McDonald Forest Naturalist Adventure

[Don Boucher]

Hello,

For today's Naturalist Adventure we started at Lewisburg Saddle and visited McDonald Forest New/Old Growth Trails. It was a bit cold, sometimes rainy but delightful nevertheless. We heard a few Pacific Wrens sing, some Common Ravens were quite vocal and we heard a brief call of a Pileated Woodpecker. Then there were calls from common forest birds like Golden-crowned Kinglets, Brown Creepers, Dark-eyed Juncos and Chestnut-backed Chickadees.

We watched Rough-skinned Newts (aquatic form) in the quarry pond on RD 580. Many were coming up for air gulps of air and several were mating.

We tried our best to identify the emerging forest plants, imagining their blooms later this winter and in spring. But we did get to see a few blossoms such as Spring Queen (Synthyris reniformis), Indian-plum or Osoberry (Oemleria cerasiformis) and an unusually early-blooming Red-flowering Currant (Ribes sanguineum) near the parking area.

Don Boucher

Corvallis

[b_g...@comcast.net]

Hi all,

It's the time of year when a particular wetland stonefly species starts its adult emergence. The species is a small one called Ostrocerca dimicki. The adults are just about 5mm long. I've attached a photo of some of the adults I caught in a small container. It's easiest to find these little guys near the tiny flowing water channel at the southwest part of the boardwalk loop. The adults are probably all over in the vegetation near the channel, but I mainly see them on the white-painted posts that support the interpretive sign there. I most often see them on warm, sunny days.

I also saw some mature nymphs of these stoneflies on vegetation in some of the gently flowing areas of the channel. I used my submersible camera to try to photograph them, but they kept trying to move out of my view. Here are a couple sketchy photos. Hopefully I'll get to take some better ones later.

Cheers,

Bill

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From: "Don Boucher" <donab...@gmail.com>
To: "mid-valley-nature" <mid-vall...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Sunday, February 21, 2016 5:03:22 PM
Subject: [MidValleyNature:3519] McDonald Forest Naturalist Adventure

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[b_g...@comcast.net]

Here are a couple more shots I got today. Still not perfect, but working on it. There are a lot of Ostrocerca dimicki adults out right now. Many of them are perched on the emergence grasses/sedges as in the second photo.

Also, when my daughter and I were at the wetland, we heard 3 or 4 Virgina rails calling back and forth.

Enjoy!

Cheers,

Bill

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From: "b gerth" <b_g...@comcast.net>
To: "Don Boucher" <donab...@gmail.com>
Cc: "mid-valley-nature" <mid-vall...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Saturday, March 5, 2016 12:20:45 AM
Subject: [MidValleyNature:3531] Another sign of spring at Jackson-Frazier wetland

[b_g...@comcast.net]

Hi folks,

Just thought I'd let you know that if you haven't checked out these stoneflies yet, they were still emerging at Jackson-Frazier wetland last weekend. Here's a photo of one that I coaxed onto my finger....

I also saw an aquatic isopods (genus: Caecidotea), a cool wetland mayfly (genus: Leptophlebia), a phantom midge larva (genus: Chaoborus) and a couple types of Limnephilid caddisfly larvae.

Here are links to a few pics...

http://bugguide.net/node/view/1204476

http://bugguide.net/node/view/1204471

http://bugguide.net/node/view/1204493

Cheers,

Bill

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From: "b gerth" <b_g...@comcast.net>
To: "Don Boucher" <donab...@gmail.com>
Cc: "mid-valley-nature" <mid-vall...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Saturday, March 5, 2016 12:20:45 AM
Subject: [MidValleyNature:3531] Another sign of spring at Jackson-Frazier wetland