Placer Nature Center's Blog

Creature Feature - Ringtail Cat

noreply@blogger.com (Megan, Placer Nature Center) — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 12:03:28 PST

When is a cat not a cat? When it is a Ringtail Cat (Bassariscus astutus). Not actually a cat at all, but a member of the raccoon family, Ringtals are a cat-sized carnivore found in habitats that range from dry canyons to wet woodlands, in highland and lowland terrain, where habitat remains undeveloped. Populations of ringtails have been identified in Oregon through California to Baja, across the southwest, the mid-west in Kansas, Oklahoma and Ohio, the south, and into northern Mexico. You may not ever see one, but they still live here in Placer County. Ringtails have beautiful fur which is brown or yellowish-gray on top and lighter beneath. They grow to almost 3 feet long including the tail (which accounts for more than half of their length!). The tail is banded with 14 to 16 alternating black and white rings and with a black tip, much longer and bushier than a raccoons. They have a very pointed face and large, rounded ears, with eyes ringed in dark fur and with an outer ring of white. They are equipped with sharp teeth and paws with sharp, curved, semi-retractile claws. Despite being in the same family as raccoons, they have some un-similar traits. Ringtails are much more cat-like in their body-shape, and are also smaller than raccoons, only weighing up to 3 pounds. Ringtails are also called Miner’s Cats, because the 49ers would domesticate them to keep the rodents out of their houses. Miners would build a small wooden box that was placed near the fire for...

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Lyme Disease – Learn to stay safe outside

noreply@blogger.com (Megan, Placer Nature Center) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 12:27:55 PST

Image: Wisconsin Department of Health Services Lyme disease is the most common tick-borne illness in North America and Europe. Recently, ticks throughout Placer County have tested positive for Lyme Disease, including at the nature center. Read on to learn about the symptoms of Lyme Disease, ticks and most importantly, how to prevent getting it. Lyme disease is a bacterial infection from Borrelia burgdorferi. Transmission is primarily by the black-legged tick. The symptoms of Lyme disease vary. They could include headaches, chills and fever, muscle and joint pains, fatigue, and swollen lymph nodes. Untreated Lyme disease symptoms can worsen weeks, months, or even years after a bite from an infected tick. One example is nervous system abnormalities, such as numbness, pain, partial paralysis of facial muscles, memory loss, and/or mood swings. Tick bite reactions are small, less than 1-2” inches in size and red, normal reactions don’t expand when observed over 24-48 hours, and the reaction at site of a tick bite can last days, even weeks. About 10 percent of bites infected with Lyme disease develops a rash, which sometimes resembles a “bull’s eye” and can be irregularly shaped. They can be confused with spider bites. Sometimes, they may have a bruise-like appearance and even appear on other areas of the body. Children account for 25% of diagnosed cases. If you are bitten by a tick and develop the rash or symptoms of Lyme disease, contact your doctor...

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2011 Challenge - Turn Your $1 donation into a $5,000 Camp Scholarship Fund!

noreply@blogger.com (Megan, Placer Nature Center) — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 13:59:29 PST

We are in the running to win $5,000! But we need your help. GuideStar, a nonprofit reporting agency and their partner Kimbia are holding a contest for the nonprofit who receives the largest number of donations. You can make a total of five (5) donations (the amount is not important - well it is to us, but not for the contest!). You must donate before December 31st, 2011. Each of these 5 contributions will count for the contest and will help move Placer Nature Center closer to winning the $5,000! Donations must be made using the KIMBIA donation widget on GuideStar profile page. (While you are there, please consider reviewing us - it helps when we are applying for grants!) To be eligible for this contest Placer Nature Center made a pledge of transparency and provided information about all of our programs and operations through GuideStar. We are now a GuideStar Exchange Seal holder because of this pledge. We have always adhered to these standards and now the information is easy to access! What will we do with the $5,000? If we win the $5,000 we will be setting up a Camp Scholarship fund for underserved children who cannot afford Nature and Science Summer Camp. In 2009 and 2010 we had been successful in receiving scholarship funds through grant programs, but the economy has forced funders to refocus. Why is this Important? In 2011 we had to tell 30 children that we didn't...

