Western Kingbird Nesting

For reasons I don’t understand, kingbirds have chosen to nest on one of the high voltage towers out at the arboretum. The sound of the electricity crackling across the wires is audible from a fair distance. Never mind that the sound of sizzling is loud up there where they are nesting, being that close to high voltage electricity I imagine is not good for their health and the health of their babies. On top of that, I feel like those metal beams would heat up pretty hot in the noon day, summer sun. Again, I can’t believe that this would be an attractive site for them to nest. Trying to put a positive spin on it, I thought that they certainly won’t have to worry about ground predators like snakes and squirrels. Also the view is probably nice from up there and that will come in handy to detect and chase off predatory birds such as owls, ravens, crows and hawks that are in the area. It also looks fun as they dive off the tower and glide down to the hillside to forage.

They have a light gray head and a white breast that fades into a yellow wash on their bellies. They have a stout bill and a black tail with outer tail feathers.

They are a beautiful bird to observe and they love the open landscape of the east side of Mount Pisgah. I see them perching on top of brush piles and on dead limbs of shrubs like buckbrush. They are mainly insectivores and they will use these perches to forage by hawking insects out of the air or flying down to the ground.

Listen for their vocalizations. Peterson describes their voice as “shrill, bickering calls; a sharp kip or whit-ker-whit; dawn song pit-PEE-tu-whee.” I feel like Peterson always has interesting descriptions of a bird’s songs and calls. Check it out and see what you think.

I hope that you are getting in some birding time this spring. Nature is an inexhaustible source of wonder. I hope to see you out there.

Sources
Peterson, Roger Tory. Peterson Field Guide to Birds of Western North America, Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH), 2010.

Western Kingbird Overview, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology. https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Western_Kingbird/overview. Accessed 30 May 2025.

Woolly Aphids

These little tufts of wool (actually a thick flocculent wax) are aphids and are called, you guessed it, woolly aphids. They are on the underside of the leaves sucking out the juice flowing through the leaf and the leaf will start to curl under as a result. The juice that they can’t digest is excreted as a little sugary droplet known as honeydew. Their sugary droplets create a sticky coating on the ground and leaves below them. Chickadees, bushtits, Bullock’s orioles, black-headed grosbeaks love to eat them. Ants are attracted to the honeydew. Squirrels are also in on the scene, either eating the aphids, licking the honey off the leaves or both probably. I looked at a few of the snipped off leaves that they discarded while foraging and they don’t have any aphids left on them.

They seem especially abundant this year and I doubt there is a single ash tree in the arboretum that doesn’t have them. The interesting thing about woolly aphids is that the first ones to hatch out in the spring are wingless females which reproduce without mating (parthenogenesis). This allows them to produce offspring quickly, which is why you can see them throughout the arboretum at the moment.

I read that woolly aphids typically have two host plants. After a couple of generations in the spring, they will produce winged females that will fly off to another host to feed during the summer. I captured a photo of one below that appears bluish. I am not sure what their second host for the summer is here at the arboretum. As fall approaches the winged females will return to the first host, which appears to be the Oregon Ash. (I remember seeing tons of these flying around in the fall. I posted about it in Woolly Aphids - October 2021.) From here they will produce another generation of both males and females that will mate. The female will then lay her eggs in the bark to over winter.

“If the day and the night are such that you greet them with joy, and life emits a fragrance like flowers and sweet-scented herbs, is more elastic, more starry, more immortal — that is your success. All nature is your congratulation, and you have cause momentarily to bless yourself. The greatest gains and values are farthest from being appreciated. We easily come to doubt if they exist. We soon forget them. They are the highest reality. Perhaps the facts most astounding and most real are never communicated by man to man. The true harvest of my daily life is somewhat as intangible and indescribable as the tints of morning or evening. It is a little star-dust caught, a segment of the rainbow which I have clutched.”
Walden, Henry David Thoreau

Baby Chipmunk

This baby chipmunk was resting on the ground outside of its burrow. Thankfully it sits very still and has beautifully camouflaged fur. It appeared to have just ventured out for the first time and it was exhausted taking in all of the sights, sounds, and smells of its new world. It was just below its burrow and right above it a Bewick’s wren was at the entrance making a clicking noise in protest. There was another baby chipmunk just inside. If it approached the entrance, the wren would try to poke it with its bill, and the chipmunk would retreat back inside. I’m not sure why this wren was so bothered or concerned by these two baby chipmunks. The wren would only briefly leave the entrance to sing nearby. It would soon return and intently look inside the entrance and make this clicking noise. Maybe the wren had a nest nearby, found these chipmunks, and felt that they could be potential predators soon. The one chipmunk soon woke up from its short nap and started exploring nearby. It seemed so small and fragile! Good luck little chipmunks and welcome to the arboretum.

