Hastings Reserve News

2011-08-30T12:10:00.000-07:00

On August 29, 2011 Carmel River Steelhead Association crew did a fish rescue on Finch Creek. The creek will soon be drying out, and some of the fish were captured and moved to permanent water below Los Padres dam. Nearly 200 fish were moved from about 500 feet of creek. Remaining fish (many) will take their chances here. Who knows? Maybe the creek will flow until winter rains, but it seems unlikely. Frank Emerson, Brian LeNeve and several volunteers, including Ari (Carmel Middle School).

2011-08-20T18:53:00.000-07:00

Busy Times: Housing Upgrades, MPRPD K-12 Camp

We have been really busy since January this year, working on upgrading the buildings. With funds from the state Wildlife Conservation Board Prop. 84, we were able to replace the Red House with two new cabins, and replace the wiring, windows and plumbing in the School House, Ranch House and Hastings Cabin. These buildings look untouched from ten feet. But within, they are renewed. Yes, the ropes on the Hastings Cabin windows porch are gone, but the walls and ceiling are insulated. The entire porch is livable year-round. We replaced the few old windows in the Hallisey House, and added insulation to the east and north-facing walls. And finally, we finished the road access and decks around the two Red House cabins that replace the old, falling down Red House. Modular cabins were built and delivered by Valley Home Development. Sage Building Solutions, with Larry Daniels and Craig Novak were our contractors for the renovations in the houses and the road, parking and deck at the Red House cabins. Slide shows for the houses can be seen if you click here.

We also had two visits by the Monterey Peninsula Regional Park District K-12 summer camp. The kids had a great time. We look forward to having them visit again next summer.

2011-08-20T18:37:00.000-07:00

Bobcat Hunting

Katy Zarn, a current resident field assistant, was taking photos yesterday. She was focused on a ground squirrel when a streak of beige went past her view through the camera. It was a bobcat. Katy then took photos of the bobcat, hunting the squirrel that ran under the stump. Katy did not see a successful end to the hunt.

2011-06-21T17:43:00.000-07:00

Automatic Data Collection of Bluebird Activity in Nest Boxes

Caitlin Stern, a graduate student featured in a video in the introduction to the Hastings website, is well into her fourth year of research on the social behavior of the elegant western bluebird. Working with electronic wizards at Cornell, Caitlin and her field assistants Tali Hammond, Rose Swift, and David Moldoff, and REU student Amy Lin have been building and installing tracking devices around the entrance hole of the nest boxes used by the bluebirds. This includes a loop antenna, a datalogger and a battery. Each bird has a small RFID tag attached to the leg band. Every time the bird enters or leaves the nest box, the loop detects the bird and the identifying code for the bird is recorded on a digital datalogger in a box below the nest. A small battery powers the datalogger and detector circuit. Each set up last for about 2 weeks. Dataloggers can be downloaded either in the field with a cable to a laptop, or in the lab.

This setup allows an unprecedented look into which birds are spending time at the nest boxes, revealing which birds are present during the early breeding, nest construction, egg-laying and brooding, and the critical, busy time of feeding hatchlings in the nest. Using her advisor Janis Dickinson's long-term database developed over years of bird banding here, Caitlin often has information on the age and relationships of the birds at each nest. With over 20 installed, the data are flowing in, and over the next winter Caitlin will be extracting the secrets revealed and writing up the data into her Ph.D. dissertation.

2011-06-14T22:16:00.000-07:00

Butterfly Count 2011

Our 14th count, Jerry Powell, UC Berkeley Emeritus Professor, organized us once again. This year we had several new faces, including Ryan Hill (faculty, U. of Pacific, Stockton) and Nick Benson (Carmel Middle School, 8th grade). We split up into a group on Hastings (Arnold Road, Robertson Creek, Headquarters, ridge above Robertson House), Arroy Seco (Carmel Valley Road to Arroyo Seco campground, Indians Road) and Chew's Ridge (Tassajara Road to fire lookout). We saw 47 species (48 is all-time high) but very few (like 1-2) of many species. Very low numbers of butterflies were reported at Big Creek Reserve in the Big Sur area last week. For a pretty long-winded description of the highlights, click here (1.2Mb Word file). Nick Benson's knowledge of the insects was very impressive and he was a great help to the Hastings crew; Nick saw or collected 25% of the species observations. We saw 24 species on Hastings (about average) but like elsewhere, we saw very few individuals of many species that are usually very abundant. This may be related to the long, cold, wet spring. Some were very abundant (Lorquin's Admiral) and the highlight on Hastings was the emerald Coastal Green Hairstreak on the ridge above the Robertson House.

Images:

Lorquin's Admiral

View down the Arnold Road

Nick Benson, Jerry Powell, Walter Benson.

2011 Butterfly Counters....

2011-06-09T21:51:00.000-07:00

Culvert on Robertson Road
Our Ford tractor was at the shop in Salinas for over two weeks as they struggled to find a way to fix the power take off which powers our backhoe and mower. Eventually the tech there figured it out and with a much lighter wallet, it returned. Jame del Valle grabbed it and with help from Eric Walters, they replaced a failed culvert on the historic original dirt section of the Carmel Valley Road between the School House and Robertson House. We put in a 20' plastic culvert and trust it holds out for many more years.

2011-06-09T21:25:00.000-07:00

Cement Springs Camera Update

Images from April to June are now in and we have a pair of lions up there. Probably a female and cub. And we have chipmunks, skunks, band-tailed pigeons, deer, bats (white ghost-like images), wood rat, cedar wax wings, and much more. You can see the animals by moving through a movie,one frame at a time. We recorded 570 new images, and the movie includes 109 images. For a Quicktime movie (60Mb), click here, or for a .m4v movie (40Mb) click here. The camera does not move. Well, it moved once, but after that, the scene is fixed and only the lighting changes.

2011-05-19T16:08:00.000-07:00

Amgen Tour of California Bike Race Through Hastings

This is the first international bike race through Hastings. The Carmel Valley Road was closed this morning. The race usually goes down Highway 1 through Big Sur but this year, that road was closed due to a huge landslide south of Big Creek. We all cheered them on.

2011-05-19T16:06:00.001-07:00

Hastings Residents, May 2011. From Left; Riley, Julie, Eric and Torrey Walters (UC Berkeley and Cornell Post-doctoral Fellow); Sheena Fry and Emily MacLeod (U. Toronto graduate students); Mark Stromberg, Anna Brownson (Grad Student, SFSU), Bridget Antze (Field Assistant), Walt Koenig (Faculty, Cornell), Tali Hammond (Field Assistant), Jessie Barker, Caitlin Stern (Graduate Students, Cornell); Rose Swift, David Moldoff (Field Assistants).

2011-05-19T11:49:00.000-07:00

Hastings Research in Smithsonian Magazine

Although they never mention the field station, a writer for the Smithsonian magazine produced a nice article in the current issue on research done at Hastings. Matina Kalcounis-Ruppell worked her for several years, and found that the deer mice sing at night. The songs are in the ultrasound- at frequencies higher than we can hear. Anyway; there is a link to the article. If only NSF or someone would fund Matina she would return and explore other questions. But in the meantime, Matina is working with the mice in the eastern deciduous forest (noisy compared to here) who also sing, but not nearly as robustly!

