- Author: Robert J Keiffer
Despite the dry conditions of early summer in chaparral brushlands one can stumble across cheery patches of magenta to blue wildflowers. This beauty of a wildflower, Foothill Penstemon or Foothill Beardtongue (Penstemon heterophyllus), is found in all major coastal mountain ranges where it prefers dry hillsides and rocky cliffs ...usually found in chaparral brushlands. It can also be found in open oak woodlands and grasslands.
This cheery late spring/early summer flower has five petals that are untied to form a "two-lipped" tubular flower that attracts hummingbirds. This flower is endemic to California and is rather common at the UC Hopland Research & Extension Center.
- Author: Robert J Keiffer
The California Ground Squirrel (Otospermophilus beecheyi), which used to be called the Beechey Ground Squirrel, is a very common rodent throughout the western U.S. and Baja California. These seed-eating characters live in the ground, as their name suggests, in a network of burrows which they excavate themselves as a colony group. Some of these burrows are used communally, however, each individual squirrel has its own private entrance.
These ground squirrels are often preyed upon by rattlesnakes, and here at the UC Hopland Research & Extension Center, it is the large, adult Pacific Western Rattlesnake that fills this role. The California Ground Squirrel has evolved with the rattlesnakes and has developed interesting behaviors to counteract the predation ...such as chewing the shed skins of rattlesnakes and then licking the pups to disguise their scent, sand-kicking the snake to get it to rattle which allows the squirrel to assess the size and risk-level of the snake, and swishing of its (squirrel's) tail (which is super-heated) which conveys a confusing message to the snake's heat-sensing organs. All of these facts have been discovered by a UC Davis interdisciplinary research team over the course of several decades. Some squirrel populations also have levels of immunity to the snake's venom.
Here at UC-HREC, the ground squirrel burrows and their feces play an important role in the reproduction of the sand fly which transmits a species of malaria found in Western Fence Lizards.
- Author: Robert J Keiffer
This is to follow up on yesterday's post where I spoke about Tule Elk and oaks. Many of us never think about the daily life of critters ... when they eat, drink, sleep, etc. And yes, they all do it! Here you see a mature bull tule elk that is sound asleep ... with his nose literally resting on the ground and eyes closed. Keep in mind that ungulates (hoofed animals) , such as deer and elk, are quite comfortable feeding all night long, and therefore often use daylight hours to catch up on sleep.
This bull is on the verge of shedding the velvet off his antlers, which regrow annually. As the hormones change in the bull's system, the blood flow will constrict to the antlers which stops the growth of them, and the soft fuzzy covering (the velvet) will dry and become itchy. this prompts the bulls to rub there antlers on brush, limbs,and trees, until the antlers are free of velvet and become hard and polished.
- Author: Robert J Keiffer
Endemic to California is one of the state's largest mammals ... the Tule Elk (Cervus canadensis ssp. nannodes). Tule elk, once abundantly common in the Central Valley and oak-covered foothill regions of California, were on the verge of extinction after the on-slought of early market hunters and trappers, and the gold-rush 49ers. A late-1800's cattle baron, Henry Miller, discovered a remnant herd on his property and protected them, but after his death hunting once more resumed. The last herd was reduced to 72 animals.
The first successful relocation attempt occurred in 1933 when Walter Dow moved a small group of these elk to Owens Valley, where they flourished. Efforts by the Dept. of Fish & Game have established several permanent herds throughout California, including herds in Potter Valley, Mendocino National Forest, and Laytonville areas of Mendocino County.
Here at the UC Hopland Research & Extension Center we know that historically they occurred here from a very old shed antler dug from the gravels of Parson's Creek in 1907 ... which resides in our vertebrate museum collection. In the photo you see an nice mature bull from the Potter Valley herd quite at home in the oak woodland.
- Author: Robert J Keiffer
As the grass-covered hills of California turn to harvest gold as the summer progresses one can find some bright spots of vivid purple. Harvest Brodiaea or Crown Brodiaea (Brodiaea coronaria) is a perennial herb (bulb or corm) that is native to California and north to British Columbia. Found in valley grasslands, foothill woodlands, yellow pine forests, and wetland vegetation types, this late spring/early summer bloomer brightens the hillsides upon close-inspection (you are not likely to see these from the car at 60 mph).
Its bell-shaped corolla of six bright purple lobes adorns the top of the erect inflorescence. This species was first collected by Archibald Menzies during the Vancouver Expedition, and was published as Hookera coronaria by Richard Salisbury in 1808.
This cheery wildflower is common at the UC Hopland Research & Extension Center.