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Don't Burn those Leaves! Start your compost now for spring gardens - Learn how Nov. 19

noreply@blogger.com (Megan, Placer Nature Center) — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 21:01:59 PST

Richard Huntley showing off "black gold" Don’t burn your leaves or throw them to the trash. Placer Nature Center is hosting Master Gardener & Composter Richard Huntley in a Composting Workshop on Saturday Nov. 19th from 10 am to 12 noon. Learn how you can turn those leaves into “black gold” for your lawn and gardens. Yes, you can compost in the winter (especially in Placer County). The benefits of starting now, is that there are plenty of material available to compost at this time of the year. The compost will be ready for your spring planting or established plants. Learn the right “recipe” for making the best compost for your plants and gardens. Home composting can save you money in many ways. It saves fuel from hauling to the landfills, saves money by lowering garbage bills and replacing store-bought fertilizers, and saves water by helping the soil hold moisture and reduces water runoff. Home composting is good for your garden and the environment. It is an educational family activity and it is FREE to do at home. Placer Nature Center has the largest assortment of composting bins in the county. You will learn the pros and cons of each of the the tumblers, open, and closed bin systems. Master Composter Richard Huntley will show you how to build your own compost bin at a low cost or direct you to the commercial bins that are right for your needs. Mr. Huntley manages the compost educational center at...

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Storytelling for culture, history, and pleasure with Joyce Bowling

noreply@blogger.com (Megan, Placer Nature Center) — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 11:21:31 PST

Picture by Susan Maxwell Skinner (c) Joyce Bowling of Cherokee decent is a storyteller who uses a special form of engagement. She carries a story bag filled with articles and items from around the world which represent pieces of stories. As audience members pull treasures from her bag, stories from the Cherokee nation, Northern California’s Maidu and even stories from far of exotic places begin to flow. The stories Joyce will share for audiences at Placer Nature Center on Sunday, November 13th starting at 1:30 PM will come from around the world, including stories from the local Maidu. After storytelling Joyce, who is also a basketry artisan, will demonstrate Pine Needle Basketry making. Natural materials will be on hand for participants to try making cordage. Before written history storytelling was an important form of communicating; this tradition continues today. People pass culture, traditions, values, beliefs, history, science, and politics through storytelling. Stories also help groups of people form communities and create bonds between generations. Good storytellers use voice and movement to engage the audience; Joyce brings in an additional element of symbolism through her story bag to help listeners create mental pictures of the stories. Neuroscientists and psychologists have found that listening to stories stimulates the brain to produce chemicals such as oxytocin, dopamine and serotonin. These chemicals are associated with rewards,...

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Auburn Ravine Restoration Day 2 Success!

noreply@blogger.com (Lind Desai, Education Director) — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 20:30:02 PST

On October 29th 85 volunteers from the community and the California Conservation Corps gathered to plant 120 trees in the Auburn Ravine Parkway in Lincoln. Organized by the Lincoln Open Space Committee partnering with Save Auburn Ravine Salmon & Steehead, Placer Nature Center, and Dry Creek Conservancy the day was a complete success. Sacramento Tree Foundation was there providing the trees and demonstrations on tree planting. The volunteers went to work planting, staking, fencing and adding protection from weeds for each individual plant. Thanks to all those that participated improving the habitat for wildlife and for people generations to come!

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Creature Feature - Wild Turkey

noreply@blogger.com (Megan, Placer Nature Center) — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 11:27:36 PDT

Those long-legged beauties strutting around are actually not from around here, our wild Turkeys are Rio Grande Wild Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo intermedia). They are native to Northern America, but was originally only found in the southern Great Plains, western Texas and northeast Mexico. After their population dropped, they were reintroduced too successfully, quickly spreading beyond their native territory to central and western California as well as Hawaii. Today, Alaska is the only U.S. state without turkeys. The Rio Grande Turkey, at full maturity, is approximately four feet tall and has disproportionately long legs and can weigh from 8 to over 20 pounds. Its feathers, between 5-6,000 covering the body, often have a green-coppery sheen and sit in patterns called feather tracts. The tips of the tail and lower back feathers are a buff-to-very light tan color. The male has dark iridescent feathers overall, red wattles on the throat, and a dark tuft suspended from the breast, a long neck, featherless blue head, strong spurred legs, and a fan-shaped tail. The female is duller than the male, lacks wattles, and often lacks a breast tuft, which are called “beards.” The long fleshy object over a male's beak is called a snood and the other fleshy growths are called caruncles. The Wild Turkey is a non-territorial, polygynous bird. The male gobbles to attract females, which is why the male Turkeys are called “Gobblers.” When she appears, he struts around her. He...

