Friday, September 18, 2020
Since May of this year I’ve been making visits to Dellinger’s Pond to observe the flora and fauna, and to track the changes as the year has progressed through Spring to Summer and now into Fall. Being an amateur at this I didn’t think to take photos from a specific location each trip in order to provide a proper sequential reference. But I did manage to come close.
Since this Autumnal Equinox (yay! it’s Fall!) diary is a recap and update, and since I’ve got a lot of photos, it’s necessarily going to be rather long. I’ll be pulling an excerpt here and there from the Daily Buckets on Dellinger’s Pond that I’ve written over the past several months. I think you’ll enjoy seeing and reading this tome, but if you get tired, take a break. To kick it off, here’s my personal history of my experience with the pond.
When I was a kid growing up here in Quincy, CA, the large local water feature of Dellinger’s Pond was a frequent playground. In summer we’d go after frogs and catfish (just for fun; catch and release), in winter if it got cold enough the pond would freeze over and we would ice skate on it. Here's a link to a personal blog by someone who knows the pond well.
Today the pond covers just about five acres or so, but back in the day it was nearly twice that large. New road construction in the early 60’s just about cut the pond in half.
The south and west side of the pond was formed by the natural hillside to which it abutted. The east and north containment of the pond was formed by construction of an earthen dike. To the best of my knowledge the pond was constructed to keep the adjacent pasturage from flooding. It still serves that purpose to a fair extent these days (albeit the pasturage is becoming more and more housing tract), but its greatest service is as a wildlife habitat. And not all the wildlife is necessarily benign; back in February a mountain lion was seen prowling around.
Sometime back in the 70’s the pond was acquired by Feather River College and closed to the public for the purpose of controlled and undisturbed biological studies. The pond is open to the public now and you can easily walk a good 600 feet or more along the dike for viewing the pond and its myriad wild denizens.
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.
|
Next, a series of reference location photos that show general change, but the first is out of location.
Now up to August:
Finally, September 18:
Trigger Warning: Animal (bear) scat photos below.
There wasn’t a great deal of wildlife to be seen, and no waterfowl at all, but that’s hardly surprising since there’s no open water any more. What did surprise me was to see a lot of dragonfly activity. I would have thought they’d all be gone by now.
The only bird I was able to photograph was this Mourning Dove:
This was not expected:
Back to the past. Along with the ever-present Canada Geese and Mallards and American Coots and Barn Swallows at the pond, through the months there have many other denizens and visitors to be seen: song birds, insects, mammals and amphibians.
It’s a funny memory of those bullfrogs on Dellinger’s Pond. They used to scare the heck out of me, even though I was an older kid by then. I’d be riding my bicycle home along the road past the pond in the evening, in the dusky dark, and the males would be calling very loudly, “HARRR-RUUMM, HARRR-RUUMM“. I think I knew they were just frogs but the sound was so loud and there were dozens all calling at the same time that it was just spooky. Heh heh. Maybe I thought they were coming to get me. Well, when you’re a kid, sounds that you’re familiar with during the day become monsters at night. Anyway...
I made but one visit to the pond in July. The water was going down, and there wasn’t that much to see in the way of wildlife, but there was new flora (the plant itself wasn’t new, but the berries were):
I didn’t know very much about this plant, which grows in abundance around here, so I looked it up. Turned out there was a lot to know.
Kelly Brenner Wildlife Plants:
The flowers of Oregon Grape are attractive to bees, butterflies and moths and bloom from March through June. It’s also a food source for birds and small mammals. Among birds that will eat the berries are forest birds such as grouse and pheasants as well as common songbirds such as robins, waxwings, juncos, towhees and sparrows. Small mammals include foxes, coyotes and raccoons. Painted Lady butterflies are known to use the nectar of the Tall Oregon-grape and I observed a Half-white Carpet Moth frequenting the flowers as well. Orchard mason bees are also known to frequent the flowers of Tall Oregon-grape for their nectar. Mining bees and bumble bees in addition to mason bees are the most common visitors. Dull Oregon-grape may also attract other pollinators. Both Oregon-grapes can be used by a variety of wildlife species for protection thanks to the plants spiny leaves and dense growth, especially when planted in groups.
Along with other uses, we humans can also consume them:
The small purplish-black fruits, which are quite tart and contain large seeds, are included in smaller quantities in the traditional diets of Pacific Northwest aboriginal peoples, mixed with salal or another sweeter fruit. Today, they are sometimes used to make jelly, alone or mixed with salal.[17] Oregon-grape juice can be fermented to make wine, similar to European barberry wine folk traditions, although it requires an unusually high amount of sugar.[18] The berries can also be eaten raw after the season's first frosts.[19]
The inner bark of the larger stems and roots of Oregon grape yields a yellow dye; the berries give purple dye.[20] As the leaves of Oregon grape are holly-like and resist wilting, the foliage is sometimes used by florists for greenery and a small gathering industry has been established in the Pacific Northwest.
Herbal medicine
Some Indigenous peoples of the Northwest Plateau use Oregon grape for indigestion.[21]
The other major change to the pond was that getting around it was getting hard to do:
My one trip to the pond in August produced but this one bird worth photographing. Happy it was, because this was my first good photo (and only, so far) of a hummingbird.
I’ll finish this out with a couple of my favorites:
And two mystery birds.
Well, folks, if you made it all the way with me, thanks so much for coming along. I truly hope you enjoyed this and I look forward to your comments.
Wait, wait! Sept. 19, 2020. I went back to the pond to get video on the dragonflies skimming about but they weren’t out. Instead, I got these marvelous visitors:
OK. Now I’m finished.
*******
"SPOTLIGHT ON GREEN NEWS & VIEWS" WILL BE POSTED EVERY SATURDAY AT NOON 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’s going on in your area or travels as the Autumnal Equinox approaches? Are your trees changing colors yet? As usual post your observations as well as their general location in the comments.
Thank you.