Sea Otter

Posted on June 4, 2021 by tspuckler

This is a cool a creature that I have observed both from shore and from the water, while kayaking in California. It is native to the California coast. Adult Sea Otters typically weigh between 30 and 99 pounds, making them the heaviest members of the weasel family, but among the smallest marine mammals.

Unlike most marine mammals, the sea otter’s primary form of insulation is an exceptionally thick coat of fur – the densest in the animal kingdom. Although it can walk on land, the sea otter is capable of living exclusively in the ocean.

The Sea Otter is most often seen near the shore, where it forages for marine invertebrates such as sea urchins, various mollusks and crustaceans and some species of fish. It is one of the few mammal species to use tools, utilizing rocks to dislodge prey and to open shells.

In most of its range, it is a keystone species, controlling sea urchin populations which would otherwise inflict extensive damage to kelp forest ecosystem.

Their numbers were once estimated at 150,000–300,000 before Sea Otters were hunted extensively for their fur between 1741 and 1911. The world population fell to 1,000–2,000 individuals living in a fraction of their historic range.

A ban on hunting, Sea Otter conservation efforts, and reintroduction programs into previously populated areas have contributed to their numbers rebounding, and the mammal now occupies about two-thirds of its former range. The recovery of the sea otter is considered an important success in marine conservation.

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Blue Witch

Posted on May 28, 2021 by tspuckler

This is an evergreen shrub up to three feet high and wide, displaying purple flowers about one inch in diameter. It can be found in chaparral habitat and low-elevation oak woodlands in California and parts of Baja California and Arizona.

It has bright purple or blue frilly flowers with thick yellow anthers at the center. The flowers close into spherical buds overnight. Its dark gray-green oval-shaped leaves grow on hairy green stems. All parts of the plant are toxic to people and some animals. However, it is very attractive to insects.

Though the main bloom period is spring and summer, some flowers will occur for most of the year. When a Blue Witch flower finishes blooming, it bears small round green fruits which turn purple when ripe and resemble tiny eggplants.

While beautiful to look at, it is also a tough shrub which can grow in rocky and clay soils and springs up in areas recovering from wildfires or other disturbances.

This plant is also known as Purple Nightshade, Purple Witch and Parish’s Nightshade – it was neat to encounter it while hiking on Mount Hamilton during my visit to California.

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Green-winged Teal

Posted on May 21, 2021 by tspuckler

While driving to Point Reyes National Seashore, I noticed a group of waterfowl in a waterway, so I decided to check them out.

This is the smallest dabbling duck in North America. Males have a cinnamon-colored head with a bright green crescent that extends from the eye to the back of the head. In flight, both sexes flash deep-green wing patches.

The females are light brown, with plumage much like a female Mallard. They lay an average of 8-9 eggs.

These birds have closely spaced, comblike projections around the inner edge of their bills. They use them to filter tiny invertebrates from the water, allowing the ducks to capture smaller food items than other dabbling ducks.

The Green-winged Teal is very common and widespread, occurring in marshes, rivers and bays. In the Summer, it can be found in open country near shallow freshwater lakes and marshes.

Green-winged Teal have an extensive wintering range, having been recorded as far north as Alaska and Newfoundland and as far south as northern South America.

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Sierra Fence Lizard

Posted on May 14, 2021 by tspuckler

While visiting Yosemite National Park I had my first-ever encounter with this subspecies of Fence Lizard. The habitat of this creature is covered with snow for much of the year.

Though the weather was cool and there was still patches of snow on the ground, these reptiles were out catching the sun’s rays. Sierra Fence Lizards prefer open sunny areas and are often seen basking in the sun on rocks, fallen logs, trees, fences and walls.

These medium-sized lizards are usually about six inches in total length and are covered in spiny gray, tan, or brown scales with a pattern of darker waves or blotches.

Their favored habitats include grassland, sagebrush, broken chaparral, woodland, coniferous forest, farmland and even some urban areas. Here they bask, defend their territories, and feed on beetles, ants, flies, caterpillars and spiders.

A protein in the Sierra Fence Lizard’s blood can kill the bacterium that causes Lyme disease, the most common tick-carried disease in the northern hemisphere. When disease-carrying ticks feed on the lizard’s blood, the disease-causing bacteria are killed and the ticks no longer carry the disease.

It was neat to encounter yet another subspecies of this widespread and adaptable reptile while on my visit to California.

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California Broad-necked Darkling Beetle

Posted on May 7, 2021 by tspuckler

The term “darkling beetle” refers to several genera within the insect family Tenebrionidae which includes about 20,000 species. These genera are also referred to as “pinacate beetles.”

These insects are found worldwide, but are most commonly encountered in the deserts of the western United States, with as many as 450 species in California alone.

Known commonly as “stinkbugs,” some beetles in this genus emit noxious odors in the chemical class quinones from the ends of their abdomens or behind their heads as a defensive mechanism.

Many types of this beetle do “headstands” to ward off predators – whether they have the ability to produce bad odors or not.

Typically they can be found under stones, around decaying matter, or walking right out in the open. I mainly find them under plywood boards that I lift while looking for snakes.

This is one of the largest species of Darkling Beetles I have encountered. At home I keep two other species and raise them for their larval state: the mealworm, which is used to feed pet reptiles, birds and amphibians.

