Trillium

In Cascade-Olympic Natural History Daniel Mathews writes: “What a pleasure, seeing the year’s first trilliums in March or April, just when the winter rains feel like Forever! Quinault elders used to warn their youngsters that picking trillium would bring rain — a safe bet in Quinault country at that time of year.”

Rain is probably a safe bet here too, for which I am grateful. Trilliums are a soothing salve for soggy spirits in spring. Say that alliteration ten times really fast!

Mt. Pisgah has two types of trilliums:
Giant Trillium (Trillium albidum)
Western Trillium (Trillium ovatum ssp. ovatum)

On the website of Sevenoaks Native Nursery they told how to tell them apart: “The slightly mottled leafy bracts directly subtend the sessile white three-petaled flower, this is a good indicator of telling T. albidum apart from T. ovatum, whose flower rises above the leafy bracts.”

Definitions.
Sessile - Botany. attached by the base, or without any distinct projecting support, as a leaf issuing directly from the stem.
Subtend - Botany. (of a bract) extend under (a flower) so as to support or enfold it.

Giant Trillium (Trillium albidum)

Giant Trillium (Trillium albidum)

Giant Trillium (Trillium albidum)

White Fawn Lily

As the dawn of spring breaks over Mt. Pisgah, luminescent white lilies will transform the arboretum into a starry-eyed landscape.

White Fawn Lily
Erythronium oregonum

Heralds of Spring

The Bewick’s wren felt like the official messenger of spring on this warm, sunlit day.

Peterson’s field guide says this about its vocals: “Song suggests a Song Sparrow’s, but thinner, starting on two or three high notes, dropping lower, ending on a thin trill; calls sharp vit, vit and buzzy dzzzzzt.”

Listen to the sounds of the Bewick’s Wren on All About Birds:
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Bewicks_Wren/sounds

I regularly see a pair of American kestrels around the south meadow, and they often sit in the old, blanched snag out there. As I was attempting to photograph the female, the male flew down to mate. The encounter was brief and the photo is out of focus, but you get the picture.

Nuttall's Toothwort

The stem comes out of the earth in a graceful arch. At the end of the arch, a flower slightly washed in pink, bows in greeting to welcome you to the forest as it awakens to spring.

As plants sprout and flowers open, I’m always amazed at the hidden beauty lying below the surface. There is so much life just underneath my feet that I walk past unknowingly. In spring, an unassuming patch of ground becomes transformed into a marvel that stops me in my tracks.

Public Service Announcement:
It is important to stay on the trail and keep dogs on a leash during this time of year so that plants don’t become trampled.

Latin name: Cardamine nuttallii

Nest Box - House Wren

There are nest boxes dotted around the arboretum, and I volunteered to clean them out this year. When I got to this box, I knew it was stuffed full of sticks, because I watched a house wren build a nest in there last summer. I did a drawing as I observed him industriously find sticks and carry them back to the box. Even so, I was amazed at how many sticks were in the box when I opened the front. They were woven so tightly together that it took some effort to pull the nest out. I was curious as to how many sticks were in there, so I put the nest in a bucket and carried it home to count them. There were well over 500, but I want to be conservative in case some were broken in the process of removing the nest. That number is not counting the little nest on top that was made of smaller sticks, grass, pine needles, rootlets, leaves and whatnot.

I just have to wonder, what is the purpose of all these sticks? There is only a small opening into the nest which you can see at the top. The Cornell Lab’s All About Birds had this to say about their nests: “House Wrens pile twigs into the cavities they choose to nest in, either to make a bed on which to build a soft-lined cup, or sometimes mounded up into a barrier between nest and entrance, seemingly to protect the nest from cold weather, predators, or cowbirds.”

Also, to my surprise, there were wasps wintering over inside this fortress of twigs. There were 12 of them huddled together staying warm and dry. It is my understanding that the only wasps that survive the winter are the mated queens which will start new nests in the spring. I find it fascinating that they somehow find a place to be together. Are the queens clustered together from the same nest or a couple of different nests? There were two other nest boxes full of sticks that were used by house wrens, and they also had wasps inside them.

Oregon Grape Flower Buds

Some of the flower buds of the Oregon grape have a delicate blush of red - a warm, rosy complexion on a cool winter’s day.