2011-05-11T16:57:00.000-07:00

New Videos Explore Hastings

Award-winning videographers Conall Jones and Alf Seccomb have produced a series of nine videos on Hastings. Kevin Brown at UC NRS helped me build a pass-through portal to our website that includes the videos an 11 minutes overview of Hastings, a few on graduate student research, some on pos-doctoral research and faculty research, as well as a video on how undergraduate students react to Hastings. I hope you can take a few minutes (most are under 4 minutes) and view them. At: www.hastings. berkeley.edu And, you can see them on YouTube at the Hastings Channel. Thanks to all who made the videos possible.

2011-05-08T19:41:00.000-07:00

Spring! Researchers!

The relentless rain has eased into sunshine and a bevy of researchers have arrived. Things are buzzing; Walt Koenig (Cornell) is back with his group of field assistants studying acorn woodpeckers. Janis Dickinson (Cornell) and Caitlin Stern (grad student) and several field assistants are here again as well, watching the western bluebirds. And we have some interesting visitors from local schools. One is Galen Pelzman, UCSC. Galen is studying "how genetic divergence of floral traits among coevolving prodoxid moths and their host plants affects plant fitness through its effect on pollination efficacy". Galen's day visits bring him to the small white flower along Big Creek, Lithophragma spp. and their associated moths, Greya spp. (Oecologia. 2010 Jan;162(1):71-80. Epub 2009 Aug 11.). Others are studying oak flowers and pollen (Brian Berringer, Cornell), or black widow spiders (Emily MacLeod, U. Toronto). Busy times again!

Here, Galen is gathering flower petals from the Lithophragma for a colleague in John Thomson's lab at UCSC. He is comparing the scents of the two kinds of Lithophragma flowers found at Hastings. Maybe moths choose which flower species to visit based on aroma?

2011-03-24T10:50:00.000-07:00

Oak Tree Down at Bunk House Cottage

This morning about 9:30am, Caitlin in the Hastings Lab and Anna in the Davis Lab heard a crack, and crunch. Looking out, we all saw a large coast live oak adjacent to the Bunk House had fallen. It fell away from the house, and across the creek, narrowly missing the propane tank. This tree is huge; about 4' in diameter at the base. Anyway, we will have to clear it out. It covers much of the office parking lot. It will mean a lot more sun to the Bunk House and an open view now across the headquarters area.

2011-03-21T15:40:00.000-07:00

Finch Creek Ripping

Our soil was near saturation last week, and although it had a few days of drying, the rains this weekend pushed us over the limit. This is a good example of how things in the environment can "tip". It takes quite a while and many storms to saturate the soil. But once it is full, any subsequent rain just flows off the surfaces and down the hills. March is typically when we get this saturation with floods, mudslides, etc. Saturation happened this weekend. Finch Creek jumped to over 200 cubic feet per second; twice what it was at any time last year. As always, it is prone to sudden ups and downs ("flash") and it is down again Monday afternoon to only 36 cfs.......

2011-03-07T17:51:00.000-08:00

Newts Heading for Hills

For the past two weeks, we have seen hundreds of newts heading away from the creeks to the hills. Along Finch Creek, they are all headed south across the Carmel Valley Road. Along Big Creek, they are all headed east up School Hill. I experimented with releasing the newts in various orientations. If I faced them to the hill, the took off. If I picked them up and faced them to the creek, or up or down the road, they twisted around and almost before I could get the camera focused and ready, they were headed for the hill again. They only like to move in low light; so the close up shows the rear leg as a blur- at a 15th of a second exposure. Anyway, they keep on chugging along- an inch a second? Persistent little guys. I suppose this means winter rains are over.

2011-03-03T17:23:00.000-08:00

Anna Brownson Starting Graduate School

Anna Brownson has been working as a research assistant on the social behavior of acorn woodpeckers here with Walt Koenig of Cornell. Anna has been doing field work at Hastings for the past year (and more). Anna will be joining the lab of Dr. Andrew Zink at San Francisco State University. Anna will study mate guarding in acorn woodpeckers for a master's thesis. Anna will collaborate with Walter Koenig, Eric Walters (post-doc here with Walter), and Dr. Joey Haydock (faculty, Gonzaga University). Anna will be gathering data for her thesis this spring here at Hastings. Dr. Zink has a lot of experience studying reproductive skew in cooperatively breeding insects, which is what prompted Anna to contact him since she will be looking at reproductive skew in acorn woodpeckers. Skew means an unequal distribution of something. For instance, if one (dominant) male in a social group consistently was the father of most offspring, reproduction in that social group is "skewed". Dr. Zink also models reproductive skew, and is currently doing research on earwigs.

2011-03-01T19:14:00.000-08:00

Rain Years: Another Average Year in the Making?

Here is a plot of the recent weather. Either click the image above, or the plot can be seen elsewhere (click here) . For three sequential years before the 2009-2010 rain year, we had relatively dry years. Our 2009-2010 year appeared to be pretty wet, but it was only a return to the average total rainfall July-June. This year is so far right at average, after a very warm and dry January.

2011-02-24T19:42:00.000-08:00

New Weather Station Online....

The weather station installed by Desert Research Institute (Western Regional Climate Center) is now online. We spent an afternoon going back and forth, and with Kevin Browne's help (NRS tech guy) you can now go to this link (click here) to see Hastings' latest weather. Roll your mouse over the variables (temp, relative humidity) and the values on the y-axis will change. There is also a link to archived data.

2011-02-18T20:43:00.000-08:00

Finishing the Weather Station Install

Jaime del Valle installed a great fence to keep the pigs from tearing up the soil moisture and temperature sensors (wooden stakes) and from scratching against the tipping rain gauge (bucket on stand). And as you can see, it is raining again. Winter has returned; streams are flowing 100 times more than last week. Cold, wet days have replaced the dry days in the 70's. Next week we will reconfigure the firewall so this new station can go online.

2011-02-07T08:19:00.000-08:00

CDF Samples Vegetation Moisture/Weather Station

Staff from the Monterey Cal Fire Forester's Office visited Hastings in what we expect will be a program of sampling vegetation for fuel moisture near our weather stations. Hopefully, this will allow them to correlate the fuel moisture sensor in the RAWS station with actual measurements of chaparral and Ceanothus in the field. Jaime del Valle worked with Jonathan Pangburn (Cal Fire) to set this up.

2011-02-07T07:49:00.000-08:00

New Weather Station

Last week, David Simeral and Greg McCurdy from the Desert Research Institute (Reno) were here. We are cooperating in putting up a network of these

new weather stations across the NRS reserves. This was Hastings' turn. Jaime dug out what we thought was a huge hole for the main mast (3'x3'x3') and I helped with the three forms for cement for guy wires (2'x2'x2'). Craig Nowak helped us figure out some details. A mobile mix cement truck delivered the cement and Jaime and the younger set at Hastings finished. On Monday Jan 31, DRI crew installed the instruments. It just figures. That day the transmit side of our internet satellite failed. Anyway, we will soon be online with the rest of the UC Natural Reserve/DRI stations. (http://www.wrcc.dri.edu/weather/).

2011-01-13T14:31:00.000-08:00

Turkeys at Hastings

Today a flock of 66 adult turkeys were wandering in Long Field at marker 14. This is a good sized flock for around here. They often move in a line across fields, pecking and tearing up anything they can eat, leaving precious little untouched in passing. Like Sherman's march to the sea. Although we have had one very good study done on their social organization and breeding behavior (Krakauer, A. H. 2008. Sexual selection and the genetic mating system of Wild Turkeys. Condor 110:1-12.) we still don't know what these introduced, non-native vagrants are doing to the grasslands and forest understory. But they are entertaining, and often a traffic-stopper around here. Here are a couple of photos. The group of 66 (or so) birds included adults, all wandering the wet fields in a mist that slipped in from the south under dark skies.

