Butterfly & Coyote Scat

There was a California tortoiseshell butterfly circling around me, the meadow, the oak trees, back around me, back around the oak trees, back around me, back around the meadow, and so on as butterflies fly. It was making me a little dizzy as I spun about following it. Eventually it came to rest right next to me on some fresh coyote scat on the trail. Butterflies like things sweet (flower nectar) and savory (coyote scat). From the nectar they get sugars for energy and from the coyote scat they get nutritious minerals. In addition to animal feces, butterflies are also attracted to urine, dead animals, and rotting fruit.

An action that is commonly observed among butterflies is a behavior known as “puddling.” They will land on moist sand and mud along streams or puddles and absorb vital minerals.

Butterflies have a mouthpiece know as a proboscis in which to gather nectar in flowers or probe around on coyote scat that is like a drinking straw. When they are not using it, it neatly curls up into a spiral next to the head. To help draw the liquids up through the proboscis, they have a sucking pump inside their head.

It is interesting to imagine that the life of a vole, field mouse, or rabbit that the coyote ate can be absorbed into the life of a butterfly and flutter through the blue sky and sunshine the next day.

Red-breasted Nuthatch Excavating Cavity

In my experience out at the arboretum, red-breasted nuthatches excavate their cavities and white-breasted nuthatches use existing natural cavities or nest boxes. This red-breasted nuthatch is working away on a Douglas-fir snag. I could hear the muffled hammering as it carved away. After a minute or less, it would appear in the entrance to the cavity with a mouthful of shavings. Sometimes it released the shavings from the entrance and sometimes it would pop out onto the side of the tree and let them go. The wood appears to have become very soft as the shavings looked like dust falling through the air. I think the nuthatch was excited about the consistency of the wood. It seemed to be vigorously and merrily chiseling away its new nest and it occasionally gave a toot from the entrance which sounds like a miniature tin horn. The male and female both excavate the nest with the female doing more. That said, the bold markings on this one appear to be the male, and males without mates may begin excavating several cavities at once in an attempt to attract a female. I need to go back and see if this male is in a relationship. After the cavity is constructed, she will line the bottom with soft materials such as fine grasses, strips of bark, fur, or feathers. Interestingly, I read that they will spread sap around the entrance to their nests. I love this little bird! I hope you are getting in some good birding so far this spring.

Beaver Scat

While wandering around in the wetlands looking for frog egg masses, we came across signs of beaver. There was a matted, muddy spot where it appeared the beaver liked to sit. It was littered with small, willow branches that had been stripped. Beavers love to eat the inner bark of trees. As we continued wading out in the wetlands, we came across the beaver’s scat floating in the water. It looked like sawdust and it was incased in a thin, transparent sack—that seems helpful in preventing any splinters when depositing, One of our fearless teammates carefully retrieved one of the pellets from the water and brought it ashore. We broke it open and found that it was just as it appeared, fibrous like sawdust.

While doing research about beavers, I came across this interesting information on a beaver’s digestion on the website The Land Between: “The digestive systems of herbivorous animals can either be a single saclike compartment (monogastric), or subdivided into various complex chambers (digastric). Monogastric herbivores, such as beavers, possess a single-chambered stomach where molecules such as lignocellulose can be digested. Monogastric animals that are able to digest these cellulosic materials are known as hindgut fermenters. This process is aided by microorganism fermentation in the intestine, which, in the beaver's case, takes place in a modified cecum. Humans, like many other animals, possess a cecum, but in beavers, it is an enlarged pouch located at the beginning of the large intestine connecting the small intestine to the rest of the large intestine. A beaver’s cecum contains enzymes derived from bacteria and fungi to help break down the tough cellulose molecules found in woody plants. To ensure they digest as many nutrients as possible from their meal, the beaver partakes in a method known as coprophagy, where the individual eats their own feces to run the food through their digestive system several times. This process might be gross by human standards, but it is an example of highly adaptive strategy that allows beavers to thrive on a specialized diet.” Fascinating creatures!

