Anna's Hummingbird

As I entered the arboretum, I saw a male Anna’s hummingbird performing his steep J-shaped dive. I watched him dive and circle back up to his starting point four or five times. He then perched on a branch towards the top of a tree where he began vocalizations and displaying his iridescent, gorget feathers. I soon discovered the female perched on this small branch in front of me. The male continued his displays, and I took a few photos as she perched there so still. When I looked at the photos at home I noticed that her eyes were closed in a bunch of photos. In The Sibley Guide to Bird Life & Behavior, David Sibley writes, “The female may appear mesmerized, often closing her eyes and becoming frozen in position during the shuttle displays.” Sibley also writes, “Hummingbirds do not form pair bonds; they come together only to mate. Males therefore set up territories where they will encounter females, while females claim territories with good nesting sites.” I am left wondering why all this is happening in December.

Vocalization description:
The Cornell lab says, ”Anna’s Hummingbirds have a distinctive song that is long for a hummingbird (10 seconds or more). It's a series of buzzes, then a clearer, more tuneful whistle, followed by more emphatic chip notes; then the bird may repeat the whole set of buzz-whistle-chip sounds.” Click the link to listen.
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Annas_Hummingbird/sounds

Click on images to enlarge.

Sporangia

Sorus (plural sori) is a cluster of sporangia, which is the structure producing and containing spores. My first post back on September 30 showed licorice ferns unfurling from the first rains at the end of summer. Since then, the sporangia have been developing and you can see the sori on the underside of the leaves in two neat rows. They look so beautiful and delicate. Yet, I get the feeling that they sturdy and hardy too. I have been checking on them fairly regularly to see when they are going to release their spores.

Below you can see a forest of licorice ferns growing on a fallen tree, and there is another photo of the underside of the frond.

Fishnet Lichen

As you enter the arboretum at the White Oak Pavilion, one of the most noticeable features in the landscape is the lichen covering the trees, such as, the Oregon white oak and the Oregon ash. It feels like that If you stood in one place for too long, lichen might start growing on you.

Lichen is the combination of two organisms. It is part fungus which is known as the mycobiont. It is part green algae and/or cyanobacteria which is the photosynthetic organism known as the photobiont. The more I read about lichens, the more complex this partnership (mutualistic symbiosis) seems to be. Basically the fungus is able to obtain food that is produced through photosynthesis by the photobiont. The green algae or cyanobacteria benefit from the fungus by being protected from the environment, for example, to keep from drying out.

One that is particularly eye-catching is the curtains of Fishnet lichen hanging in the trees. They have a lobed structure that resembles a fishnet.

There are more than a 1000 lichens growing in the Pacific Northwest (Oregon, Washington, British Columbia and Alaska)!

Cirrus Clouds

High level clouds that generally occur at 16,500 feet or higher. They are made of ice crystals and have a wispy appearance as if its cottony fibers have been stretched out across the sky. There are different types of cirrus clouds, and I’ll mention just a couple that I took photos of today. Cirrus intortus are irregularly shaped clouds that are usually curved or as the Latin translation of intortus means, “twisted or wound.” You can see some represented in the photo to the right. Cirrus fibratus clouds derive their name from Latin, meaning “fibrous.” That’s what the clouds in the first photo below look like to me. The fascinating part was that all of these different cirrus cloud formations were in the same sky, and they were constantly changing as I stood there watching them.

Reference:
Ludlum, David M. The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Weather. Knopf, 1993.

Mistletoe Berries

As I started out on a walk yesterday at the arboretum, I noticed some birds fluttering around In the oak trees by the parking lot at arboretum. They were in the trees just above the office. As I walked up there to take a closer look, I saw that they were western bluebirds. As I watched them, I noticed that the mistletoe was loaded with berries, and they were excitedly feasting on them. I hadn’t noticed the berries on the mistletoe, and I was grateful to the bluebirds for pointing them out.

Listen for the call of the western bluebird. Peterson describes it as a “short pew or mew.” Cornell Lab of Ornithology describes, “The most common call is a soft, quavering kew that may be given from a perch or in flight and is often given several times in succession.”

Click here to have a listen: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Western_Bluebird/sounds

Magical Mystery Tour

There is a science behind leaves changing colors in the fall. Chlorophyll is the green pigment produced by plants that enables them to absorb energy from the sun in the process of photosynthesis. So in the fall when deciduous trees stop making chlorophyll, the green fades and other pigments in the leaves come on display. It’s a fascinating story to read about, and I recommend you check it out.

