joerich's Journal

On my early morning walk this morning I came across a Marsh Wren nest in the cattail reeds along the trail just west of Oak Valley Drive. I tried to photograph it but it was a little far off the trail and I could not get a good shot through the reeds. There was a Wren about calling so the nest may be occupied and I do not want to disturb the Wrens, so I will return at a later date.

Yesterday I retrieved the two of my trail cameras yesterday on Orchard Creek. The one which was just west of the low water bridge on Twelve Bridges Dr. to Wilson Park trail had about three hundred plus photos, many of Beaver and Mallards and a few other critters. I posted some of the observations. And, as a bonus, as I was retrieving the camera I was fortunate and got some photos of a Mourning Cloak butterfly. I say I was lucky because it fluttered around much before landing and I was unable to get a photograph. It landed on some tall sedge where I could just barely get some photos, then it took off and was gone over the cattails.

I also got a California Bumble Bee on Harvest Brodiaea. I think this is the first pollinator I have seen on Harvest Brodiaeas. Where are the pollinators?

I failed to format a new micro SD drive in the other trail cam which was just west of Oak Valley Drive and got nothing.

I walked the field east of the South Creek trail which runs Twelve Bridges Drive to Wilson Park today. It appears that maybe the city will not have sheep grazed this field this year - I don't know if that is good or bad but the Round-Tooth Ookow will have a chance to seed. I looked for Yellow Mariposa Lilies today -they bloomed about two weeks ago - and I was able to find only two seed heads. I don't know what pollinates these, but it seems as if they were not very successful. There were also large patches of Bird's'-foot Trefoil on the field - however, I stood in these patches for many minutes and saw very very few pollinators. There were several Western Honey Bees but I saw only one small bumble bee and only one other bee which may be an Alfalfa Leafcutter Bee https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/217780552 and no hover flies. I would think that there would / should be many more and I am quite worried.

I now have three trail cameras out. One on the north bank of Orchard Creek just west of the low water bridge on South Creek Trail, on a small beaver dam pointing into a small opening in the reeds. A second on the south bank of Orchard Creek West of Oak Valley Drive. And I just put out a third today on the north end of the field east of South Creek Trail in some tall grass and reeds pointing at a small game trail I found. This one could be interesting because it is too small for raccoon but appears too large for voles.

I walked the field east of the South Creek trail which runs Twelve Bridges Drive to Wilson Park today. It appears that maybe the city will not have sheep grazed this field this year - I don't know if that is good or bad but the Round-Tooth Ookow will have a chance to seed. I looked for Yellow Mariposa Lilies today -they bloomed about two weeks ago - and I was able to find only two seed heads. I don't know what pollinates these, but it seems as if they were not very successful. There were also large patches of Bird's'-foot Trefoil on the field - however, I stood in these patches for many minutes and saw very very few pollinators. There were several Western Honey Bees but I saw only one small bumble bee and only one other bee which may be an Alfalfa Leafcutter Bee https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/217780552 and no hover flies. I would think that there would / should be many more and I am quite worried.

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.