As I reflect back through my posts, there are a many varied hues of red gracing the landscape: the flaming crest of the pileated woodpecker, the red nape spot of the downy woodpecker, the subtle red of the snowberry buds, the iridescent gorget and crown of Anna’s hummingbird, the flaring buds of the red-flowering currant, the whimsical flowers of the hazelnut, the gentle buds of the Indian plum, the blazing head of the red-spotted garter snake, the subdued, red breast of the American robin, the fiery red-breasted sapsucker and the calming buds of the big leaf maple. Life is miraculous.

Pileated Woodpecker

I’ve heard and seen the pileated woodpecker at the arboretum throughout the winter. Both the male and female have red crests. The red on the male includes the forecrown and he has a red mustache mark. It is a crow-sized bird. Its length is 15.8-19.3 in (40-49 cm).

It has a varied diet, but its primary food is carpenter ants. It will make deep holes in trees to get to the tunnels of these ants or woodboring beetles and termites. A woodpecker’s tongue is part of a fascinating system of small bones and muscles that wrap around the back and top of the skull all the way around to its forehead. This allows it to extend its tongue in search of prey.

In What It’s Like to Be a Bird, David Sibley writes, “The long tongue has a barbed and sticky tip, and tiny muscles that allow the bird to bend the tip of the tongue in any direction, so it can follow twisting tunnels, trap prey against walls, and pry insects and larvae out of their hiding places deep inside a tree.”

Click the link to All About Birds to listen to their calls:
Pileated Woodpecker Sounds

Downy Woodpecker

Downy’s are spirited birds that are fun to watch as they energetically move through the landscape. This little bird has bold black and white markings, and the male has a red patch on the back of its head. Despite its pronounced field marks, I usually hear one before I see it. I’ll hear tapping sounds as it explores for insects and larvae inside the wood and under the bark of small, tree limbs. I also frequently hear it make a call note which Peterson describes as “a flat pick, not as sharp as the Hairy’s peek!” (It can be tricky to distinguish these sounds.) I have been seeing downy woodpeckers throughout the arboretum all winter. I am looking forward to hopefully finding a nest this spring.

Sharp-shinned Hawk

As I was walking along the edge of the meadow beside the White Oak Pavilion in the late afternoon, it appeared as if something fell out of a tree. Suddenly a bird launched off the ground, and a flock of juncos burst out of the grass in a frenzy. I took a few steps into the woods to look behind some incense cedars. Just inside the forest feathers were flying everywhere as this immature sharp-shinned began plucking a junco on a nearby branch before eating it.

According to All About Birds by The Cornell Lab, “Songbirds make up about 90 percent of the Sharp-shinned Hawk’s diet. Birds the size of American Robins or smaller (especially warblers, sparrows, and thrushes) are the most frequent prey; bigger birds are at less risk, though they’re not completely safe. Studies report quail, shorebirds, doves, swifts, woodpeckers, and even falcons as prey.”

Hazel & Fern

There are a pair of rabbits that hang out in this little thicket next to the river. They forage along the edge, seldom venturing more than a few feet away from cover. I was walking along the trail the other day and came upon them foraging. Their instinct is to stay stone-still. I took a couple quick photos as they stood absolutely motionless. I decided to keep walking so they could hop into the bushes where they feel safe and can relax. I looked back after a few steps and one had already disappeared. The other one waited until I was probably fifty feet away before it moved into the bushes. They have large eyes and ears that are acutely tuned into the sights and sounds in their environment. There are many predators out at the arboretum, so they need to be aware. Whenever I see them, it reminds me to check in with my surroundings - listening to the river, feeling the wind, watching for birds, smelling the earthly scents in the air and tasting the yummy snacks from my pack.

Cleavers

Cleavers are an interesting plant. The leaves grow in whorls around the stem giving it a whimsical personality. It is covered with little bristles on its leaves, stalk and seeds. The stem is weak, so the bristles are good at clinging on to plants for support as it grows. It also means it will stick to pants, socks, shoes and surely the fur of animals, which enables it to spread its seeds around.

I found a small patch growing at the base of tree along the riverbank trail. I also discovered some growing out of an old bird nest. I wonder if the bird used some of the plant in its nest or if the plant clambered its way up there and deposited some seeds.

Snowberry Buds

This small shrub can be found throughout the arboretum. It grows as a scramble of small twigs that is both dense and airy at the same time. Its branches are a light gray-brown that are adorned with tiny, red buds that are easily overlooked. Some of the buds are starting to swell, and small leaves are beginning to emerge. Our open wintery landscape will soon be filled in with the green of spring.

