Last Nest of the Summer?

The Western Wood-Pewee has been, in my experience, the last bird nesting of the season out at the arboretum. That said, there was a robin’s nest nearby where the fledglings just left the nest within the last week. The baby pewees look as if they are going leave the nest any day now. They are fluttering their wings, preening their feathers regularly and perching on the side of the nest. There are three in the nest which seems crowded and hard to believe when you look at the size of the nest.

The parents stay close by to the nest. They could easily be back at the nest at a moments notice if a predator, such as a Steller’s jay, gets too close. The parents perch on small, exposed tree branches as they watch for insects flying by. They will swoop out in a small loop to catch an insect, and they will often return back to the same spot as if an invisible rubber band snapped them back.

The babies have insatiable appetites, and the parents are returning every couple of minutes to stuff food in their bright yellow bills. I can hear the babies almost constantly calling out from the nest to be fed.

I am sure the parent pewees welcome the closing of the day to get some well deserved rest.

Signs of Drought

There are obvious signs of the serious lack of rainfall this year. The roses are shedding their leaves early. They are a pale brown and rattle in the wind. The plant is abandoning its fruit production. The few rose hips that are on the plant are void of their normally plump bodies and rosy complexion.

I included the photos and a link to last years post on Oct. 18 of the same patch. The contrast of the abundant, robust red hips of last year to the sparse, desiccated hips of this year is alarming.

I am looking forward to the gentle, life-giving rains of late summer and fall.

Velvet Ant

Confusingly, velvet ants are actually wasps. The velvet part of their name refers to their dense, hairy bodies. They are bright colors of orange, red or yellow. The females lack wings and the males are fully winged. Adults feed on nectar and water. The larvae of most species are parasites of larvae and pupae of bees and wasps that nest in the ground. Some species will parasitize flies and beetles.

They prefer open fields or pastures, and I usually come across a female out in the south meadow along the road that goes out to the river. They seem to be always moving and vigorously searching through the vegetation. They are a solitary wasp and don’t seem aggressive. That said, be warned that the female can deliver a painful sting, so be careful when observing them.

Yellow-spotted Millipede

Firstly, I thought I got a better photo of this shiny, armored creature as it moved across my path. Nevertheless, I wanted to write about it hoping its amazingness would overcome the photo until I can take better one.

The yellow-spotted millipede, Harpaphe haydeniana, is also known as the almond-scented millipede or the cyanide millipede. It is an aposematic species — the black body with bold yellow spots signals predators of its potentially harmful toxicity. When they feel threatened they will curl up into a spiral and secrete hydrogen cyanide which has the scent of toasted almonds. This is toxic to small predators, but is not dangerous to humans as the amount of cyanide is small.

They are detritivores which means they feed on the dead leaves and wood of the forest floor. I read that they eat 33 to 50 percent of all coniferous and deciduous leaf litter. As they chew, digest and excrete the leaf litter it makes valuable nutrients available to other organisms in the ecosystem.

I am looking forward to researching more about the life of this incredible organism and its importance to the health and well-being of our forests.

Eurasian Collared-Dove

There is often a pair of these doves around the entrance to the arboretum. They have a black crescent around the nape of their neck that is prominently visible against their light, chalky-gray bodies. When they are perched or walking around on the ground, you can see that their wing tips are slightly darker than the rest of the wing.

They mainly forage along the ground for seeds, and they will also eat berries and insects.

This bird was accidentally introduced into the Bahamas in 1974 and by the 1980’s they had made their way over to Florida. Since then they have spread across the United States, except the Northeast where only a few strays have been recorded. In reading about them, I didn’t find anything reporting negative impacts on the populations of native birds.

Cool fact from All About Birds:
”The Eurasian Collared-Dove’s species name, decaocto, comes from Greek mythology. Decaocto was a servant girl transformed into a dove by the gods to escape her unhappy treatment; the dove’s mournful cry recalls her former life.”