On the other side of the coin, is the indescribable feeling when witnessing the exposition of fall colors. It reminds me that the world is so mysteriously magical.

Turkey Tail Fungus

When this organism first caught my eye, I thought it was a moth. Realizing it wasn’t a moth, I went in for a closer look. I was so struck by the beautiful bands of brown and the velvety texture. Elegantly nestled in the moss, it was attached directly, without a stem, to a decaying log. I lightly touched it, still imagining it would fly away. I looked it up when I got home and found that it was possibly a turkey tail fungus. I went back today to look underneath to see if it had pores, which it does. I found one on the ground, that had probably been broken off, and I was able to bend it. Flexibility is one of the traits of turkey tail fungus. Turkey tails also have a velvety texture on top, which I reaffirmed today. I’m so glad that these magnificent, little creatures are apart of my awareness now.

Yellow Torches

In the warm, autumn sun, a handful of dandelion flowers can be found bursting open - a yellow ember to hold in your heart to spark all of the new ideas conceived over the winter.

Hazelnut Catkins

It is interesting to see the hazelnut’s male catkins forming at the same time the leaves are changing colors and falling from the trees. I will usually start seeing the first catkins opening up and releasing their pollen sometime in January. The female flowers are the small, red stigmas that you see protruding from a bud. The flowers are wind pollinated and need to be from a separate, compatible, pollinating variety.

You can see the delicate splash of yellow leaves from the hazelnut trees in the forest above the White Oak Pavilion.

I have a hazelnut tree in my yard. If there is a sunny, warm afternoon and the catkins are open, I will sometimes see my honeybees foraging some of the pollen.

The Creek Is Flowing

With all of the steady rain, I saw yesterday that the creek has begun to flow again. It winds through the little valley that opens up at the White Oak Pavilion. There is a small spillway just above the lower bridge that leads into the pavilion, and I saw children attracted to the sound of the gurgling, splashing water. In the spring, I remember seeing birds taking lively, fluttering baths or swooping in for a drink. Welcome back little creek, I missed you.

Color, Pattern & Texture

As I walk around at the arboretum, I am amazed at the shapes, colors, textures and patterns of all the different life forms. In the first photo, the scaly leaves of an incense-cedar branch that broke off during a storm turned a beautiful copper color. Nearby on the ground was another fallen branch laden with lichen. Just around the corner was a dead tree that still felt solid and was adorned with vertical grooves. It seemed such a contrast from the fuzzy entanglement of the lichen. Then I find myself constantly drawn to the vibrant foliage of the licorice fern sprouting throughout the forest.

I imagine that a sign of a healthy environment is one that it is full of diversity. It certainly makes it a more interesting place to live.

Common Snowberry

The Latin name for snowberry is Symphoricarpos albus. Symphori- means “bear together,” and –carpos means fruits. Albus means white. You can see in the photos these snow-white berries growing in clusters. They are very eye-catching against the muted earth tones of grays and browns.

The bush is a thicket of little branches that provides cover for birds. Lately I have seen a spotted towhee scratching around in the underbrush, and occasionally it will hop up into the snowberry bush to get a berry. It is the only animal I have observed eating them this year.

Lung Lichen or Lungwort

Walking along the pond lily trail, I came across lung lichen (Lobaria pulmonary) growing on the branches of the Pacific Ninebark shrub. Over the summer, the lung lichen was a brownish-green and felt like paper. With all of the recent moisture, some of it has turned bright green and has become soft and pliable. Some of it hasn’t changed from its summer color. I don’t know how long lung lichen lives, maybe it went through its life cycle. Or maybe it suffered from the dryness and poor air quality from the smoke of the late summer fires. It is sensitive to air pollution and won’t grow in places where the air quality is poor, such as in a city.

Lung lichen is an epiphyte, which means that it’s a plant that grows above the ground, supported nonparasitically by another plant or object, and derives its nutrients and water from the rain, air and other organic matter that gathers on or around it.

