North Slope of Sonoma Mountain at the End of May

Here are few observations of things happening in my neighborhood at the end of may.

The Hazelnuts are forming up, not ripe yet but getting there. There are a lot of these in Cooper's Grove, and not a lot of squirrels. This combination means that some of these may be available to humans when they are fully ripe. The competition with squirrels is often intense, but I'm hoping to gather a small harvest in a few weeks.

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Lots of ticks on the mountain. This is why I wear light-colored clothing when I hike, especially off trail. This guy was on my pants. I picked about a dozen ticks off during the day, including one nymph. It's the first time I've spotted a nymph; they are very small, about the size of a dot you would make if you pressed a ball-point pen into a piece of paper for a second. I tried to photograph the nymph while I was holding it on my fingertip, but a gust of wind blew it away. I'm becoming Lyme-paranoid, but refuse to let it keep me out of the woods. Instead, I'm seeing the very real threat of Lyme disease as an opportunity to become more engaged and observant.

Plenty of RedTailed Hawks. At one point a RedTail flew out of an Oak tree next to the trail, circled around and then landed in a Bay tree a bit higher up the slope. Another one cruised over and gave its characteristic call; the one that was perched took off and they both flew away. I was curious about this, so I peered into the Oak that the first one had come out of and spotted a nest. I had the distinct impression that they had decided to stay away from the nest until I was gone. I moved up to the Bay tree and sat there with my binoculars for about 10 minutes, but didn't spot them. This photo was taken about 3 hours later, from a ridge about a half-mile away from the nest. I don't know if it is one of the pair I saw earlier 

At one point I was reminding myself to be vigilant for rattlesnakes, which I almost never see on the mountain (one in four and a half years of traipsing). As I was thinking about this I came across this lizard. It was about 14 inches long and very tolerant of having the camera placed on the ground a few inches away for closeup photos. I don't know the species. A review of the photos at CaliforniaHerps.com was inconclusive; I didn't want to disturb this guy so the photos I took are not all that helpful.

A couple of weeks ago I was with a group of kids on a nature awareness day in Pt. Reyes. One of them was a lizard expert. He was a prolific locator and captor of them, and knew each species he encountered. I asked him at one point, "How do you know that's not a Western Fence Lizard." With a voice dripping with scorn he replied, "Western Fence Lizards look completely different!" That was all the answer I got, and I trusted it. Later I heard him say that Lizard Blood cures Lyme Disease. I thought, "where these kids learn this nonsense?" Then a couple of days ago Michele showed me an article that explained that there is a protein in the blood of the Western Fence Lizard that does indeed clear the Lyme spirochete from the blood of ticks that feed on those lizards. The authors of the paper speculate that this may be why Lyme is not as prevalent among Western ticks as it is among Eastern ticks. I'm sure that at least one pharma company is studying this... at least I hope so. 

The nesting pair of Kites that has appeared near the house each of the past three springs have apparently moved on. They showed up in late February and hunted from the same perches they used last year in a pair of Oaks, about 100 feet from each other, in a field that I believe is on the Yoffi Farm property and that is rarely visited by humans. 

I took this photo from at least 200 yards away, just before the Kite dropped onto some prey. I am awestruck by the amazing beauty of these birds.

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