Exploring Divine Nature: December 2009

Sunday, December 27, 2009

The Mudflat Trail

We recently headed back to the Mudflats again. I love how dense the trees and shrubs are here - and even though it is urban runoff, the stream running through it makes for extra fun.

The kids found plenty to do on the trail. Who needs Jumpin' Jammin' when Nature entertains?

And of course, the Johnson boys always find something interesting...

Saturday, December 26, 2009

Arroyo Willow

On our recent trip to the Newport Mudflats, my friend Arica noticed these...

What blooms in December?

Apparently, Arroyo Willows do. I read that the catkins, pictured above, bloom before the leaves do. They are male catkins in the picture.

I went back through my pictures from last year and found these from last spring...

these are female...

these are male...

And look at what the female catkins do in the spring - one source called it "dehiscing".

Alternately, it could be called "bringing joy to children" - don't you think?

Here is some more info on this riparian plant we often see on streamside trails...

The arroyo willow is a riparian woodland regular, thriving along the edges of streams where it enjoys the moist soil it requires. This small tree grows to a maximum of about 10 meters in height, and has alternate, hairy, entire leaves that are lanceolate-elliptic to oblanceolate in shape. In the spring, the catkins appear before the leaves do.

Willows have a talent for propagating from vegetative tissue and thus growing from cuttings. They're so good at it that hormones derived from willows are often used in nurseries to help other plant cuttings take root. Another useful chemical first derived from the willow is Aspirin. Long before that, Native Americans had many uses for this flexible plant. An infusion of willow bark or flowers was used to cure a variety of ailments from fevers to itchiness to diarrhea. The inner bark was made into rope, the shoots used for baskets, and stakes provided structure for thatched houses.

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Iridescence

My husband found this lifeless hummingbird on the street in front of our house today. What a treat! We've always been curious about their brilliant feathers, but have never been able to see them for more than a moment and never close up. He brought it in for us to take a look at and the feathers are nothing short of magnificent. Another one of God's creations that you can't help but just stand in awe at.

Here's what it looks like from the side...

Here's what it looks like head on...

The color is just brilliant. We had to move it back and forth several times to believe our own eyes. I believe it's a male Anna's hummingbird since the iridescent coloring extends to its forehead. If you notice in the picture above, there is some threadlike material coming from its beak, maybe its beak got stuck because of it and it starved to death.

Now look at the body feathers, they look dark and dull from this angle...

From here, they are iridescent green.

So how does it work? Here's an explanation from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology:

Structural Colors

Adding to the diversity of avian colors are colors produced by the structure of the feather. The best known example is the gorget (throat feathers) of many hummingbird species. The iridescent colors of the gorget are the result of the refraction of incident light caused by the microscopic structure of the feathers. The refraction works like a prism, splitting the light into rich, component colors. At certain angles little or no light is reflected back to the viewer and the gorget can appear black. As the viewing angle changes, the refracted light becomes visible in a glowing, shimmering iridescent display.

It also says that during the dive display, he plummets in a near-vertical dive, which on sunny days, the dives are oriented so that the sun is reflected from the iridescent throat and crown directly at the object of the dive.