Beavers usually defecate in the water, so you don’t often come across their scat. They can carry the Giardia parasite, which causes giardiasis which is also known as "beaver fever". The parasite is spread through their feces, so I recommend that you don’t handle their feces and that you are careful around water sources where beavers are present. Giardiasis is an intestinal disorder that causes mild to severe diarrhea. Dogs can also get giardiasis by drinking water contaminated with the feces of infected animals.

Resource
Wood You Eat That? An Overview of Beaver Teeth and Digestive System. https://www.thelandbetween.ca/2023/10/wood-you-eat-that-an-overview-of-beaver-teeth-and-digestive-system/#. Accessed 6 Apr. 2025.

Impression Sunrise

someday
a new day will dawn
where our paradigm
will shift
towards seeing ourselves
once again
as part of nature
an umbilical bond
connecting us
to the earth
to the sun
to the moon
to the stars
shimmering
within
our hearts
to be in awe
of the mystery
of the gift
of life

Antennae

I was photographing the leaves of this moss when this tiny insect landed in the frame to have its picture taken. I was immediately struck by the size and shape of its antennae. Insect antennae come in many shapes and sizes. The antennae on this insect have fine branches giving it a featherlike appearance and its form is aptly named plumose.

The primary function of insect antennae is a sense of smell. They are usually covered with receptors that can detect odor molecules in the air. Besides receiving molecules drifting through the air, insects pick up information by touching or feeling their environment. Antennae are also sensitive to detecting the vibrations of sound waves.

Given the size of this insect’s antennae in relation to its body size, I would guess that this is how it receives most of its information to navigate through its surroundings. It’s amazing!

Time

A bountiful rain fell across the valley saturating the landscape and swelling the Willamette river. The weather passed and the sun came and went through the clouds drifting at the the tail of the storm. I wandered along the shores of the receding river to explore what was left behind in its wake. I sat on the bank listening to the water ripple over the rocks in the crisp morning air. I looked down and saw glimmers of gold reflecting in the sunlight on an old tarnished chalice sitting on a mound of colorful jewels. It was a magical goblet spilling forth the mystery and beauty of nature.

Caddis Fly Larvae & Pacific Chorus Frog Eggs

I sat by the small pool in the parking lot that has all of the Pacific Chorus Frog (also known as the Pacific Treefrog) egg masses to see if more had hatched. While sitting there I noticed that some of the caddisfly larvae were climbing on the egg masses. I looked up to see if they eat the frog eggs. Both the Oregon and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife said that Pacific Treefrog eggs are preyed upon by caddisfly larvae. I only saw them crawling around on the outside and they did not appear to pierce through the egg mass. It did look like they were pulling on the surface and maybe eating bits off the outside. This one climbed around on the egg mass for about 10 minutes or so and then moved on. There are quite a few caddisfly larvae roaming around the pool but I found only one more caddisfly larva that was investigating an egg mass. It also did not chew into the inside of the egg mass.

There are 1,000 species of caddisflies in North America! They can be herbivores, carnivores, and omnivores. I am not sure of this particular species, but maybe this one doesn’t eat frog eggs. The herbivores eat various types of detritus, including bits of leaves, algae, and miscellaneous organic matter. I’ll continue watching them and see what I observe and in the meantime, maybe I can figure out which species of caddisfly this is.

Pacific Chorus Frog Tadpoles

I went to count the egg masses of the Pacific Chorus Frog in the small pool at the parking lot yesterday and counted over 200. Afterwards, I decided to sit by the side of the pool, soak up the sun, and look around in the water. I saw this greenish blob that had a hole in it. I wondered if some of the frogs had hatched and maybe that it was an old egg mass. I took a piece of grass stalk and twirled around in the water. As I swung around in the water, it bumped some debris and a small tadpole came swimming out from underneath! It was so small and when it came to rest, well camouflaged. When I slightly lifted debris to look at snails and caddisfly larvae, another tadpole swam out. I counted maybe 6 or 7 tadpoles in the time I sat there. A couple of the egg masses were shaking slightly and I could see the light reflecting off the tadpole’s bellies inside. They were starting to wiggle and work their way out. So around March first on a sunny afternoon with the temperature reaching 60 degrees, they started hatching. Sweeeeeet!

