Blog

September 13, 2023 The excitement of finding monarch butterfly caterpillars has been keeping my attention for the last couple of weeks. While looking closely at the showy milkweed, Asclepias speciosa, and the narrowleaf milkweed, Asclepias fascicularis, we discovered that there were caterpillars on the narrowleaf milkweed. Last year, the majority of caterpillars we observed were…

September 5th, 2023 This is a fine late summer/pre-autumn day. The morning was cool enough for me to start the day wearing layers, including a down vest. As the sun rises higher the temperature is approaching hot, so I am down to my t-shirt layer! The sky is a clear, brilliant blue with not a…

August 23rd, 2023 Recently, there has been a huge number of large, beautiful moths observed in the gardens throughout our valley and in the surrounding mountains. I have seen this moth in previous years in my own garden at dusk when the Evening Primroses open up. This was a summer after-dinner activity, going out and…

August 15, 2023 In the middle of summer, the heat intensifies, especially out on the valley floor. My colleagues and I try to accomplish our field work early to avoid the heat but there are times such as this week when I was still walking along the riparian corridors observing wildlife as the temperature climbed.…

August 9th, 2023 This week a carcass was found that created a stir for a short time. Upon first look, it appeared to possibly be a California Badger. This would have been the first sighting of one on the Mitigation Project Lands but upon further research and looking carefully at the skull structure and paws,…

7/31/2023 A very common yet seldom seen animal of Little Lake Valley is a small rodent called the California vole (Microtus californicus). They are often mistaken for mice and are commonly referred to as ‘meadow mice.’ California voles are overall brown in color with a lighter gray underside. Its tail is also bicolored, brown on…

July 25, 2023 The long days of summer called the “dog days” are upon us and there are some unusual plants blooming and creatures hopping around. In some areas of Little Lake Valley, it is hard to walk without causing the ground to erupt with small iridescent Pacific Chorus Frogs, Pseudacris regilla, hopping everywhere. Residual,…

There is still a lot of bird activity happening in Little Lake Valley as we have entered summertime.  Juvenile birds chase their parents around, begging loudly for food while the parents madly gather insects and other edible items for these hungry young. White-breasted Nuthatch, Sitta carolinensis, is our largest nuthatch in Mendocino County. The Pygmy…

July 6th, 2023 The riparian corridors on the Willits Bypass Mitigation Lands are the best place to walk in the heat of summer. Not only do humans think so, but the birds, mammals, insects, and other wildlife also seem to prefer these areas. Since plenty of water still flows into pools along Outlet and Davis…

June 19th, 2023 Today, out in the field, I observed a couple of male Bullock’s Orioles, Icterus bullock, feeding loud young birds in a lovely lichen cup nest located in a large ash tree. The sounds of the baby birds are what alerted me to the nest location. Sitting quietly, I began to see the…

June 5th through June 13th, 2023 This year’s breeding bird point count was again a wonderful time well spent out in the mitigation lands with a great group of volunteers. Meeting at 7:30 am each morning, we made our way around the project either by a small gas mule vehicle, walking, or driving cars. During…

May 3, 2023 This cool and moist week has me thinking about mushrooms and fungi, important members of every ecological community. Luckily, there are still plenty of them out there to photograph and enjoy before the summer heat. There are different definitions for decomposers but this one from the Biologyonline.com website is clear and concise:…