National Jelly-Filled Donut Day (look it up) Photo Dump--8 June 2009

Once again I found some time to go through my photos from the last few months. It was somewhat underwhelming. I found a few that made the cut--barely above my low standards.

sycamore flower


raccoon tracks

western pond turtle

This is our native turtle. They are likely to be displaced by red-eared sliders. We also have a few painted turtles. Below is a red-eared slider, doing what it does that makes parents want to set them free in the creeks that flow into Kokopelli. What starts out as a small, cute turtle turns into a menacing beast! It also has a large leech attached to the underside of its shell. All I could think of was the leech scene from "Stand By Me".

red-eared slider

henbit, close and...

closer

great egret in full breeding plumage

Bonaparte's gull

This last photo is a sign very close to Kokopelli. You might say it is wishful thinking. But what better to go with a nice fat jelly donut on June 8th!

Take care until next time--thanks for stopping by!

FOS Kingbird and an Odd Couple -- 24 March 2009

One of my favorite things about spring is the anticipation of new bird arrivals from their wintering grounds. Swainson’s hawks, orioles, and others are cool, but for me, the bird that means spring at Kokopelli WA is the western kingbird. Unfortunately, I was not at work on the day (Friday the 20th) the first kingbird was spotted here, but I saw one on Monday the 23rd that I was able to snap a few crummy pics of. Since nobody told me that there had been any seen here yet, I still had the excitement of thinking this was the first. You can imagine my disappointment to find out I was only second. Crushing. That same day I saw two more.

They are a really beautiful bird with their gray uppers and lemon yellow underneath. Also distinctive is their black tail with fine white edging on the outer tail feathers. They are in the same family as the Say’s phoebe that I profiled here, and as I mentioned, they are rarely seen at Kokopelli on the same day. I believe our last phoebe sighting was on March 19th, so we only missed by one day this year!

I also liked this photo of a double crested cormorant and friend (red-eared slider). Usually you don’t see the crests on these birds, but in the breeding season you can spot them. This day was particularly windy, so the tufts were blowing around like a balding guy with a bad comb-over. I kept waiting for him to slick them back.

Receding Floodwaters-- 6 March 2009

Now that a couple of weeks worth of rain have passed through, the floodwaters at Kokopelli WA are beginning to recede. Typically, the summer water levels at KWA are about two feet below sea level, held at bay by a dike with a top elevation of about 3.5 feet above sea level downstream of our property. This dike was constructed in the 50’s in order to make farming in the area a little bit easier. Our refuge is located at the bottom of a 50 square mile watershed. The watershed is all below 300 feet in elevation, so the only water receive is rainfall. But, 50 square miles of even moderate rainfall can add up in a hurry. Yesterday, our water elevation peaked at almost exactly 5 feet above sea level—quite a swing, but nowhere near our record level of just over 14 feet. As you can probably imagine, 16 foot swings in surface water elevation can create maintenance issues. We try to storm proof everything we can, but we always have some kind of spring clean-up to do ranging from repairing irrigation systems to removing trash and debris from water control structures to repairing blowouts on our dikes and roadways. The high water levels do make certain tasks easier though, such as trimming trees or repairing wood duck boxes from the comfort of a boat rather than a ladder.

staff gauge showing water at 5'--note how deep 14' would be!

The green behind the staff gauge is a summer road, the trees mark the summer creek bank, and behind that is another road!

this non-native red-eared slider didn't seem to mind the water. Catching a little sun.

Sometimes at this time of year, it’s hard for me to discern between winter and spring. One aspect about Kokopelli WA that differs greatly from the area I was raised is the concept of winter annuals. These are plants that germinate with the first rains and end up completing their cycle before spring really even gets started.

spring? or winter?

closer on the wild mustard

this groundsel is already done for the year

wild radish

I showed some photos of tree swallows utilizing our artificial nest boxes a while back, but these birds are also fond of natural tree cavities. In fact, when a tree dies or begins dying, it enters the period of its existence when it provides the most habitat value for other creatures. Insects begin infestations, providing food for others higher on the food chain, branches snap off leaving rotten cavities for nesting animals and dead snags provide high visibility perches for hunting raptors.

this dying cottonwood provides many cavities for the iridescent tree swallow

Wildlife Notes: Say’s Phoebes are still here—I saw one today. Also, the first Swainson’s Hawks of the spring showed up overhead. Yesterday, I saw two common ravens, which is a fairly rare bird for Kokopelli—this is probably the fifth record.