Decaying Cottonwood

I saw this decaying cottonwood lying on the ground with frosty creatures adorning its body, Shizophyllum fungus. I went over to take a closer look and became absorbed in their color, form, and texture. They drooped like evergreen boughs covered in snow. Underneath was a surprising contrast of wavy, brown gills that looked woody and dry. My imagination shifted from a tree bough to snow piled up on a porch roof.

As I knelt there, I noticed that there was a miniature, red and pink insect crawling around on the fungus. I don’t know if it was an adult or a larval stage. The occasional spider wandered by investigating this fleecy, white landscape.

As I looked down the tree I noticed that the fungus was generally fruiting out of the sides and the top was mostly bare. At that moment, I started looking at other parts of the tree and became fascinated by its color, form, and texture. The bark was a cool and gray, like the color of a stone. Parts of the bark were cracking in black, squiggly lines. Rings formed where limbs attached to the trunk, giving the appearance that it had once been molten. Other parts of the bark were mottled with yellows and reds, the texture was pocked or flaky. In some places, the linear fibers of the bark were revealed. Pale blue-green and vibrant yellow-orange lichens were scattered across the tree’s body.

This tree had taken on a whole new life full of wonder and beauty. I walked away with a fresh awareness of the world around me.

Fir Tree Moss

The Fir Tree Moss (Dendroalsia abietinum) can be found clinging to the trunks of Oregon White Oaks throughout the arboretum. At the moment, they are lush and green from the rain. Mosses lack roots, so they depend on the rain to shower them with water so they can photosynthesize, reproduce, and grow. The Pacific Northwest (PNW) wet weather is the perfect climate for mosses. In Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast, Pojar and MacKinnon say there are about 700 species of mosses in this area. That said, the summers here in the Willamette Valley are hot and dry. The whole summer might only see a couple of small rainfalls. So what does that mean for all the mosses growing here that need to be bathed in water to carry out photosynthesis and grow? They have a miraculous ability to adjust their physiological processes according to environmental moisture levels. This is called poikilohydry. They are happily photosynthesizing if the environment is wet during the fall, winter, and spring. When the rain temporarily halts for the summer, the mosses contentedly dry up and go dormant, patiently waiting for the rain to return.

Each source that I read mentioned the characteristic of this species to bend downward and curl inward when it is dry. Pojar and MacKinnon label it with the common name Plume Moss which I like.

Water Slater

The water level in the wetlands dropped significantly in January due to the lack of rainfall. This made wading around surveying for amphibian egg masses easier. The shallow water also made observing other creatures inhabiting this ecosystem more accessible. I didn’t find amphibian egg masses in this area, but I came across this creature crawling around. When I first saw it, I thought it looked like a roly-poly. I gently nudged it with my finger to see if it would roll into a ball to protect itself. It briefly stopped to investigate my finger and then continued on its way. I watched it as it moved among the decaying leaves covering the bottom of the pool. I gently turned over leaves and found more of them. The sun came out and reached through the leafless, winter canopy. It illuminated this small pool revealing a beautiful pattern and color across this animal’s body. I loved the stillness of the water and the textures and colors of the underwater landscape. It was peaceful watching this animal shuffle about in its home.

Apeiron

On a winter’s night, I quietly stand and look into the deep blue above. The star constellation Orion rises in the evening sky, not hesitating or fearful. A belt of three stars cinching its torso inward, forming an hourglass. However, the granules falling through its solar plexus represent the immeasurable. Its presence is a reminder of the mysteriousness of life—an incomprehensible expanse birthing creativity, imagination, wonder, beauty, and awe.

Coast Redwood Releasing Pollen

Coast redwoods are planted around Eugene, and a small grove was planted at Mt. Pisgah when the arboretum was created. Redwoods are wind-pollinated, and the male cones release pollen in winter or early spring. Check out this slow-motion video of the pollen cloud released from the male cones. They are like piñatas breaking open sprinkling a golden treasure out into the world.

I hope you are enjoying the cold, sunny weather.

Fairy Shrimp

Last weekend while looking for amphibian egg masses in the wetlands, we found an abundance of water springtails. This past weekend we were looking for egg masses again and it still seems a little early because we didn’t find any. Not to worry because we saw a fascinating creature called a fairy shrimp.

