The Daily Bucket - Peak Prairie

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Tuesday May 05, 2020 · 8:00 AM PDT

2020/05/05 · 08:00

no image description available — Chocolate Lily (Fritillaria affinis)

Every spring, I try to make a visit to the Kah Tai Prairie in Port Townsend. This 1.4 acre prairie is a remnant of the landscape that emerged after the retreat of the ice age glaciers. It survived development because of benign neglect, having been set aside as a "rough" in the golf course. It was recognized as a unique botanical site in 1986 and the Kah Tai Preserve was officially created in 1987. Volunteers from the Olympic Peninsula Chapter of the Washington Native Plant Society work to restore and maintain this treasure.

This year, it has also been designated as a stop on the Chetzemoka Trail. This is an interpretative trail winding through Port Townsend to celebrate the life of Chief Chetzemoka and the important places in his life and of the S’Klallam people. It was a joint project between the community and the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe to educate about the relationship between the S’Klallam people who have lived here for hundreds of years and the European settlers who arrived in the mid-19th century. This new sign at the prairie describes their harvesting of the bulbs of the Common (blue) Camas and the maintenance of the fields by burning.

This is a report on my visit on April 25th and what is blooming now. It was a joy to be the only person visiting at that time. I walked the entire perimeter without any need for concern about social distancing. But look at what others are missing!

The Daily Bucket is a nature refuge. We amicably discuss animals, weather, climate, soil, plants, waters and note life’s patterns spinning around us.

We invite you to note what you are seeing around you in your own part of the world, and to share your observations in the comments below.

This first photo is an overview of the camas interspersed with various other wildflowers.

Closeup of Common Camas (Camassia quamash) with yellow Desert Parsley (Lomatium utriculatum)

Prairie smoke or Old Man's Whiskers (Geum Triflorum) among Camas

But beware of harvesting Death Camas bulbs by mistake!

SPOTLIGHT ON GREEN NEWS & VIEWS POSTS EVERY SATURDAY AFTERNOON (PACIFIC TIME) ON THE DAILY KOS FRONT PAGE. BE SURE TO LOOK FOR THE STORIES YOU MISSED. RECOMMEND AND COMMENT TO THANK METEOR BLADES FOR HIS DEDICATED CURATION.

Your turn!

The Daily Bucket - Eagle Drama

Milly Watt for Backyard Science

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Tuesday April 28, 2020 · 7:30 AM PDT

2020/04/28 · 07:30

We have an active Bald Eagle nest on one corner of our property. Usually the nesting eagles warn off any other eagles that get too close. This spring though we've seen very different behavior - both here and in a local park. We've had convocations of up to seven eagles roosting on the property or flying overhead together.

The Daily Bucket is a nature refuge. We amicably discuss animals, weather, climate, soil, plants, waters and note life’s patterns spinning around us.

We invite you to note what you are seeing around you in your own part of the world, and to share your observations in the comments below.

Just soaring overhead or something more aggressive?

Here is a story by Mr. Watt aka grnchile of an encounter that happened on April 1st.

I went out on an early evening hike, returning at around 6 PM. I stopped briefly under a large fir next to the house. As I was standing there I heard a loud noise overhead. I looked up to see bark raining down (it would have been a lot worse with gulls) and two Bald Eagles flying off. From the calls as they left I could tell that were at least a couple of other eagles in nearby trees.

An hour and a half later we were treated to a colorful sunset with the silhouettes of multiple eagles circling lazily over the house and the bluff above the beach. Just after sunset we heard some unusual cries from the woods. The dog started barking and wanting to go outside. He's just a few days out from major surgery so that was particularly weird behavior. When I took him out a bit later eagles flew from both that same fir and from a tree on the other side of the house. That's not what had him worked up though. Once we got around to the water side of the house he oriented on the source of the new sound. It was coming from a stand of undergrowth in the wetland below the house. I saw flashes of white on the ground there in my flashlight beam and so my first thought was "injured eagle." We've seen them chase each other at high speed through the trees (how can a bird so large do that?) and it seemed like that was going to happen some day.

There's a local wild bird rescue that can handle eagles but our previous experience with wildlife rescues is that they like to have an idea of what they are going to be facing before coming out. I couldn't get a clear view from the deck but it looked like what I'd glimpsed wasn't too far from one of our trails. I went down to see if I could get a better idea of what was wrong.

When I finally got a view from the trail I saw that it was two mature Bald Eagles, not just one. They were both lying on their sides with at least one set of talons locked together. It got quiet when they saw me and, after a brief struggle, they disengaged, stood up, and backed away from each other and from me. I was clearly too close (they were only a couple of dozen feet from spot where I first saw them) so I started backing away as well. One eagle turned and launched itself down the trail away from me and back towards the water. There was another crash which I hoped was it landing somewhere safe.

Bloody feather at the site on the day after.

When I turned the light to see if that eagle was still visible the other one started to move. It hopped out from under the bushes and headed in my direction, raising its wings in what felt like a "look how big I am" pose. I continued backing away. After a few seconds of this that eagle took off down the trail directly towards me. Maybe the trail was a clear place to take off? Maybe it was a threat? Maybe it was just flying away from the other one? I got down. It flew over and then turned down another trail towards the water. That too was followed by the faint crash of what I hoped was an eagle landing in a suitable location.

