Ramblings with Rebecca October 19 - 30, 2004

ANNOUNCEMENTS: Your school program has been working hard this year and has developed a lot of good ideas to share with you. You’ll be hearing more about these in upcoming issues California Sister of the Nutshell, however Sue Walker, School Program Committee Chair has asked me to include this note in the meantime. The School Program Committee would like to remind all active docents, regardless of how long you’ve been hiking in the program, that a great learning opportunity awaits you if you take advantage of the knowledge of other docents by arranging to shadow a class visit or hike. New approaches to familiar challenges, new ideas for communicating information, new trail tips and classroom management techniques are all possible! If you are interested in doing this, you can certainly call a fellow docent and ask their permission to shadow them in the class or on the trail. Your School Program Committee is continuing to work on this and other ideas to make your experiences positive and effective. Also, please remember that visitors – of any age– are not to pick up souvenirs on the preserve. Feathers and other neat stuff is to be left where found after you’ve all had the chance to enjoy a closer look. That allows others to enjoy the sightings and also leaves this stuff for animals’ use. Re: HOW TO GET RAMBLINGS: If you haven’t already done so, please check out the Volunteer page on the ACR Website. This is becoming a very important tool for docent communication. I have begun posting Ramblings there and would like to get all docents who currently receive Ramblings by email to access them on the webpage instead. When we get to that point, it will make the electronic version of the Ramblings easier for everyone, and I won’t have to maintain an email list of > 100 or send out 4 different emails to reach all of you on my list! If you haven’t tried it yet, go to www.egret.org and then look for the word “volunteers” in the lower left of the homepage. Click on that word and when a new window opens, type in “volunteer” for the user name and “newt” for the password (no quotes)- NOTE : THIS IS A CORRECTION FROM THE DIRECTIONS PRINTED IN LAST RAMBLINGS. A new page will open that will have a link that says “Bouverie Preserve docents”. Click on that, and then on the word “Ramblings”. Then you can click on the date of the most current Ramblings posted. I know this sounds like many steps, but the really great thing is that after you’ve done it once, this will all become very straight-forward and quick! Also, with this set-up, I can post Ramblings with pictures & map as well and it should be easy for most everyone to open regardless of which work processing program you have or if you use a Macintosh or PC. If you do not have Acrobat Reader, the website also has a link for you to download this very slick and free program (which you will need to open the Ramblings). Old issues of Ramblings will remain archived on this page for quite a while, so you can go back and read them even if you have lost the version you printed out or saved to your computer! Questions about the webpage? Talk with Diane Jacobson, BP docent liaison to the committee coordinating the volunteer webpage! And thanks, Diane, for all of your work on this! ON THE TRAIL 1] I am seeing a lot of late season butterflies active recently. Where the Yellow Brick Road and Woodland Trail junction, I watched a California Sister butterfly (Adelpha bredowii) flitting over the trail. This species will overwinter as larvae, and the flight season for adults typically runs through October, which means the adults are nearly finished for the year, and are probably busy laying eggs in the few days left to them. The larval host plants are oak trees. 2] The Yellow Brick Road heading toward the Canyon Trail, I saw a number of grasshoppers showing under-wing “flash-coloration” of red or yellow. You recall that this serves the straw- colored insects well by leading avian hunters to believe they are seeking a bright colored morsel among the dried vegetation… a color the critters hide by closing their wings, upon landing! 3] At the first creek access point, watch for yellow jacket activity. Last week a couple of kids were stung there and there were quite a few of these yellow and black striped scavengers around. I went to look for a wasp nest in the area, with no success, but still urge caution here. Actually, until there is significant rain or a cold snap, I surge caution everywhere. Be sure to cover food and drink between bites and sips to limit the spread of scent that might attract these stingers! In this area I also watched and listened to a mixed foraging flock of songbirds among the leaves of the Oregon Ash (Fraxinus latifolia). These groups of birds on the move are pretty common this time of year. I saw Chestnut-backed Chickadees and Hutton’s Vireos in this group busily feeding pretty close to where I stood. Wouldn’t it be cool if a few Yellow Jackets ended up in their lunch? Also, lots of bird guano – “white wash” – on the rocks in the creek here. There is always some evidence that tells a story of what’s been going on. Even if I’d been to busy to notice the flitting birds, this sign would have remained Oregon Ash to remind me of avian visitors! I saw a few more California Sister Butterflies here, and also a new-to-me species of year- round flier, the California Tortoiseshell Butterfly, (Nymphalis californica). I found one, sans abdomen, floating on the surface of the creek water here, and brought it back for a better ID. You can look at it under the microscope behind the stage. If you do look at it, notice the sculpted edges of the wings, and flip it over to see how the under-wing surfaces resemble dead leaves. Adults fly all year but mostly from February through early April. This species hibernates as adults. Larval host plants are California Lilac & California Tortoiseshell Butterfly Buckbrush (Ceanothus thyrsiflorus and C. cuneatus), which we have aplenty at Bouverie Preserve. 