Earlier in the summer, groups of many young and a few adults watching over them were far more typical.

2010-12-14T19:05:00.000-08:00

Leaf Rain; Fall at Hastings

December, right? That translates to bitter cold and deep snow in Minnesota, but yellow leaves here. This week the leaves on the valley oak and blue oaks cut loose and dropped. We were getting 1-2" a day in leaf rain. Meanwhile, the sycamore and willows went deep orange along the creeks. Fog and drizzle filled some days, but other warmed to the 70s.

As the blue oak leaves fell, I found a large fuzzy pink adornment on one of them. Joyce Gross at Berkeley reports that this is a mass of galls created by the cynipid wasp Andricus crystallinus (Crystalline Gall Wasp). The hairs make it look like one big gall but if you scrape away the hairs you'll see the individual galls. Maybe not new to Hastings, but new to me! A Christmas gall?

2010-12-14T18:38:00.000-08:00

Clay Feet

So, the pond leaks. It never held the water we had hoped. So, this year, we added more clay to waterproof the bottom. On Monday, Eric, Jaime and I unloaded 10,000 pounds of clay and spread it around, leaving it about an inch deep, partly mixed with the soil. Now, we have a clay bottom on the pond and we are standing back and to watch. Weather predictions are for 3-5" this next weekend. Unfortunately, in Weather Service speak, 3-5" really means maybe an inch. We are ready!

2010-12-10T11:35:00.000-08:00

Puchner Pond Update

We are expecting a load of clay any day now to improve the water-holding capacity of the pond. Originally funded by USFWS "Partners in Wildlife", the retention pond is quietly awaiting some rain. Additional funds from Professor Breen have allowed us to buy the bentonite. I mowed the area, and removed the previous rather visually intrusive electric fencing. Jaime del Valle and I dug in recycled fenceposts and installed low strands of wire to keep the pigs out. Newts and salamanders are all around. We just need some rain. The "La Nina" winter so far looks cool and dry. But one never knows.

A road culvert feeds the pond. The berm can be seen in the background. We used aged steel wire for the lower line, but a thin white string for the top line so it is visible if visitors approach closely.

2010-10-31T18:31:00.000-07:00

Halloween at Hastings

Our resident kids' creative mom once again came up with costumes that reflect the place. Julie Jo came up with a California Newt (Riley) and a California Tiger Salamander (Torrey). They were making the rounds. Pretty cute! These two are great kids.

2010-09-10T10:56:00.000-07:00

Berkeley Graduate Students

On the weekend of Aug 20-21, about 32 students from UC Berkeley, Department of Integrative Biology, spent the days socializing and walking around Hastings. Here they are at the top of Poison Oak Hill, with Junipero Serro peak in the distance. Many slept under the stars. I gave them an introduction to the natural history on Saturday morning. They had a great time and who knows? Maybe a few will include Hastings in their graduate studies. Those attending: Jeremy Crawford, Matthew Boser, Rosemary Romero, Allison Stegner, Mel Yang, Marc Badger, Michael Landis, Lucy Chang, Katie LaBarbera, Renske Kirchholtes, Dave Hurt, Zhang Boran, David Armitage, Benjamin Peter, Jenny Hofmeister, Laurel Barchas, Anna Geraghty, Jenna Judge, Charlene Ng, Nick Matske, Emily Lindsay, Bier Kraichak, Liz Ferrer, Sean Reilly, Sarah Werning, Tracy , and Darko Cotoras. photos by Nick Matzke.

2010-09-03T16:23:00.000-07:00

Carmel Steelhead Association Fish Rescue- Finch Creek

Finch Creek, amazingly, continues to flow. However, the water temperature is rising and flows are well under 2-3 cfs. So, time to try to catch the endangered Carmel River steelhead (aka native, local genetically distinct "Rainbow Trout"). Oncorhynchus mykiss. Frank Emerson, Brian LeNeve and a crew of 6 more scoured the plunge pools, and hiding holes in Finch Creek from the Hallisey House up to Martin Road. They are pleased to report they found 8 pretty good sized ones, and 250 smaller, young of the year. These were all removed to the large, cool, permanent water in the Carmel River below the Los Padres Dam. Then Mike Jones generously donated a great dinner to the fish rescue crew!

2010-07-26T16:15:00.000-07:00

Shrieking Mice? How about Singing Mice.

Lily Dayton wrote an engaging article on the Monterey Herald newspaper (7/20/10) on the singing deer mice discovered by Matina Kalcounis here at Hastings. I would say the mice "sing" . [permanent links at Hastings website]. But Lily and Matina are agree the mice shriek. Well, it all depends. We don't hear them in any case as the sound is produced at frequencies higher than our ear detect. If one uses electronics to divide the frequency by 10, the mice whistle (listen here). If one divides by 22, the sound comes across as an eerie wail (listen here). Anyway, an intriguing article. Thank you Lily and Monterey Herald newspaper. Imagine being surrounded by small animals that sing all night. What empires and wars unfold around us every day without notice? The world is rich in detail; we miss so much.

2010-06-11T10:40:00.000-07:00

Annual Butterfly Count

Although it has been going on for 34 years, we have only been counting each of the last 13 years. Our latest count, on Friday June 4 included myself and 7 others; (left to right: Jerry Powell, Chris Tenney, David and Jane Stye, Amber Hasselbring, Liam O’Brien, and Paul Johnson). Jerry divided us up into teams. Paul and the Styers went up Chew’s Ridge along the Tassaja Road, to the astronomy observatory. Liam, Amber and Chris headed east to Arroyo Seco, and up to the USFS campground, counting all along the way. Jerry and I walked from the top of the Arnold Road, to the entrance gate at Hastings. Then Jerry and I hiked up School Hill and walked down Robertson Creek from the east boundary of Hastings.

At 5 pm, we gathered at the picnic tables under the large plaque oak to assembled the data sheet. This count and the one in 2008 were done in early June. The results (click here) are pretty similar, but the years were very different (dry, wet). Given the large habitat we sampled, it was possible to find wet areas, or dry areas and eventually find most of the species. A few were only found in 2008, or 2010.

Chris Tenney has found some interesting variation in the dogface butterflies (click here). The Arroyo Seco population has very dark orange males (left), those in Carmel Valley are very light, and the ones in southern California are yellow (right). Not sure what it means, but it does give an idea of how variable local populations can be in butterflies.

2010-05-20T20:51:00.000-07:00

Birds at Hastings 1937-2010

Want to volunteer? Computer skills? We need to convert the 1937-1959 bird records from Hastings to a digital format. The old field notebooks and forms have been scanned. We have a UC Berkeley post-doc (Pete Epanchin) and a local volunteer who are repeating the bird studies- how have birds changed? Did they? We need to get the old data into a ditigal format. Check out the link; you can download the scanned forms. You could do this at your personal computer if you know Excel or a database program. If you can work with Riley Rustad in CV, call us: 659 2664.