At that point we had two eagles both capable of flight and with no injuries that I was able to see with a flashlight. I wasn't really sure what I had interrupted but it was clearly time to leave and write it up for a future bucket.

"SPOTLIGHT ON GREEN NEWS & VIEWS" IS POSTED EVERY SATURDAY AT 3:00 PM PACIFIC TIME ON THE DAILY KOS FRONT PAGE. IT'S A GREAT WAY TO CATCH UP ON DIARIES YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED. BE SURE TO RECOMMEND AND COMMENT IN THE DIARY.

What’s up (or down) at your place?

The Daily Bucket - Fall Along the Hood Canal

Milly Watt for Backyard Science

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday November 14, 2019 · 8:00 AM PST

2019/11/14 · 08:00

In early October, we took a trip down from Port Townsend, along the west side of the Hood Canal, on the Olympic Peninsula of WA. The Hood Canal is a fjord that separates the Olympic Peninsula from the Kitsap Peninsula, all on the west side of Puget Sound. The Olympic Peninsula is home to the Olympic National Park and National Forest. US hwy 101 runs along the western shore. We followed this route from the town of Quilcene to where the Hood Canal does its bend toward the town of Union.

The Daily Bucket is a nature refuge.
We amicably discuss animals, weather, climate, soil, plants, waters and note life’s patterns.

We invite you to note what you are seeing around you in your own part of the world, and to share your observations in the comments below.

The mountains in the Park are a source of abundant rainwater feeding the rivers flowing east into the Hood Canal, such as the Quilcene, Dosewallips, Duckabush, Hamma Hamma, and Skokomish Rivers. The National Forest and a few WA state parks offer trails that are dog-friendly which makes this side of the peninsula attractive to our dog-centric family.

Lake Cushman is a reservoir near the town of Hoodsport, on the North Fork of the Skokomish that provides power to Tacoma. One of our hikes was the Dry Creek Trail along the upper shore of the lake. Since it was fall, after the dry summer and before the winter rains, the lake is at its lowest levels. The stumps that are usually below the water level were our not-so-scenic view of the lake. There was a lot of fall color in the forests across the way. An interesting thing about the stumps is how big they are (which the photo below does not really convey). A few are hosting new trees from their tops and, zooming in, one can see the springboard notches on some of the stumps where loggers could wedge a board to stand on to cut the straighter trunk above the flared base. Those were big trees!

The trail offered wildlife. It seems that it was migration time for the Rough-skinned Newts. There were probably a hundred that we encountered crossing over the trail. These newts are toxic. They contain tetrodotoxin - the same poison as the Blue-ringed octopus of Australia and the Pufferfish. One rough-skinned newt divided up and eaten can kill 17 people. I can't imagine deliberately eating one, but it's important to wash hands if you touch one so you don't get the toxin into your mouth by accident. I was nervous about the dog who stepped on one before I really noticed them on the trail. But he showed no signs of being interested in tasting or even sniffing one and, after he walked though a good number of mud puddles, I hoped there was no toxin on his paws.

A quick stop at Dosewallips State Park was rewarded with more wildlife sightings. There were a lot of ducks, geese, and gulls visible from the viewing platform. The tide was coming in fast, so we could not walk out into the delta to get a closer look. The river was a place of great activity — full of spawning salmon.

Dosewallips State Park during salmon spawning. — Our first clue that it’s salmon spawning season in the Dosewallips River

I could not get a convincing photo of the fish because of glare on the water. But helpfully, an eagle gave us a view of one salmon pulled up out of the water. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a whole specimen anymore. Good eating for eagles!

Eagle eating salmon beside the Dosewallips

A short drive up the Dosewallips Road leads to the trail head for Rocky Brook Falls. The falls is impressive, falling 229 feet in a tiered horsetail type waterfall. The fall colors in the gorge made it especially spectacular.

Rocky Brook Falls near Brinnon — Rocky Brook Falls

A waterfall like this just screams out the possibility of being home to a Dipper. We always spend extra time at creeks like this searching for the motion that gives away the little gray bird on the gray rocks. And sure enough, there it was.

A bit later, it hopped up on the rocks with white water in the background. Here’s a video:

YouTube Video

What’s up in nature in your area today?

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Backyard BirdRace/The Daily Bucket Combo - April Tally

Milly Watt

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Sunday April 07, 2019 · 8:00 AM PDT

2019/04/07 · 08:00

Welcome back Backyard BirdRacers!

The Daily Kos Backyard BirdRace is a birding “competition” where, over the course of one year, participants strive to identify the most bird species - by sight and/or by sound - from their yards.

I will be your substitute host for this month’s tally while OceanDiver goes off on a tropical adventure.

In January, we introduced the new and revised version of the Backyard BirdRace.

This time around, we each watch for birds in our yard — however you want to define that — and keep a list of them to share here each month in the BirdRace diary. We’ll each be keeping track of our own bird lists this time. eBird is a very easy way to do that. Or you can write them down in a notebook.

We hope to generate some conversation amongst us comparing and contrasting who we see, and perhaps find some insights into the world of birds as they intersect with our lives.

The “race” aspect is a form of gentle humorous encouragement to keep watching throughout the year…. perhaps you will see more birds than you thought, or than you saw last year or a decade ago, or your fellow regional kossacks, or other birdracers who live in the same kind of setting as yourself. It’s all a discovery, and meant to be fun.