4] At creek access point # 2 , I watched a lovely, large, late-season butterfly- again new to me! This one was marked with a distinct wide band of vibrant orange-red forming a circle through the canvass presented by open fore and hind wings. each forewing also sported a triangle of three white spots on a dark background on the upper outer point. The center region surrounding & including the abdomen was an average, no-frills brown. The critter is about the same size as a Red Admiral California Sister- in other words, it is one of our larger butterflies. Common name: Red Admiral; Scientific name: Vanessa atalanta. In these photos the flutter-by is hanging onto a log along the trail-side, upside down. Notice how the under-wing is so well camouflaged with the bark of the Red Admiral tree on which the critter sits? I noticed the same effect when it was sitting on the creek bank. I’d look at it for a minute, then it would seem to disappear, as it closed its wings, blending in with the sand and pebbles underneath. Adults of this species also fly all year, the species over-winters as adults, and the larval host plant is nettle. So - there’s the “good news” side of stinging nettle’s role in the environment! I noticed lots of White Alder (Alnus rhombifolia) leaves in the creek. Such a cool thing, really. Alder leaves are an important part of the detritus food chain in Stuart Creek. Do you see anything different about these leaves than you see in the leaves of other species found fallen on the trails? I noticed, and then remembered noticing it every year around this time, that the Alder leaves are mostly still very green when they fall. This is NOT nearly so common in other species. Why is that? What’s going on here? Well, there are a couple of things. For one thing, if you think about the adaptation of deciduous trees losing their leaves, you probably remember that in most deciduous plants chlorophyll breaks down and other pigments (carotenoids and xanthophylls) begin to show through and then the leaves often lose even these colors, fading to a dull brown – and sometimes all of these things occur before abscission. The phases of the plant’s preparation for leaf fall include pulling out useful molecules and nutrients from the leaf before the cells holding the leaf to the tree break-down. So why do we still have chlorophyll in Alder leaves? I’ve heard an interesting suggestion that this is a result of the tree having the “luxury” of not needing to be conservative! And, if you think about it, it makes some sense. Alders have their “feet in water” so to speak. and those roots that anchor them in this perennial waterway also house microbes that fix atmospheric nitrogen, providing the tree with a “built-in” supply of “fertilizer”… so two key resources- water and nitrogen- are in plentiful supply. All of this means, of course, that the invertebrates – like caddisfly larvae – that feed on leaf detritus, essentially have home-delivery of nutrient rich food for the taking! And you thought nothing much was happening here in the Fall!! While you’re here, check out the Chain Ferns (Woodwardia fimbriata) on the creek bank. I noticed lovely linear chains of sori (spore packets) on the undersides of many leaves here. With a hand lens you can engage the kids in thinking about what wondrous worlds of possibility are contained within each cluster of sacks of spores! And, field ID that sticks- the sori are arranged in chains (like the links of a necklace) - on the chain fern. 5] As you head up canyon on the Canyon Trail and soon after you pass the Tuff Rock, look for grape-skin filled fox scat mid trail. We won’t be seeing this much longer as the season for grapes is ending, but it will be interesting to note the shift in the fox diet from relying more on seasonal fruits to the heavier fare of fur mammals and other small critters. Don’t know if you’ll be able to compare different scat samples to find both kinds out there… but it is worth a try - early fall and late spring are the times to seek out both kinds of coyote or fox scat, and should you find the fur filled and fruit filled droppings, you’ll have a great lead-in to talking about omnivores vs carnivores vs herbivores… (and which are we? And how many right answers are there for this question?). When you first enter the shade of the redwoods just one or two turns in the trail further up, I noticed, as I often do, small Coast Redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) sprouts mid-trail. What’s the story? This is one of those little things that can convey large concepts… have the kids look around and try to think about why these redwood shoots are growing well here instead of closer to the tree, or instead of on the hillside. HINT: Young redwood seedlings need full or partial sunlight, but once established they do well in the shade. Redwood seedlings do well only on newly exposed soil after fire or other disturbance, or on newly deposited silt. They don’t establish very well under piles of downed leaf litter. What conditions exist on the trail there that cannot be found nearby? 