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Planning for the big one - Dale Cox Regional Hazards Coordinator, USGS

noreply@blogger.com (Megan, Placer Nature Center) — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 01:31:40 PDT

As regional hazards coordinator with the U.S. Geological Survey in California, Dale Alan Cox has spent years building disaster scenarios. With a team of regional scientists and communicators, Cox has built models that predict the results of a “big one.” A previous project, called the Shakeout Earthquake Scenario, showed how a 7.8-magnitude earthquake would kill 1,800 people, injure 53,000 and cause $213 million in damage, including 1,500 collapsed buildings. But anticipating California’s next big one involves more than earthquakes, Cox told the audience at Placer Nature Center’s inaugural First Friday Lecture for the 2011-12 season, at Auburn’s State Theatre on Oct. 7. Temblors strike fear in Californians, especially those living down south. But what about the next big flood? The 20th century saw several storms that inundated parts of the state, but nothing like the last big one, Cox said. In 1861-62, a series of storms raised the American River some 30 feet and put much of the Sacramento Valley under water. Lakes formed spontaneously in the Mojave Desert and Los Angeles basin. To anticipate how such an event would impact modern-day California, Cox and his USGS team constructed a model they titled ARkStorm, a part-acronym invoking the biblical flood – AR for "atmospheric river", k for the event’s once-a-millennium likelihood. Atmospheric rivers are gigantic plumes of moisture drawn by cold fronts from the subtropics to mid-latitudes. In the 1861-62 event,...

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Auburn Ravine Creek Volunteer Day - total success!

noreply@blogger.com (Linda Desai) — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 01:21:13 PDT

What a difference many hands can make at Auburn Ravine Creek in Lincoln! On Saturday, October 22nd, over 100 people showed up to dig trenches for irrigation and remove invasive weeds and brush in site preparation for tree planting. The effort was a collaboration by many partners to restore the Auburn Ravine Creek parkway ultimately to increase wildlife and salmon habitat in this riparine area. If you didn't get a chance to participate last weekend, please join them this weekend, October 29th. Meet at 8:30 at the corner of Joiner Parkway and Moore Rd. Bring a shovel to help plant a tree. Let's get more than 100 volunteers again because the site is now ready for planting 120 trees!!! Bring the family and plant a tree you can watch grow over the years in your community! Make a difference for future generations!

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Awareness to Action - Creating Salmon Habitat Oct 22 & 29 Volunteer Days

noreply@blogger.com (Megan, Placer Nature Center) — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 11:41:01 PDT

“Awareness to Action-Creating Salmon Habitat” is a hands-on project that begins with education and awareness-raising and culminates with habitat restoration - a volunteer project open to the community on October 22nd and 29th in Lincoln. Currently, Placer Nature Center is in process of hosting a lectures series for over 80 California Conservation Corps members on the social, economic and environmental issues surrounding Chinook salmon. On volunteer days in October along the Auburn Ravine Creek community volunteers are invited help restore a healthy riparian habitat. Education of CCC will enable them to carry out projects for local government such as channel maintenance greater awareness of salmon habitat needs, resulting in less damage to salmon habitat and creating jobs for youth ages 18-23. During the volunteer restoration days community members will learn about the needs of salmon and how to properly manage habitat on private property. With the help of volunteers and the collaboration of many agencies this project will improve the habitat for native fish species in the Auburn Ravine watershed by removing non-native weeds from a section of Auburn Ravine, and replanting with native riparian vegetation for bank stabilization. This restoration is a joint collaboration between Dry Creek Conservancy, Sacramento Tree Foundation, City of Lincoln, Lincoln Open Space Committee and Placer Nature Center. The areas to be restored are on public...

