A great day at work on the Preserve (Pics included)

I love my job!

Today I went out to one of our nature preserves with a friend/contractor/ecologist/ex-board member and conducted day 1 of a 2 day upland grassland survey. The survey requires us to collect data on the botanical species types and abundance (absolute and relative cover) in a 10m x 10m plot. We will do this for 12 plots this year and then 36 plots in alternate years. FUN!

While out there I was checking the bird nesting boxes we installed last fall and this last spring. It appears all but 2 of the 28 boxes we installed are occupied and contain a nesting pair of birds with eggs. The boxes were designed for Western bluebird and to a lesser degree Tree Swallows. This is pretty exciting considering the boxes have not been up very long AND most of them were installed by local 5th grade girls, a couple Sierra College students, and local volunteers. The 5th grade girls even named the boxes for me. Butterschnauzer, Birdy Turdy, etc.. Most of the boxes current house tree swallows but 1 of the experimental boxes does house a mated pair of western bluebird and there are 5 eggs in that box. The purpose of the nesting box project is to enhance habitat for bird species in decline and to provide educational and volunteer opportunities for locals and high school/college students.

*Bonus!!!

While walked to the last survey plot I spotted something walking through the grass directly in front of us and was extremely surprised to see that it was a bobcat! I've never seen one on this preserve and any of our low elevation preserves so this was quite a treat for me.

*Bonus Two!!!

I am always on the lookout for new species on our preserves. These are not species new to science but new to our lands which makes them exciting to us. We currently have three species of Brodiaea on the preserve and today I found a fourth while walking to a survey plot. Brodiaeas tend to look VERY similar but there are slight differences to look for so I'm surprised I caught this one! The new species isElegant Brodiaea (Brodiaea elegans ).

Here are a few of the pics I took today. I'll add more once I get to the office tomorrow. I cannot post the ones of the children installing the boxes for obvious reasons so I apologize. The pics are in raw form and were taken for ID purposes so go easy on my lack of skill.... Evan

 

Ahh, I found a few I could actually post from our restoration work on the Preserv as well from some of the tours we do for the public or agencies.

*Note, the purple flower is a Crown Brodiaea (Brodiaea coronaria). Can you see the difference between it and Brodiaea elegans above?

In order:

Pic#1 - Bordiaea coronaria
Pic#2 - 5th graders and the nesting boxes they will install
Pic#3 - The girls are helping my bolt the wood duck box to the t-post
Pic#4 - Western Burrowing owl (Athene cunicularia) at the same preserve. We just finished digging an artificial nest site for them using a valve box, and 4" corrugated tubing!
Pic#5/6 - Part of a 20acre riparian restoration project partnership with Westervlet Ecological Services. Approx. 20 acres of fallow irrigated pasture was planted with 5,000 native trees, shrubs and sedges.

 

Thanks Tripp!

We got a couple inches of rain at the very end of April and into May which is quite odd. Uusally stuff has dried up pretty bad by now but this last hurrah of precip. allowed us to conduct the survey later as it is keeping things green longer. We are even going to extend the grazing season in an effort to #1 feed the livestock more before they get put on hay. #2 reduce seed production on invasive grasses/forbs. #3 reduce fuel load.

So far I think we are up by about 2+inches of precipitation from last season. I check the accumlated precipitation data about once a month usually but I was waiting for this last week of rain to end before I pulled up the data again.

 

I've never seen one just walking around like that either. I was honestly shocked. I dropped my gear and hurriedly fished my camera out of my pocket the get a shot. I thought the same thing you did at first. I was like Grr damn feral cat... then ohh damn, that's a giant house cat. lol Funny how quickly the brain can rush through recognition scenarios.

 

We actually have buffalo that graze on one of our conservation easements. They are pretty awesome but I'm nearly as nonchallant when I walk through their pasture....

California is gearing up for climate change regardless of the source of the main driver. The general idea is we will have more random weather patterns, more intense wet weather in winter but less precipitation will fall as snow or it will but then melt quickly which will reduce our snow pack levels. This will have a major impact on available water throughout the summer and fall since we do not get rain from approx. May-October.

We have the typical snakes on this preserve which include; western rattlesnake, gartersnake, gophersnake, ring-necked snake, western skink, western fence lizard, etc.. I don't believe we have any horned lizards on this preserve. They tend to associate with the more desert-like landscapes on serpentine soils that act like ecological islands in the typical Sierra Nevada landscape. They are the cutest things and I don't even like reptiles much. Is there a general reason why the horned lizard is in decline in your state?

I try not to focus on the cute and fuzzy organisms only. I'm currently working on a flower and shrub planting design that will provide plenty of food-based habitat for insects as well as the birds on the preserve. It is a lot of fun trying to choose native plants that not only thrive on the site but will provide blossoms year round.

 

Good to hear you are having some success with the idea. We did something similar except we used two poles and spaced them approx. 15' apart. Currently we only have 1 nesting pair of bluebirds (using boxes) and they are in a box that is placed near a swallow box. We did this with 8 boxes while the rest of the boxes are place separately. The idea is to monitor them over the years and see which ones get used by bluebirds and what kind of competition occurs. Walking the preserves you get the impression that there are swallows everywhere yet I very rarely ever see a bluebird. Depending on what the bird box data tells us I may add more boxes in close proximity to existing boxes. So now you need to post up some pics of your boxes and birds.

For anyone interested in learning more about building a bluebird trail or placing a single box near their home, this is a great guide on the subject. It provides simple, easy to read instructions and contains many beautiful bluebird pictures.


http://www.amazon.com/Bluebird-Book-Complete-Attracting-Bluebirds/dp/0316817457

 

My pleasure.

I realize some people couldn't care less about this stuff but it seems there are always more than a few like us that do enjoy the posts.


Hyo, you had me rollin' after reading the grizzly bear scat part.

 

The data is simply a way for us to measure the success of the porgram. The data will be made available for anyone who wants it which in my area would likely be Audubon. It is just another way for us to show funders, the general public, and potential partners that we do our best to enhance the land as opposed to just locking it up from development or public access and calling it "preserved".

Tripp, I was cracking up when I read that.

Rae Rae, thanks so much.

 

I'm happy you posted your feeling on the loss/decline of these little guys. Those feelings you decribe are something that is very hard to quantify and put a value on. When we talk of intrinsic value or the loss to current generations who remember how plentiful a specific critter used to be or the loss to future generations who will never get to experience your "wild pets" as very important but it is difficult to get policies protecting such values truely enforced. Especially when there are dollar signs being leveraged against protection.

It's early and I'm rambling but I just wanted to thank you for you post.