Northern Pygmy Owl

I had been wandering around for a while on Saturday afternoon, and I thought the birding had been pretty quiet. The weather was cool and a little rainy off and on. Thus, I found myself exploring the world of mosses which abound throughout the arboretum. This had me moving at a snail’s pace, which allowed me to be more tuned into my awareness and to make greater observations.

I was on the meadow’s edge near the White Oak Pavilion when a chickadee grabbed my attention. Its vocalizations seemed more intense as it broke the quietness of the late afternoon. As I watched and listened, I thought the notes had a different rhythm. Also, they were being repeated fairly continuously. Then a song sparrow popped up on top of some snowberry beside me and was calling. As I gazed forward out into the meadow, I saw something move out of the corner of my eye. As I looked over there, I saw a small bird fly out of the grass and land on the lower branch of an oak. I looked through my binoculars to see that it was a northern pygmy owl with a rodent in its talons! That chickadee had seen it and I think the song sparrow knew from the chickadee’s alarm calls that there was a predator. The song sparrow was on the ground along the bank of the river and I don’t think it could have seen that owl.

As I watched the owl, I was surprised at how much it constantly whipped its head around looking in every direction. It stayed there for about 10 minutes and then, to my surprise, it flew closer to me. As it took off to fly, its body dipped down in the air from the rodent’s weight and it went to the first branch it could land on. It stayed there for a few minutes and then took another short flight to a limb in the next tree. From here it started to tear apart its prey. After about another 10 minutes it hopped down to sit on a clump of lung lichen seen in the first photograph.

Unfortunately, I had somewhere to be and I was already running late. I wanted to stay and watch it eat. I didn’t think it could eat that whole rodent in one sitting. I wonder where it went for the night to stash the rodent to eat later. The Northern Pygmy Owl hunts mostly by day, so I assume it finds somewhere like a tree cavity to rest at night.

In the second photograph, you can see the dark patches on the back of its neck that look like eyespots. This is such an amazing creature and I am thankful that I got to see it. Nature is an inexhaustible source of wonder. I look forward to seeing you out there.

Douglas-fir Needles and Bud

It was foggy and quiet out at the arboretum today. Walking along the upper meadow, I was struck by the majesty of the Douglas-fir trees shrouded in a white mist. Their needles and the overwintering buds are so beautiful.

The pointed buds are a rich amber color with overlapping resinous scales. They really stand out against the complementary green of the needles.

The needles are .5-1.5 inches long with a blunt tip. They are green above with two white stripes on the underside. The needles are noticeably lighter underneath when you flip the branch over. Their arrangement can vary from nearly flat-lying to radiating uniformly around the twig.

This is probably the most common tree in Oregon because it was planted throughout the state for the economic value of its timber. For me, I like to revisit things in nature that I pass by everyday and renew my wonder. There is always something new to see and experience.

Our Senses

What sophisticated instruments could possibly be created to surpass our senses and intuitive, loving hearts?

Instruments can’t measure the exhilaration of plunging into a cold mountain stream on a hot summer’s day; measure the calming sound of gentle rain falling on the earth; compute the smell of decaying leaves; or calculate the beauty of a blue mountain shrouded in the mist of dawn; or cipher out the taste a ripe strawberry picked from your garden.

We have an immense capacity to embrace and know the world through our innate faculties, to take the time to observe, appreciate, celebrate, wonder, and share this mysterious life.

Fungus on Fungus

The rains of fall have settled in. The earth is damp and cool. Water drips from the boughs of evergreens and beds of moss growing on the limbs of maples. Under this humid forest canopy, an ashen figure quietly stands. Its body appears charred and sculpted by the torridity of fire that is deeply intertwined with this land. What is this marvelous, little creature that I am kneeling in front of that is so mysterious and beautiful?

This scorched-looking relic is a mushroom! I am unsure which mushroom because it is a vast world I know little about. I do know I find them fascinating and that their role in ecosystems is indispensable. Their variety in shape and color is truly remarkable. I just posted about a mushroom that resembles an orange peel!

That said, I can steer you in a direction and you can research it and see what you think. Helvella is a genus of mushrooms commonly known as Elfin Saddles because some have small, saddle-shaped caps. In Mushrooms Demystified by David Arora, there is one called Helvella lacunosa. In the comments section he writes, “This species is by far the most common of our Helvellas, often appearing in large groups or troops after winter rains. When fresh it is virtually unmistakable because of its gray to black cap and deeply fluted stem, but it is frequently disfigured by a white, moldy parasite (Hypomyces cervinigenus).”