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Creature Feature: Little Brown Bat

noreply@blogger.com (Megan, Placer Nature Center) — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 11:08:55 PDT

Little Brown Bat (Myotis lucifugis) Bats are blind. Bats get caught in your hair. Bats are dirty and have rabies. Bats are flying rats! Have you heard these myths? Let’s set the record straight for these creatures of the night! One of the common bats in the foothills is the little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus); this species inhabits Placer Nature Center’s bat box seen from the trail. Bats are Blind Bats have good vision. In fact their eyes have adapted to see in daylight and twilight, some even have UV vision that helps them see the UV reflection of flowers. Aside from this, bats also use echolocation. The bat sends out high pitched squeaks that we are not able to hear. When the squeaks hit an object, the sound is reflected back to the bat. The bat's brain makes a sound picture from the returning echo pattern. The bat can interpret whether that object is food, a building, or a tree. In fact, the bat can even tell the texture, size, and distance and direction of a moving bug! An echolocating bat shuts its ears "off" up to 200 times a second in order not to deafen itself with its own calls. It must then turn its ears back "on" up to 200 times a second in order to hear the incoming echo. The little brown bat is an insectivore – it eats insects –up to 600 mosquitoes an hour! The bats found in our area cannot eat and echolocate at the same time....

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Creature Feature: Northern Pacific Rattlesnake

noreply@blogger.com (Megan, Placer Nature Center) — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 13:59:27 PDT

The rattle of this snake strikes fear in many people. Rattlesnakes are venomous but they are extremely shy creatures - people are far more dangerous to rattlesnakes than they are to us! Snakes lead the list of most misunderstood and feared animals. The rattlesnake is the only type of snake in California that is dangerous to humans, but unfortunately, many harmless snakes have met untimely deaths at the hands of shovel-wielding humans. Understanding how to live with and respect rattlesnakes will keep people and snakes safe, this blog has information about rattlesnakes, how to protect yourself and snakes, and what to do if you encounter one. Snakes are an important part of the natural food chain, eating a great variety of prey, from rats and birds to frogs and other reptiles. Their ecological role limits the size of rodent populations, which prevents crop damage and stabilizes ecosystems. Plus, rattlesnakes are food for many other snakes, animals, birds and even people! Besides their ecological value, snakes offer the careful wildlife viewer a chance to watch one of nature's most efficient predators! Rattlesnake populations in many areas are severely threatened by habitat destruction, poaching, and extermination campaigns. There are 32 known species of Rattlesnakes and 7 that live in California, with subspecies and color variations. They all can be identified by their triangular head and the jointed rattles on their tail. In Placer County and throughout most of Northern...

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Creature Feature: Antlions and Doodlebugs

noreply@blogger.com (Placer Nature Center) — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 15:46:32 PDT

©Entomart.ins The Placer Nature Center summer campers have been fascinated by the signs and activities of ant lions. You may have them too. Where there is sand there are antlions! Their signs are easy to see. Do you have a sandy spot somewhere in your yard? Go look for funnels in the sand. If you find funnels – you have antlions! The ant lion is an insect with a very interesting life cycle. The female adult lays eggs in the sand. A strange looking larva hatches (see picture below). It’s a fat, hairy, grayish segmented body. The larva will grow and molt at the bottom of the funnel it makes. As it eats it grows and in time is ready to transform into the adult antlion. It makes a silken and sand cocoon. When the Adult emerges from its cocoon, it looks like a damselfly at first glance. However, the antlion adult is a brown-gray color with long antennae, the damselfly’s are short. Also the antlion is a weak flyer where a damselfly is a strong flyer. The larva is called a doodlebug. Why? Because it will leave strange “doodles” in the sand as it backs around looking for just the right spot to make its cone-shaped pit. The pits are built by spiraling around. They keep it real clean so any insect will slip right in. The reason it makes this pit is to trap ground-dwelling bugs, mostly ants. When the insect slips in, the antlion quickly flicks sand...

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Ranger's buttons in Bloom

noreply@blogger.com (Linda Desai) — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 19:07:52 PDT

By Dcrjsr (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons Have you ever seen Ranger's buttons? The wildflower that is! Come to the Placer Nature Center and see this summer wildflower in bloom! All of our stream beds have this tall plant with white "buttons" making an umbrella shape. You can't miss it! Also called whiteheads, this plant is in the carrot family, Apiaceae. It is a native perennial which means it is a California plant, not one that has been introduced from another country or state and it will grow year after year from its root base. Its scientific name is Sphenosciadium capitellatum. The Native Americans used the roots of this plant for an insecticide against lice. Come take a walk and note our blooming Ranger buttons! They won't be out any other time of the year!