Caterpillars Descending From Oaks

If you walked along any path under the Oregon White Oaks out at the arboretum over the past couple of weeks, you likely found yourself eye to eye with a caterpillar descending down a thread of silk. I also find them lowering them selves down off the brim of my hat quite frequently. Your friends will probably be pointing them out on you somewhere. I let them land on me in hopes that a chickadee or bushtit will come over to forage on me. You can see birds like red-breasted sapsuckers swooping through the air between trees plucking them out of the air. Or you can see robins busily scurrying around gleaning them off the ground. Honestly, it seems like most of the birds out at the arboretum can be seen eating them. They are an important food source during this time of year when birds are expending huge amounts of energy parenting, feeding themselves and their offspring. I’m sure they help attract lots of birds to nest here.

I am still researching which caterpillar this is. Of course, I see lots of these caterpillars dropping down to continue their lifecycle somewhere on the ground, but I also see the ends of oak leaves being folded or rolled over with caterpillars in them. I’ll just keep watching, doing a little research, and I’ll let you know when I figure something out.

Sitting By The River

I was sitting by the river this evening listening to the breeze rustling through the cottonwoods. Fluffy, white parachutes carrying the cottonwood seeds swirled around through the sky like falling snow. It was like the swaying trees were brushing across the bottom of the clouds pulling fibers off their undersides. Some of them were landing on the river and they looked like small clouds floating by on the water. They were so light that they didn’t appear to break the surface tension of the water. Actually, some of them would tumble and skip across the surface of the water and then fly back up into the air. Nature is an inexhaustible source of wonder. I hope to see you out there.

Gopher Snake Beginning to Shed

We found this gopher snake under a rock on the reptiles and amphibians walk at the arboretum. Besides its beautiful body pattern, it had a strikingly milky blue eye. The eye becomes cloudy like this when the snake is starting to shed its skin, a process called ecdysis. The snake has a transparent, disc-shaped scale that covers the eye called a brille, also known as an eye-cap or spectacle. This immovable disc helps protect the eye and keeps it moist like our eyelids which snakes don’t have. During the act of shedding, snakes produce a fluid to help remove the old outer skin. The fluid can be seen clouding the transparent eye-cap which is essentially a modified scale that is part of the epidermal layer of skin being shed. During this time the snake’s vision is obscured, so they are usually hiding under rocks or logs for safety.

Shedding allows the snake to replace old, worn skin, grow, and help remove parasites. The species of snake, its age, gender, size, reproductive state, diet, and the season determine how often a snake will shed its skin. In general, younger snakes shed their skin often because they are growing more. Older snakes tend to shed their skin two to four times a year.

Ring-necked Snake

There was a reptile and amphibian walk out at the arboretum last weekend. The weather the previous week leading up to the walk had been warm and sunny. So naturally it seemed a tad disappointing that the day of the walk it was a little cool and a small amount of rain had fallen that morning. As it turns out, that is a pretty good scenario for observing reptiles. The warm weather has got them active, so they are out and about. The cooler morning slows them down a little, so that when you find one under a rock or other debris, it doesn’t go shooting off before you can see it or perhaps catch it.

There were a couple of kids on the walk that were enthusiastic about flipping over rocks and catching snakes. It wasn’t long when one of them caught this beautiful ring-necked snake. They are a small snake, that usually grows to be around 1 - 1.5 feet long. The upper side of its body is a slate to greenish gray in color with a striking orange ring around its neck. The underside is bright orange speckled with black spots. The orange becomes reddish in color under the tail. When it is disturbed or feels threatened, It will expose its bright orange underside and coil its tail.

This is a secretive snake that likes to stay in moist environments under rocks, logs, other debris on the surface of the ground. I have only seen it out in the late evening in the summertime. Its diet consists of earthworms, small salamanders, lizards, frogs, juvenile snakes, and insects.