Nature is an inexhaustible source of wonder. I look forward to seeing you out there.

Resource
Arora, David. Mushrooms Demystified: A Comprehensive Guide to the Fleshy Fungi. 2nd ed, Ten Speed Press, 1986.

Orange Peel Fungus Releasing Spores

I mentioned in my last post that when I knelt to take a photo of the orange peel fungus my breath triggered the release of its spores. There was a slight delay of a few seconds from when I blew on it and the spores were emitted. It reminds me of when you squeeze an orange peel and it releases a mist of oils.

Orange Peel Fungus

As the light wanes as we approach the winter solstice, the orange peel fungus is a warm flare of color bursting out of the forest floor. When it first appears, its shape is round and cup-shaped. As it matures, it can become saucer-shaped, wavy, flattened, or irregularly contorted, resembling a discarded orange peel lying on the ground.

I found a little piece on the ground that had broken off and wondered where the spores were produced. As I bent down to take a closer look and take a photo, a puff of spores came off the surface. It was kind of cold out and at first, I thought I was seeing my breath. I went over to another one and the same thing happened. I realized that my breath triggered a release of spores. It reminded me of when you squeeze an orange peel and it releases a mist of oils.

In Mushrooms Demystified, David Arora writes this about its habitat, “Scattered to gregarious or in fused clusters on ground, fruiting mainly in the fall and winter in our area; widely distributed and very common. It seems to prefer bare soil or sand along roads, paths, landslides, etc., but also grows in grass or moss.” I found this patch growing in an open section of ground next to the trail where a tree had previously stood. The tree had fallen over during the ice storm and removing it left the area mostly bare with some wood chips and fallen debris from the trees.

I love it when a ray of sunlight coming through the forest illuminates this fungus's bright, orange-fruiting body. Nature is an inexhaustible source of wonder. I look forward to seeing you out there.

Resource
Arora, David. Mushrooms Demystified: A Comprehensive Guide to the Fleshy Fungi. 2nd ed, Ten Speed Press, 1986.

Douglas-fir Cone Fungus

The world of fungi can easily escape my awareness most of the year until the autumn rains arrive and Mt. Pisgah holds its annual mushroom festival.

The weekend following the festival August Jackson volunteered to lead a mushroom walk and we found these tiny mushrooms growing out of a Douglas-fir cone. The fungus was identified as Strobilurus trullisatus. The cap is 0.5-1.5 cm broad, convex to plane, or slightly depressed. It is often striate or wrinkled and its color ranges from white to pinkish-buff or brownish. The apex of the stalk is white and the lower portion is yellowish to brownish to tawny. The base of the stalk has yellow to tawny-orange hairs and mycelial threads. I love the way the mushrooms emerge from underneath the scales.

In the book Mushrooms Demystified, David Arora states that its habitat is on old Douglas-fir cones or rarely cones of other conifers and fruits after the first fall rains. At the beginning of his book, there is a section on habitats. Under Douglas-fir, he writes, “There are well over 1,000 kinds of mushrooms known to form mycorrhiza with Douglas-fir, and the great Douglas-fir forests of the Pacific Northwest are among the best fungal foraging grounds in the world.” That is truly incredible!

Nature is an inexhaustible source of wonder. I look forward to seeing you out there.

Resource
Arora, David. Mushrooms Demystified: A Comprehensive Guide to the Fleshy Fungi. 2nd ed, Ten Speed Press, 1986.

Mushroom Gills

This time of year there is a different bloom happening, especially in the Northwest part of the United States. Mushroom-forming fungi are sending up their fruiting bodies which come in a fascinating variety of shapes, colors, and sizes. On the underside of the cap is the part of the mushroom where the spores are produced and come in four categories: pores, gills, teeth, or ridges. I am still pretty new to the world of fungi and I feel the one I photographed here has pores. As I started researching, I learned this part is valuable and often crucial in identification which, for me, is a vast and complex world I am still discovering.

My inspiration for this post is to show you the amazing architecture hiding under this mushroom cap. I also want to remind you (and me) that even during the cold, rainy months of late fall and winter with shorter daylight, there is so much beautiful life to seek and explore. I hope to see you out there!