2010-05-20T14:32:00.000-07:00

Emily MacLeod and Black Widow Spiders

She is back! Emily narrowly escaped from a day in jail at the US-Toronto boundary (airport) where she was kept locked up for hours while we sent "official" requests for the pleasure of her (unpaid) company. Our boys in white shirts at Homeland Security finally let her go, once assured that she was not going to be paid by UC Berkeley. Heck. They can hardly pay us! So, Emily and Katie Keogh are out in the field, literally walking it into strips looking for Black widow spiders. Joined by Tom Belissimo, out Toronto Trio were out standing in their field- Long Field. Spiders seem less abundant this year- maybe because it has been wet? Well, average rainfall for the last winter.

2010-05-12T15:30:00.000-07:00

Tularcitos School Visit

Busy day, May 12! Andrew Rush and Jessica Shade from the UC Berkeley GK-12 program, and Third Grade Teacher Phyllis Conlan (Thorngate) brought about 25 kids out, with many parents. We had a grand morning; they met Caitlin Stern and learned about western bluebirds, held a king snake, studied oak leaves and compared them from dry and wet parts of a tree, and looked at the web of life in an oak tree. They had lunch, and one of the students was a Linsdale! Yes- Nicola (Linsdale) Beucke was here with her husband Don. Nicola brought some historic photos and we shared stories about the previous (first) research zoologist here, Jean Linsdale. Jean's son Don (Nicola's father) went on to become the curator of natural history at the Oakland Museum. Great to see the kids, teachers, parents and get the historic connection.

2010-05-12T14:03:00.000-07:00

UC Berkeley Physical Plant Field Trip!!

Brent Kindle (2nd from left) and the leader here, brought out a group of Physical Plant crafts-folk who put new roof shingles on the Scott Homestead Cabin (c. 1880). Of course, our reserve steward, Jaime del Valle lined materials up for them. It should be good for another 130 years, eh?

2010-05-11T22:35:00.000-07:00

THE 35th ANNUAL BUTTERFLY COUNT – 2010.

Hastings Count: Friday June 4, 2010.

Founded by the Xerces Society and managed by NABA, this is our 13th year for this annual count that is done as near as possible to early July. Here in CA, Jerry Powell has so many places he counts that he starts in June! We had 45 species in 2003, our high. Plan to meet at the entry gate on Upper Carmel Valley road (14 miles E of Carmel Valley P.O.) at 0930, Friday, June 4. This is 38601 E. Carmel Valley Road. The cross-road is Martin Road. We need more participants. Join Dr. Jerry Powell, a world-famous expert in moths and butterflies. A good walk of 2-3 miles is involved. But hey. Jerry is well into his 70s... Our poster child is Speyeria adiaste, the Unsilvered Fritillary a "national unique" butterfly. Call Mark Stromberg 831 659 2664 or contact Jerry Powell (powellj@berkeley.edu). You can RSVP on the Hasting Facebook page. See ya!

2010-04-15T14:38:00.000-07:00

Drama of Bees Up Close

For the last few days, Rollin Covill (UC Berkeley) and spouse have been at Hastings. Rollin is a co-author in an upcoming book, "Garden Bees of California" by long-term Hastings

researcher Gordon Frankie, his colleague Robbin Thorpe (UC Davis, Entomology) with Barbara Errter (plant specialists, UCB, Jepson Herbarium). Imagine looking at hundreds of carefully identified bees in these amazing portraits. We are pleased he could share them. Photo by Rollin is a Lasioglossum spp. bee losing itself the the yellow glory of a Hastings poppy.

2010-04-13T10:46:00.000-07:00

Food and Nature: Fundraising Nature Walk

We will be doing another walk in the spring flowers at Hastings with a lunch by Michael Jones of Moveable Feast. We are trying to keep the numbers to an intimate group so the experience can be more direct. Thus, we are limiting the group to 20. We are asking a donation of $50/person for the education and research programs at the Hastings Reserve. Once again, Mark Stromberg will lead a natural history walk, a gentle walk, of about 2 hours. Mark will explain what Hastings does; mostly exploring nature and discovering some fascinating stories about the world around us. Then we will have lunch, either outdoors, under the new leaves of the oaks, or indoors depending on the weather. We can continue the walk after lunch with those so inclined, but will plan on a 10am to 2pm time span. This venue will include some of the food purveyors who have worked with Michael over the years, or those who have been associated with Hastings. As many of these professionals work weekends, we are holding this on a Wednesday. We will meet April 21 at the entry gate of Hastings at mile marker 26, 38601 E. Carmel Valley Road, where Martin Road and the Carmel Valley Road join. This is about 2.8 miles east of the Tassajara Road turn- off. Wear good walking shoes and we go in any weather. The wild flowers should be hanging in there; they would just be a bonus to the whatever we see. Hastings and Moveable Feast are holding these events quarterly, with each season, so we do have a waiting list for the next event. Call 831 659 2664 to make a reservation.

2010-03-29T13:10:00.000-07:00

Caitlin Stern- Bluebird Detective

In 2005, Caitlin Stern finished her undergraduate degree at Harvard University and was hired as a field assistant at the Hastings Reserve by Prof. Janis Dickinson, Cornell University. Caitlin’s studies focus on the behavior of the western bluebird. Several birds that are blue live in Carmel Valley, but in the highlands, there are Western Bluebirds, related to other thrushes, including robins. Now a doctoral candidate at Cornell, Caitlin is in her 4^th year of fieldwork in Carmel Valley. A quick look at a few bluebird nests may suggest that monogamous pairs of males and females raise broods of young alone, but careful observations of which birds are coming and going reveal a more complex social organization, as Janis Dickinson’s previous work has shown. Both juvenile and adult offspring may stay around to help their parents raise younger siblings, and brothers or sons nesting nearby may return to help if their own nests fail. Additionally, both members of a pair may pursue sneaky matings with individuals who are not their social mates. Figuring all this out takes time staring through a telescope to get quick glimpses of the colored bands on the legs of the bluebirds. Caitlin is developing an ingenious bird detection system to record visits to the nest box that may have previously gone undetected. To track the birds, Caitlin wound wires into hexagonal antennae that can be placed around the entrances of the bluebird boxes. A radio-frequency identification (RFID) tag, a small electronic tag like those used to mark pets, is attached to the bird’s leg bands. Each tag is unique. Every time a tagged bird enters or exits the nest box, the antenna will pick up the tag’s number, and the RFID reader will store that number, along with the date and time of the visit, on a memory chip. Every visit to a nest box, no matter how sneaky, is recorded. Eli Bridge, a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Oklahoma, conceived of and designed the electronic system Caitlin is using. Eli is also collaborating with David Bonter, the Assistant Director of Citizen Science at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Funding from the National Science Foundation has made this research possible. This leg tag system has uses for studies of birds or other animals and should be of interest to many field biologists. In the meantime, Caitlin is setting up 40 nest boxes with these detection systems and will be collecting reams of data on who is visiting whom in Carmel Valley’s western bluebirds.

Western bluebird in hand, with uniquely colored band on leg. The band also carries a radio-frequency identification (RFID) tag. Both are unique and indentify this particular male bird.

Colored leg bands with attached RFID tag, ready to be fastened around a western bluebird’s leg.

Loop of wires wound into antenna and small RFID reader. The antenna is placed around the entry hole in a nest box, and the bird’s movements (in and out) are recorded.

2010-03-19T21:08:00.001-07:00

Woodrats and Pigs: Coexistence or Whats for Dinner?

