June 12, 2006

We're happy to announce that local ornithologist Dave Bontrager will be leading a Bird Walk at Lost Valley on Tuesday, June 27, from 8 AM to 11 AM. Dave is well-known in the local community for his popular classes on birding and natural history; he also conducted field research and taught for many years at the Starr Ranch Audubon Sanctuary in southern California. This past winter, he helped us obtain the grant which funded our creek restoration project, and his expertise and willingness to share it have been instrumental in the formation of the Nature Center. Enrollment on this walk is limited to 15 participants and pre-registration is required. We are asking for a $3 donation per person from those who are not Nature Center Members. To register, please call 541-937-2567 ext. 116, or email nature@lostvalley.org--we expect this walk to fill quickly, so don't delay if you are interested.

The last two weeks have been busy with vegetable gardening activity, but wild (and feral) nature has also confronted us at every turn. Among the highlights:
- another honeybee swarm, this one on the forked Douglas fir tree in the meadow garden (5/30)
- a spectacular blue-tailed juvenile western skink, crawling out of a wheelbarrow of chicken manure (5/31)
- an abundance of native snails in the garden (especially on 6/1)
- the drumming and call of the pileated woodpecker (especially on 6/2)
- a leaf miner seen in a snowberry leaf during a Dave Bontrager-led class at Mt. Pisgah Arboretum (6/3)
- handfuls of ripe osoberries, our first ripe berries of the season (starting 6/4)
- a pair of juncos building a nest in a hanging basket on a cabin porch (6/5)
- a fledgling winter wren which inadvertently took one of its first flights into me (and bounced off, apparently unharmed) as several of us walked the Creek Trail (6/5)
- an unidentified fuzzy orange bee with large yellow pollen sacs (6/6)
- the first ripe wild strawberry of the season (6/7)
- brightly colored quail, brilliant orange lichen, and another, even larger bee swarm (all noted on 6/7)
- Geranium oreganum (western geranium), Lilium columbianum (tiger lily), Dichelostemma congestum (forktooth ookow), in full bloom (6/8)
- wild strawberries by the handfuls, and more osoberries (6/8, 6/9, and thereafter)
- the song of the warbling vireo (at Dave Bontrager's during his 6/10 bird class)
- diverse native butterflies encountered during a walk led by Neil Bjorklund on the east side of Mt. Pisgah, and also here at Lost Valley (6/11)
- the flight and call of one of our neighborhood osprey, and the loudest thunder of the year (6/12)

In addition to the Bird Walk on June 27, we are offering Nature Center tours on Wednesday, June 14 (1 pm and 4 pm) and on Sunday, June 25 (1:30 pm and 3:30 pm). We hope to see some of you here!

Chris