I love this little snake. Thanks to Tom who led the walk and everyone who came, the ring-necked snake was the highlight for me.

Bright-eyed and Bushy-tailed

While out birding a couple-three weeks ago, I found a tree where a family of western gray squirrels were living. I was following a pair of brown creepers around when I saw three little heads curiously peering out from a cavity. We watched each other for a little while and then they disappeared back inside. They came and went from the security of their nest, more and more curious and full of wonder, but never venturing to far.

Last week I saw them out and about exploring. They sat so still and quietly absorbing all of the world. Listening to the sounds of birds singing. Enjoying the sunshine on their bodies. Smelling the dampness of decay on the forest floor and the blooming spring. Feeling their muscles ache and grow stronger as they climbed around. I could perceive their sense of wonder and awe. It was a reminder for me to keep my awareness open and awake. Thank you.

Welcome to the world and Mount Pisgah Arboretum my friends.

Oregon Grape Flower Buds

Writing words to express the wonder of life seems like an exercise in futility. All I feel that I can do is call to you like the robin singing in the awakening dawn of spring, inviting you out into nature to open your senses, your heart, your spirit, your imagination, and let it pour in.

Bee Fly on Rosy Plectritis

There are small patches of rosy plectritis around the arboretum. The easiest place to find them is in the wildflower garden right in front of the White Oak Pavilion. I checked out a patch up the creek trail and it was buzzing with pollinators, especially bee flies.

I love watching this fly as it moves from flower to flower. It has long legs and a long proboscis and it dances around a flower cluster quickly sipping nectar. It doesn’t really land on them. Its long legs will briefly touch the petals which seems to stabilize its position long enough to take a drink. I read that one reason that they have such long legs and proboscis is to keep their distance from a cluster of flowers that might have a predator like a crab spider waiting to grab them. It swiftly works its way around a cluster of plectritis flowers and then darts off to the next one. Occasionally, I will see them briefly rest on the ground or on vegetation near the ground.

Bee flies get their name from mimicking bees or wasps as a defense strategy, because predators want to avoid potential danger like a venomous stinger.

The larva of bee flies are parasitoid and will often target various soil-dwelling insects in their larval stage such as solitary bees, wasps, beetles, and grasshoppers. Bee flies hover above the ground looking for a burrow that one of these insects is making for its eggs. When the bee fly finds one, it hovers over the burrow and flicks its abdomen to launch an egg in the entrance. I would love to see this, but I am sure it happens at the blink of an eye. When the bee fly larva hatches in the burrow, it will feed on the host larva. The bee fly larva then pupates and stays inside to emerge the next spring as an adult.

Most of the time I will see the shadow of a bee fly on the ground as it hovers before I see it. Their wings have a high-pitched buzzy sound as they hover and dart around flapping their wings what sounds like a bajillion times a second. Sometimes they will hover right next to my head as I stand around watching them. I hoped that they weren’t looking to see if my ear canal was a place to flick an egg! I took a heap of blurry photos as I tried to capture a picture of one. In the end, I feel like I still never got a very crisp image. Maybe it’s because they are so fuzzy. Even with my own eyes these bee flies seemed out of focus. In the process of it all, I named this bee fly the Whirry Blurry bee fly.

Butterfly & Coyote Scat

There was a California tortoiseshell butterfly circling around me, the meadow, the oak trees, back around me, back around the oak trees, back around me, back around the meadow, and so on as butterflies fly. It was making me a little dizzy as I spun about following it. Eventually it came to rest right next to me on some fresh coyote scat on the trail. Butterflies like things sweet (flower nectar) and savory (coyote scat). From the nectar they get sugars for energy and from the coyote scat they get nutritious minerals. In addition to animal feces, butterflies are also attracted to urine, dead animals, and rotting fruit.

An action that is commonly observed among butterflies is a behavior known as “puddling.” They will land on moist sand and mud along streams or puddles and absorb vital minerals.

Butterflies have a mouthpiece know as a proboscis in which to gather nectar in flowers or probe around on coyote scat that is like a drinking straw. When they are not using it, it neatly curls up into a spiral next to the head. To help draw the liquids up through the proboscis, they have a sucking pump inside their head.