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Ladybird beetles, lady beetles or Ladybugs - this lady will bring luck to your garden

noreply@blogger.com (Placer Nature Center) — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 11:39:53 PDT

Borrowed from UCS, by Jack Kelly Clark Ladybug larva borrowed from Farmer Fred Ladybird beetle, ladybug – whatever the name, everyone seems to know what this insect is! Perhaps it is because it is so easy to identify, round orange body with black spots. However, not all ladybugs are the same. There are over 125 species in California alone. Some can have no spots, others just two spots or five but they all have the familiar ladybug shape. What most people don’t know is what the ladybird larva looks like. The ladybird has complete metamorphosis which means as it develops from its egg it completely changes form. The eggs are orange and are laid underneath a leaf . When they hatch, the larva looks like a gray alligator with orange spots. Don’t you agree! The larvae keep molting as they grow until they finally change into the dormant pupa form for a short while. Look for these hanging on the underside of leaves or attached to stems of plants. Finally, they emerge as adults. The adult and larva stages of its life cycle find it with a voracious appetite for aphids. Aphids can be a pest in gardens and landscapes, like on roses. The ladybird beetles and larva are beneficial insects helping to keep these pest numbers down. Back in 1888, the vedalia ladybird beetle from Australia was introduced into Southern California to control the cottony-cushion scale on citrus. This was the first successful...

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ABC’s of Nature & Science Summer Camp

noreply@blogger.com (Placer Nature Center) — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 12:27:07 PDT

Animals, bugs, and cameras….are just a few of the things that Placer Nature Center's summer camp focuses on this year. Kids have an endless fascination of the natural world and nature center camps let them experience, discover and explore the great outdoors while (unknowingly) learning science and other subjects that support academic excellence. These week-long day camp sessions focus on different nature-related themes incorporating art, structured and unstructured play, writing, reading, and theme related science experiments. Campers take part in nature crafts, games, puppet shows, plant & animal investigations. They'll have fun while learning to analyze while building important social skills. Children are welcome to attend more than one camp. Register today at: http://www.placernaturecenter.org/summercamp/ Camp Themes and Descriptions: Wings - Soaring with the Birds! Ages 6-12 June 13-17, 9AM-1PM How do bird fly and what are barbules? Why did birds migrate and how do they do it? We’re pulling out the binoculars and going birding! From songbirds to raptors we’ll look at flight patterns and use tools to explore how different beaks and feet are used and all about bird camouflage! Let’s play "Feed the Brood" and go on a scavenger hunt! We'll find out what a gizzard is and see how it works. We’ll even set up a bird restaurant and pinecone bird feeders to see who comes to dine. Cost: $85 General, $75 Placer Nature Center Members Flutterbys...

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Blue & Green Ball - Good friends, good food, good times: celebrating 20 years of nature education

noreply@blogger.com (Placer Nature Center) — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 12:07:32 PDT

Strange and beautiful creatures from Take Note Troupe and costumed guests brought a delightful aire of fantasy to the evening It was good times Saturday May 14th in Loomis (see pictures at the bottom of this blog post). Placer County's very first Blue and Green Ball, marking the shared 20th anniversary of the Placer Nature Center and Placer Land Trust, finally happened after months of planning by our two dedicated staffs, boards and volunteers. Chef Adam Ornellas of the Rustic Table, with assistant Brain Reed, showed up in the morning to start on what would prove an amazing banquet (no surprise there!). Jean and Dean Decker, Sue and Roger Groghan, Steve Davis, Ernie Riley, Janis Wilkoff, Leslie Warren, Fred Yeager, Jim & Cathy Haagen-Smit, Bob Garrison and son rounded out the morning crew, helping to erect the elegant, blue-and-green décor designed by party planner Maureen Ward of Perfect Parties by Mo. On the evening crew, Docent Josena Aiello helped keep dishes moving, while husband Ignacio Lopez showed up in a sharp grey suit to tend bar in style. A hardy group of volunteers from Sierra College’s Environmentally Concerned Organization of Students took tickets, bussed tables, ran the raffle and silent auction - making sure guests were free to enjoy themselves. Photographer Wes Davis documented the event while snapping images of anyone who stepped up to his portrait booth. The Take Note Troupe, Auburn’s talented group of teenaged stage performers,...