Male Anna's Hummingbird

This male Anna’s hummingbird has chosen a territory to defend. He is usually perched at the top of a small tree watching over the area. Quite a few times I have seen him diving at a song sparrow that flew into the blackberry thicket in his area. As I was walking by the other day, he was perched on a blackberry cane at about eye level. As I stopped to take a photo, he flashed his iridescent gorget and crown. I think I was interrupting the beginning of a much needed and probably well earned nap. A moment later, he closed his eyes and rested for a few minutes. Defending your territory is hard work, so I quietly moved on so he could conserve his energy.

Great Horned Owl

Two great horned owls have been hooting regularly in the late afternoon and early evening. After listening to them one evening, I decided to walk up the trail to see if I could find one. I found one sitting on a branch next to the trunk in a Douglas-fir tree. It was preening its feathers and resting. I watched it for a minute then quietly kept walking.

On the website All About Birds by The Cornell Lab, it says, “Mated pairs are monogamous and defend their territories with vigorous hooting, especially in the winter before egg-laying and in the fall when their young leave the area.” Maybe this is the reason for the recent hooting.

Indian Plum Blooms

“I found I could say things with colors and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way – things I had no words for.”
- Georgia O'Keeffe

Mixed Flocks

A mixed flock of birds were moving along the pond lily trail. There were chickadees, white-breasted nuthatches, brown creepers, golden-crowned kinglets, ruby-crowned kinglets and one other species. The other species had a similar look and flight pattern to a ruby-crowned, but it was a little bigger. It captured an insect, and I was able to get a couple of photos as it paused to eat it. It was a Hutton’s Vireo.

There are subtle differences between the two. The ruby-crowned kinglet has a thinner bill. It also has black bar below its lower, white wing bar, and the Hutton’s vireo doesn’t. In addition, I feel the ruby-crowned kinglet seems to have slightly more zip as it flits between branches.

I’ll be interested to see if the Hutton’s Vireo sticks around the arboretum during the breeding season. I found an interesting article by Kenn Kaufman online where he states: “Hutton's Vireo is a permanent resident to the extent that some individuals occur in all parts of the breeding range throughout the year. However, there is a substantial amount of wandering during the nonbreeding seasons.1”

Ruby-Crowned Kinglet

Hutton’s Vireo

1. Kenn Kaufman, “Field Identification of Hutton's Vireo,” Continental Birdlife, Volume I, Number 3, June 1979: 62-66.
https://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/ContBird_Vol1_No3_02.pdf

White-breasted Nuthatch

A nuthatch has the interesting behavior of moving headfirst down a tree as it forages. It will often pause and tilt its head back to have a glance at its surroundings. It’s constantly on the move as it searches for insects, insect larvae and spiders. Sometimes I see them wedge part of an acorn in the bark of a tree to hold it while they break off pieces to eat. I also see them stash seeds, like Douglas-fir, in bark crevices.

In David Sibley’s book What It Is Like to Be a Bird he says this about how nuthatches move around a tree:
”They do not use their tail for a brace when climbing—just their two feet clinging with sharp claws. The hind toe is particularly important for clinging, and it’s relatively large and strong. Usually they position one foot above the other so that the lower foot acts as a brace while the upper foot clings to the bark.”

This is a fun bird to watch and get to know.

Eastern Fox Squirrel

I noticed something falling from a tree. I looked up to find this squirrel busily opening the samaras of a bigleaf maple and eating the seeds. I was amazed at its ability to balance on such a small branch as it ate. It sat there so effortlessly, even though apparently it was only gripping the limb with its toes. Its tail was an integral part of the high-wire act. At this moment, it tucked its tail forward to act as a counterbalance. For awhile I continued to watch its arboreal performance as it climbed around and fearlessly navigated its way throughout the tree. It was at home up there.

I opened the end of one of the wings to examine its contents. The seed had a thin, brown skin that encased what appeared to be a bundle of tender, green leaves.

Red-flowering Currant

It was a cold, winter’s day. The evening sun broke through the cloudy sky. Its rays set aflame the buds of the red-flowering currant — a torch lighting the way for spring.

Dark-eyed Junco

There are small flocks of juncos moving around the arboretum. I often see them foraging out at the barn. There is a low growing plant on the road that produces an abundance of seeds that the juncos enjoy eating. If someone or a dog gets too close they will often fly up to the beam under the edge of the roof to monitor the situation.

Juncos have a behavior of flashing their tails when they fly. Their outer, white tail feathers are a burst of light as they quickly flit through the air.

For me, juncos are a warm-hearted, peaceful little bird. They can be fairly tolerant of my presence if I am quiet, move slowly, or sit still. I am looking forward to hearing their gentle, trilling song in the spring.