Plate Gall Wasps

I wrote a blog post about plate gall wasps on Sept. 11. I revisited the small oak tree by the path on the upper part of the first meadow south of the pavilion where they occurred. I observed that they had turned brown, and become thicker, and some had fallen to the ground. I was curious to see what was inside them because many of the galls remained on the leaf, and some looked shriveled. I was unsure if the ones on the ground were still viable. I picked one up and gently opened it to see if anything was inside. I found a small larva curled around the center. These little pastries provided protection and a food source for the insect larva to grow. I poked around through the fallen plant debris on the ground and found a few that looked like they had been opened. When I magnified them to take a photo I could see that the center had been removed and the larvae were gone. I imagine the larva chewed out of the gall to find a place to form a pupa and wait to hatch out in the spring. The circle in the middle seems even and well made as if the larva nibbled its way out. Also, a predator might have opened the gall to eat its juicy contents, but I only found these two. There were plenty of other ones lying around untouched.

In The Nature of Oaks, Doug Tallamy writes that it is necessary to leave the landscape underneath oak trees undisturbed. He even recommends letting some native plants grow around the tree to help create a habitat for insects to carry out their lifecycle. This creates a zone below the tree that keeps you from mowing it or walking on it which might harm them. The fallen leaves and other debris also help to create a layer of protection during the cold winter months.

Birds Eating Poison Oak Berries

After last Sunday’s mushroom festival, I decided to walk along the river back to my car. There was a nice rain shower to conclude the festival and most people had taken off. It was quiet as I walked down the path and I could hear birds calling to one another ahead of me. As I rounded the corner, I saw a flock of yellow-rumped warblers flitting around a patch of poison oak eating the berries. They were so beautiful in the late afternoon light, and I watched them for quite a while. The light must have been just right because I was profoundly struck by their elegant shape, colors, and feather patterns. Honestly, it felt as if I just saw the bird for the first time. They eventually moved down into the willows by the river and I decided to return the next day to see if I could get some photos of them.

When I returned the next morning, I didn’t find any yellow-rumped warblers at the poison oak patch, but many other birds were feasting on them, to my surprise. I quietly stood on the trail for about 45 minutes and watched as they came and went. Here’s is the list of birds I saw eating them: Spotted Towhee, Golden-crowned sparrow, Black-capped Chickadee, Northern Flicker, Downy Woodpecker, Hermit Thrush, Dark-eyed Junco, Bushtit, Song Sparrow, and the Yellow-rumped Warbler from the day before. Some American Robins popped out of the thicket from on the ground and I imagine they were eating them too although I didn’t directly see them.

There is so much poison oak at the arboretum and I am not always enthusiastic about its abundance. So I am happy to see that it is an important food source for birds in the fall. I also realize that poison oak is easily spread by all of these birds eating the berries and distributing the seeds in their guano. Happy birding!

Circuitry Conundrum

I haven’t the slightest idea of how things work, so all I can say is that my computer has been under the weather these days. I am not sure what has been happening, but the synapses inside the brain of this gizmo have been firing so slowly. It seems to be constantly contemplating every little thing I do to the point that writing a post has been pretty much impossible. That said, I was finally able to get this message out to let you know that I have not abandoned my post!

I love the pattern of the vascular system of this Oregon Ash leaf. It’s pulsing with electricity as it manufactures energy from sunlight beaming down on its surface.

Dogwood Sawfly Larvae

On an insect walk guided by Karen Richards we went and looked at the larvae of the dogwood sawfly. They have fly in their common name, but they are actually wasps. We found them curled up on the underside of red-osier dogwood leaves where they hide out and rest during the day. At night when it is safer from predators, they will come out to eat the leaves. Starting at the end of the limb and working downward, the leaves were completely eaten. Where the leaves were only partially chewed, we found the larvae were usually resting underneath. The shrub wasn’t completely infested. There was only a few branches where they could be found. The larvae were all white with a little cotton-like fluff on their bodies. It was like they had on a fleece to keep them warm at night. This fleece is molted as the larva enters its last instar and becomes green with black spots on the upperside of its body and yellow on the underside. Soon the larvae will drop down to the ground and create a chamber in the soil or soft wood to pupate. It will overwinter in the pupal stage and emerge as an adult in the spring. From photos online, the adult wasps were black or amber with antennae and feet that were white on the end. The female uses her ovipositor to saw or cut into the edge of a dogwood leaf or stem, hence the common name. She then inserts her fertilized eggs into the small opening. When the eggs hatch out, the larvae will begin feeding on the leaves.