These translucent crustaceans are related to lobsters and crabs. One of the first things I noticed is that they swim upside down! They have 11 pairs of legs waving back and forth toward the surface and I was hoping for others to join this one to perform a lovely, synchronized swimming display. Next time I will try playing some music to inspire them.

In addition to propulsion and dance routines, their legs somehow function as gills allowing them to absorb oxygen in the water and breathe! That’s not all. Their magical legs also help to filter food from the water or scrape food from surfaces.

They live in temporary habitats that only fill with water for part of the year called vernal pools. Since their aquatic habitat is a seasonal or ephemeral arrangement, they have a short life span.

So, they are among the first eggs to hatch out in early spring or late winter. This ensures they can complete their lifecycle and lay their eggs before the habitat dries up. The shrimp in the photo is a female and you can see the brood pouch which holds eggs, located directly behind the legs. The fairy shrimp eggs are called cysts. It’s okay if the pool dries up because the eggs can survive, sometimes years, until the rain returns. They can even survive freezing winter temperatures. In addition, I found a page on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services (USFWS) website that says the cysts can withstand being ingested by animals! Even more fascinating, the cysts can be “then deposited in new habitats when the animal urinates (USFWS).” Wow! The bottom line is that “fairy” signifies that these are magical creatures.

How else do fairy shrimp cysts get dispersed through the landscape? The USFWS writes, “Aquatic birds are the most likely agents of dispersal of vernal pool fairy shrimp. Large mammals are also known to act as distributors by wallowing in dirt, getting cysts caught in their fur and transporting the cysts to another wallow.”

Being adapted to surviving the temporal nature of vernal pools has another advantage. These pools are generally not connected to permanent streams or lakes that could allow in predatory fish. The water here in the wetlands does drop significantly because there is only an occasional rain shower during the summer months here in the Willamette Valley. There is always a little water at the Adkinson Bridge, which supports small fish, bullfrogs, turtles, and other animals that could potentially prey upon fairy shrimp. I think the water disappears, and the land dries out in the upper part of the wetlands where the fairy shrimp were found.

That said, fairy shrimp are a part of the food chain. We flushed out some wood ducks when wading back into the upper part of the wetlands, and I’m sure they found a few fairy shrimp to nibble on.

Oregon is home to 14 species of fairy shrimp. This one has blue tips on its tail. Check out the short video below to watch them swim. Nature is an inexhaustible source of wonder. I look forward to seeing you out there.

Resource
Vernal Pool Fairy Shrimp (Branchinecta Lynchi) | U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. https://www.fws.gov/species/vernal-pool-fairy-shrimp-branchinecta-lynchi. Accessed 26 Jan. 2025.

Oregon Ash Tree Sprouts

The other day I noticed this Oregon ash tree. It had mostly fallen over last year in the ice storm and was blocking part of the road through the arboretum. The company that helped clean up cut off the part obstructing the road and left the rest. Last year the tree sent out a massive amount of sprouts, which I want to try and count, I just haven't gotten around to it yet. Oregon ash is unbelievably vigorous at sending out new growth if it is cut back or damaged in a storm. This one reminded me of a spiky caterpillar. I can’t imagine what this tree will look like in 50 years with all of these new limbs and assuredly more storm damage to come during that time. This tree has evolved a tenacious spirit for survival. In writing that last sentence I thought of the emerald ash borer that is on its way. This amazing tree is going to suffer some losses when it arrives. I hope and feel that some of them will endure and reestablish a healthy population in the ecosystem.

Water Springtails

While looking for frog eggs with the habitat committee, I noticed all these tiny specs floating on the water. They were unidentifiable as you looked at them on the surface. You could only observe that they ever so slightly jumped around as you waded through them. They were sprinkled everywhere on the surface but also formed dense rafts as they congregated on blades of grass on top of the water. I put my macro lens on my phone camera to get a closer look at this mystery and hopefully figure out what they were. The first photo is the fixed 10x lens, and in the second photo, I zoomed to 2x on my phone. The photos revealed a wrinkled, gray creature with pink legs! Based on how they hopped in every direction, someone in the group wondered if they were a species of springtails. I submitted the photo to iNaturalist and it suggested that they were water springtails (Poduridae). Looking up photos, I found them to closely match Podura aquatica.

