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.
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Journal Notes, September 2019:
Sep. 10. First rain.
Sep. 16. (7:50 a.m.): Rain, light so far, lightning and thunder. (8:15 a.m.): Rain coming down moderate to heavy now. Haven’t seen L&T for last ten minutes. (11:30 a.m. — 12:30 p.m.): Steady but moderate rain since morning, then breaking off. Decided to chance trip to library. By the time I got out of the library the sun was shining brightly. No more rain but one loud crack of thunder in late afternoon. Woke me with a start as I was dozing in my chair. Nothing further for rest of day.
Sep. 18. (6:34 p.m.): Big thunderstorm, heavy rain. First BOOM! was close; thunder immediately following flash; lights in house flickered. (6:50 p.m.): Rain already much slacked off. Earlier today sky was completely clear after morning fog overcast burned off. (8:00 p.m.): Rain still falling moderate. A few quiet thunder reports this past hour. (8:30 p.m.): Seems to be over, storm spent.
Sep. 19. (7:30 a.m.): All quiet, calm outside. Zero wind, overcast.
Sep. 30. Very cold and rainy this a.m. About noon I went out to library. Found vantage point to look up at Mt. Hough, & snow!
SEPTEMBER 30, 2020
Four days with rain in September last year, and snow up around 6,000’ on this day exactly one year ago.
This year: not one single drop of rain since a smattering back on August 24. No rain in the current 10-day forecast.
I’m feeling a little parched.
As Nanny McPhee said, “Sad, really. But there it is.”
The truth is, of course, that it’s not quite a desert around here yet. No water from the sky doesn’t mean there’s no water around. You just have to know where to look. There are three small creeks that flow down from the north-facing slopes of the mountains surrounding American Valley, and if you want to see some water you just go visit them. This first creek doesn’t have a designated name. But usually this creek flows year round.
Traveling down the bike path just another hundred yards west you come across another creek. It doesn’t have a name either but it flows out of Boyle Ravine. Click here for the Daily Bucket I wrote about this stream.
Since the destination for the day’s excursion took me past Dellinger’s Pond I stopped to get a photo.
Out on the west-most end of town Gansner Creek flows down into American Valley. There’s a gated road you can walk up that takes you along the creek. About a mile up there’s a pond that used to serve as the storage head of Quincy’s hydroelectric power generating station, way back in the day. See here for my Daily Bucket with more information (some photos are missing).
There was little enough wildlife to see up there yesterday. Many Ell-Bee-Bee’s flitting in and out of the trees but they only stay visible while in flight or perched for a second or two before disappearing in the foliage. I spotted a little tree frog (Pacific Chorus Frog) hop under these plants, but it disappeared and I couldn’t get a photo. Then I realized the plant itself was interesting-looking enough. Way cool pattern of nature that comes out in these leaves when they turn in the Fall:
After spending about a half-hour at the pond and sitting down to take a two-minute video which didn’t come out very good, I got up for one more photo of the creek showing man-made structure for water control and headed back down the road.
Ha ha! A bird! But it was a ways off so I took a photo where I was pretty sure the bird would be in the top of a tree and hoped I caught it. I did. Can you find the birdie?
If you still can’t spot the Northern Flicker, after these next three pics I’ll show you where it is.
Back down at the end of the road these two Dark-eyed Juncos obliged me with a pose:
Back down in town I stopped at a yard sale, and while pawing through the goods I uncovered this Bug of the Day:
And here’s the Flicker:
Thanks for joining me today, folks. After yesterday’s walk and enjoying all the flowing water I’m not feeling so parched anymore.
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Now It's Your Turn
What’s going on in your area or travels as Fall gets into full swing? What are the seasonal changes in flora and fauna that you are seeing? As usual post your observations as well as their general location in the comments.
Thank you.