Marjorie Matocq, now a professor at UNR, was here with her family for a few days during her spring break. The weather could not have been better. Marjorie did field work for her graduate studies here 14 years ago on woodrats. These tidy, fastidious animals build piles of sticks concealing a complex of burrows and nests. We were concerned that feral pigs were wiping these out. Under one tree, there were formerly 7 nests, and now only one survives. Later in the day, Marjorie re-visited about 75 other nest sites from 14 years ago and found either the same nest, or one nearby. Although one group of 7 nests under a single tree was reduced to one, it appears the woodrats and pigs are coexisting. A few years ago, Marjorie published a taxonomic study that de-bunked the state listing for our Carmel Valley woodrats, and her ongoing work suggests the woodrats are also reasonably abundant.

2010-02-05T15:41:00.000-08:00

Oy ve

Keeping these reserves going is often a challenge. We have had a spate here of stuff breaking down. Well, we have a lot of historic buildings. That is, "Old". Over the January break, the main water supply pipe at the School House failed in two places. This is a 1929 pipe, and it just erodes and fails. Back in 1992 we replaced the main line, but not the old pipes up to the house. Jaime del Valle, with help from Eric spent days digging toward running water. An old hot tub was moved. A deck taken apart. Finally, they found the hole where the pipe was just rusted thin and gave way. Jaime wrapped the pipe with inner tube rubber and placed a pipe repair clamp over it, and on the 5th try, it held. Then the pipe gave way again, and the digging and repair process went on once again. On Jan 10-11 the power went out for 24 hours during heavy rains. Our roads, culverts and drains all had to be dug out, and several trees or branches had to be cut out of the roads. On the 18th, a rare electrical storm wiped out our entry gate electronic panel, and as we found out, about 15 more gates all up and down Carmel Valley Road. Then the forced-air heater at the Stucco House failed (pilot valve assembly), and on the 28th the water heater failed (14 years old) and we picked one up in Salinas and Jaime and Eric replaced it. That

removal-replacement cycle revealed some stunningly corroded plumbing under the Stucco "Bell" house, but they also fixed a long-standing leak of hot air under the house. From Jan 18 to 24 we went 6.5" of rain to 14.5". About the same time the Hughes internet service failed at the Hallisey House. After 10 days of fruitless attempts, a tech slipped that by downgrading to a "slower" service, one could switch from a chronically broken transponder to one that worked. Turned out to be true. Then the power to the well there failed. At the breaker panel we had 220v and at the well the wire had 110v. Somewhere in a 300 foot run to the well house, under 3' of soil, an old romex (nope- not direct burial, not in conduit) wire had failed. Rod Lambert came over and helped us find the wire's route. We dug up a 3' x 4' x 5 ' hole to explore a likely junction, but came up with only a dead wire. So, we

replaced the entire underground run with code wire from the house to well. We rented a trencher and Jaime bucked out 4 wheelbarrows of rocks. Scott Eagle came over and put in new conduit and installed (finally!) code breakers, junctions, and the run of wire in conduit. Now, we think all the systems and houses are running. Knock on wood.

We are cleaning mud off the tractor, putting tools away and getting the chain saw sharp. Whew.

2010-02-01T10:06:00.000-08:00

Hastings in the News- Woodpeckers and Oaks

Eric Walters was recently interviewed by Dan Strain, one of our past visiting researchers, now writing for Mongabay.com. This article on Acorn Woodpeckers is a glimpse into Eric's work and the world of the oak woodlands here.

2010-01-26T17:37:00.000-08:00

Postponment

The series of talks - Living with Fire, being organized for Jan 30 by Joe Rowitzer, has been postponed. Fire is clearly something we will have to live with. Dealing with fire is a process that can be informed by the many Agency and University of California research and extension projects. We are exploring the potential of co-hosting a series of public lectures on fire in the Santa Lucias. We envision having input from the fire protection agencies and UC. Maybe a series of speakers on topics like managing fuel around structures, prescribed fire, fire and Sudden Oak Death, effects of fire on hydrology, fire and wildlife, etc. Venues for the talks would include Hastings for the upper Carmel Valley community, maybe some larger hall in the lower Carmel Valley and another in Big Sur. But, it will take some time to get this organized. So, keep checking...more later.

2010-01-22T14:49:00.000-08:00

Hastings Winter Walk/Lunch

On Saturday, Feb 6, 10 am, I will lead a nature walk at Hastings. This is the first of what will be quarterly opportunities to go on a walk at Hastings. The next will be in late spring or early summer. We will meet at the office parking lot. Whatever the weather, we can go flip rocks, look at newts, see what flowers are out and admire mushrooms. Winter in Hastings is not as intense, but still offers glimpses of nature in action. Early February often brings a mid-winter sunny dry period- who knows? Come join us. This is a fundraiser for Hastings. We will have a wonderful lunch from Michael Jones, Cachagua Store. This will of course, be indoors, in the conference room. We are asking for a donation of $25/person and will limit the group to 25. Please call Mark Stromberg 831 659 2664 for reservations, or email: stromberg@berkeley.edu. We hope you can join us! Mile Marker 26, CV Road, Martin Road is crossroad. Meet at entry gate.

2010-01-15T17:27:00.000-08:00

Storms? El Nino in Hiding to Emerge?

Seems there are great predictions for a series of storms, "Pineapple Express" on the way. The NWS predictions have been over-stated for so many years, it is hard to believe them. But, maybe this time. We are about due. Greg James, who is helping get stream flow data for Finch Creek (see webpage) provided this data from the Carmel River. This is flow data from the lower Carmel River, and you can see that the last 3 years have been dry. If the winter rains dried up now, we would be in serious drought. But, maybe....?

2010-01-06T21:30:00.000-08:00

Fall Rains?

I had the impression that we were lagging a bit with regard to winter rains out here. But, we are doing fine, so far, for a pretty average year. Not the "El Nino" predicted by some.

2010-01-04T18:08:00.000-08:00

Woodrat Monkey-business ?

So, several months ago, Walt Koenig vacated the carriage house at the School House. There were a few aluminum cans in the recycling box, and a few scattered things in the workshop. Eric Walters went in to check a few things and found this odd pattern. Some animals had moved the crushed aluminum cans into a pattern of a square around the edge of the room. Maybe this is some kind of wood rat fun? We set up a camera with an infra-red illuminator and we hope to catch the little guys in action. The region of brown down the middle of the garage floor is bat droppings- this old garage is a favorite winter roost for a colony of bats. Each year Walt gathered up the guano and use the spreader to put it on the lawn.

2010-01-01T16:41:00.000-08:00

Red Phalaropes

On Dec 22, Jaime del Valle found a deceased red phalarope on Cachagua road, and Eric Walters observed another just south of Haystack Hill at mile 26 on Carmel Valley Road. Evidently the storm of about Dec 19 brought in a group of Red Phalaropes to the Hastings area. This bird does not do well on land, breeding in the arctic tundra, and wintering well out to sea. The remains of the found phalarope will be deposited at the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology at Berkeley.

2009-11-30T11:28:00.001-08:00

Acorn Grinding to Flour...The saga continues. So, Mike Jones found an attachment for a handy Kitchen Aid unit. I bungled around in his kitchen for a bit on Sunday and realized it would be better to take this show on the road and get out of his way.

After some fooling around at home, I was able to move all the shelled acorns through the grinder. It did not like the typical half of an acorn meat. The acorn meat would shatter and pop out of the screw feed and sometimes up out of the hopper.

