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THIS WEEK IN
CALIFORNIA WILD

Naturalist's Almanac

What to Look For This Winter

Liese Greensfelder

Cranes at Cosumnes
As the only undammed river descending from the sierra Nevada's western flank, the Cosumnes still engages in the natural processes of flooding and silting. These forces have worked their restorative powers on thousands of acres of former cropland at the Cosumnes River Preserve established in 1987. Disorderly stands of young cottonwoods and willows now grow in place of straight crop rows, and winter rains create vast stretches of open water, vital to the Pacific Flyway's migrating waterfowl. Some of the largest virgin stands of valley oak grow in the Preserve, which stretches from the Delta to the Sierra foothills between Stockton and Sacramento. A network of trails and waterways for hiking and canoeing have transformed the Preserve's 37,000 protected acres into a paradise for birdwatchers. Tundra swans, American pipits, red-shouldered hawks, and up to 3,000 lesser sandhill cranes are among the nearly 100 species that winter in the Preserve. River Cosumnes Preserve Visitor's Center (916) 684-2816.

January
Ribbons of green catkins grace white alders this month. Light winds send the catkins swaying and the pollen flying in gold-green puffs. The white alder is a common tree that grows along stream banks throughout the state up to 8,000 feet above sea level, so even cross-country skiers can witness this lovely winter flowering.

Another winter bloomer, the California hazelnut, grows in moist wooded canyons along the coast and in the Sierra Nevada from Tulare County north. Look for bright red stigmas protruding from tiny female flowers that grow at the tips of year-old twigs, and catkins dangling from the bush's naked outer branches. Though pollination occurs in January when pollen from the catkins alights on the stigmas, fertilization is delayed until May or June when the ovaries beneath the stigmas finally become receptive to sperm cells contained in the pollen. Only then do the hard-shelled nuts start to develop.

Gray whales spend six months each year migrating between summer feeding grounds in the Bering Sea and calving lagoons in Baja California. In the first two weeks of January as many as 200 southward-bound grays a day may pass within a mile of Point Reyes National Seashore. The whales can also be viewed from almost any high bluff overlooking the ocean along Highway One.

February
Under deep snow among the boulders of talus slopes in the high Sierra, pint-sized pikas are subsisting on the hoards of hay they harvested, cured, and cached during the bountiful days of summer.

Though plagued by rising salinity, agricultural and industrial pollution, and recent epidemics of bird deaths, the Salton Sea is still one of the most exciting birdwatching sites in the country. The Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuge and adjacent Imperial Valley's checklist contains an astonishing 380 species. The annual Audubon Christmas bird count here often reports the nation's highest tallies for such species as burrowing owls, mountain plovers, rough-winged swallows, long-billed dowitchers, marsh wrens, and ruddy ducks. Thousands of migratory waterfowl including snow and Ross's geese overwinter at the Sea or use it as a way station before continuing south. The National Wildlife Refuge is about 25 miles north of El Centro. (760) 348-5278.

March
The desert tortoise awakes from its six- to nine-month hibernation around mid-March. Emerging from deep burrows in the valleys and washes of the Mojave Desert, the Frisbee-sized reptiles search for succulent spring plants when the day warms above 65 °F. By late May and June the tortoises retreat back underground to avoid scorching temperatures, foraging above ground only at night or during summer rains. Tortoises were once so common that collectors gathered them by the thousands to sell as souvenirs at gift shops and gas stations throughout southern California. But a virulent respiratory disease, flagrant collecting, habitat loss, and a 15-fold increase of ravens in the desert (the birds feed on tender-shelled baby tortoises), landed the reptiles on the threatened species list in 1980. The Desert Tortoise Research Natural Area near California City in Kern County provides 40 square miles of protected habitat. Other reptiles you might spot while wandering the preserve's trails are leopard lizards, western whiptails, collared lizards, side-blotched lizards, and the occasional chuckwalla. A naturalist with The Desert Tortoise Preserve Committee, (909) 683-3872, staffs the Natural Area from March to May.

In the Feather Falls Scenic Area in Plumas National Forest, Dutchman's pipe, shooting stars, Indian pinks, and star tulips are just coming into bloom. Look for masses of ladybird beetles where they cluster on grasses and shrubs along shady stream banks. Impressive stands of the uncommon California nutmeg tree adorn the first leg of a four-mile trail that ends at spectacular Feather Falls, the sixth highest waterfall in the continental U.S. Feather River Ranger Station, (530) 534-6500.

After wintering in Baja California, least Bell's vireos return to nesting sites in dense shrubs along southern California rivers. A good place to find the birds is San Diego County's Mission Trails Regional Park. Take a walk near Old Mission Dam or Kuneyaay Lake. If you're lucky, a ruckus-raising male will dart from streamside vegetation to scold you away from his territory.

Pileated woodpeckers start excavating their nest cavities this month in standing dead pine trees in the mixed conifer-deciduous forests of the Coast Ranges and Sierra Nevada in northern California. North America's largest woodpecker. . adults stand nearly a foot and a half tall. . a pileated starts its day by noisily calling through the woods to the separate tree where its mate roosts. Pileated populations seem to be on the rise. And because these birds are the forest's loudmouths, they're easy to find. Start in a mixed forest with plenty of snags, then listen for the shrill . kuk-kukking. call of the pileated in flight, the staccato tapping of nest excavation, or the booming territorial drumrolls both sexes make by rapping on favorite hollow trunks.

Winter 2000

Vol. 53:1