| The Magazine of the CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES |
|
|
|
Naturalist's Almanac Naturalist's Almanac JanuaryHumboldt Bay National Wildlife Refuge, encompassing the state's second largest bay, provides a wintering home to thousands of waterfowl and shorebirds. The bay's habitats include California's largest eelgrass beds, extensive intertidal mudflats, and brackish, fresh, and saltwater marshes. Thousand of black brants pass through, plus tundra swans,Canadian geese, northern pintails, and wood ducks. Check the shorelines and tidal flats for western and least sandpipers, curlews, dunlins, willets, and dowitchers. Waders include American bitterns, snowy and great egrets, and great blue herons that use Indian Island as a rookery. The Hookton Slough and Shorebird Loop interpretive trails offer excellent wildlife viewing but are subject to closure. For more information contact the refuge headquarters at (707) 733-5406. Though eucalyptus trees are the scourge of native plant fans, they make an ideal wintering home for monarch butterflies. The same acidic leaves that make the soil beneath the trees unlivable for most plant life have a narrow, lace- like structure that allows monarchs to secure a strong grasp during winter storms. The monarchs form clusters in the thousands on cold days with wings folded like roof shingles, weighing down branches but avoiding being tossed to the ground by wind or rain. Two good observation areas are Natural Bridges State Beach (408)423-4609 and Morro Bay State Park (805)772-7434. The California coast provides some of North America's most productive wintering habitats for raptors. To view red-tailed hawks, red shouldered-hawks, American kestrels, and occasionally white-tailed kites, or to catch a glimpse of a peregrine falcon, head to the hills of Tennessee Valley in the Marin Headlands (415)331-1540. For an inland observation of raptors try Cache Creek (707)462-3873 in Lake County or Capay Valley on the east side of Highway 16 in Yolo County. Ferruginous hawks, merlins, and other raptors can be observed above Capay Valley, and in Cache Creek Canyon look for bald and golden eagles. Gray whales are migrating south from the Bering Sea to winter in Baja. They can be seen making this lengthy voyage, during which it's believed they eat almost nothing, from a number of points along the California coast. The lighthouse at Point Reyes National Seashore (415) 663-1092 is one exceptional viewing spot. The closest looks are found on whale watching trips. The Oceanic Society offers trips out of San Francisco and Monterey (415) 474-3385 and the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium out of San Pidro (310) 832-2676. Adventurers might consider driving the transpeninsular highway to Scammon's Lagoon in Baja California. A long day journey from the border, Scammon's Lagoon is a whale watcher's dream. Packed with hundreds of adults and newborn calves, close sightings are guaranteed and intimate encounters frequent.
In the coastal scrub on San Bruno Mountain the endangered mission blue and San Bruno elfin butterflies, and the candidate endangered calliope silverspot butterfly are emerging from their winter hibernation. As they grow, molt, and pupate, mission blue larvae dine on perennial lupines, preparing for first flight and breeding in late March. The callipe silverspot larvae feed on California golden violet and don't fly until April or May. The San Bruno elfin butterflies overwinter as pupae, and adults fly in March before laying eggs on the Pacific stone-crop. Critical habitat on the upper slopes of San Bruno Mountain has been converted to public ownership in an agreement which opens the lower slopes for development. February is breeding time in the Channel Islands for northern elephant seals and California brown pelicans. West Anacapa Island hosts the only California brown pelicans that breed north of Mexico. The number of nesting pairs here has increased from 100 in 1968 to over 2,000. San Miguel Island hosts the largest northern elephant seal rookery in their range, with some 30,000 individuals. Truth Aquatics (805) 962-1127 provides winter access to the islands from Santa Barbara. The islands are part of the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary (805) 966-7107 and the Channel Islands National Park (805) 658-5730. MarchIt's ladybug mating season in the Coast Ranges and the Sierra Nevada foothills. As the weather warms they awaken from their winter sleep frisky and active. Look for ladybugs clustered together on the stems of grasses and at the bases of tree trunks. One ladybug hot spot is Steven's Creek in the Monte Bello Open Space Preserve. There is nothing quite as still and quiet as the desert in winter. The bizarre twisting Joshua trees provide the cornerstone of a rich desert ecosystem in Joshua Tree National Park(760)733-4040. In March the clustering white blossoms of the Joshua tree are entirely dependent on the yucca moth for pollination. Moths visit a flower, gathering the pollen into balls. During pollen transfer to a neighboring flower, the moths deposit their eggs. The seeds of maturing fruit will be a food source for developing larvae. Spring is slowly crawling out of its shell along California's coast. Early blooming wildflowers make their first appearance on the north-facing slopes, scrub, and grasslands of the Marin Headlands. On Wolf Ridge Trail, look for western hound's tongue, coast rock cress, shooting stars, and milk maids. In Rodeo Valley, look for footsteps of spring and sun cups. This winter, naturalists in the Bay Area can see the early results of an extraordinary habitat restoration project. In 1994 the National Park Service and groups of volunteers began converting part of San Francisco's Presidio into a complex and dynamic sand dune habitat (Habitats, Pacific Discovery, Spring 1997). Today, on Lobos Creek Dunes, is a growing community of native plants, including a rare sunflower, the San Francisco lessingia. From 19 individual plants in 1985 there are now over 100,000. As the restoration project enters its next phase, observers may notice the return of insect and bird species that have not appeared in the Presidio for decades. For information on helping with the restoration call (415) 668-9765. |
Winter 1999
|
