Where does the time go? Since the last time I posted -- in late July -- I've seen lots of interesting creatures and plants in and around our yard, and I guess I'd better share those sights before we get too far into winter now! So here's a collection of sights from the last few months, in chronological order. I was excited to see Spicebush Swallowtail caterpillars munching on the leaves of my Spicebush plants, slowly getting bigger and sporting those cool snake-mimic eye spots (this picture is from July 29):
But then after a few days, every one of the caterpillars ended up getting eaten. Maybe next year's caterpillar cohort will have better luck? (Maybe I should think about protecting them.) August 1 was a warm day, and a Blue Jay spent a few moments sunning itself on our deck railing (this fuzzy picture is the best I could manage through a window screen):
And a Mourning Dove over on our platform feeder had the same idea:
The night of August 15 brought a couple of cool visitors to our front porch. We haven't had another big invasion of Spring Peepers since the summer of 2017, so it was a nice treat to see this tiny peeper perched on the wall:
And on another part of the wall, a wingless moth was laying her eggs:
I knew that some species of moths have females that don't have wings, but I'd never actually seen one before. I'm not sure what species this is (perhaps a type of tussock moth?). Without wings, I have a hard time seeing the moth connection, but there you are. Nature is so bizarre sometimes! Here's another picture from closer up:
On August 17, an alarmingly large wasp -- a Pigeon Tremex (Tremex columba) -- got itself momentarily trapped in a tray of water on our deck. That's quite the abdomen on this creature!
I saw several White-marked Tussock Moth caterpillars this year -- here's one of these fancy caterpillars on our front porch on August 24:
On August 31, a walk into our woods let me cross paths with two beautiful male Hooded Warblers:
I'm fairly certain that Hooded Warblers nest in our woods during the summer, but seeing two adult males together makes me think that these individuals were migrants passing through. It was really exciting to get to see these birds up close:
While walking through the meadow that same day, I found a grasshopper with its abdomen pushed into the dirt of the path, perhaps depositing eggs underground?
Also on August 31, our yard was host to a Giant Swallowtail, a totally new butterfly for me:
This really was a large butterfly, noticeably bigger than the Tiger Swallowtails we frequently see around our yard in the summer. It fed at this patch of garden phlox for several minutes, flapping its broad wings the whole time:
And then it moved on. How cool to get to meet what I now know is one of the largest butterflies in North America!
This was a good year for Red Efts (the juvenile form of Red-spotted Newts) in our yard. I usually see efts on the ground, but this hefty individual was lounging on top of some hosta leaves next to our house on September 8:
Twice in September, I moved a rock next to my garden and found a tiny Brown Snake (Storeria dekayi) underneath. This is only the second reptile species I've seen so far on our property -- before this point I'd only seen Garter Snakes here -- and I was happy to find at least a little more reptile diversity! Plus, Brown Snakes are so small and cute:
On September 14, I watched a perfect and brilliantly colored Monarch visiting the zinnias on our deck:
These colors are so amazing, and this is the first time I've noticed those tiny flecks of white near the front edge of this individual's wings, like reflective highlights setting off the black marks:
Another Monarch was feeding at some mint blossoms a bit further away, looking like an intricate ornament hanging from those sprays of pale purple flowers:
And while I watched the Monarchs, a House Finch stopped by to eat an apple in the nearby tree:
By mid-September, the New England Asters on our property were putting on an incredible show. The house had a few New England Aster plants already when we moved in, but we scattered more seeds in the disturbed part of the meadow in fall 2017, and this is the first year that those new plants came into full bloom. Many of these plants were tall and robust, with bright purple blooms:
It was a joy to see other colors of New England Aster blossoms in the meadow as well, including these delicate pink ones:
Here's a group of pink, purple, and deep-purple New England Asters on September 28 (when many of the plants were already past their prime):
Each year I try to identify more of the incredibly diverse and abundant asters that grow on our property; I'm up to at least 10 species so far. September is a spectacular time for flowers here, and I'm very happy to have added this New England Aster show to our meadow! An old Concord Grape vine produced plentiful clusters of grapes this year, which we very much enjoyed. These Bald-faced Hornets made good use of the grapes as well:
The American Hazelnut bushes I planted in 2017 have now gotten big enough to produce their first little catkins (in preparation for the spring), and I loved seeing these structures dangling among fall-turned leaves in late September:
I think the fall colors of these American Hazelnut leaves are especially beautiful, and they made such a lovely stage for this little yellow caterpillar (I don't know the species) on September 28:
Here's another insect and plant pairing from September 28, this time a katydid with super long antennae on turning sumac leaves:
On October 12, I was happy to come across a Hermit Thrush foraging at the edge of the meadow. What a beautiful bird, whose subtle brown outfit seems so suited for fall:
Other cool encounters from the past few months (without accompanying pictures) include yard bird species #102 -- a couple of Bay-breasted Warblers foraging in our spruce trees on September 12 -- and #103 -- a male Wood Duck flying over our meadow on September 28. In October, something broke apart our bird feeders, and when I asked our neighbors whether bears ever show up in our area, they said they'd seen a bear on their trail camera not too long before. So we're pretty sure a bear came through our yard! Now that November's winding down (how did we get here already?), the landscape is all brown and dormant, and daylight is getting slim. Our first snow stuck around for a few days and teased winter, but we're not quite into the snowy months yet. That will come soon enough!