Some eye protection is a good idea- the shattered acorns pop out of the feed tube as well. I sifted out the flour and put it in the freezer. The pea gravel-sized nutty bits were pretty hard. I tried running them again through the Kitchen Aid grinder, but they just jammed up the works. So, I put them in a lined colander and I filled the large pot a couple time with boiling water and poured it through the acorn crumbs. These two rinses produced rinse water that was still red.

Then I put the garden hose on and left it for an hour or so and eventually the water was clear.

The nutty little bits were not bitter, and retained the golden color. I let then drain overnight and put them back in shallow pans in the drying oven today at about 100 deg (Farenheit) and will let then dry for 2-3 days. Mike also found an old stone grinder and I will get it working and see if I can use it to grind up this batch of acorn nutlets. I will save about half of the nutlets as they make good garnishing- sprinkle over cookies, etc.

2009-10-07T12:08:00.000-07:00

Article on Big Sur Fire Ecology

A photograph by Jaime del Valle of Hastings appears in this month's issue of Bay Nature. The photo, of Dolan Ridge in last year's fire in Big Sur, is part of a discussion by Lester Rowntree, "Forged by Fire-Lightning and Landscape at Big Sur". This is a great introduction and summary of the fire ecology of Big Sur.

2009-10-07T11:47:00.000-07:00

Stream Gauge on Hastings

Finch Creek has never had any study, although it probably provides a critical part of the water supply to the Carmel River. A few months ago, Greg James of the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District offered some of his older equipment to allow us to put in a stream gauge. This is strictly a research project to study the hydrology of the area and maybe to entice some faculty from CSUMB or UC Berkeley to come study the creek. We dug a deep hole for the measuring staff, and to keep the root-bound stream bank from collapsing (it is just sand held together by willow roots) I built a small stilling well and wall behind it. There are 5 wheelbarrows of rock and good deal of steel rod and wire holding it together. Kevin Browne, the UC NRS information tech was here last week, and we used the older Campbell 510, with an NL-100 to get the data online. Jaime and Mark worked on a 180 foot trench to provide power and ethernet to the installation. It will take some time to gather data to convert the transducer pressure readings to flow values. But, in a year or so, Greg will do the measurements and we will convert the raw data to CFS estimates and plot those. We hope to install a webcam to watch the stream level. Check out the website for flow data.

2009-10-07T11:41:00.000-07:00

NRS Annual Meeting Sep 8-11

Each year, the UC Natural Reserve System staff meet at a reserve to discuss system-wide events. Of course, the big event this year was the retirement of Alex Glazer, our Director in UCOP for the last many years. Alex is greatly appreciated and a good friend to the reserve staff. We will miss Alex. We held the meeting at the Angelo Reserve, and we all camped on the site, bringing our own chairs, tents, etc. Peter Steel hosted the meeting. Curiously, on our return to various reserves, we found that many of our group came down with the flu, and many were diagnosed with H1N1. Dan Dawson provided the photo.....

2009-08-22T11:29:00.000-07:00

GK-12 Project Online Based in part, on K-12 students and graduate students visits to Hastings, they developed an on-line insect identification key, Berkeley BioKeys. It's unfinished, since there's no more money to work on it at present, but the butterflies & a few other insects are reasonably complete.

2009-08-04T14:47:00.000-07:00

Counting Pollen Grains in Oak Woodlands

Kyle Funk, a research assistant with Walt Koenig, is winding down a spring and summer working on the oak woodlands. Walter recently received funding from NSF to explore what controls the apparent synchrony in acorn crops across California. From boom to bust, each year seems to be similar across vast areas of California. Oak pollen, both how much and how synchronous may account for some of the variation in acorns; if the oak flowers don’t get pollen, the acorns won’t fill out.

Walt found a company in England (Burkhard Manufacturing) who makes a unique machine that samples pollen in the air (Photo). The large fin on the back keeps the device pointed into oncoming breezes. These are mounted up on towers, at least 10 feet in the air. A large fan underneath blows air through a slit inside a chamber. If you open the chamber (photo) you can see the slot, and a steel wheel that rotates slowly. The fan blows air (and pollen) on the rim of the wheel. Kyle would put sticky tape on the wheel’s rim, and could tell which section of the wheel represented each day of the week. By removing the tape, each day’s pollen was captured. Then the pollen is put on a microscope slide and can be stained (fuschin red) and examined under a microscope.

Kyle then had to consult as many illustrated books as possible to learn the various kinds of pollen- pine, oak, grass, etc. In general, he can now tell oak pollen, but the various species of oaks are a challenge. Walt is studying many of the oaks, but the common ones here are coast live oak, valley oak and blue oak. As the data come in- daily pollen counts- Walt will be using it to help tease out the factors that control the acorn crop. The acorn crop in California is probably the single most influential variable affecting wildlife populations, including deer, pigs, and of course, the acorn woodpecker!

2009-07-30T14:16:00.000-07:00

How Cricket Studies at a Field Station Inspired Next
Generation Directional Hearing Aids

Dr. Oliver Beckers, University of Nebraska, a post-doctoral student in Dr. William Wagner's lab at the University of Nebraska, is working at Hastings and elsewhere in California. Oliver is doing a interesting research project on the flies that spray sticky larva near singing crickets. The female comes into see the robust singing male, but might become attached to one of the larvae of this parasitic fly as it approaches the male. So, the male might try fooling the parasite by singing cryptically so the fly won't know where to spray the larvae. But then, the females may not think highly of his song and fail to approach for mating. Alas. The struggle between what Darwin called "sexual selection" (females choosing males for some attractive characteristic like long songs, large antlers, colorful feathers, etc.) and natural selection (environment, including parasites, weather, volcanoes, etc. which influences how many young any individual gets into the next generation). The male crickets work hard to make a great song that attracts the females and, dang it, they attract a deadly parasite. That is, sex is killing them! Oliver gave a great talk today; same title. We learned that crickets have ears on their legs (photos), and other ears along their sides. They are very sensitive to sounds. (see photos). These are nothing like the ears in the fly though.

About 30 years ago, a UTA (Univ. Texas Austin) graduate student in Zoology, named Bill Cade (who has gone on from being an important researcher in behavioral genetics, to the presidency of Lethridge University in Canada), made the apparently irrelevant discovery at a Texas biological field station that field crickets are parasitized by a inconspicuous parasitic fly, Ormia ochracea. This same fly is present at Hastings, and is a parasite on our common field cricket, Gryllus lineaticepts. Most flies can't hear, but this fly has incredible directional hearing for such a small animal. It was an important entomological discovery, ’acoustic parasitism’ and launched many interesting studies related to parasite-host relationships. Among the studies that Cade's discovery inspired were those of Ron Hoy, Cornell University, starting in 1991, in which a team at Cornell University, set out to discover what kind of ’ears’ the fly uses to detect and localize the singing cricket. They discovered that the Ormia fly possesses a hearing organ unlike any other in nature. One of Hoy’s colleagues is a mechanical engineer and he and his colleagues have come up with an entirely novel design for micro-miniature directional microphones. These microphones operate on the principle of the fly's ears and are fabricated using cutting-edge nanofabrication techniques at Cornell. These microphones will be the basis for the next generation of hearing aids that will incorporate directional sensitivity to suppress unwanted noise from conversational sounds. The NIH has recently allocated nearly $7 million dollars to develop these fly-inspired microphones.