The ground around the red osier dogwood where these larvae were found can often be flooded during the winter during rainy periods. Either the larvae know to seek out areas to pupate that are above the water or the cocoons are able to withstand being submerged in water temporarily.

Inner Nature

Paul Cezanne said, “For an Impressionist to paint from nature is not to paint the subject but to ‘realize’ sensations.” I love this time of year as summer transitions into fall. The day starts cool and clouds hug the earth diffusing the light of the sunrise. As the day emerges, the sun dissipates the fog and warms the air. It feels good to walk in the sunshine. The leaves are turning shades of red, yellow, and brown. Their crisping bodies rattle on the trees and are beginning to fall. The occasional fall rainshower percolates through the layers of leaves on the ground emitting a sweet aroma of decay. Crickets are chirping in the late afternoon and grasshoppers are still leaping through the grass. As you spend time in nature during this magical time of year, I hope that it paints your heart and spirit full of sensations bringing you serenity, wonder, and joy.

Reference
The Editors of Realites, Impressionism. Chartwell Books Inc., 1973.

Yellowjackets

In the spring, a few yellowjacket traps were set out at the arboretum to try and capture some of the queens as they emerged to start new colonies.

As a brief side note, yellowjacket nests die off in the fall here. New queens are created at the end of each summer, mate with males, and then find sheltered places to overwinter. In the spring, the queens will emerge, find a nest site, and start a new colony. Once the nest starts to become established with workers they will take over the tasks of continuing to build the nest and tending to developing larvae.

As I was saying, this would hopefully reduce the number of nests, thus reducing the number of yellowjackets during the summer months when events were taking place at the pavilion. A few yellowjackets were captured and I thought they were the queens based on the size. I have been stung by plenty of yellowjackets over the years, and I was certain they weren’t that big. I showed the yellowjackets to some people, who weren’t sure if they were queens or workers. So, I took them to the Oregon State University (OSU) Extension in town and asked them. They concluded that they were workers, not queens. Well, I decided to wait and capture more yellowjackets during the summer once the nests became more established and compare them to the ones we caught in the spring. And here are the results. The one captured in the spring is on the left and the one captured in the summer is on the right. It looks like the ones caught in the spring were indeed queens.

Spider Retreat

There are lots of spiders out in the fall getting ready for Halloween. They are building webs everywhere for you to walk into and getting bigger and more hairy and more scary! I’m just playing around, spiders are amazing creatures and are a vital part of keeping the ecosystem healthy.

Out at the arboretum today I took a little walk with my friend Patrick and we saw an orb weaver resting in the middle of its web. Patrick decided to take a photo of it and as he was trying to get his camera to focus on it, it got scared and scurried to the side of the web where it hid under a leaf. As we investigated its hideout, we noticed that it had built this shelter by bending over the leaves with its silk. I imagine it builds this little refuge as a place to escape to if it detects danger from a predator or during inclement weather like a chilly fall rainstorm. Just down from this one we found another orb weaver spider and it had one too, as you see in second photo.

Flatsedge

This sedge grows on the rocky shoulders of the river. I was drawn to the plant by its floral arrangement, which reminds me of a small bottlebrush. The flattened spikes radiate outward from a central stem. The spikes looked like they could potentially be a little prickly, but when I touched them, they were fairly soft.

This appears to be a flatsedge in the Cyperus genus, which, if so, isn’t native to this area. Many non-native plants seem to be dispersed and sown along the Willamette River corridor. It makes sense that streams carry seeds and uprooted plants and when the higher waters of winter recede, they are left on the bank in rich sediments to sprout and grow.

My hope is that this plant isn’t too vigorous and doesn't overtake habitats, preventing native plants from thriving. Also, maybe it is similar enough to a native plant and it might be suitable to eat and/or act as a host plant for some insects.

At this moment, I am trying to stay open to learning about it and appreciating its form and beauty.

Gall Wasps Galore

Check out how many galls are forming on the underside of this oak leaf! They remind me of brightly colored candy sprinkles you would use to decorate a cupcake for a kid’s birthday party.