Dragonflies

This beautifully flaming-red dragonfly looks like it was born from the breath of fire. Darting about the wetlands, it liked to perch on the oxidizing cables of the bridge over the lily pond.

Dragonflies are amazing fliers. They seem to be darting in every direction as they sweep the landscape catching insects and/or guarding their territory.

According to the Smithsonian, dragonflies are the fastest flying Insect as they are known to travel at the speed of 35 miles an hour. Coupled with their speed is their incredible maneuverability. Each of their four wings is controlled by separate muscles which allows them to swiftly change course in any direction or hover in place.

The adults have eyes that cover most of their head which gives a great range of sight for detecting prey and predators.

Both the aquatic nymphs and the flying adults are skilled at catching insects. They are known to eat many mosquitos — the dragonfly would have been a fitting tattoo and totem animal for my dad who cursed “the bloodsucking varmints,” especially when he was fishing.

Bushytailed Craft

As I wandered around the arboretum, I kept seeing these small strips of bark scattered all over the ground. I could see where it had been stripped off newer, green limbs of the big leaf maple. Eventually I caught up with one of our resident gray squirrels busily peeling off small lengths. He quickly worked his way down one, discarded it and promptly cut off another one. I investigated one of the pieces and could see the small teeth marks on the inside. I could hear his teeth scraping off the inner bark and I was amazed at how precisely and swiftly he could shave off the thin inner bark and eat it.

Green Heron

Green herons are solitary birds and quite secretive. If I sit quietly in the morning along the river out at Mt. Pisgah, I might be fortunate enough to see one. Their coloration and pattern easily conceal them as they hunt in the shallow waters along the vegetation of the river’s edge. They can be seen standing motionless or slowly walking along the bank as they look for food. When catching prey, they will quickly lunge forward darting their head into the water with their stout, pointy bill.

Their diet mostly consists of eating small fish. Also on the menu are insects, spiders, crustaceans, snails, amphibians, reptiles, and rodents.

Amazingly, green herons will sometimes drop a feather or small twig on surface of water as bait to lure fish. I would love to see them do this.

I was lucky to get a photo of this one as it investigated the shallow water of this bar of cobblestones.

Cow Parsnip Cache

Surprisingly, so far only once this year have I observed downy woodpeckers extracting the larvae of the carrot seed moth out of the hollow stems of cow parsnip. In years past, I saw the woodpeckers on the cow parsnip all the time, usually feeding juveniles.

The evidence of the presence of the moths is the seed heads have been eaten and there are small holes bored into the stems of the plant. I opened a few stems at these holes, and I found the larvae which has small black spots on it. It looks like the caterpillars are also eating the plant on the inside of the stem. I also found little, brown cocoons which I am guessing are also the same moth.

It is amazing to see the transformation of this plant. It grows so tall developing huge leaves in the spring and early summer. Its umbrellas of white flowers are so prominent on the landscape. Now the plant is brown with shriveled leaves. Many of the plants have fallen over or broken in half leaving only the stalks standing.

Cicadas

There are a few cicadas that can be heard buzzing out at the arboretum. Their sound evokes the long, sun-drenched days of summertime, in which, you want to while away the hot afternoons lounging in the shade by the river.

I found this small explanation on Britannica’s website about their sound: “Cicadas are able to produce these sounds because they possess an organ that is almost unique among insects, the tymbal organ. Each male cicada has a pair of these circular ridged membranes on the back and side surface of the first abdominal segment. Contraction of a tymbal muscle attached to the membrane causes it to bend, producing a clicking sound. The tymbal springs back when the muscle is relaxed. The frequency of the contractions of the tymbal muscle range from 120 to 480 times a second, which is fast enough to make it sound continuous to the human ear. Cicadas also have air sacs that have resonant frequencies comparable to tymbal vibration frequencies, thus amplifying the sound and producing that crescendo of high-pitched buzzing that is the characteristic sound of late summer.”

