Black-legged kittiwake
Common murre Thick-billed murre
Parakeet auklet Least auklet
Crested auklet Horned puffin
Tufted puffin Barn swallow
Winter wren American robin
Lapland longspur Snow bunting
McKay’s bunting Gray-crowned rosy finch
Common Eider

ADDITIONAL BIRDS FROM HOMER, SEWARD, ANCHORAGE
Pelagic cormorant Double-crested cormorant
Glaucous gull Mew gull
Spruce grouse Violet-green swallow
Northwestern crow Boreal chickadee
Varied thrush Black-billed magpie
Hermit thrush Swainson’s thrush
Ruby-crowned kinglet Orange-crowned warbler
Yellow-rumped warbler Yellow warbler
White-crowned sparrow Savannah sparrow
Mocking bird Canada goose
Tundra swan Eared grebe
Bald eagle Pidgeon gillemot
Sandhill crane White-winged crossbill
Oyster catcher Surf bird
Marbled murrelet Sooty shearwater
Dark-eyed junco Spotted sandpiper
Arctic tern

MAMMALS
Humpbacked whale, Fin whale, Fur seal, Stellers sealion, Northern sea otter, Harbor seal, Dall porpoise. Scat from bear, moose, wolf

PLANTS
Lupine; Lousewort, Cinqfoil;, Wild celery; Poppy, Alaska yellow; Rock jasmine; Arctic willow; Violet; Beach bluebell, oysterleaf; Capitate valerian; Equisetum; Bering Sea chickweed; Spring beauty; Jacob’s ladder; Cloudberry; Moss campion; chocolate lily; Scurvy grass, thrift buckwheat; Fern; Angelica

Saturday, July 27, I was mending a leaf blower bag near the front of the garage. I was in the process of finishing up and was standing in the open doorway when a Turtle dove flew down to the asphalt and began some strange behavior. The dove spread its wings and began flapping them, the body shuddering and walking in short circles. Several times it put its head under one of the wings as if trying to rid itself of something. Several times it stopped only to resume this strange behavior. It was as if it was having a seizure or being stung by a yellowjacket or totally unable to fly, which I knew was not true since I had seen it fly down to the asphalt. Then it stopped again and acted perfectly normal and then again resumed the odd behavior.

Getting bored with this strange sight I went around the corner to put something in the trashcan there and discovered a neighbor’s cat, which immediately turned and ran towards the street. The dove’s behavior immediately returned to normal and the puzzle of the behavior was solved. I had never before observed doves acting in such a manner but had watched killdeer, avocets and stilts acting as if wounded or disabled when one wandered too close to their nest or young. I did not see where the fledgling was but I suspect that it was up in the pyracantha bush. One more odd fact to add to the memory bank I call my mind.

December, 2002
For the past few weeks I have heard occasionally a soft ‘burrrrr’ coming from somewhere near. I was sure it was a bird of some sort but since I did not have my binoculars with me it remained a mystery. This has puzzled me but not enough to go in search of the source of the sound. Last week, between storms, Mary and I went for a walk in the SLAC corridor that is part of Jasper Ridge. On the way back I spotted a thrush-like bird in the top of a tree. I assumed it was a robin but then I heard that soft ‘burrrr’ and brought the binoculars up to my eyes. There before me was a Varied Thrush and as I looked it again raised its head and issued the soft ‘burrrr’. Mystery solved.