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.

habitat ~ 07/06/11 ~ Frog Pond Wetland Preserve

Frog Pond Wetland Preserve

July 6, 2011

This was a quick stop in a day filled with meetings and appointments. It was nice to get out of the traffic and out of the car to take a deep breath and focus on something outside of what needed to be done. Listening to the sounds of the birds and chasing after damselflies was just the thing I needed to slow down my brain and feel centered.

song sparrow ~ 07/06/11 ~ Frog Pond

song sparrow
Melospiza melodia

I have such a difficult time capturing birds with my point-and-shoot that it's a miracle when I do manage to get a picture that isn't just a blur of feathers or tree limbs. Because of the rarity of my bird photos, my bird identification skills are poor. I'm pretty sure of this ID and am hoping those birders out there will correct me if I'm wrong. According to National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America song sparrow subspecies are highly variable in appearance depending on location. With the dark markings, I'd venture to say this might be M. melodia heermanni, which is found in the central coast of CA. I love the songs of this bird. For a blogger who takes incredible bird photos and occasionally also visits this part of CA, check out Shooting My Universe.

yellow-eyed grass ~ 07/06/11 ~ Frog Pond

yellow-eyed grass
Sisyrinchium californicum
Iridaceae

There are plenty of small yellow flowers about the size of a quarter coin that superficially look like this one. What caught my attention was the multiples of threes in the petals, stamens, and pistils. Add in the grass-like leaves, and my first thought was it looked like a yellow version of blue-eyed grass. It was a good guess as they're both in the same genus Sisyrinchium. One by one, I'm slowly adding new flowers to my repertoire of those that I recognize. I liken it to learning new vocabulary words in a foreign language.