Hazelnuts & Catkins?

I have been watching squirrels and chipmunks scurrying about the branches of the hazel tree sampling the nuts. I’m not sure why they eat the nuts before they are fully mature. I find some of the shells chewed open, still attached to the tree and missing the nut.

As I was looking at some of the trees, I was surprised to see that a few of them were starting to grow catkins already. The catkins usually are mature and open up in January or February, and I didn’t realize they would start to form now, especially since the nuts aren’t fully mature.

Hairy Woodpeckers & Oak Galls

I watched two hairy woodpeckers, a female and a juvenile male, opening oak stem galls and eating the larvae inside. While the juvenile was getting the hang of extracting the larvae, the female was periodically feeding him. It didn’t take the female long to open one and find the larvae inside. The center of the gall had a woody core that housed several larvae in different chambers. It was fun watching them open the galls with ease. Debris was noticeably accumulating on the ground as they enthusiastically unpacked the spongy insides to get at the prize.

Oregon Grape Berries

Clusters of Oregon grape berries can be seen throughout the landscape. They have a calming, powdery-blue color that contrasts with their tart flavor that will pucker your face.

Sometimes I see a robin eating them and feeding them to begging juveniles that are learning to expand their palate.

The warm days of summer beautifully ripen the berries. In the more open, sunny spots, I am already seeing them starting to shrivel up like tiny little raisins.

Speckled Oak Galls

Gall wasps lay their eggs on the underside of the Oregon white oak leaves. When the egg hatches, larvae produce a substance that induces swelling in plant tissues and forms a gall. It protects the larvae as it matures and provides food.

This tree next to the White Oak Pavilion has an abundance of galls growing on the leaves. They are yellow with red speckles and turn an amber color as they age. They have paper thin shells and glow in the late afternoon sunlight. These beautiful ornaments don’t harm the tree. Chickadees will soon start opening them and eating the larvae inside.

Tiger Swallowtail Caterpillar

This adventure all started when a friend of mine saw a tiger swallowtail lay its eggs on a willow leaf, and he took me out there to show me. We started looking around the foliage to see if we could find a caterpillar, and he spotted this one nearby.

It grows up to 2 inches. It can be deep to light green. It has yellow eyespots with black and blue pupils. It is swollen in the front which accentuates its eyespots.

It wove a small silken mat that appears to act as a home. It rests there most of the time, remaining motionless to avoid detection by predators. When I went to check on it the other day, it left the mat to eat part of a leaf nearby and then promptly returned to its spot.

It has a large variety of host plants including cottonwoods, poplars, ashes, aspens, alders and willows.

I took a photo of the eggs, and when I went to check on them yesterday, I saw that they had hatched. They start off as these small, black caterpillars with a white band in the middle.

I am hoping to have the opportunity to see the creation of the next stage of its life cycle — the chrysalis. It is dark brown and wood-like and is attached to a twig or the trunk of a tree. It overwinters, and the butterfly emerges the following year completing the life cycle.

In a word, the metamorphosis of an egg to a butterfly is miraculous.

Osoberry Leaves Dying

As I walk up the zigzag trail on the hillside behind the White Oak Pavilion, I am struck by the ghostly, dying leaves of the osoberry. The ashen color greatly contrasts with the surrounding green of the forest and the first days of summer.

On the underside of many of the leaves there are tiny insects that are apparently sucking the life out of the leaves. As I stood there looking at this distressed plant, I remembered all the life stirring in this shrub not long ago. Cedar waxwings were passing the still ripening osoberries back and forth in courtship. Robins were building nests in the sanctuary of the vibrant foliage and gobbling up the berries.

I am only seeing the ones in the forest completely infested. The osoberry shrubs along the creek trail and the river trail only have a few leaves with these insects on them. I am also starting to see some of the leaves turn yellow. The leaves of the osoberry are some of the first plants to get their leaves in the spring and they seem to be naturally the first ones to start to lose them during the warm, dry days of summer.