It is interesting to imagine that the life of a vole, field mouse, or rabbit that the coyote ate can be absorbed into the life of a butterfly and flutter through the blue sky and sunshine the next day.

Red-breasted Nuthatch Excavating Cavity

In my experience out at the arboretum, red-breasted nuthatches excavate their cavities and white-breasted nuthatches use existing natural cavities or nest boxes. This red-breasted nuthatch is working away on a Douglas-fir snag. I could hear the muffled hammering as it carved away. After a minute or less, it would appear in the entrance to the cavity with a mouthful of shavings. Sometimes it released the shavings from the entrance and sometimes it would pop out onto the side of the tree and let them go. The wood appears to have become very soft as the shavings looked like dust falling through the air. I think the nuthatch was excited about the consistency of the wood. It seemed to be vigorously and merrily chiseling away its new nest and it occasionally gave a toot from the entrance which sounds like a miniature tin horn. The male and female both excavate the nest with the female doing more. That said, the bold markings on this one appear to be the male, and males without mates may begin excavating several cavities at once in an attempt to attract a female. I need to go back and see if this male is in a relationship. After the cavity is constructed, she will line the bottom with soft materials such as fine grasses, strips of bark, fur, or feathers. Interestingly, I read that they will spread sap around the entrance to their nests. I love this little bird! I hope you are getting in some good birding so far this spring.

Beaver Scat

While wandering around in the wetlands looking for frog egg masses, we came across signs of beaver. There was a matted, muddy spot where it appeared the beaver liked to sit. It was littered with small, willow branches that had been stripped. Beavers love to eat the inner bark of trees. As we continued wading out in the wetlands, we came across the beaver’s scat floating in the water. It looked like sawdust and it was incased in a thin, transparent sack—that seems helpful in preventing any splinters when depositing, One of our fearless teammates carefully retrieved one of the pellets from the water and brought it ashore. We broke it open and found that it was just as it appeared, fibrous like sawdust.

While doing research about beavers, I came across this interesting information on a beaver’s digestion on the website The Land Between: “The digestive systems of herbivorous animals can either be a single saclike compartment (monogastric), or subdivided into various complex chambers (digastric). Monogastric herbivores, such as beavers, possess a single-chambered stomach where molecules such as lignocellulose can be digested. Monogastric animals that are able to digest these cellulosic materials are known as hindgut fermenters. This process is aided by microorganism fermentation in the intestine, which, in the beaver's case, takes place in a modified cecum. Humans, like many other animals, possess a cecum, but in beavers, it is an enlarged pouch located at the beginning of the large intestine connecting the small intestine to the rest of the large intestine. A beaver’s cecum contains enzymes derived from bacteria and fungi to help break down the tough cellulose molecules found in woody plants. To ensure they digest as many nutrients as possible from their meal, the beaver partakes in a method known as coprophagy, where the individual eats their own feces to run the food through their digestive system several times. This process might be gross by human standards, but it is an example of highly adaptive strategy that allows beavers to thrive on a specialized diet.” Fascinating creatures!

Beavers usually defecate in the water, so you don’t often come across their scat. They can carry the Giardia parasite, which causes giardiasis which is also known as "beaver fever". The parasite is spread through their feces, so I recommend that you don’t handle their feces and that you are careful around water sources where beavers are present. Giardiasis is an intestinal disorder that causes mild to severe diarrhea. Dogs can also get giardiasis by drinking water contaminated with the feces of infected animals.

Resource
Wood You Eat That? An Overview of Beaver Teeth and Digestive System. https://www.thelandbetween.ca/2023/10/wood-you-eat-that-an-overview-of-beaver-teeth-and-digestive-system/#. Accessed 6 Apr. 2025.

Impression Sunrise

someday
a new day will dawn
where our paradigm
will shift
towards seeing ourselves
once again
as part of nature
an umbilical bond
connecting us
to the earth
to the sun
to the moon
to the stars
shimmering
within
our hearts
to be in awe
of the mystery
of the gift
of life

Antennae

I was photographing the leaves of this moss when this tiny insect landed in the frame to have its picture taken. I was immediately struck by the size and shape of its antennae. Insect antennae come in many shapes and sizes. The antennae on this insect have fine branches giving it a featherlike appearance and its form is aptly named plumose.