So if you’d like to participate, please list the birds you’ve seen, naming your general locale and type of setting. Pointing out who are the new birds since last month will be useful information too.

Here’s my report for this edition:

Locale: Northeast corner of the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state

Setting: My yard consists of a very wooded 6 acres (Western Redcedar, Douglas Fir, Big-leaf Maples, and Alders) descending down a steep high bluff to a pebbly beach on Discovery Bay. There is an intermittent stream/ seasonal wetland down the center of the property. I have a number of bird feeders and native shrubs to attract birds who happen by.

Here’s my list in chronological order with the new birds below the line:

1    Anna's Hummingbird - Calypte anna        02 Jan
2    Glaucous-winged Gull - Larus glaucescens        02 Jan
3    Bald Eagle - Haliaeetus leucocephalus        02 Jan
4    Red-breasted Sapsucker - Sphyrapicus ruber        02 Jan
5    Downy Woodpecker - Dryobates pubescens        02 Jan
6    Hairy Woodpecker - Dryobates villosus        02 Jan
7    Pileated Woodpecker - Dryocopus pileatus        02 Jan
8    Northern Flicker - Colaptes auratus        02 Jan
9    Common Raven - Corvus corax        02 Jan
10    Chestnut-backed Chickadee - Poecile rufescens        02 Jan
11    Red-breasted Nuthatch - Sitta canadensis        02 Jan
12    Brown Creeper - Certhia americana        02 Jan
13    Dark-eyed Junco - Junco hyemalis        02 Jan
14    Song Sparrow - Melospiza melodia        02 Jan
15    Spotted Towhee - Pipilo maculatus        02 Jan
16    Common Merganser - Mergus merganser        13 Jan
17    Pacific Wren - Troglodytes pacificus        13 Jan
18    Red-breasted Merganser - Mergus serrator        16 Jan
19    Black-capped Chickadee - Poecile atricapillus        17 Jan
20    Horned Grebe - Podiceps auritus        21 Jan
21    Bufflehead - Bucephala albeola        27 Jan
22    Common Goldeneye - Bucephala clangula        27 Jan
23    Hooded Merganser - Lophodytes cucullatus        27 Jan
24    Herring Gull - Larus argentatus        27 Jan
25    Double-crested Cormorant - Phalacrocorax auritus        27 Jan
26    Great Blue Heron - Ardea herodias        27 Jan
27    Northwestern Crow - Corvus caurinus        27 Jan
28    Sharp-shinned Hawk - Accipiter striatus        30 Jan
29    Barred Owl - Strix varia    01 Feb
30    Pine Siskin - Spinus pinus    07 Feb
31    Golden-crowned Kinglet - Regulus satrapa    12 Feb
32    Purple Finch - Haemorhous purpureus        05 Mar

____________________ new since last report_______________________

33    Rufous Hummingbird - Selasphorus rufus    16 Mar
34    American Robin - Turdus migratorius        16 Mar
35    Rhinoceros Auklet - Cerorhinca monocerata    18 Mar
36    Band-tailed Pigeon - Patagioenas fasciata    19 Mar
37    Mallard - Anas platyrhynchos    01 Apr
38    Western Grebe - Aechmophorus occidentalis    01 Apr
39    Mew Gull - Larus canus    01 Apr
40    Belted Kingfisher - Megaceryle alcyon    01 Apr

Total cumulative birds for me so far this year: 40

Notable observations in the past month include a large group (raft?) of Red-breasted mergansers (probably 50 or so) swimming through the view of Discovery Bay offered by my spotting scope. I’d never seen them in such numbers. I am also thrilled to see a couple of elegant Western grebes through the scope and relatively close in. Up by the house, the Rufous and Anna’s hummingbirds are battling for access to the feeders. Two Anna’s females will share the same feeder, but otherwise the hummingbirds here prefer to eat alone. I’m always amazed when I visit other places and each of their feeders is hosting a bunch of hummers simultaneously. That never happens in my yard.

Feel free to add a comment below about your bird observations this year so far.

🦠

I offered to post OceanDiver’s tally while she’s gone. Here it is:

Salish Sea island, Washington state

Mixed edge habitat, including a quiet bay overlook

What I've noted is the beginning of the seasonal shift, with fewer winter birds like ducks and more summer birds. Luckily I caught a couple of winter residents before they departed, a Green-winged teal and a Ruby-crowned Kinglet. The teal was a real surprise, never seen it in this bay before, and they've been more abundant on the island in general this winter. I may have seen 3 Trumpeter swans flying over but can't be sure (not wearing glasses) so I'll have to wait until fall for a definitive sighting.

Newcomers are Rufous hummers and American goldfinch, the latter not yellow yet. A couple of pine siskins visited the feeder one day - their presence is pretty random and unpredictable. Have seen no swallows or warblers yet in my yard.

6 new birds, 47 total since January.

🦠

And of course as always, we welcome your notes about any aspect of nature in your area. This diary is also The Daily Bucket for today.

Here on the NE corner of the Olympic Peninsula, April showers have arrived after a long dry spell in March. I am celebrating the rain, especially since I’m planning a “moss walk” with a nature group in a couple of weeks and I don’t want the mosses to get all dried out.