Lichens are amazing organisms, and I hope you read more about them. While reading about lichens, I came across this information:
”Representatives of a species called the map lichen (Rhizocarpus geographicum) have been aged in the arctic at 8,600 years, by far the oldest living organisms on the planet.”
https://www.nps.gov/glac/learn/nature/lichens.htm

Grasshopper Camouflage

The coloration and markings of grasshoppers give them remarkable camouflage. This ability to blend in to their environment helps them from being detected by predators. I will often see them jump, land and seemingly disappear into the landscape. That said, grasshoppers are an important part of the ecology in providing a nutritious food source for other animals. Also, through their consumption of plant material, they recycle nutrients back into the environment through their excrement. The cool weather and rain have come, and I have seen only a few grasshoppers recently. I look forward to seeing them next year.

Be sure to click on the photos so that you can open them into a larger frame and take a closer look.

Poison Oak Berries

Poison oak produces small clusters of berries that you can still see drooping from the stems. Over the last couple of weeks as I have walked around bird watching, I have frequently observed chickadees zipping in and out of poison oak patches gleaning berries. They usually pluck one and fly over to a near by branch. They don’t eat it whole. They hold it down against the branch with their feet and open it up. It appears that they are eating the fleshy part of the berry, and I imagine they ingest a few of the seeds too.

Poison oak loves living in disturbed areas, especially old farms like Mt. Pisgah Arboretum. I have heard poison oak referred to as the “protector plant.” It protects areas that have been disturbed so that they can heal. So it is no surprise that poison oak is an established plant of the ecosystem there. I am really allergic to poison oak, so it certainly keeps me out of certain areas and reminds me to try to minimize my impact on the environment.

Ready and... Action!

Ruby-crowned Kinglets are one of my favorite birds. Over the past couple of weeks they have migrated back to the area.

I see them in mixed flocks with golden-crowned kinglets, chickadees, bushtits, nuthatches and brown creepers. They are very energetic, zipping from one branch to another gleaning insects. I will often see them hover in place underneath a leaf or branch of a plant as they catch an insect.

I will often hear their call note that Peterson describes in his field guide as a husky "ji-dit”. Even now I will occasionally hear them sing a line of their song. It is such a sweet, warbling whistle. Peterson describes it as, “several high notes, lower notes, and a chant, tee tee tee-tew tew tew — ti-didee, tididee, tididee.”

I managed to get a photo that wasn’t completely a blur of this high-spirited, enthusiastic creature.

Deer Signs

There are deer living out at Mt Pisgah, and I see plenty of signs they leave behind indicating their presence. You can see trails leading through the meadow, footprints left on soft ground and a variety of different scat depending on the season and food source.

Also during the mating season or rut, males will rub on trees to create a sign post that marks their territory. It is a visual marker and a scent marker.

Dragonflies Still Flying

Here we are, well into the fall season, and I still see dragonflies. When I catch the flash of their brilliant color markings, along with their swift, flying maneuvers, I always pause to watch.

A couple of days ago I was walking along, and I heard something buzzing. On the ground, there were two dragonflies joined in mating. The male grips the female just behind her head and she will curl her abdomen forward underneath the male to pick the sperm near the base of his abdomen. I will often see dragonflies flying around in this tandem. This pair flew off as I came in closer for a photo. After a little while, I saw one of the dragonflies come back and rest on this limb. This time it was more cooperative in having its picture taken.

Dragonflies will often land on the tip of a plant or a small branch overlooking their territory where you can get a good look at them. As a kid I would spend time on my grandparent’s farm. They had a pond where we often went fishing with cane poles. I remember dragonflies landing on the end of my pole as I stood there patiently waiting for a fish to bite. Those were the days when it seemed like summer lasted forever.

dragonfly_resting_web.jpg

Mullein

Mullein is a biennial plant. In the first year, the seed will germinate and grow this beautiful rosette. All going well, during the second year it will send up a flower stalk covered with densely packed yellow flowers. The leaves are soft and covered with a velvety fuzz. Mullein plants usually grow in disturbed areas that are open with plenty of sunshine. This photo was taken along the river just below the parking lot at the arboretum.

In mid to late summer, I see downy woodpeckers on the flower stalks opening the seed pods. I see them extracting small larvae that have taken up residence inside. If I look closely at the flower stalk during the summer, I will often see this small weevil crawling around on it. I wonder if those small larvae are from weevils.

On a US Forest Service/USDA website titled Fire Effects Information System, it mentioned that mullein seeds have germinated after 100 years or more in the soil. Seeds are amazing!
(website: https://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/plants/forb/vertha/all.html)