While holding this leaf up to take a photo, it was noticeably heavy from all these galls and it seemed like it could easily become unattached from the additional weight. The top of the leaf was still dark green, so all of these galls didn’t seem to be affecting the leaf’s ability to photosynthesize.

As you can see, two kinds are forming. The Pinched Leaf Gall Wasp looks like a basket or small pastry pinched shut at the top. They can vary in color from tan to red. The other one is a saucer-shaped gall with a brown bump in the middle. That one is identified as an Undescribed Plate Gall Wasp #8. The galls are small and I imagine the wasps that emerge from them are only a couple of millimeters long.

I took this photo where a few small oak trees are growing along the edge where the forest meets the meadow. Many of these young oaks were adorned with leaf and stem galls. I’m not sure why the wasps chose to lay their eggs on these oaks. For some reason they found this area a more suitable location than the oaks out in the meadow where I saw far fewer.

Brown Creeper Nest

Two big cedars are growing next to each other and have joined at the base over the years. The bark on the outer part of one of the trees slightly separated from the tree’s base. It created a sturdy structure protected from the weather and was the perfect location for brown creepers to nest. I observed this nest over the summer but wanted to stay back from it while it was used. The fledglings left the nest about 6 weeks ago, so now it was okay to check it out. I waded through a little poison oak to get a better look at the location. The nest was near the top of the opening where it was about two fingers in width. Below the nest, there was material that probably fell during the construction as they started to anchor it into place. There was a considerable amount down there, enough to make another nest. I wonder why they didn’t retrieve more of those pieces to weave them back into it. I took the nest out and placed it on a bench to look at the materials used to make it. The nest was mostly made of small, thin pieces of cedar bark. The top of the nest consisted mostly of soft, tiny strips of bark fibers with a few feathers tucked in here and there. This created a soft place to lay the eggs and formed a cozy home for the babies.

It is interesting to see a nest that isn’t supported on the top or the bottom. All About Birds by The Cornell Lab says, “She builds the frame of the nest by layering twigs and strips of bark. She uses insect cocoons and spider egg cases to stick those materials to each other and to the inner surface of the tree bark.” I didn’t notice any cocoons or egg cases being used to hold the nest together and in place. It seemed held there simply by friction from wedging the debris into the bark crevice. The inner part of the bark is rough and I am sure provides some support in helping hold it in place. I love finding one of these nests. They are always in fascinating locations.

Nature is an inexhaustible source of wonder. I look forward to seeing you out there.

Resources
Brown Creeper Life History, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology. https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Brown_Creeper/lifehistory. Accessed 2 Sept. 2024.

Kingfisher Nest Cavity

I found these holes in the river bank recently that look like former nesting sites of belted kingfishers. The diet of belted kingfishers consists mostly of fish, so naturally, they usually choose a nest site near water. The nest location is in an earthen bank that is free from obstacles such as tree roots or rocks, which makes for easy digging. You can see in the photo that there aren’t any tree roots and the burrow is in a soft layer of silt that is above the layer of river stones. They’ll also pick a place high up on the bank to avoid potential floodwaters. This looks like a great location.

The kingfishers will create a burrow 3–6 feet into the bank that is angled upwards so that rainwater doesn’t drain down into the nest. At the end of the tunnel is a nesting space 8–12 inches in diameter and 6–7 inches high. The nestlings of Belted Kingfishers are able to digest the bones and scales they consume. Curiously, as they mature and are ready to leave the nest their digestive ability changes. The fish skeletons and invertebrate shells seemingly become undigestible and they start coughing up in pellets.

I waited until after the breeding season to venture along the river, especially in places where I was aware of potential nesting areas. In my experience, most birds prefer that people stay back from their nests. A good pair of binoculars is great for observing nests at a distance. That said, I feel kingfishers are exceptionally sensitive to human activity. So please avoid areas where you might suspect nesting kingfishers. One of the biggest threats to wildlife is the loss of habitat. I have to remind myself too that we need to be responsible stewards of nature and respect other creatures and their need for space to live and raise a family.

Watching Clouds

I want to fly like
the albatross,
effortlessly over the oceans
surrounded by
the immense gravity
of endless blue.
Propellers of air
sweeping off the surface
of the water
carrying me
over the curve
of the horizon.
Me—a white crescent sail
of peace circling the earth
reminding all that
we can live in harmony
with nature and
each other.