about navigating within Nature ID

view from home of the Monterey Bay
October 23, 2011

I just finished revamping my labels and categorizing them... again. This will likely become an annual blog maintenance duty. As I post new IDs, I invariably end up with new categories.

At the bottom of every post, there's a series of highlighted labels near the share buttons and comment section. These link you to only Nature ID blog posts (unlike WordPress blogs) with the same label.

I've again added the grouped label lists in the sidebar. I have 4 basic groups:
~ shortcut
~ what
~ when (includes seasons, current weather, and hiking/observations dates)
~ where.

A nifty trick of hiking/observation dates (aka archives), is you can click on a year, a month, or a specific date to see all the posts for that time period. I publish entries in a specific order, with individual IDs first and then usually a step-back, look-around habitat post. I've found clicking on specific dates to be very helpful, e.g., Pinnacles on June 10, 2011, where the habitat is shown at the top of the page and specific IDs follow. Scroll down to see all the posts.

I prefer having grouped lists, because I often find it difficult to locate past posts for my own nature journal needs. I've included search widgets at the very top left of the blog and towards the bottom of the sidebar. They don't always effectively locate items. Until I figure out the coding to automatically update the grouped indices, they will often not be complete or have nonworking links. If you want to see the most updated list, check out my complete index to Nature ID page.

As I've said before repeatedly, Nature ID does not follow the usual blog format like a daily diary. I generally post to the date of the pictures, regardless of when I happen to be online to work on this blog. I'm still behind on backdating posts and haven't even completed July of this year. Until I get caught up (haha, nature keeps going even though I have other plans), there will be an occasional feature at the top of my blog titled "newest blog entry" that will link you to new posts that are backdated.

Also, I'm testing to see how LinkWithin works with thumbnail pictures shown towards the bottom of every post. I haven't decided yet whether it's a good thing for my blog or extraneous visual stuff.

Check it out. Thanks for following my blog.

ps - The coast Douglas-fir tree that I'm featuring in The Tree Year project can be seen with its brown cones in the lower left of the photo above. Dreamfalcon has kindly included me in her latest post.

http://thetreeyear.wordpress.com/tree-year-posts/around-the-tree/weather/

tree year project 2011, #11

monarch butterfly resting on coast Douglas-fir
Danaus plexippus on Pseudotsuga menziesii var. menziesii
Pinaceae

In the past week, I've seen more monarchs flying around town on the sunnier days. One was kind enough to rest on the Douglas-fir tree that I'm featuring for The Tree Year project. And, no, those orange-brown blobs in the second picture aren't monarchs; they're cones. I wanted to also show how brown the cones have gotten. Actually they started turning from green to brown back in August, but I'm just now getting a picture of it.

http://thetreeyear.wordpress.com/tree-year-posts/life-on-the-tree/insects/

tree year project 2011, #10

red-shouldered hawk perched on coast Douglas-fir
Buteo lineatus on Pseudotsuga menziesii var. menziesii
Pinaceae

It seems about once a year (07/20/10 and 10/04/09) I'm able to get a picture of a red-shouldered hawk on this Douglas-fir. This time it's for The Tree Year project. In the past 2 weeks, city workers have been tidying up the park below our balcony. The pride of Madeira has been trimmed within an inch of its life. I'll be curious to see how it blooms next year. At the very least it'll help the red-shouldered to spot a snack on the ground.

http://thetreeyear.wordpress.com/tree-year-posts/life-on-the-tree/birds/

tree year project 2011, #9

coast Douglas-fir
Pseudotsuga menziesii var. menziesii
Pinaceae

I can't believe how quickly The Tree Year project is going. It feels like just yesterday when I posted the first appearance of spring green on this tree. The first picture above shows the developing female seed cone. Almost all the new cones have sap dripping from them. I wonder why this happens. The second picture is of last year's cone. I vaguely remember reading something about how Douglas-fir is unusual in that it holds onto old cones, but I can't find that reference now. And while I've also read that seed production is irregular, the numerous cones shown in the last picture seems average for this tree.