6] At the 5th Creek Access point, I watched many water striders (Gerris sp.) on the surface of the central pool. These are awesome predators with a fascinating niche. Think about it. They live their adult lives on the surface of the water… catching insects that fall onto the water or come up to surface from within the water! They have the best of both worlds! They are quick little buggers too. Researchers have reported that Water Striders skate at speeds of between 8/10th and 1.3 meters per second! While you’re here admiring these water walkers… reach into the creek and pull out one of the skeletonized leaves of the Big Leaf Maple (Acer macrophyllum). These are leaves that have been in the water long enough for most of the tissues to decompose, but not long enough for the stronger veins to go… so they look like elegant jewelry when you float them on the water surface, and then watch them sink! One of those sublime, aesthetic moments! Large, blue dragonflies are busy skimming the surface of the water here at the creek. I’ve seen them at other creek access points as well, but they are plentiful here. What’s happening with dragonflies in the fall season? Adult dragonflies die as winter comes, but some eggs that were laid in summer will have hatched in a few weeks into larvae, while others will overwinter as eggs. Likewise, nymphs from eggs laid in the spring, summer and fall continue to mature underwater. Because dragonflies only live a few weeks in the adult phase, they spend their days feeding on insect prey, seeking a mate and reproducing. The entire dragonfly lifespan, with larval stages included, can run from a few months to three years depending on species and circumstances! And, while you’re at this lovely creek access point high up on the trail… see if the kids can help you find a tiny “waterfall” making a big sound right there among the rocks. I’m guessing that the slight rain we had in the last few days has increased the flow & the sound a bit. 7] Coming back down the Canyon Trail, I noticed a few things I hadn’t seen on the way up! For example: As I approached Dottie’s Path - a.k.a. creek access #1, I was mindlessly looking at the hillside opposite, when I realized (for the first time in 9 years!) that we have a native Blue Elderberry (Sambucus sp.) shrub growing right there! I had seen this plant on the preserve list for a long time and had looked for it given that we have the ideal habitat for this species… Sambucus sp. Probably S. mexicana and must have walked right past this many times. In Blue Elderberry any case, the botanist who is my alter ego was excited and so I snapped these photos and include them here. How do you tell this plant from the many other plants with similarly oval leaves that are pinnately compound? Well… look at the serrated edges of the leaflets, the elongated points on the ends and the uniformly narrow, oval shape of the leaflets to distinguish it from the Oregon Ash growing at the water’s edge nearby (rounder leaflets with less pointed ends, less commonly serrated here). The stems of the plant have a faint reddish hue which is another feature that helped me distinguish this one, although this coloring is not found in to all individuals of this species. The fact is, these two species look fairly similar and occupy similar habitats, so in a non-fruiting season, identification can be tricky.. Over time, you get a “feel” for what a plant of a familiar species should look like, and then confirm it when it flowers or fruits! So, help me watch this one when spring comes, and we’ll see if it does either of these things! 8] Finally, I saw the Dusky-footed Woodrat’s nest (Neotoma fuscipes) at the base of the Madrone on the Canyon Trail heading back to the hall from Indian Flat; In case you have forgotten to look recently, I spent some minutes checking this one over from the trail, and indeed, it does seem that it is being maintained and is likely still active. Woodrats are the packrats of shiny- thing-collector fame, and these multi-room condominiums are the bastion of a multi-generational A Dusky-footed Woodrat’s home of sticks at the base matriarchy. One could argue that the of a Madrone, uphill on the Canyon Trail between females run the show –maintaining the Camo-gate and the footbridge at Indian Flat & reining from their homes while the males spend their lives on the move. Breeding occurs from late September through mid June or July (nearly all year, with up to 5 litters per year, peaking in spring) and nests within these houses are built of shredded grass, leaves, and other miscellaneous materials (e.g., bird feathers). A home is often the result of work by several generations of woodrats. It is usually occupied by a female and her young, although two females sometimes occupy a single home. In a favorable habitat, woodrat abundance is believed to be limited by availability of nest-building materials. Females mate with a single male. During the breeding season, males move about changing nests in search of sexually receptive females. Males pair with the most accessible female, which is usually the one closest to their nests. The fewer females present in an area, the more a male will move. Females remain in their original nests and may raise a succession of litters. Once gestation begins, the female doesn’t tolerate the male and sometimes will attack the male. If a male approaches an intolerant female, and if he has not mated yet, he will leave the vicinity and find another receptive female. Once a male mates, he lives alone in a separate nest which he builds himself. Wood rats prefer to travel using trees, branches and limbs. But will also use a ground trail to provide a more direct and certain route away from predators. These trails are maintained by use and are quieter than moving slowly across noisy leaf litter.

**AN INCOMPLETE, SHORT LIST OF YEAR ROUND RESIDENT BIRDS AND WINTER* RESIDENTS, ACTIVE ON THE PRESERVE THESE DAYS:

Hutton’s Vireo Wild Turkey Chestnut-backed Chickadee California Quail Northern Flicker Anna’s Hummingbird Bushtit Great Horned Owl Golden-crowned Sparrow* American Kestrel American Crow Oak Titmouse Common Raven White-breasted Nuthatch Scrub Jay California Towhee Steller’s Jay Spotted Towhee Turkey Vulture Dark-eyed Junco Red-shouldered Hawk Lesser Goldfinch

PLEASE NOTE: Trail repairs are occurring at the footbridge before the concrete pad at Indian Flat & at the Waterfall overlook. Use caution with the children in these areas. Thanks for ALL that you give to our programs! Let me know what you see :)