| The Magazine of the CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES |
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Naturalist's Almanac What to Look for This Spring April Another striking dark butterfly and one of the earliest to appear in spring is the common mourning cloak, with its dark brown wings edged in yellow. Known as the Camberwell beauty in England, this butterfly relies on cottonwoods, willows, and elms for food. April is prime time to view shorebirds passing through the southern end of San Francisco Bay. Many are in breeding plumage. Some American avocets, black-necked stilts, and killdeer are local residents. A good viewing spot is Palo Alto Baylands, off of Highway 101. Contact the Baylands Interpretive Center (650) 329-2506. You can see shorebirds at the north end of the bay too, at the new San Pablo Bay National Wildlife Refuge. A three-mile hike, part of the San Francisco Bay Trail, takes you out to the wetlands, where you may see American white pelicans, canvasbacks, and scaups. Harbor seals haul out here too. Call (510) 792-0222 for information. Farther north, Arcata holds its fourth annual Godwit Days Spring Migration Bird Festival April 16-18, offering birdwatching opportunities at Arcata Marsh and Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, plus workshops on bird illustration, photography, and bird-watching skills, and many other activities. Call the Arcata Marsh Interpretive Center for more information (707) 822-5953 or (707) 822-3619; email arcatacy@tidepool.com. Vernal pools are starting to bloom with wildflowers at the Nature Conservancy's Jepson Prairie. The prairie is home to a number of rare and endangered species, including Solano grass and the Delta ground beetle, which are found nowhere else. A relaxing way to visit the prairie is via a two-hour roundtrip journey on the Wildflower Express, a Pullman-type train that departs from the Western Railway Museum in Rio Vista (707) 374-2978. May The tiny crab spider is busy inside flower heads ambushing flies, bees, and butterflies. This spider builds no web and changes its color to match whatever flower it is visiting. Did you know that the third largest city park in the United States is in Chico? Bidwell Park encompasses a near-wilderness area that hosts migratory mule deer, coyotes, foxes, California quail, pygmy owls, acorn woodpeckers, and rare valley oaks and cork trees. Yellow-breasted chats (our largest warbler) and black-headed grosbeaks can be seen in May along Big Chico Creek, which runs through the park. Look for American dippers hunting caddisfly and stonefly larvae in the creek. Chico Creek Nature Center offers information on trail access and wildlife viewing (530) 891-4671. At the Audubon Society's Kern River Preserve near Bakersfield, songbirds are still migrating through the area, wildflowers are blooming, and the Kern is flowing fast with runoff from the Sierra snowpack. Western pond turtles, the only turtles native to interior California, have emerged from hibernation, and you may glimpse a Gilbert's skink or desert spiny lizard as well. The alkali mariposa lily, which grows in moist meadows along the river, blooms in May, and the cottonwoods release their white down, providing nesting material for the endangered yellow-billed cuckoo. Call (760) 378-3044 for additional information. For information on migratory birds and their conservation, and International Migratory Bird Day on May 8, see www.americanbirding.org. June The little brown myotis, western pipistrelle (the smallest bat in the United States), and big brown bat all bear their young in June. Watch for bats on warm evenings, particularly near water where insects are abundant. Slender silver California grunion spawn on central and southern California beaches at night during full or new moons at high tides. A good spot for viewing them is the Bolsa Chica State Beach and Ecological Reserve, just off Highway 1 in Huntington Beach. A large colony of least, Forster's, Caspian, elegant, and royal terns also nests in this reserve, on a lagoon inland of the freeway. Contact the reserve at (714) 846-3460. Look for the unusual, waterlily-shaped maroon flowers of western spicebush, which grows along stream banks and in gardens. The flowers give off a pungent aroma, like old wine. Tiny Pacific tree frogs are active day and night. Despite their name, these green (or sometimes reddish or light brown) native frogs can be seen and heard near seeps and streams throughout the spring and summer. You may also spot common garter snakes nearby, and common water striders skating across the water's surface. Dragonflies, like blue-eyed darners and flame skimmers, hover near the water's surface, eating mosquitos and other insects. Cheerfully attired in yellow and black, American goldfinches are beginning to nest throughout the state, having waited until plenty of insects and thistle and dandelion seeds are available for feeding their young. The nest is a solid, water-tight cup of plant fibers, spider webs, and thistle down. Carnivorous California pitcher plants are still blooming in June in the Butterfly Valley Botanical Area within the Plumas National Forest, luring insects and botanists alike. The preserve is fed by mountain springs, which flow across the sloping meadows that are home to many native plants, including fritillaries; wild onions and hyacinths; mariposa, camas, and fawn lilies; and seven genera of orchids. The Forest Service manages this area, where logging is not permitted (530) 283-0555. |
Spring 1999
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