Elfin Saddles, Valley Tassels, and Wild Onions
This morning, a quick visit to the Coyote Creek riparian corridor in San Jose, CA, north of Silicon Valley Boulevard, yielded a few new species for me: a weird black mushroom known as an Oak-loving Elfin Saddle (Helvella dryophila), some puffballs (probably Lycoperdon sp.), Valley Tassels (Castilleja attenuata), one of the Wild Onions (Allium sp.), and one of the Non-biting Midges (possibly Chironomides sp.). I found the Valley Tassels poking up through the grasses near the base of the bridge that takes Silicon Valley Boulevard over Coyote Creek, while I found all of the other species in or around a loose cluster of Coast Live Oaks (Quercus agrifolia) that were situated just beyond this bridge.
Continuing northwards, the riparian corridor was dominated by more Coast Live Oaks, some Walnuts (Juglans sp.), Blue Elderberry (Sambucus mexicana), and a variety of non-native trees. The trees were relatively quiet after the morning’s rainstorm, so when a Downy Woodpecker (Dryobates pubescens) uttered its sharp cry, I was almost startled. Here and there, I also heard the hurried mutterings of Bushtits (Psaltriparus minimus), the harsh scolding of a Bewick’s Wren (Thryomanes bewickii), and the soft wing-flaps of a pair of Mourning Doves (Zenaida macroura).
After a while, I found a small side trail that led me past a huge stand of Poison Oak (Toxicodendron diversilobum) and down to the edge of Coyote Creek itself. There, I found a female American Robin (Turdus migratorius) perched on the stalk of a Giant Reed (Arundo donax), where she had alighted for a moment after searching for worms and other tidbits along the creek’s edge. When she saw me, she froze, eyeing me warily. Then, in a split second, she was gone, with the trembling motion of the reed stalk as the only sign that she had ever been there.