While writing this post and looking at past tree year project entries, I realized I mistook new female cones as new shoots and failed seed cones as dried new shoots. I'll have to go back and add postscripts to those posts. I'm always noticing and learning something new.

http://thetreeyear.wordpress.com/tree-year-posts/about-the-tree/buds-and-flowers/

ps 08/08/11 - I just noticed the new seed cones are already brown. I haven't been paying attention in the past month. I'll try to get pictures soon.

tree year project 2011, #8

juvenile western scrub-jay perched on coast Douglas-fir
Aphelocoma californica perched on Pseudotsuga menziesii var. menziesii
Pinaceae

posted 06/19/11 - Sometime around the second week of May, I first noticed my friendly scrub-jay's 3 youngsters. They were pretty awkward flying and mainly watched mom from the branches of this Douglas-fir I'm featuring in the the Tree Year Project. After getting a peanut, she would always fly back to their low nest in a nearby oak tree, I think to encourage the little ones to follow her for food. Then a late night ruckus happened, which sounded too much like a raccoon/scrub-jay fight, and I only saw the one pictured above for almost 2 weeks. Since then, two of the juveniles have been loudly following mom's every move. She chases them away from our balcony and will quickly sound an alarm call if a hawk is in the area. In the past few days they seem to get up before she does, and one quickly snatched a couple peanuts from me yesterday morning. Each one is a little different in voice and boldness of behavior, like stealing mom's stashed peanut from a pine cone. It's been a real joy to observe the mother scrub-jay teaching her young.

http://thetreeyear.wordpress.com/tree-year-posts/life-on-the-tree/birds/

tree year project 2011, #7

coast Douglas-fir
Pseudotsuga menziesii var. menziesii
Pinaceae

While I was down in the park obtaining clippings for the caterpillars I'm raising, I took a closer look at the Douglas-fir I'm featuring in the Tree Year Project. Lo and behold there's a metal tag nailed to the base of the trunk with the number "1444" engraved on it. I looked at our local Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History site and their herbarium is included in the Consortium of California Herbaria. I searched under "1444", "Yadon", and "Monterey County, Pseudotsuga." No luck in finding any records. I suspect, since this is a city park, past forestry personnel did some kind of cataloging. With budget cuts, small town politics, and a citizen committee instead of an official arborist, I'm atypically hesitant to inquire about this tree and its tag. I'm including the silhouette pic to show off the shape of this tree.

http://thetreeyear.wordpress.com/tree-year-posts/around-the-tree/human-marks/

tree year project 2011, #6

Columbian black-tailed deer
Odocoileus hemionus columbianus

This poor deer was grazing underneath the coast Douglas-fir tree, so I am including it in this year's Tree Year Project. Despite the total lack of photographic merit in the 2nd and 3rd photos above, I wanted to show this buck's torn ears. Indeed, his right ear is nearly torn in half with the outer edge flopping about, and the left has a decent sized notch in it. I'm assuming this is fairly common, as Jim Coda featured a torn-eared buck in a recent post. Those annual antlers must be a pain! I'm wondering if this is the same buck I saw back on October 28, 2010, especially considering I haven't seen another buck around home in 5 years.

http://thetreeyear.wordpress.com/tree-year-posts/life-on-the-tree/mammals/

tree year project 2011, #5

coast Douglas-fir with pride of Madeira
Pseudotsuga menziesii var. menziesii with Echium candicans
Pinaceae and Boraginaceae

Those first green sprouts that appeared the last week of January and first of February dried up into sadly drooping tails of brown. My only guess is that our long month and a half without the usual winter rain and sunny warm temps affected the annual growth of this tree (nope, incorrect guess, see postscript below). No worries, it looks like this old Douglas-fir is sporting a second set of green shoots after the appearance of baby cones and additional rains. For those new to Nature ID, I've committed a small part of my blog to participating in The Tree Year project.

I was really pleased to get a decent picture of the gnarly tree trunk and the purple blooms of the prolific pride of Madeira in its shadow. Actually, I had the camera out with hopes to capture what I believe is a migrant Rufous hummingbird. No luck since it's such an extremely quick flying bright red bird. It does a country line dance move with a head lean and fly to side to side that I swear the sole purpose is to taunt me into trying to take its picture.

http://thetreeyear.wordpress.com/tree-year-posts/about-the-tree/buds-and-flowers/

ps 08/08/11 - I just noticed the lighter brown structures hanging down are dried pollen cones. I'm also guessing the droopy brown tails are unfertilized female cones. And the bright green are indeed new needle shoots; they look very similar to budding female cones. It always helps to take another look at these older posts.