In my research, I found out that they eat decaying organic material, so it makes sense that they were hanging out of these blades of grass. So they are one of the many necessary decomposers that help break down vegetation to return nutrients to the environment and keep the water clean. I hope that their presence indicates a healthy, thriving wetlands ecosystem.

It was fascinating to see so many, and I wondered what prompted them to want to hatch out in great numbers now.

I also discovered that springtails are not insects. Biologists have classified them as part of the class Collembola, not Insecta. They are both hexapods (6 legs), but the key difference that prompted this distinction is springtails have internal mouthparts, unlike insects which have external mouthparts. I am still researching this, but I thought I would pass it along for your curiosity.

Pacific Treefrog Eggs

On Sunday, members of the habitat committee at the arboretum went looking for amphibian egg masses. We waded around in the wetlands for a couple of hours and weren’t able to find any out there yet. The water level is fairly high at the moment from all of the recent rain, so we weren’t able to survey all of the locations that we wanted. Also, there are heaps of fallen tree limbs clogging the area from last year’s ice storm. That said, we were able to find egg masses of the Pacific Treefrog in the shallow pools around the parking lot. It will be interesting to see how viable these eggs are this early in the year and when they might hatch during the cold, winter weather. As friendly reminder to help protect these creatures, please remember to keep your dogs and children out of the shallow pools found throughout the arboretum like around the parking lot and the area known as The Seeps along the road that goes above the wetlands. Thank you. As the evening approached, the males started vocalizing their beautiful choral croaks, music to my ears. Spring is on its way!

Revealed in the Mist

The days have been thick with fog. The air has been saturated with tiny droplets of water. It gives me the feeling that I am on a trek on a high mountain top up in the clouds. I hear high-pitched notes of golden-crowned kinglets ringing through the mist as I walk down the path. My visual awareness is drawn nearer to me. I tune into the shaggy moss carpeting the trees. They are in love with the moisture that is bathing the landscape. To my wonderment, spider webs beaded with water are magically revealed. They are stretched across the moss like tiny tarps or strung up like hammocks. I looked closely to find the spiders and I couldn’t find them. They were tucked away spinning dreams in the tranquility of winter’s green.

Mosses Love Water

In Robin Wall Kimmerer’s book Gathering Moss, she has a fascinating chapter about moss’s affinity for water. They lack roots to absorb water, so they have developed strategies to collect and retain water mostly from the rain but you will also find an abundance of moss in “spray zones of waterfalls and cliffs seeping with spring water.”

The shape of the leaves is important in the process of gathering water and holding onto it. Robin writes, “The microscopic surface of the leaf is sculpted to attract and hold a thin film of water. The leaves may be pleated into minute accordion folds that trap water in the crevices, undulations in the leaf creating a microtopography of rolling hills and water-filled valleys.”

While looking around at the arboretum, I came across this moss with wavy leaves that look like small rolling hills that run perpendicular to the length of the leaf. I am sure the accordion folds that Robin talks about can only be seen under a microscope, but I feel this moss achieves the same idea with larger undulations of its leaf structure.

Resource
Kimmerer, Robin Wall. Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses. 1st ed, Oregon State University Press, 2003.

Winter Buds

In the winter, there is so much to explore. Now is an excellent time to look at all of the overwintering buds of trees and shrubs. They come in many different shapes, sizes, colors, and textures. If you are allergic to poison oak, it would be good to be familiar with how it looks because you can still get a rash from it in the winter. The winter buds of the cascara tree are not covered by scales, the tiny brown leaves are visible on the stem. I didn’t include the incense cedar because it doesn’t form overwintering buds, the shoot tips stop growing in the fall and resume growth again in the spring (Tollefson, Jennifer E.). Have fun checking out their diversity and see how many you can identify. Happy New Year!

Reference
Tollefson, Jennifer E. 2008. Calocedrus decurrens. In: Fire Effects Information System, [Online]. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory (Producer). Available: https://www.fs.usda.gov /database/feis/plants/tree/caldec/all.html [2025, January 1].