My sister came to visit for Christmas (yay!), and Paul and I got to show her all the awesome things about Northern California. There were rainy hikes (and later, hikes with sunshine!), trips to the beach, a sunset over the Pacific Ocean, and lots and lots of food. :D I didn't take many pictures during this awesome and relaxing family time, but I do want to share some of the cool creatures we met while exploring.
In Redwood National and State Parks, we drove slowly past a herd of Elk browsing next to the road. How nice of these Elk to pose with their statue (note also the wonderfully fuzzy trees in the background):
One young Elk was very vocal, which was a cool surprise. (We thought surely the sound was coming from a bird... until this big mammal showed us otherwise.) I'm not sure what all this Elk's "eep"-ing meant, but I'm hoping it was more of a chatty communication with the rest of the herd than a pitiful cry. Either way, the second Elk in the above picture didn't seem to have much patience for the young Elk; it got a little kick as they moved on:
A couple of days later, from the trail on Trinidad Head, we watched the ocean and were rewarded with a glimpse of a migrating whale (or maybe two) in the distance:
A whale! See it? (Right there!) I'm not exactly sure of the species, but it's most likely a Gray Whale, since they migrate south in big numbers down the coast around this time. I've been very much hoping to see a whale while we're living here, so I'll take it!
A couple of Wrentits (not a wren... not a tit... it's a Wrentit!) briefly showed themselves in between long foraging sessions deep in the bushes:
These birds are apparently very good at skulking, and I was happy to get to see their funny round bodies and little beaks. This Wrentit was after some dangling red berries:
I had actually had another brief encounter with a Wrentit a few days earlier while walking near the dunes. Hello funny bird!
A handsome Hermit Thrush was dashing around an open area at the top of Trinidad Head, pausing every few feet to stand up tall and survey the ground for morsels:
The Hermit Thrush seemed to be having a successful hunt, and I was happy to admire its wonderfully dappled chest and its rusty tail:
At the shore, a trio of Black Oystercatchers were foraging in the waves:
Oystercatchers are such strange-looking birds, and after getting to know American Oystercatchers during my time in Connecticut, I'm glad I got to meet this western species:
It was so wonderful to be able to explore with my family around the holidays. The past few months have been very busy, and I haven't been able to get outside nearly as much as I would like. But I am looking forward to a whole set of new adventures and opportunities in the new year. Hello, 2016!
I knew, when I left my apartment to drive to Naugatuck State Forest this morning, that it would be a cold walk. My first big tip-off came last night, when the falling raindrops turned suspiciously thick and sludgy. My suspicions were confirmed this morning, when I had to scrape ice off of my windshield for the first time this year, and then when I saw several cars (commuters, I presume) driving around with an inch or two of snow (real snow!) on their roofs. Winter, it seems, is on its way!
When I arrived at the woods, it wasn't just cold -- it was frozen. Not the lakes (that will come later), but leaves, plants, and everything else:
Mmm, pretty. Frost makes even common plants -- like the plantains, clover, and wild carrots in the picture above -- seem extraordinary, like they're dressed up for a special occasion. And how cute are the strawberry leaves in this next picture, all frosted and nestled in a bed of dry grass?
Frozen it may have been, but the animals didn't seem to mind. Birds were chittering and flying around everywhere, and there were plenty of creatures to see.
This female Hairy Woodpecker* was hard at work excavating a large hole in a fantastically fungus-covered tree:
Update 12/22/11: I've changed my mind, and I'm fairly convinced now that this is a Downy Woodpecker. I've seen some more Hairy Woodpeckers since I took this picture, and they do seem to be much bigger and with more strikingly large beaks and heads than this girl. So... Downy it is -- sorry for the confusion! (Either way, I still think the pictures are cool.)
Better check to see if the hole is big enough yet! (And I wonder what she will use it for.)
A pair of Hermit Thrushes was foraging for food among the mud and fallen leaves, and this one seems to have found something:
Something delicious, I hope?
This funky little bird is a Brown Creeper:
A little creeper, just creeping along. This bird is really good at climbing vertically up tree trunks, but I'm not actually sure that it can go downwards at all -- Brown Creepers generally creep up a tree for a little while, looking for tasty bugs in the bark, and then they fly down to the base of the next tree and start climbing up again. I think these birds are super cool, and I didn't even know they existed until I started visiting this forest about a year ago. And they're pretty good at the camouflage thing, too:
Other sights from today's walk included a flock of kinglets (Ruby-crowned and Golden-crowned) that seemed to follow me wherever I went, and a teeny Red Squirrel chasing a Gray Squirrel easily twice its size. Hooray for activity, and hooray for living things!
Notes:
*I've been getting much more confident recently about distinguishing between Hairy and Downy Woodpeckers -- these two species look very similar, especially when they're not sitting side by side -- but this picture had me second-guessing myself for a little while. This bird's beak looks small for a Hairy Woodpecker, but big for a Downy. So that's confusing. However, I don't see any black marks on this bird's outer tail feathers, and I remember it being fairly large in size, both of which point to Hairy Woodpecker. So that's my identification, at least for now. If anyone wants to correct me, feel free to do so!