Ears on leg; photo and drawing. Parasitic fly on cricket.

2009-06-18T21:43:00.000-07:00

New Book!
One of the long-time Hastings' researchers, Professor Jerry Powell just saw a book he wrote with Paul Opler published. Reflecting over 100 years of research on the moths of western North America, it includes color photos of 2,350 species. We may not ever see the likes of Jerry and Paul again as it took them 50 years each to understand the moths of western North America. Our universities are no longer likely to provide the kind of long-term support to let experts do the field work and museum work to compile the knowledge of such groups. Modern research is focused on single animals and single biochemical or genetic phenomena, and the lack of understanding the biodiversity around us is creeping around us like a fog. There may be 8,000 species of moths in the West. Maybe 3,000 of them have no name and have never been studied. The authors present technical descriptions, along with drawings and photographs that will allow future students to get started. Certainly, it requires some demanding reading and some background in biology, but they include a treasure trove of natural history- what the larvae need, associated plant species and habitats where the moths thrive. If you just want to dazzle your friends with a stunning show of biodiversity, this book is great. If you or some 10-year-old you know want to learn more about moths, those silvery ghosts of the night lights, this is a start. Powell, Jerry A. and Paul A. Opler 2009. Moths of Western North America. University of California Press, Berkeley. 369 pp.

2009-06-16T14:44:00.000-07:00

2009 Butterfly Count

Today, Professor Jerry Powell and a crew : Liam O'Brien, Chris Tenny, Paul Johnson, Aurora Mahassine and Norma Davis, headed out to check the butterflies in a circle on the map centered on Hastings. Jerry, Norma and Aurora walked down the Arnold Road. Liam took the drive to Arroyo Seco and Paul and associates headed up to Chew's Ridge. Jerry reports that, as one would suspect during a dry year, the butterfly numbers are low again. About like last year. Check back in a few days and we should have the final tally.

Dr. Jerry Powell, Norma Davis and Aurora at the Arnold Cabin.

2009-05-10T14:15:00.000-07:00

Time to Add up Winter Rain Again...

Well, how did the upper Carmel River watershed do this rain year (July-May)? We are relatively dry this year, and had it not been for February rains, it would have been a exceptionally dry year. Finch Creek is flowing but under 2 cfs, and will be dry in a few weeks. Here are two graphics showing our winter and the rainfall record since 1929 at Hastings. You can click on either for a closer view of the data. Eighty years now for Hastings!

2009-04-17T22:59:00.000-07:00

Hunt for Winddecker Cabin of 1870s.

In Linsdale's history of Hastings, he mentions that "IIn Reservation records the largest hill within the boundaries is designated Poison Oak Hill. For a time it was known as Winddecker Hill because a man by that name lived there from about 1872 to 1878." We actually never knew where Winddecker's cabin was located. Yesterday I was scanning some old maps drawn by Dr. Keith White who studied the vegetation, particularly the blue oaks here on Hastings. One of his oak study sites was on Poison Oak Hill and the map indicated the "ruins of Winddecker cabin", the associated nearby spring, and the "Old Red Tank". The spring was evidently developed by Winddecker so he could live there. Later this spring and Cement Spring were developed and used to keep stock tanks filled for cattle or sheep grazing Poison Oak/Winddecker Hill. All three of these features were on a map made in 1962. I called Keith today and he recalls that Jimmy Bell told him about the old ruin back in the 1960s and that is how it came to be on the map of oak study sites. Walt and I hiked up there today, and using Keith's map, we found all three. Click here for a slide show of what we found. Not much is left of the cabin- just one post, with a very thin plank nailed to it, and one hand-hewn floor joist. Poison oak is thick around the site, and indeed the hill is well-named.

2009-04-02T16:49:00.000-07:00

Hastings Spring Crew

Here they are! Our intrepid field researchers. From left to right: Ron Mumme, Linnea Rowse, Dan Strain, Erin Spevak, Kyle Funk, Charissa Rujanovech, Walt Koenig, Ari Waldstein, Eric Walters (Torry on shoulders), Caitlin Stern. Below: Julie Walters with Riley. The Acorn Woodpecker Group includes: Ron from Alleghny College, Walt at Cornell and his assistants include Kyle, Dan and Erin. Caitlin (Cornell) is now the senior Western Bluebird researcher, with assistance from Charissa, Arie and Linnea. As spring moves along, more will be arriving. And of course, we have classes most weekends.

2009-03-31T17:39:00.000-07:00

Red House Project

The replacements for the venerable Red House shack are nearing completion. We are in the final efforts to connect then houses to water, sewer, electric power, gas and phone. For those of you who want to track this, here is a slide show with some recent images.

2009-03-28T18:21:00.000-07:00

Spring Flowers are in Full Bloom

The flowers are Hastings are in full bloom and the hills are emerald again. Here is a photo by Prof. David Ackerly who was visiting from Berkeley last week. Slide show of Hastings flowers (click here).

2009-03-28T18:10:00.001-07:00

Painted Lady Flight is On

Thousands of Painted Lady butterflies, Vanessa cardui, are flying east down Robertson Creek and Finch Creek today (3/28/09). These flights are not uncommon here in the upper Carmel Valley. It is still a sight to behold and these colorful insects zip past, dodging trees, shrubs at a very fast pace. The afternoon temperatures were in the low 80's along Finch Creek, but we noticed a strong breeze from the west on the hills of about 10-12 mph all afternoon kept the hilltops of Hastings in the mid-70s. There we almost now wind along the creek bottoms where the butterflies were abundant from mid-morning to evening. We counted about 100 per minute crossing a yard of about 80 ft. x 100 ft.

It took many tries with a butterfly net to finally snag one so we could identify it. We have one photo of the open wings, and one of the butterfly when the wings are folded. Thanks to Andrew Stromberg for his energetic butterfly net work. Today, March 29, we drove from Hastings (where the flight has slowed dramatically) to Carmel and Monterey. There, there were large numbers of butterflies flying north, about 100/min. over say, a gas station parking lot. And Mike Hamilton, on the Blue Oak Reserve on Mt. Hamilton also reports about 100/min. passing over a similarly-sized sampling area the Blue Oak Reserve headquarters. Mark Readdie at the Big Creek Reserve in Big Sur reports that the flight of butterflies does not extend down that far south along the coast.

2009-03-04T09:59:00.000-08:00

California Native Grass Association Workshop: Sustainable Grazing

Sustainable Grazing. Register now for an exciting 3-day, 2-night

CNGA workshop at the Hastings Reserve in Upper Carmel Valley, March
18-20. Includes classroom instruction and site visits that focus on
sustainable grazing plans to manage native grasslands. Instructors:
Kent Reeves and Richard King. Continental breakfast, lunch, and 2
dinners included. Accommodations are extra, inexpensive, and easily
reserved on the CNGA website, www.cnga.org, or by calling Judy at
530-661-2280. Fees: $245/CNGA members, $285/nonmembers, $135/
students.

2009-03-03T18:45:00.000-08:00

Shaggy Pig Story

I was in a auto repair shop last week. When the guys behind the counter heard I lived in Carmel Valley, they started asking me about the terrific reputation of the ferocious tuskers. I tried to explain that if you so much as sneezed at a herd, it would run away as fast as possible. In part, this is because they are hunted everywhere. But fierce? In day after day of tracking the acorn woodpeckers, our hard-working field assistants often spend parts of each day in blind. This canvas and nylon tent is occasionally approached by these "fierce creatures". Anna Brownson was able to capture these images with her pocket digital camera. Anna can confirm that so much as a rustle in the tent and the pigs panic and run away as fast as they can. Huff and puff. Here is a slide show of the piggies.