The primary function of insect antennae is a sense of smell. They are usually covered with receptors that can detect odor molecules in the air. Besides receiving molecules drifting through the air, insects pick up information by touching or feeling their environment. Antennae are also sensitive to detecting the vibrations of sound waves.

Given the size of this insect’s antennae in relation to its body size, I would guess that this is how it receives most of its information to navigate through its surroundings. It’s amazing!

Time

A bountiful rain fell across the valley saturating the landscape and swelling the Willamette river. The weather passed and the sun came and went through the clouds drifting at the the tail of the storm. I wandered along the shores of the receding river to explore what was left behind in its wake. I sat on the bank listening to the water ripple over the rocks in the crisp morning air. I looked down and saw glimmers of gold reflecting in the sunlight on an old tarnished chalice sitting on a mound of colorful jewels. It was a magical goblet spilling forth the mystery and beauty of nature.

Caddis Fly Larvae & Pacific Chorus Frog Eggs

I sat by the small pool in the parking lot that has all of the Pacific Chorus Frog (also known as the Pacific Treefrog) egg masses to see if more had hatched. While sitting there I noticed that some of the caddisfly larvae were climbing on the egg masses. I looked up to see if they eat the frog eggs. Both the Oregon and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife said that Pacific Treefrog eggs are preyed upon by caddisfly larvae. I only saw them crawling around on the outside and they did not appear to pierce through the egg mass. It did look like they were pulling on the surface and maybe eating bits off the outside. This one climbed around on the egg mass for about 10 minutes or so and then moved on. There are quite a few caddisfly larvae roaming around the pool but I found only one more caddisfly larva that was investigating an egg mass. It also did not chew into the inside of the egg mass.

There are 1,000 species of caddisflies in North America! They can be herbivores, carnivores, and omnivores. I am not sure of this particular species, but maybe this one doesn’t eat frog eggs. The herbivores eat various types of detritus, including bits of leaves, algae, and miscellaneous organic matter. I’ll continue watching them and see what I observe and in the meantime, maybe I can figure out which species of caddisfly this is.

Pacific Chorus Frog Tadpoles

I went to count the egg masses of the Pacific Chorus Frog in the small pool at the parking lot yesterday and counted over 200. Afterwards, I decided to sit by the side of the pool, soak up the sun, and look around in the water. I saw this greenish blob that had a hole in it. I wondered if some of the frogs had hatched and maybe that it was an old egg mass. I took a piece of grass stalk and twirled around in the water. As I swung around in the water, it bumped some debris and a small tadpole came swimming out from underneath! It was so small and when it came to rest, well camouflaged. When I slightly lifted debris to look at snails and caddisfly larvae, another tadpole swam out. I counted maybe 6 or 7 tadpoles in the time I sat there. A couple of the egg masses were shaking slightly and I could see the light reflecting off the tadpole’s bellies inside. They were starting to wiggle and work their way out. So around March first on a sunny afternoon with the temperature reaching 60 degrees, they started hatching. Sweeeeeet!

Decaying Cottonwood

I saw this decaying cottonwood lying on the ground with frosty creatures adorning its body, Shizophyllum fungus. I went over to take a closer look and became absorbed in their color, form, and texture. They drooped like evergreen boughs covered in snow. Underneath was a surprising contrast of wavy, brown gills that looked woody and dry. My imagination shifted from a tree bough to snow piled up on a porch roof.

As I knelt there, I noticed that there was a miniature, red and pink insect crawling around on the fungus. I don’t know if it was an adult or a larval stage. The occasional spider wandered by investigating this fleecy, white landscape.

As I looked down the tree I noticed that the fungus was generally fruiting out of the sides and the top was mostly bare. At that moment, I started looking at other parts of the tree and became fascinated by its color, form, and texture. The bark was a cool and gray, like the color of a stone. Parts of the bark were cracking in black, squiggly lines. Rings formed where limbs attached to the trunk, giving the appearance that it had once been molten. Other parts of the bark were mottled with yellows and reds, the texture was pocked or flaky. In some places, the linear fibers of the bark were revealed. Pale blue-green and vibrant yellow-orange lichens were scattered across the tree’s body.

This tree had taken on a whole new life full of wonder and beauty. I walked away with a fresh awareness of the world around me.