Stair-step moss (Hylocomium splendens) in Fort Townsend State Park

Grass widow or Satin flower (Olsynium douglasii) at Kah Tai Prairie

Yesterday, we stopped by the Kah Tai Prairie in Port Townsend. The Grass widows and the Desert parsley (Lomatium utriculatum) are both in bloom.

The Daily Bucket is a nature refuge.

We amicably discuss animals, weather, climate, soil, plants, waters and note life’s patterns.

We invite you to note what you are seeing around you in your own part of the world, and to share your observations in the comments below.

What’s up in nature in your area?

🦠

"SPOTLIGHT ON GREEN NEWS & VIEWS"

EVERY SATURDAY AT 3:00 PM PACIFIC TIME ON THE DAILY KOS FRONT PAGE.

IT'S A GREAT WAY TO CATCH UP ON DIARIES YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED. BE SURE TO RECOMMEND AND COMMENT IN THE DIARY.

The Daily Bucket - An Owl, a Puppy, and a Squeaking Ball

Milly Watt for Backyard Science

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday September 10, 2018 · 8:00 AM PDT

2018/09/10 · 08:00

I was out in the front yard playing ball with our puppy. He has a squeaky ball that he loves to fetch and bite down on so it squeaks loudly. I’m sure the ball sounds like a pitiful injured critter. At least, it seemed to get that reaction from a Barred Owl that flew in, perched on a nearby cedar (in one of those classic owl against bark poses), and watched our ball game.

Milly Watt for Backyard Science

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Wednesday August 22, 2018 · 6:00 AM PDT

2018/08/22 · 06:00

On August 7, Mr Watt (aka grnchile) and I finally got up to Hurricane Ridge to inventory wildflowers along the Hurricane Hill trail. This is part of a personal project that we started in 2009 to record the blooming times of wildflowers at Hurricane Ridge in the Olympic National Park. By hiking the same trail and taking pictures of every flower we see, we’ve collected a nice dataset. (i.e. date stamped photos) from 13 hikes so far. Every year, I learn more and discover new wildflowers that I simply missed before. Previous buckets report on hikes on August 6, 2013, June 11, 2014, July 24, 2014, May 22 and June 22, 2015, August 20, 2015, and July 2016. You can see the flowers earlier in the 2018 season in owktree’s recent bucket.

The Daily Bucket is a nature refuge. We amicably discuss animals, weather, climate, soil, plants, waters and note life’s patterns.

We invite you to note what you are seeing around you in your own part of the world, and to share your observations in the comments below.

Each note is a record that we can refer to in the future as we try to understand the phenological patterns that are quietly unwinding around us. To have the Daily Bucket in your Activity Stream, visit Backyard Science’s profile page and click on Follow.

It’s rather late in the season, but we’ve run into various scheduling delays. The most important complication is that the park service is closing the trail for 8 days at a time, then reopening it for 6 days (and repeat) to do trail reconstruction. This project will be going on for 3 summers. If you are planning a trip, consult the schedule. To further complicate matters, the trail will be closed for mountain goat relocation in September.

Each year, the timing of blooms is determined by the depth of the winter snowpack and the melt out date. On May 1, there was a healthy 135% of normal snowpack, but then it got warm enough to accelerate melting. Thus, the meadows now seem exceptionally dry. Some wildflowers that I’ve seen this late in the season in previous years are already spent.

Looking over the landscape, one gets an impression of silvery gray and not just patches of green on a background of dried out brown. It’s interesting that some of the most prevalent flowers we saw on this hike, have gray foliage — Pearly everlasting, Wooly daisy, and Mugwort.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA — One of many patches of Pearly everlasting

Not all the wildflowers at this time of year have this silvery foliage, of course. There were also many blue Harebells. Their thin stalks and leaves, although green, don’t contribute much green to the overall color palette.

There were spots of other colors in small numbers — including a few Indian paintbrush, Fireweed, and Owl’s clover flowers in the meadows.

Even after so many years of doing these inventories, I still discover new-to-the-project plants to add to the database on every hike. This year, we found a small patch of One-sided wintergreen in the shade of a tree, a tiny white flower stalk that I IDed as White-flowered hawkweed, and a specimen of Pinedrops along the trail to the overflow parking area. My spreadsheet has grown to 95 species! This hike yielded 21 species with the 3 added ones.

Here’s the list of all flowers I was able to ID on August 7:

Yarrow    (Achillea millefolium)
Pearly everlasting    (Anaphalis margaritacea)
Western mugwort    (Artemisia ludoviciana)
Olympic aster (Aster paucicapitatus)
Harebell    (Campanula rotundifolia)
Indian paintbrush    (Castilleja sp.)
Fireweed    (Chamerion angustifolium)
Wooly daisy or Oregon sunshine    (Eriophyllum lanatum)
Cow parsnip    (Heracleum maximum)
White-Flowered hawkweed    (Hieracium albiflorum)*
Oceanspray    (Holodiscus discolor)
Broadleaf lupine    (Lupinus latifolius)
One-Sided wintergreen     (Orthilia secunda)*
Mountain owl clover    (Orthocarpus imbricatus)
Parrotbeak    (Pedicularis racemosa)
Broad leaf penstemon    (Penstemon ovatus)
Spreading phlox    (Phlox diffusa)
Western bistort    (Polygonum bistortoides)
Pinedrops    (Pterospora andromedea)*
Douglas's catchfly    (Silene douglasii)
Parry's catchfly    (Silene parryi)

* New to me this year

Now It's Your Turn! What have you noted happening in your area or travels? As usual post your observations as well as their general location in the comments.

