The oak treehopper nymphs (see post on April 25) have been becoming adults over the past week or so. The diversity in form and color in the insect world is spectacular.
Western Screech-Owl
The Western Screech-Owl is a beautiful bird that lives year-round at Mt. Pisgah.
It is a small owl with a length of about 8.5 inches. It has conspicuous ear tufts and yellow eyes. Its coloration and feather pattern resembles the bark of trees which allows it to blend in excellently with its surroundings. It is usually gray, but its color can vary. In northwestern humid regions, it is usually a darker brown. In arid areas, it is paler and grayer.
It is a nocturnal animal that usually leaves its roost to forage at sunset and returns a little before sunrise. It spends the day either in a cavity or perched at the entrance. During the breeding season, the male roosts near the nest cavity.
It lives mainly in forested habitats of deciduous trees. The arboretum provides the perfect environment with Oregon ash, Oregon white oak, cottonwoods, and big-leaf maple trees. These trees, especially the Oregon ash, provide plenty of cavities for shelter and nesting. In addition, the trees border open meadows where it loves to hunt.
It is a carnivore that mostly eats small mammals, such as mice, voles, and pocket gophers. Its diet also includes birds, insects, spiders, fish, lizards, snakes, and frogs.
The Peterson Field Guide to Birds of Western North America describes its vocalization as a, “Series of hollow whistles on one pitch, running into a tremolo (rhythm of a small ball bouncing to a stand-still).”
Nature is an inexhaustible source of wonder. Hope to see you out there.
Pileated Nestlings
Yesterday evening I decided to sit near the pileated woodpecker cavity to see if I could learn more about the status of the nest. The last couple of weeks that I went by the nest, I didn’t see or hear any activity around the nest. I was starting to grow concerned that the nest had possibly failed somehow. After about 20 minutes, I saw a little pileated at the entrance. I was so delighted and relieved to know that there was at least one in there. He curiously looked around at the outside world for a few minutes and then settled back down inside. About 10 minutes later, two heads emerged at the entrance to have a look around for a few minutes. I continued sitting there and watching. After being there for 45 minutes, I was surprised that a parent had not come by to feed and check on them. I decided to move on just in case my presence was influencing the parents. Slowly walking away, I caught a glimpse of the female moving quietly through the trees. I continued to slowly move along and soon saw the male too. The parents were quiet and seemed to be intently studying their surroundings. Happy to know the family was together and well, I moved on.
Rose Checkermallow
This pink flower grows on a fairly tall flower stalk and quickly catches your eye as you walk out into the south meadow.
When I got back home and started reading about this wildflower, I saw that there were other checker mallows. In order to distinguish Sidalcea malvaflora ssp. virgata (which I think this one is) from other checker-mallows west of the Cascades, look for hairs arranged in a star pattern and the notched petals.
They have soft, long strands of hair growing at the base of the stems, while shorter strands arranged in a star pattern cover the upper portions of the stems.
This star pattern sounds cool. I am going to go back out there tomorrow to see how noticeable this feature is, and hopefully, I will be able to take a photo of it.
I will give you an update tomorrow.
Seeds Forming
As the flowers lose their petals and start developing their seeds, they recede into the landscape. Seeing the old flower stalks and seed heads is usually tricker than I imagine. I have often returned to showy patches of wildflowers to collect seeds wondering where they all went. As I take time to look, the stalks and seed pods start to reveal themselves. They aren’t as showy, but they take on another subtle beauty with lovely forms. This is especially true as they mature and open to release their seeds. For me, it is like a whole other flower has formed and bloomed.
Bracken Fern Sprout
The spring is cool and wet. Bracken ferns are sprouting through the copper, fiery mat of last year’s leaves.
Note:
Unfortunately, the photo is a tad blurry. Maybe my camera had trouble focusing in the pouring rain. Nevertheless, I liked the visual and wanted to share it.
Coyote
One of the most beautiful animals in North America lives among us here at the arboretum—the coyote. The color of its fur is a varied palette of earth tones. Myriad hues of browns, grays, blacks, and whites are woven together to form a magical coat. It is a thatch work of clay, dry grass stalks, morning sun, bird songs, river sediments, decaying pine needles, a summer breeze, wildflower seeds, frost, burnt trees, lichen, pollen, moths, and moonlight.
Nature is an inexhaustible source of wonder. Hope to see you out there.
Blue Butterfly
A cool, quiet blue dye
delicately tints
the ephemeral life
that lives in all eternity
softening my eyes
and lightening the path
as I walk along
collecting memories.
Radiant Green Needles
From the end of the Douglas fir branches, luminescent, green needles are emerging. Their incandescence was warming as I walked around in the cool rain. They seemed like tiny fireworks bursting forth in celebration of the life-giving rains of spring.
