Nature Center e-newsletter #12

August 13, 2006

The Nature Center has hosted two public educational events since our last newsletter. On July 25, Dave Bontrager led another bird walk along our trails, eventually ending along Anthony Creek Road. Birds are generally quieter this time of year than during the height of breeding season, but we nevertheless saw and/or heard the following species: turkey vulture, red-tailed hawk, ring-necked pheasant, California quail, mourning dove, Vaux's swift, northern flicker, downy woodpecker, willow flycatcher, violet-green swallow, tree swallow, barn swallow, Steller's jay, American crow, common raven, black-capped chickadee, red-breasted nuthatch, Bewick's wren, Swainson's thrush, American robin, black-throated gray warbler, black-headed grosbeak, lazuli bunting, spotted towhee, song sparrow, dark-eyed junco, white-crowned sparrow, western tanager, American goldfinch, lesser goldfinch, and purple finch. Dave, I, and others are in discussion about the possibility of creating a wide-ranging series of workshops for next year covering many aspects of natural history, ecology, nature interpretation/art, etc., in which we hope many local naturalists, artists, and writers might be persuaded to teach and participate. We'd love to hear your ideas for workshops you'd like to see, or that you yourself could offer here.

On August 5, Sharon Blick's "Discovering Bugs" workshop drew participants from on site and from the local neighborhood, including three avid four-to-six-year olds, to explore the fascinating world of insects and other small creatures. First, we swept collecting nets through vegetation in the meadow, emptying the contents into stocking-enclosed milk cartons with windows cut out of them. From there, we put the flying, creeping, and crawling things into plastic vials for closer examination before releasing them back into the wild. We found an amazing number and diversity of insects, including grasshoppers, tree crickets, butterflies, caterpillars, damselflies, stink bugs, stilt bugs, leaf bugs, ladybird beetles, weevils, cucumber beetles, blister beetles, click beetles, syrphid flies, native bees and bumblebees, wasps, leafhoppers, and froghoppers, as well as spiders (which are, of course, arachnids). Our next stop was the pond just south of the meadow; on the way, we saw a great spangled fritillary butterfly. Fishing around with those same nets in the pond, and then emptying the contents into shallow water-filled pans, we found many small and even not-so-small creatures, including water scorpions, backswimmers, dragonfly nymphs, mayfly nymphs, water striders, microcrustaceans (including water fleas, copepods, and seed shrimp), midge larvae ("bloodworms"), water boatmen, aquatic earthworms, water snails, mosquito larvae, caddisfly larvae, and tree frog tadpoles. We then proceeded to the creek, where we found water striders, stonefly nymphs, mayfly nymphs, caddisfly larvae, water snails, crawdads, dragonfly nymphs, and sculpin (a fish). Sharon kindly donated to the Nature Center a copy of her book Discovering Bugs With Children, which includes sections on land bugs, water bugs, bug growth and life cycles, adaptations, classification and identification, behavior, ecological relationships, instructions for raising bugs indoors and making bug study equipment, and materials for creating laminated "bug cards."

The end-of August and beginning-of-October Nature Center tours have been canceled due to schedule conflicts, but please feel free to join us on tours on Wednesday, August 16 (1 and 4 pm), Wednesday, September 13 (1 and 4 pm), Wednesday, October 18 (1 and 4 pm), Sunday, November 12 (12:30 and 4 pm), and Wednesday, November 29 (1 and 4 pm). Please check the website, or email, to verify the schedule before each date; and please RSVP if you know you are coming.

Over the last few weeks we've done additional maintenance on the Nature Center trails, trimming Armenian blackberry and poison oak which were growing a little too close for comfort. On Lost Valley's recent Community Convergence day (Monday, July 31), we grubbed out many resprouting blackberry plants from the creek restoration area, and also welcomed over 60 visitors from other community groups in the region, many of whom walked and enjoyed our interpretive trails.

Wild berries are continuing to ripen. Most of the red flowering currant berries are now either ripe or eaten; the bitter cherries are proving why they have their name; and the Armenian blackberries are starting to sweeten en masse, allowing bulk collection and freezing. Salal berries are providing a dependable delicacy on walks through the woods loop and elsewhere. Other highlights of the last few weeks include another bear sighting up Anthony Creek Road, a thunderstorm and some rain, a downy woodpecker feeding from large oak galls on the north side of the entrance driveway, and help from botanist Bruce Newhouse on expanding our plant species list via emailed photos and descriptions (the latest updated list is downloadable from the Nature Center homepage at nature [0]).

In the coming months, I'll be working on not only program development for 2007, but also the Nature Center's first envisioned major publication, about which it is too early to reveal details. Starting in October, we will be making another major effort to solicit memberships and donations so that the Nature Center can continue to expand its educational efforts, which I am hoping will include enhanced staffing and sufficient funding for print publications, workshop development, and possibly the construction or acquisition of a modest eco-friendly "headquarters." (Donations can be made at any time by going to www.lostvalley.org/donate [0], clicking on the "Donate Now" button, and choosing "Nature Center Membership" under the "Areas of Giving" pull-down menu--you can email us a note to earmark your donation for "2007 projects" if you wish.)

Once again, you're receiving this e-newsletter because either (a) you're currently a Nature Center Member, (b) you've attended an event here, (c) you've helped us with species identification, or (d) you've expressed ongoing interest in the Nature Center. If you'd like to be off the list, please email back and we'll remove you.

Thanks for your ongoing interest, and hope you are enjoying the summer,

Chris