Be sure to read, recommend and comment in Meteor Blade’s valuable "Spotlight on Green News & Views,” every Saturday at 3pm Pacific Time on the Daily Kos front page.

2018 Backyard Bird Race: Tally #4

Milly Watt for Backyard Bird Racers

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Sunday April 15, 2018 · 8:00 AM PDT

2018/04/15 · 08:00

This is the the 4th tally of the 2018 Backyard Bird Race. The 5th tally is currently planned to go up on Sunday, May 6.

The Daily Kos Backyard Science Yardbird Race is a birding competition where, over the course of one year, participants strive to identify the most bird species — by sight and/or by sound — from the confines of their yards.

Everyone is welcome - new birders, experienced birders, and anyone in between. We're a very supportive group and will help as much as we can. If you're not sure about an ID, just do your best to give us a good written description. Images, even mediocre ones, can be a great help, too. There are a number of categories, so that people who live in urban centers don't have to compete against others who have a lot of open space or waterfront views. For more information, check the “Details and Fine Print” section located way down at the bottom.

Here’s where the race stood after the third tally in March

Welcome, everyone who joined the race last month! Let us know if you aren’t yet a member of the Backyard Bird Racers and we’ll send out an invite.

Please let me know if I’ve missed anyone or if anything needs correcting. We’ve been a little behind on updating the spreadsheet and I’ve tried to reflect the data I found in the March tally. This involved moving some participants between categories. If I’ve made an error, please let me know.

SMALL TOWN

1. besame … Sierra foothills CA … 32

2. alamancedem… Piedmont region of NC … 16 (new)

URBAN ATTACHED

I think our previous participants in this group actually belong to Urban Detached, so I moved them. Let me know if that’s wrong.

URBAN DETACHED

1. bwren … Seattle WA … 33

2. billybush … Omaha NE … 19

3. mahdalgal … Dallas TX … 14

4. youfraitta … PA … 2

5. joanNJTN ...Tennesee … 1

SUBURBAN

1. enhydra lutris … Castro Valley CA … 33

2. rajintrajan … MO … 29

3. MEL in PGH … PA … 18

4. LI Center … NY … 14

5. Redwoodman (6412093) … Portland OR … 9

RURAL <5ACRES

1. (tie) wordwraith … Central NC … 26

1. (tie) Old Cootess … Central PA … 26

2. PHScott … Tallahassee FL … 22

3. mithrandir … Windsor Co VT … 7

RURAL >5ACRES

1. BonnieBlueSky … Humboldt Co CA ...7

2. OptimizerDad … Nashua NH … 6

3. North County NY … NY … 5

RURAL RV RESORT

1. pollysyllabic … Hope AZ … 34 (Do you want to join Rural <5 acres?)

WATERFRONT

1. matching mole … Tallahassee FL … 46

2. Milly Watt … Olympic Peninsula WA … 36

3. Dr Arcadia … Thumb of MI … 35

4. Ocean Diver … Salish Sea Island … 31

5. jazr … Lower Mid State NY … 20

6. Sharistuff … Central AL … 16

7. APPY … Flint Hills KA … 14 (moved because of pond)

8. Political Mutt … Sandhills NC … 9

Tally Updates. Here's what you need to report - Your location, as close as you are comfortable revealing. Your yard category. Number of species seen so far, including your other tallies if you have any. List of birds seen, with new birds at the top. Any comments you have about your sightings.

A Couple of Notes About Submitting Your Data

This group couldn’t function without our Official Tally Keepers (and we could always use more volunteers). They do the hard work around here, taking turns every month to go through everone’s updated lists, noting all of the new sightings and making certain that everyone’s counts are transferred correctly onto the official tally spreadsheet.

We can make their job a bit easier. You’ll note that our lists tend to get longer as the year progresses, so one thought is for everyone to note new birds at the top of your list each month, maybe even in bold.

A second thought is to start noting your new birds in taxonomic order, since the spreadsheet is set up in that manner. There are several websites that will give you a list of North American birds in taxonomic order. As this is basically the same order as a field guide so you should pick it up quickly. The American Birding Association has downloadable excel checklists and Cornell has an online checklist. Formerly we used the USGS checklist which has a handy code (see below) but the checklist seems to have disappeared. If someone finds it see next paragraph.

If you have the USGS Birds of America checklist, it happens to be in taxonomic order. You might also note the number given to each species in the very first column of the list, which is very helpful for the tally keepers. As examples, 004.2 is the number for Common Loon, and 449.3 is the number for American Crow, so you’d order them them as new birds at the top of your list as:
004.2  Common Loon449.3  American Crow
OceanDiver put the order we use in this comment in the third tally. Thank you, OceanDiver!

Ask if you have questions, and let any of the tally keepers know if you’d like a copy of the official tally sheet. Thank you, and good birding to everyone!

Details and fine print.