Anna's Hummingbird Nest
This hummingbird nest is hidden among a thicket of lichen and honeysuckle vines. It is about 1 inch tall and 1.5 inches in diameter. It is made out of plant fibers and compactly held together by spider webs and/or insect cocoons. The female will further conceal the nest by decorating the outside of it with little bits of lichen or mosses. To make the interior cozy and warm, she will line it with small feathers or down from plants like cattail or willow. It is necessary during the chilly temperatures and rain of spring. The nest is truly a magical sight to behold.
Chipping Sparrow
I love this friendly little bird, and it has a cool Latin name—Spizella passerina. It has a black eye line with a white eyebrow. When breeding, it sports a bright rufous cap.
It likes to be around the White Oak Pavilion and the adjacent meadow. The Peterson Field Guide to North American Bird Nests says the chipping sparrow has a “Broad range of habitats with shrubby undergrowth that is often adjacent to grassy openings, including open coniferous, deciduous, and mixed forests, woodland edges, and clearings, along edges of montane meadows, riparian shorelines, in parks, orchards, farms, suburbs.” The arboretum is the perfect place for it to breed and raise a family.
I listened to it singing from the oak trees around the pavilion for about half an hour. The building seemed to be amplifying the sound, as I initially could hear it from the parking lot. Its song is a trill of evenly spaced dry chips.
It finally revealed itself and flew down to the ground to forage on some grass seeds. If you are quiet and still, this bird is accepting of your presence and you can get to watch it fairly up-close.
Be careful when identifying this bird by its song. The dark-eyed junco is in the area too and has a very similar trill. Good luck!
Oak Treehoppers
Once I saw these amazing creatures congregating on the end of a small twig, I couldn’t remember why I originally walked over to this particular oak tree. I called my friend Don over to have a look, and he exclaimed, “They’re Oak Treehoppers!”
The nymphs of the oak treehopper look fairly ominous. They are boldly colored black, red, and white. In addition, they have spikes on the top of their body and red eyes. As they grow and develop, they will change colors and patterns. So, I’ll be going back to check on them regularly to see how they evolve and take some photos.
Next to the nymphs was an adult treehopper. I didn’t see this adult at first because she resembled a small tree bud. The adult treehoppers become well-camouflaged as they mature turning olive-brown with yellow dots. This is the female, and she will stay around to stand guard and protect her nymph colony as they grow.
Treehoppers drink the sap of the tree.
Wild Blue Yonder
“A nobler want of man is served by nature, namely, the love of Beauty.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
All of the field guides are filled with science. They are overflowing with names and measurements like length, height, range, volume, shape, and time. This is one way to relate to the world, and it is part of my approach to learning and experiencing.
On the other side, I try to spend time out in nature letting go of all this information. Beyond the analysis and numbers are beauty and mystery, and I don’t have to go far to find them. It is hopping on the lawn and singing from the trees around the White Oak Pavilion. Although considered a commonplace bird, the American Robin is an amazing being. I am especially reminded of this every time I find its nest. It’s an elegant creation of lichens, mosses, grass, and mud cradling ethereal blue eggs. Seeing it evokes a sense of wonder out of reach of words.
Nature is an inexhaustible source of wonder. Hope to see you out there.
Pacific Wren Singing
This agile, little bird swiftly tumbles through the underbrush as it merrily searches for food. It ducks under fallen trees, disappears into thickets of sword fern fronds, and heroically bounds out onto a stump as it reappears.
It’s no surprise that its song is an energetic, warbling arrangement of notes that mimics its acrobatic movements.
Pacific Wren
Spring Red Leaves
The last post showed the vibrant green growth of new leaves as spring unfolds. On the other hand, within this same landscape, some plants’ new leaves begin as red—poison oak, Oregon white oak, and Oregon grape.
Check out this article I found online from Henderson State University:
Green Leaves Often Start and End as Red Leaves
The green coloration in the leaves of most plants is due to the presence of chlorophyll, a pigment used to absorb energy from the sun. Wavelengths of light from the visible spectrum (sometimes seen on rainy days as a "rainbow") are absorbed by the chlorophyll, with the exception of the green wavelengths, which are reflected. Young and old leaves very often are red, however. It is curious as to why some leaves begin development with red coloration, become green after they are largely grown, then return to red as they die.
The delayed greening has been studied as an adaptive strategy for the plant. One line of thought is that the young leaves are not yet performing photosynthesis, so they are not capturing energy from the sun and making food, therefore they are without much nutritive value to the plant. There also is little nutritive value to an herbivore. The plant is investing energy to grow the new leaf, so avoidance of herbivory allows the investment a better chance to mature. If being red decreases the risk that the new growth will be eaten by herbivorous animals, then the plant has used a successful strategy. Those species that delay greening have reddish leaves due to a chemical known as anthocyanin. This chemical appears reddish under more acid conditions and more bluish under basic conditions. Because most tissues are acid, the red color typically shows.