So, the question for me is: Why are the osoberry shrubs in the forest so infested and the other ones are only mildly… buggy ?

California Ground Squirrel

California Ground Squirrel
Citellus beecheyi

These little creatures have a beautiful, speckled coat of fur that provides great camouflage. They are colonial and active during the day. There is a small settlement of them on the gentle-sloping hillside above the creek trail. There are narrow paths marking their travels across the landscape around their burrows .

They have a varied diet that consists of green vegetation, seeds, acorns, mushrooms, fruits, bird eggs and insects. The hillside where they live is pockmarked with small holes they are digging in search for food. I am not sure what they are eating.

They spend most of their time on the ground, but I occasionally see them in trees looking for food or escaping danger. In the last photo below, there was one in a tree along the creek. It was stressed about something happening on the ground nearby and was warning others with a loud chirp.

In the Peterson Field Guide to Mammals, it says that most adults estivate in July or August. Estivation occurs when conditions become hot and dry. To conserve energy they seek cool, shady areas, and they will lower their breathing, heart and metabolic rates. This sounds like a good strategy to cope with the very hot and dry weather we are experiencing at the moment.

With the creek dried up for the summer, I often wonder how animals like these ground squirrels find enough water to stay hydrated.

Different Birds Feeding Fledgling

For about a week, I have been watching a spotted towhee and a black-throated gray warbler feed this fledgling. From looking at photographs online, I think this fledgling is a brown-headed cowbird.

Cowbirds don’t build nests. They lay their eggs in the nests of other birds which will feed and nurture the cowbird when it hatches. A common host of the cowbird is the spotted towhee. Cowbirds don’t have brilliant colors or patterns, but they are a fascinating bird. Below, I included a link to a small, interesting article about them.

So maybe the towhee is the foster parent of the cowbird and somehow this warbler got its wires crossed and is helping out. All About Birds had this to say about it: “…bird parents have an intense instinct to nurture young at the time their own young are dependent. Sometimes if a bird loses its own young, it ends up feeding another chick who is begging.”

So, I’ll just keep watching and see what happens. So far I have been able to find this little fledgling each day. That said, it is getting bigger and more mobile — it flew around the creek trail quite a bit today, but it is more or less staying in the same general area. If you want to go check it out, go up the creek trail where the picnic tables are. Today it was hanging out near the first bench you come to on the right that is next to the creek. Just listen for the twittering sounds of a begging bird.

Today, I saw a juvenile towhee nearby being fed, but I’m not sure if it is the same parent towhee that it is feeding this mystery fledgling. Also today, about 50 yards away I saw a female cowbird being chased away from the nest of a western wood-pewee.

Check out these small, interesting articles:

https://www.audubon.org/news/how-does-cowbird-learn-be-cowbird

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/news/i-saw-a-little-bird-feeding-a-much-larger-bird-is-it-rare-to-see-two-different-species-feeding-each-other/

Bullfrogs

Bulbous, bumpy, bellowing, beautiful bullfrogs are out sunning themselves in the wetlands at the bridge.

They are 3.5 - 8 inches long, and they are the largest frog in North America. They have a large tympanum (eardrum) located just behind the eye. A ridge goes from the eye, around the eardrum and down towards the front leg. They have no dorsolateral ridges. They have a deep-pitched mating call that sounds like jug o’rum. Their diet includes fish, amphibians, birds, reptiles, small mammals and insects.

Bullfrog tadpoles are large at 4 - 6.75 inches, and their metamorphosis may take up to two years.

They were introduced to the western United States. Their natural range is east of the Rockies where they have natural predators to keep them in check. Oregon Dept. of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) lists them as an invasive species that adversely affect native populations by devouring native turtles and frogs. ODFW also says that “bullfrogs can lay up 20,000 eggs each season while native species such as red-legged frogs lay up to 5,000 eggs.”