You'll be listing the number of bird species that you see from the confines of your yard between January 1 and December 31, 2018. You can list a bird if you see or hear it while you are somewhere in your yard. Your "yard" includes the property on which your domicile is located, and includes your living quarters, so you can list the Great Horned Owl that wakes you at 2am, but you can't list the Harpy Eagle you think you see in your neighbor's side yard while driving home if you cannot see it from any place in your yard after you get out of your car. You can, however, walk around to your neighbor's yard to visually ID a bird that you have initially glimpsed or heard from the confines of your own yard. Pet birds and birds kept for hunting don't count, but domestic chickens, ducks, peafowl, guinea hens, geese etc are fair game. With the exception of utilizing recorded bird calls, which is strongly discouraged, there are no rules about making your yard more bird-attractive than the competition's. There are also no rules about ladders, fences, binoculars or spotting scopes.

Here are the yard categories:

~Small Town
~College Campus
~Urban apartment or condo
~Urban attached (townhouse, rowhouse)
~Urban detached
~Suburban
~Rural <5 acres
~Rural >5 acres
~Waterfront (trumps any of the above...)
~Classroom Project
~Mobile
~Rural RV Park

Please let us know if your yard doesn't seem to fit in any of these categories. We'll work out a new one for you.

The fourth tally of the 2018 Race is now open! Newcomers and returnees are always welcome. Have fun!

2016 Backyard Bird Race - Final Tally

Milly Watt for Backyard Bird Racers

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Sunday January 01, 2017 · 2:01 PM PST

2017/01/01 · 14:01

This is the the final tally of the 2016 Backyard Bird Race.

The Daily Kos Backyard Science Yardbird Race is a birding competition where, over the course of one year, participants strive to identify the most bird species - by sight and/or by sound - from the confines of their yards.

The final Official Tally of the 2016 Backyard Science Yardbird Race is now open.

All of the race details and fine print can be found way down at the end of this very long missive.

The Categories:

~Small Town
~College Campus
~Urban apartment or condo
~Urban attached (townhouse, rowhouse)
~Urban detached
~Suburban
~Rural <5 acres
~Rural >5 acres
~Waterfront (trumps any of the above...)
~Classroom Project
~(new) Mobile

Here’s where we stand after the July tally. Please let me know if I’ve missed anyone or if anything needs correcting. The number in parentheses after each participant’s name refers to their personal record over the past years.

MOBILE

1. Lenny Flank (new) … On the Road … 27

SMALL TOWN

1. indubitably (new) ... Ozark footills ... 19

2. grapevines (new) … NW MN … 8

APARTMENT OR CONDO

1(tie). owktree (new) … Philadelphia PA … 19

1(tie). aaroninsandiego (22) ... San Diego CA ... 19

3. Benny Toothpick (53) ... Hamilton, NY... 17

RURAL <5ACRES

1. besame (45) … NW Sierras CA … 53

2. Attack Gardener (49) ... Saratoga County NY ... 42

3. PHScott (48) ... west of Tallahassee ... 41

4. wordwraith (new) … Central NC ...35

5. birdfeeder (40) ... Shutesbury MA ... 32

6. marleycat (new) … N Baltimore City MD … 21

RURAL >5ACRES

1. myboo (new) … Western WA … 30

URBAN DETACHED

1. bwren (55) ... Seattle WA ... 38

2. billybush (35) ... Omaha NE ... 17

SUBURBAN

1. profewalt (25) … South NJ … 41

2. hilltopper (new) … Oakland CA … 41

2. enhydra lutris (47) ... Castro Valley NOCA ... 39

3. LICenter (51) ... Suffolk County, LI ... 36

4. pzina (new) ...16

5. 6412093 (30) ... NW Oregon ... 13

6. OldJackPine (new) … S WI … 12

WATERFRONT

1. matching mole (80) ... Tallahassee FL ... 63

2. nom de plume (66) ... Upper Kitsap Peninsula WA ... 58

3. OceanDiver (74) ... Lopez IS WA ... 57

4. Milly Watt (75) ... Olympic Peninsula WA ... 55

5. Dr. Arcadia (88) ... thumb of MI ... 24

Details and fine print.

You'll be listing the number of bird species that you see from the confines of your yard between January 1 and December 31, 2016. You can list a bird if you see or hear it while you are somewhere in your yard. Your "yard" includes the property on which your domicile is located, and includes your living quarters, so you can list the Killdeer that wakes you at 2am, but you can't list the Smew you think you see in your neighbor's side yard while driving home if you cannot see it from any place in your yard after you get out of your car. You can, however, walk around to your neighbor's yard to visually ID a bird that you have initially glimpsed or heard from the confines of your own yard. Pet birds and birds kept for hunting don't count, but domestic chickens, ducks, peafowl, guinea hens, geese etc are fair game. With the exception of utilizing recorded bird calls, which is strongly discouraged, there are no rules about making your yard more bird-attractive than the competition's. There are also no rules about ladders and fences.

Once again, here are the yard categories:

~Small Town
~College Campus
~Urban apartment or condo
~Urban attached (townhouse, rowhouse)
~Urban detached
~Suburban
~Rural <5 acres
~Rural >5 acres
~Waterfront (trumps any of the above...)
~Classroom Project
~ New) Mobile

Please let us know if your back yard doesn't seem to fit in any of these categories. We'll work out a new one for you.