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Silver Bush Lupine

Posted on April 30, 2021 by tspuckler

While exploring Mount Hamilton in north-central California, it was hard not to notice this colorful purple wildflower.

This plant grows in the hills and valleys of the Golden State. It requires good drainage and needs little water once the roots are established.

When Silver Bush Lupine blooms, its flower is light blue to purple on three- to twelve-inch stalks. Its foliage is silver with a feathery texture.

Not only is it beautiful, but this plant performs a valuable function. It is a member of the Legume Family and has nitrogen-fixing nodules on their roots.

As a result, they are important for soils, as they can take nitrogen from the air and “fix” it into the ground for the purposes of plant growth and prosperity.

Like other perennial shrubs, Silver Bush Lupine can live for many years.

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Western Painted Turtle

Posted on April 23, 2021 by tspuckler

This reptile is not native to Ohio, but I do see it occasionally in Cuyahoga Valley National Park and Summit County Metroparks. These turtles are probably released pets. I have also found it on my visits to California, where it is also not native.

This is the largest of the four subspecies of Painted Turtles and attains a carapace length of up to 10 inches. Like others in its species, it is brightly marked.

The Western Painted Turtle is native to the midwestern states of Oklahoma northward to the Dakotas and extends as far as Saskatchewan, Canada. It reaches the eastern portion of its range in upper Michigan and Ontario.

These turtles feed mainly on plants and small animals, such as fish, crustaceans and aquatic insects. Turtles don’t have teeth, but instead have horny ridges that are serrated and sharp on their upper and lower jaws.

The Western Painted Turtle is rather adaptable and is known to occur in prairie pothole wetlands as well as river floodplains and oxbows. It and its relatives, the Eastern, Midland and Southern Painted Turtles, are the most widespread turtles in North America.

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Brush Rabbit

Posted on April 16, 2021 by tspuckler

While hiking in a park in California last weekend, I saw a few examples of this mammal foraging for food in the morning hours. Also known as the Western Brush Rabbit or Californian Brush Rabbit – it is a species of cottontail rabbit found in western coastal regions of North America.

The Brush Rabbit is a small rabbit that weighs 1-2 pounds and has short legs and a short tail. It is dark gray on the sides and back, and pale gray on the belly. Its range is confined to the Pacific coast, from the Columbia river in the north to the tip of Baja, Mexico in the south.

These mammals require dense bramble clumps or other thick brushy habitat. These bramble clumps often have extensive networks of trails and runways. The species will occasionally use burrows made by other species, but does not dig its own.

Brush Rabbits forage alone or in small groups. They can be seen sunning in the mid-morning, but are otherwise secretive and wary. They thump the ground with their back feet when startled. They feed mainly on grasses and are not hunted by humans, due to their small size.

They are smaller than a number of the other cottontails, and unlike most of them, they have a grey underside to their tail instead of white (which possibly is why they do not have “cottontail” in their common name). It was neat to encounter this cool creature while visiting the Golden State.

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Spotted Towhee

Posted on April 10, 2021 by tspuckler

I have seen this fine bird in the Cerbat Mountains of Arizona as well as in California at Point Reyes National Seashore. It favors habitats of chaparral and brushy mountain slopes.

The Spotted Towhee differs from the Eastern Tohwee found in my home state of Ohio in that it has heavy white spotting on its upperparts and harsher, more variable callnotes in its song.

Like its eastern relative, it has a dark hood, rufous sides and a white belly – in addition to a dark, conical bill and red eyes.

This large New World sparrow is roughly the same size as an American Robin. These birds forage on the ground or in low vegetation and have a habit of noisily rummaging through dry leaves while searching for food.

Spotted Towhees feed mainly on insects, spiders and other arthropods in Spring and Summer and then switch to seeds, grain and berries in the Autumn and Winter.

This is a handsome and conspicuous bird that I enjoy seeing on my trips out west.

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Santa Cruz Black Salamander

Posted on April 2, 2021 by tspuckler

I found this cool creature while herping the Golden State. They can measure up to 5-1/2 inches in total length. As their name implies, they are often solid black, though they sometimes sport a few fine white specks.

This amphibian belongs to a large group known as Lungless Salamanders; they do not breathe through lungs, instead they conduct respiration through their skin and the tissues lining their mouth. This requires them to live in damp environments on land and travel only during times of high humidity.

The Santa Cruz Black Salamander lives in forested areas and grasslands, where it uses rock slides, rotten logs and surface debris for cover. Like most salamanders, it feeds on small invertebrates such as spiders, beetles, ants and termites.

This is a terrestrial amphibian that does not need standing or flowing water for breeding or any other part of its life cycle, although it may be found close to creeks or seeps. There is direct development of eggs into juveniles that resemble miniature adults, except with some color variation.

It was enjoyable to make my acquaintance with this animal, which only lives within a very limited range and is endemic to California.

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Tim Spuckler's Blog

Reptile Ramblings and More

Yearly Archives: 2021

Sea Otter

Blue Witch

Green-winged Teal

Sierra Fence Lizard

California Broad-necked Darkling Beetle

Silver Bush Lupine

Western Painted Turtle

Brush Rabbit

Spotted Towhee

Santa Cruz Black Salamander