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Dr. Robbin Thorp talks on native bees

noreply@blogger.com (Placer Nature Center) — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 11:00:50 PDT

On Friday, May 6th, at Auburn’s State Theatre, Dr. Robbin Thorp gave an overview of many of the lesser-known bees native to North America, and some of their many curious habits and adaptations. Thorp is Professor Emeritus of Entomology at the University of California, Davis. He conducts research on pollination biology and ecology, systematics, biodiversity and conservation of bees. Most of us are familiar with the mechanism by which bees pollinate flowers, thereby making much of the country’s abundant agriculture possible. When female bees collect pollen for feeding and rearing young, some pollen gets stuck to their bodies. When a bee later visits a male plant, the pollen is transferred, and plant reproduction happens. Lesser known are some uncanny adaptations that contribute to the process. When a bee flies, its rapid wing movement builds an electrostatic charge – like when your hair sticks to a balloon after you’ve rubbed it on your sweater. The charge on a bee attracts pollen, pulling it off the flower to stick to the branched hairs on its body – another adaptation to facilitate pollen collection. Bees “have a lot of adaptations for getting pollen," Thorp said. Some adaptations are so creative as to be almost “cheating,” Thorp said. Some bees have long tongues that can reach to the bottom of the elongated flowers of particular plants. But a carpenter bee may feed on the same flowers despite the lack of a long tongue – it simply chomps through the flower’s base...

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Attract Native Bees to Your Garden - Video

noreply@blogger.com (Placer Nature Center) — Tue, 03 May 2011 11:45:03 PDT

University of California entomologist Gordon Frankie is researching what plants are best at luring honey bees and wild bees. Join us as he gives a tour of his garden and bee denizens in downtown Berkeley. Frankie has worked closely with this Friday's lecturer, Robbin Thorp. QUEST on KQED Public Media. Learn more about native bees Friday, May 6th at the State Theater in Auburn at Placer Nature Center's Friday Lecture Series! Tickets: Members & Students: $9 (Due to our partnership with the Roseville Utility Exploration Center, all City of Roseville residents receive the member price, please bring ID) General Ticket: $12 Buy tickets with a credit card online before the lecture or pay by cash or check at the door.

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Creature Feature: Cuckoo Bees

noreply@blogger.com (Placer Nature Center) — Sun, 01 May 2011 18:05:40 PDT

Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey, UC Davis Department of Entomology Not all bees are busy; their aptitude for hard work ranges widely. The majority of native bees work diligently, living a solitary lifestyle. After mating, female bees build and provision the nest. They make their nests by digging out sandy soils or by lining pre-existing cavities with leaves or flower petals. Once the nest cavity is complete the female bee will make multiple foraging trips, collecting pollen and some nectar. When enough of a food source has been collected she will lay a single egg and seal the chamber. While she is busy working, sometimes, a Cuckoo Bee moves in.... All bee families have species that take care of their young by building nests and providing food for them. But several families, have some black sheep, some selfish species that take advantage of their relatives. They have become “cuckoos”, just like there are cuckoos among birds. As with cuckoo birds they lay their eggs in the nests of others. Their babies feed on the stored food and also on the larvae of the unfortunate hosts. Cuckoo bees don’t need to gather pollen and have lost their pollen baskets and much of their hair, in fact, at first sight some of them are often mistaken for wasps. Another unusual behavioral habit seen in adults of various types of Cuckoo Bees is that they will frequently "sleep" while grasping onto plant stems or leaves with only their mandibles. They are often heavily armored compared with...

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All the buzz about native bees

noreply@blogger.com (Placer Nature Center) — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 11:51:59 PDT