The Daily Bucket - Oh Christmas Tree

Milly Watt

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Saturday December 24, 2016 · 8:00 AM PST

2016/12/24 · 08:00

Every year since we’ve been here on the NE corner of the Olympic Peninsula, we’ve chosen a living native tree as a Christmas Tree and planted it on our property after the holidays (as if we need more trees). Last year, we chose a Douglas Fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii). We never got around to planting it and it lived in a pot on our deck throughout the summer, so we’re using it again this year. Over the years, we’ve used a Western Hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla) which is not a good tree on which to hang ornaments of any weight, several Doug Firs, and several Shore Pines (Pinus contorta).

Last (and this) year’s Douglas Fir Tree

The Daily Bucket is a regular feature of the Backyard Science group. It is a place to note any observations you have made of the world around you. Snails, fish, insects, weather, meteorites, climate, birds and/or flowers. All are worthy additions to the bucket. Each note is a record that we can refer to in the future as we try to understand the patterns that are quietly unwinding around us. Please let us know what is going on around you in a comment. Include, as close as is comfortable for you, where you are located.

Top of Shore pine from 2010

Below, we’ll take a tour of our property to see how the trees of Christmases past have fared and talk about using a living tree.

Milly Watt for Backyard Science

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday August 23, 2016 · 7:31 AM PDT

2016/08/23 · 07:31

Mr. Watt and I witnessed this interaction recently while paddling along our shoreline on Discovery Bay in the NE corner of the Olympic Peninsula. These photos were taken while bobbing on the waves in my kayak so forgive the fuzzy focus.

The Daily Bucket is a regular feature of the Backyard Science group. It is a place to note any observations you have made of the world around you. Insects, weather, meteorites, climate, birds and/or flowers. All are worthy additions to the bucket. Please let us know what is going on around you in a comment. Include, as close as is comfortable for you, where you are located. Each note is a record that we can refer to in the future as we try to understand the patterns that are quietly unwinding around us.

She hears her mate calling as he approaches

And all is calm as they survey their domain

"Spotlight on Green News & Views" will be posted every Saturday at 5pm Pacific Time and every Wednesday at 3:30 Pacific Time on the Daily Kos front page. Be sure to recommend and comment in the diary.

Now It's Your Turn! What have you noted happening in your area or travels? As usual post your observations as well as their general location in the comments.

The Daily Bucket - High Summer on Hurricane Ridge

Milly Watt for Backyard Science

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday August 16, 2016 · 7:31 AM PDT

2016/08/16 · 07:31

On July 14, Mr. Watt and I took our first wildflower walk of the season up at Hurricane Ridge in the Olympic National Park. We were a bit later this year than we would have liked, but it was our first chance to get away. We missed the early Spring flowers this year, but we certainly didn’t suffer from any lack of wildflowers to enjoy on the hike. We photographed 50 different species of plants in bloom plus a bunch of critters (which I’ll save for another bucket). Between Mr. Watt (who just got a new camera) and myself, we took almost 500 photos on our 3.7 mile walk.

The Daily Bucket is a regular feature of the Backyard Science group. It is a place to note any observations you have made of the world around you. Insects, weather, meteorites, climate, birds and/or flowers. All are worthy additions to the bucket. Please let us know what is going on around you in a comment. Include, as close as is comfortable for you, where you are located. Each note is a record that we can refer to in the future as we try to understand the patterns that are quietly unwinding around us.

In 2009, I started an informal “project” to record the blooming times of wildflowers on the Hurricane Hill trail. We try to get up there several times each year, hike this same trail, and take pictures of every flower we see. We’ve collected “data” (i.e. date stamped photos) from 12 hikes so far. Every year, I learn more and discover new wildflowers that I simply missed before. So the data from my early years are incomplete. For example, in July 2011, I recorded only 13 species compared to 50 this year! Previous buckets report on hikes on August 6, 2013, June 11, 2014, July 24, 2014, May 22 and June 22, 2015, and August 20, 2015. In this bucket, I’ll try to feature some flowers I haven’t shown before.

Pinesap (Monotropa hypopithys) amid Dwarf brambles (Rubus lasiococcus) underneath the Rhodies along the trail to overflow parking

Summertime (even on a Thursday) means crowds up at Hurricane Ridge. We had to park at the overflow parking area at the picnic area up the road from the trailhead. This adds .5 mi to the hike, but it is actually worth it. The trail between the picnic area and the trailhead goes through a distinctly different habitat than the actual trail offers. The trail winds through a forest with White rhododendron bushes (Rhododendron albiflorum) as the understory before opening up to the subalpine meadows beyond the official Hurricane Hill trailhead. The picture at the top shows the meadows and the mountains along the trail.

The first section of the trail gently climbs, following the ridge. Here are some of the flowers in the meadows along the trail. The Cow Parsnip is a very large plant (~1 m tall) and hard to miss. This photo illustrates another “theme” of the hike: butterflies — they were everywhere!

Cow Parsnip (Heracleum maximum) and butterfly

A special treat was the Alaska Rein Orchid. This seems to be rare since I have never seen more than one specimen on a hike. This is a closeup of part of a stalk that stands less than a foot tall.

Another unusual and often overlooked group of flowers is from the genus Silene. According to Pojar & MacKinnon, Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast:

Silene comes from the Latin sialon for ‘saliva’ in reference to the gladular hairs on the stem. These sticky (glutinous) hairs act like flypaper, giving rise to the common name ‘catchfly’ for many members of this genus.

This hike included a veritable Who’s Who of catchflies named for 19th century botanists — David Douglas, Archibald Menzies, and Charles Parry. Here’s Parry’s Catchfly.