tree year project 2011, #4

double rainbow from home
February 19, 2011

Although we see double rainbows fairly frequently if and when it rains, this was the best photo I've managed to get so far. I like the colorful umbrellas down on the Rec Trail of people turned to watch this natural beauty. If you look closely, my favorite friendly scrub jay is perched on the top of the unidentified pine toward the center of the photo. And, yes, the coast Douglas-fir that I'm featuring in The Tree Year project barely shows itself in the bottom left.

http://thetreeyear.wordpress.com/tree-year-posts/around-the-tree/weather/

tree year project 2011, #3

coast Douglas-fir
Pseudotsuga menziesii var. menziesii
Pinaceae

So, it looks like those little green bits from my last post for The Tree Year project are indeed new needles (nope, see postscript below). Today was the first time this year I noticed miniature cones starting to pop down from the branches. The second pic is to show what a great view this Douglas-fir enjoys of the Monterey Bay with decorative sailboats on sunny days. I guess I should mention those upward looking branches in the background on the right are a set of 6 different Monterey pines that have grown, I swear, at least 15 feet in the past 5 years. Our once expansive view of the bay is quickly being overgrown with views of trees.

http://thetreeyear.wordpress.com/tree-year-posts/about-the-tree/buds-and-flowers/

ps 08/08/11 - Correction! Now, I think the light green fluffy bits are female cones and the downward yellowish buds are male pollen cones. Apologies if this is confusing, but I'd like to keep what I originally wrote to show my learning in progress.

tree year project 2011, #2

coast Douglas-fir
Pseudotsuga menziesii var. menziesii
Pinaceae

The first sprouts of spring green on the Douglas-fir began appearing in the past week, nestled next to old pine cones and last year's growth. We've had an unusually warm January with little rain, but I don't think the weather has impacted the annual progression of this tree.

I'm wondering if the bright green bits are new shoots, new cones, or... I don't know what. I readily admit I know very little about trees and haven't been too eager to learn about them or post to Nature ID. As partial explanation of this brain freeze: for an assignment to key trees on campus, I received my only fail-grade... ever.... I've been harboring a resentment around trees ever since.

If it weren't for the trademark mouse-tail cones, I would never guess the ID of this tree since it's been pruned over many, many years into something that resembles more of a cypress shape than a standard Christmas tree. I'm starting to wonder if this individual tree is a cultivated garden variety due to its relatively short stature and unusual shape.

I have much to learn about this tree in the coming year, and I'm documenting this for The Tree Year project. As is the case of my typical tree ID thingahoo, this is my first post of this old and gnarly pine by itself without pretty birds, deer, odonate or other accoutrements (I suggest simply looking at the pictures from my old posts).

http://thetreeyear.wordpress.com/tree-year-posts/about-the-tree/buds-and-flowers/

ps 08/08/11 - I now believe those buds are female cones.

my first tree year project post

western scrub-jay perched on coast Douglas-fir
Aphelocoma californica perched on Pseudotsuga menziesii var. menziesii
Pinaceae

I don't often join in blogging groups and group nature activities. Sheesh, keeping up with Nature ID is already enough of a time-consuming hobby for me. However, I immediately liked the The Tree Year project idea: pick a tree, observe it and everything on or around it as often as you can, then share your observations.

I've already been observing this coast Douglas-fir for the past few years, which is located right next to our 3rd story balcony. Click to see all my past posts that include mentions or pictures of this tree. While I plan to write more later, I had a good laugh looking back to when I began this blog - back then, I wasn't sure which kind of jay came to visit me for peanuts or what kind of gnarly tree was growing within a few feet from home.

Similarly, I'm curious to watch how this The Tree Year develops.

Much to my own mixed dismay and delight, I've been hand feeding peanuts to our local western scrub-jays. The particular individual pictured above has continued to visit me through the fall and winter. It often hides the peanuts in the odd looking tailed pine cones of the Douglas-fir. I've wondered whether it knows how to find its stash, but I've since read western scrubs have a very good memory. Last summer I was feeding 4 different jays. They all looked very similar, but each had their own personality and behavior. I wonder what happened to the other 3 jays.

http://thetreeyear.wordpress.com/tree-year-posts/life-on-the-tree/birds/