Black Female Carpenter Bee, taken by (C) Kathy Keatley Garvey, UC Davis Department of Entomology Amid the uproar over global warming and mysterious disappearances of honeybee colonies, concern over the plight of native bees has been confined to scientists laboring in obscurity. This Spring Placer Nature Center is celebrating native bees by inviting volunteers of all ages to help plant a native bee garden on Saturday, April 30th and showcasing the work of renowned native bee expert Dr. Robin Thorp on Friday, May 6th. This celebration will conclude with the dedication of the native bee garden and a workshop on beneficial insects on Sunday, June 12th. There is an astonishing diversity of native bees across the USA. About 4,000 species have been identified and catalogued, ranging in length from less than one eighth of an inch to more than one inch. They vary in color from dark brown or black to metallic green or blue, and may have stripes of red, white, orange, or yellow. Many common names reflect the way they build nests: plasterer bees, leafcutter bees, mason bees, wool carder bees, digger bees, and carpenter bees. Others are named after particular traits, such as cuckoo bees that lay eggs in the nests of other bee species (like the cuckoo bird), sweat bees that like to drink salty perspiration, or bumble bees, which got their name from the loud humming noise they make while flying. Since most don’t fit the stereotyped image of a bee...

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Build a Bond with Birds

noreply@blogger.com (Placer Nature Center) — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 11:04:26 PDT

By Jason Martin, NestWatch Eastern Bluebird nest. Photo by J. Brindo Whether in a shrub, a tree, or a nest box, bird nests are all around us. By monitoring a nearby nest you can help scientists study the biology of North America’s birds and how it might be changing over time. Every spring and summer, volunteers from across the country visit nests and report their findings to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s NestWatch program. As a NestWatcher, you keep tabs on bird family life, following the progression from incubated eggs, to fuzzy chicks, to gawky youngsters ready to take their first fluttering flight. All the information you gather is submitted online to the NestWatch database. “NestWatch helps people of all ages and backgrounds connect with nature,” says project leader Jason Martin. “The information that our dedicated citizen scientists collect allows us to understand the impact that various threats, such as environmental change and habitat destruction, have on breeding birds. Armed with this knowledge, we can take the necessary steps to help birds survive in this changing world.” Eastern Bluebird chick hatching. Photo by Mary Thomson Instructions and all the materials you need to participate are available on the NestWatch website at www.nestwatch.org. You’ll also get directions on how to find and monitor nests without disturbing the birds. It’s fun, it’s easy, and it’s free! The Cornell Lab's immensely popular NestCams are back too. Cameras...

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Creature Feature: Mourning Dove

noreply@blogger.com (Placer Nature Center) — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 08:37:07 PDT

Mourning doves are very common year around in our region. They are found throughout California in every county and throughout the United States. Perhaps this is why this bird is most popular upland game bird in California. Mourning Doves are named for their familiar song, a low moaning "cooah, coo, coo, coo." We can often hear this bird early in the morning. Many automatically think it’s an owl they are hearing. But no, it’s a male morning dove’s territorial cooing. The other sound often heard from this bird is the whistling when they take off for flight. This sound is actually made by their wings. Their flight is fast and bullet straight and can reach speeds of 55 mile per hour! These lovely birds are a soft bluish gray with buff underparts. The sides of its neck show off a coppery iridescence if angles in the sun just right. The beak is black and the feet are pale red. Smaller than a pigeon and sleeker in shape, the mourning doves prefer woodlands and farmlands because they like open areas for foraging but trees for nesting. Doves feed almost exclusively on seeds. However, around nesting time, they may also eat insects and snails. The male chooses the nesting site and the female is attracted to him by his cooing. This is followed by a nuptial flight. The male flies straight up several hundred feet than sails down making a swooping arc towards the nest. This done, a...

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What's in your water?

noreply@blogger.com (Placer Nature Center) — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 09:05:58 PDT

Conservancy freshwater scientist Jeff Opperman and his eight-year-old son Luca give a tour of their homemade science project that demonstrates the connection between healthy natural lands and a reliable supply of clean water for people.

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Japan Earthquake and Tsunami

noreply@blogger.com (Placer Nature Center) — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 13:34:35 PST

A 8.9-magnitude earthquake struck Japan north of Tokyo on March 11. It resulted in a devastating tsunami which caused significant damage in coastal towns. There are reports of hundreds of possible injuries and fatalities. The death toll is expected to rise. As a result of the earthquake, a tsunami alert was issued for New Zealand, the Philippines, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Hawaii, the U.S. West Coast and other areas. Charities are beginning to mount an emergency response and donations are needed to help provide relief to those in need. If you wish to help, then please consider supporting charities listed by Charity Navigator. And before you give, please consult their giving tips to ensure your donation goes to its intended purpose; tips are listed on Charity Navigator's website here.

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