Parry's catchfly — Parry’s Catchfly (Silene parryi)

One more lovely flower from the lower part of the trail was the short Showy Jacob’s Ladder. This is a more compact plant compared to the taller Jacob’s Ladder (Polemonium californicum) that can also be found here.

Short Jacob's Ladder (Polemonium pulcherrimum)? — Showy Jacob's ladder (Polemonium pulcherrimum)

Eventually, the trail becomes a series of switchbacks that climb more steeply to the top of Hurricane Hill. There are some flowers that I have only found at the higher elevations along this section of trail.

Looking down from the upper portion of the trail at lingering snow and incoming fog.

Old man's whiskers (Geum triflorum) in seed form (a favorite, so I can’t resist showing it again)

cut-leaved daisy (Erigeron compositus) — Cut-Leaved Daisy (Erigeron compositus) growing out of a clump of Silky Phacelia (Phacelia sericea)

Here’s the list of all flowers I was able to ID from July 14, 2016:

Yarrow (Achillea millefolium) Orange agoseris (Agoseris aurantiaca) Pale agoseris (Agoseris glauca) Olympic onion (Allium crenulatum)
Pearly everlasting (Anaphalis margaritacea)
Wooly pussytoes (Antennaria lanata)
Rosy pussytoes (Antennaria rosea)
Sandwort - mountain or threadleaved (Arenaria capillaris)
Heartleaf Arnica (Arnica cordifolia)
Western mugwort (Artemisia ludoviciana)
Leafybract Aster (Aster foliaceus)
Harebell (Campanula rotundifolia)
Harsh indianpaintbrush (Castilleja hispida)
Indian Thistle (Cirsium edule)
Rockslide larkspur (Delphinium glareosum) Alpine willowherb (Epilobium anagallidifolium) Hornemann's willowherb (Epilobium hornemannii) Cut-Leaved Daisy (Erigeron compositus)

Wooly daisy or Oregon sunshine (Eriophyllum lanatum) Western wallflower (Erysimum capitatum) Old man's whiskers or Prairie smoke (Geum triflorum)
Cow parsnip (Heracleum maximum)
Oceanspray (Holodiscus discolor)
Columbia lily (Lilium columbianum)
Martindales desert parsley (Lomatium martindalei)
Barestem desert parsley (Lomatium nudicaule)
Partridgefoot (Luetkea pectinata)
Broadleaf lupine (Lupinus latifolius)
Pinesap (Monotropa hypopithys)
Mountain owl clover (Orthocarpus imbricatus)
Mtn Oxytropis or locoweed (Oxytropis monticola)
Parrotbeak (Pedicularis racemosa)
Narrow-sepaled Phacelia (Phacelia leptosepalia)
Silky Phacelia (Phacelia sericea)
Spreading Phylox (Phlox diffusa)
Pink mountain heather (Phyllodoce empetriformis)
Alaska rein orchid (Piperia unalascensis)
Short Jacob's ladder (Polemonium pulcherrimum)
Western Bistort (Polygonum bistortoides)
Fan-leaf cinquefoil (Potentilla flabellifolia)
White rhododenron (Rhododendron albiflorum)
Baldhip Rose (Rosa gymnocarpa)
Dwarf bramble (Rubus lasiococcus)
Lance leaf stonecrop (Sedum lanceolatum)
Douglas's catchfly (Silene douglasii)
Parry's catchfly (Silene parryi)
Menzies' Campion (Silene menziesii)
Sitka mountain ash (Sorbus sitchensis) Cow clover (Trifolium microcephalum) Cusick's speedwell (Veronica cusickii) American vetch (Vicia americana)

"Spotlight on Green News & Views" will be posted every Saturday at 5:00 and Wednesday at 3:30 Pacific Time on the Daily Kos front page. Be sure to recommend and comment in the diary.

Now It's Your Turn! What have you noted happening in your area or travels? As usual post your observations as well as their general location in the comments.

The Daily Bucket - More Visits to the Prairie

Milly Watt for Backyard Science

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Wednesday July 06, 2016 · 7:17 AM PDT

2016/07/06 · 07:17

In April, I reported on my Springtime visits to Kah Tai Prairie. Here’s an update with late spring flowers (April 30) and summer flowers (June 23).

The Daily Bucket is a regular feature of the Backyard Science group. It is a place to note any observations you have made of the world around you. Snails, fish, insects, weather, meteorites, climate, birds and/or flowers. All are worthy additions to the bucket. Each note is a record that we can refer to in the future as we try to understand the patterns that are quietly unwinding around us. Please let us know what is going on around you in a comment. Include, as close as is comfortable for you, where you are located.

As explained previously, Kah Tai Preserve is a remnant of the PNW prairie landscape that emerged after the retreat of the ice age glaciers. This 1.4 acre piece survived development because of benign neglect, having been set aside as a "rough" in a golf course.

At my last visit, the poisonous Death Camas were just starting to bloom as the edible Common Camas (Camassia quamash) were fading. On April 30, the Death Camas were in full bloom and taking over the scene. This would have been the perfect time for the native people that traditionally nurtured the prairies to harvest the bulbs of the blue Common camas while they could still tell the blue and white flowering plants apart. Sometimes, the white camas plants would be weeded out of the blue camas fields to prevent accidental poisonings.

Let’s see what else was blooming!

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