The optical properties of the anthocyanins have been studied most recently. Most invertebrate herbivores, such as insects, can detect colors in the blue range but not in the red range of the spectrum. Also, most mammals, with the exception of primates, essentially are blind to color in the yellow to red range, so perceive those colors as shades of gray. Red leaves would be perceived by leaf predators as somewhat dark and maybe dead, and therefore not a choice food material. Perhaps the red of new leaves, then, allows the plant to hide them by making them cryptic or unattractive to the herbivores that would otherwise eat them as they grow.
When the growing season is over, leaves become red or yellow as the chlorophyll begins to disappear due to shorter days and cooler weather. Red in dying leaves is due to the same pigment--anthocyanin--that made the young leaves red, but yellow coloration is caused by carotene. These fall colors can be therapeutic to humans due to the relaxing effect of the colors. However, the colors already were present; they were just hidden by the green chlorophyll for most of the year. Thus, as leaves of some deciduous plants begin to shed, they may return to the red color they had at the beginning of their life.
Link to website article:
Green Leaves Often Start and End as Red Leaves
Poison Oak
Oregon White Oak
Oregon Grape
Mosaics of Spring
A myriad of patterns burst forth in spring as all of the vibrant, new leaves emerge. Each plant forms a beautiful mosaic of shapes, sizes, and green colors.
The world feels fresh. My mind feels more open.
Western Gray Squirrel
The western gray squirrel is a marvelous creature. Its defining feature is an amazingly bushy tail that is nearly as long as its body. It has a beautiful coat of gray fur frosted with silver-white tips. Its underside and the crescents that bracket its eyes are white.
Look for this animal acrobatically moving through the trees or hopping around on the ground as it forages for food. A staple part of its diet at the arboretum is acorns. When the nuts are ripe, it will bury them in the ground or use a tree cavity to cache them. In June, I’ll see it whittle down the oak galls, presumably to eat the insect larvae inside. In early August, I’ll see it eating the inner bark of big leaf maples—under the tree will be small pieces of bark etched with teeth marks. I also see it eating Douglas-fir seeds and fungi.
For nesting, it uses tree cavities or builds a nest of sticks and leaves. It bears a single litter each year between late February and May.
It is a fairly shy animal and is rarely vocal. It is very aware of its surroundings, so I have to move slowly or be still to observe it. If it feels uncertain or afraid, it will scurry up into the tree canopy or bound away along the forest floor.
References
Mathews, Daniel. Cascade-Olympic Natural History. Raven Editions in conjunction with Portland Audubon Society, 1988.
Moskowitz, David. Wildlife of the Pacific Northwest: Tracking and Identifying Mammals, Birds, Reptiles, Amphibians, and Invertebrates. Timber Press, 2010.
Douglas Fir Cones
The male Douglas fir cones have opened up this week. The pollen can be seen flying through the air and coating the newly forming female cones at the end of the branch.
In some neighborhoods, the pollen can be seen swirling in the streets and coating parked cars. I have seen many people struggling with stuffy noses and watery eyes. Hopefully, the rain coming tomorrow night will help settle the dust and gives some folks a little relief.
Pileated Nesting
I have been trying to stay tuned in to the whereabouts of the pileated woodpecker pair that I posted about earlier this month. Ten days ago, I found the male making a substantial hole in a dead Douglas Fir. I wasn’t sure if he was searching for food or building a nesting cavity. I have returned there a couple of times to find him continuing to excavate the hole, so I feel that he is building a cavity for nesting. The last time I went by, he could get the top of his body inside the hole. Both the male and female excavate the cavity, but the male does more. The depth of the cavity can range from 10 to 24 inches, and it is 15 to 80 feet from the ground. It takes from 3 to 6 weeks to complete.
It is exciting to see a pair of them living and breeding at the arboretum.
Owl Pellets
The arboretum has perfect habitats for owls. There is an old barn with a silo for Barns Owls. There are old-growth cottonwoods along the river for Great Horned Owls. There are cavities in Oregon Ashes for Western Screech Owls and Northern Pygmy-Owls. There is a forested hillside with a mix of large Douglas firs, big-leaf maples, and incense cedars that attracted a Barred Owl this winter. Within all of the habitats, there are transition zones and open meadows that support an abundance of prey for owls—voles, mice, small birds, etc.
Owls will often spend consecutive days around the same perch from where they will roost during the day and hunt at night Most owls are nocturnal, but Northern Pygmy-Owls mostly hunt by day. Under these roosts, you can often find evidence of an owl’s presence: owl pellets.
Owls usually eat their prey whole or in large pieces. The fur, teeth, bones, or feathers of animals are indigestible. These parts are formed into an oval mass, passed back up the digestive system, and regurgitated some hours later, often while the owl is roosting. These pellets are a joy to find. On the outside, most owl pellets aren’t very remarkable. They are usually furry, matted orbs of hair. On the inside, they are a treasure of interesting bones, teeth, and skulls! Online there are illustrated charts that help identify all of the contents.
If you find it hard to locate an owl pellet, they are for sale. On the internet, I found a place in Baker City called Oregon Owl Pellets that sold large pellets for $3 apiece.
Nature is an inexhaustible source of wonder. Hope to see you out there.