2009-03-03T17:33:00.000-08:00

Rainbow over Hastings- March 2, 2009. Photo by Anna Brownson.

Rains stop. Start again. Repeat.

Here we are at the end of February, looking at the long-term average of 15.34" to date, and we have 12.57". Not exactly a drought breaker. Well, this is not all that bad, considering we have had exactly 6" of rain in February. The isolated showers of early March would drift past on the strong breezes, leaving intervals of sunlight and sometimes a rare rainbow. Anna caught one.

Finch Creek, March 3, 2009.

Our flowers are emerging, with the white milkmaids, or toothwort (Cardamine californica) are as often, the first to show up. Spring showers have been going on and on, and now Finch Creek swells at times to overflow the crossing, but most days it just fills the culverts. No steelhead have been seen, but the flow has only gone on for a few weeks. The giraffe's heads (Lamium amplexicaule) are also flowering along the roads. Turkey vultures are back and oak buds are swelling. Spring is soon.

2009-02-16T10:47:00.000-08:00

A Walk in the Rain

We finally got a winter storm. This brings our rain to about 10" when the average for this time of the rain year (July 1 to June 30) is about 11". Finch Creek is now flowing briskly from Anastasia Creek. If we get a couple more winter storms, we might even reach "average" rainfall!

When it is wet, the branches that fall have lichen and moss that is a striking deep green and bright yellow or orange fungi open. Dr. Shirley Tucker at UCSB identifies these (thanks!) as perhaps a fungus in the group, Thelephoraceae; not well-known and hard to identify from a photo. I am pretty sure the lichen is Ramalina. Compare this photo to one taken of the same branch after drying 4 hours...(below).

Here, the rich greens have gone white and fungal bodies have rolled up tight. With several more wet-dry cycles, the fungal cups continued to open and close. I suspect they are not ephemeral, but may persist on the branch for years. There appears to be a lichen crust on the lower sides of the fungal cups. This might be cryptic coloration?

By the way- even with this rain, Jaime's pond has not filled entirely. About 1/4 covered. We may need to work on that next year.

2009-02-04T20:15:00.000-08:00

Sneaky Water in Finch Creek

It has been dry this winter; this winter's rain total is 6.5" where the long-term average of rainfall at this date in the rain year is 11.2". And the last two winters have been dry. The rocks of Finch Creek all the way up to the old Finch Family homestead (Jean Cahoon's ranch) have been dry since last spring. Today the rocks in Finch Creek at the entry bridge to Hastings on Martin Road are holding quiet pools. Some water is running in Robertson Creek above the junction of these two creeks. Rainfall has been about 2" each of the last three months. And suddenly, the water appeared.

Just as a reminder, in March of 2001 where we now see quiet pools, we saw 20" steelhead in the same place, but of course after heavy rains had scoured the same pools. Here is a photo..

2008-12-07T15:36:00.000-08:00

Replacements for Red House Arrive

Funding from the National Science Foundation allowed us to seek and obtain matching funds from the California Wildlife Conservation Board to upgrade our housing. While the replacement houses for the Red House have been under construction, we have been busy with installing erosion controls on hillside behind the building site. Rana Creek's crew installed the materials and it looks great. We had a couple of rains and we hope for quick germination and more gentle rains to hold the hillsides and road verges.

On Tuesday, December 2, the four parts of the 2 new cabins arrived at the gate of Hastings. A crew from Valley Home Development arrived with some very specialized equipment to move the buildings. With help from Jaime del Valle, the crew got things started. A slide show of the arrival can be seen here. Jaime called in some heavy help from Lindsey Friday to clear a couple of narrow passages in the road. With a few limbs trimmed, the entry way was cleared and by sunset the first of the four building sections was in place on the footings. By 3pm the next day, the other 3 building sections were in place. Valley Home Development crews will return Monday Dec 8 for 3-5 days of pulling the modular buildings together, installing the stem walls, trenching in the water, gas and power. We have been working with local contractors to come up with some green, low-cost alternatives to finish grade the site and install a deck and handicapped access ramp from a parking area. We hope to get the paving done by the end of January, but all depending on the rains. So far, the winter has been remarkably dry. Lucky for our construction project, but not such a great trend for ground water.

2008-12-07T15:29:00.000-08:00

Birdmobile Back on the Road

After some bureaucratic delays, the Cornell western bluebird study car is back on the road. The little red Toyota can be seen near Hastings, where John Waller and Jessica Edwards are watching and occasionally capturing the wintering bluebirds. The back of the car works out great as a portable banding lab.

2008-09-29T20:57:00.000-07:00

Welcome Volunteer- Larry Walters

Last week, our resident post-doctoral fellow- Eric Walter's father, Larry, was visting. Earlier, we all welcomed Riley, son of Julie and Eric Walters, who was born during the big fires of July. Larry had yet to meet Riley. Well, Riley's grandfather and grandmother spent last week getting to know Riley. But of course, an infant of only 2-3 months has a lot of non-interactive time. So, to keep busy, Larry volunteered to scrape and paint the gutters of the Stucco House. What a great idea! Thank you, Larry! It was pretty hot, sometimes getting into the mid-90s, but Larry kept at it. We offered the airless paint sprayer, but Larry only used a 3" brush. He eventually made it all the way around the house and through several gallons of paint. It looks terrific. Several old layers of paint are now gone and the roof (see previous post) is now ready for the winter. Here is a photo of Larry working along. We appreciate the extra hands!

2008-09-23T14:14:00.000-07:00

Earthquake Sensor Reports 6,017 quakes detected from Carmel Valley (2004-2007).

Recently a large-scale system of earthquake detectors was deployed across the western US. Hastings was one of the first sites to host the instruments. Bob Busby from near Woods Hole arrived with a group from New Mexico Tech University back in 2004. His jolly crew thrashed around until they found a local backhoe operator (Lindsey Friday, I recall). They installed a vault with a wireless connection to the internet (above). At the bottom of the vault they installed sensitive motion detectors that measured up-down, east-west and north-south movements. Eventually they installed a vast array of these across California and west. The transportable array is moving east.

These are so sensitive you can jump up and down a half mile from them and see the "needle" move on the graph. In 2007, they were removed, and replaced by Bill Karavas and Doug Neuhauser from the Berkeley Seismological Laboratory.

EarthScope recently prepared a report that summarized the 3,693 relatively near (within within 100 km) earthquakes recorded from Carmel Valley. Link to the report here. Another 2,324 earthquakes were detected from as far away as Sumatra and Africa. Now that the "wave" of the sensors in the EarthScope project are moving east, we are pleased that the infrastructure continues to serve the people of California. You know when you hear of a report of an earthquake, and the radio or TV reports within minutes of where it occurred, you should know that Hastings' internet is providing a continuous recording or earth movements and makes these reports possible. Maybe not all that earthshaking, but we try to do our little part. The California state earthquake reporting system can be found here.

2008-08-20T19:30:00.000-07:00

Red House Replacement Underway

Nearly 3 years ago, we were awarded funds from a competitive program in the National Science Foundation. By waiting until now, we can match those funds 1:1 with state Prop 84 funds. So finally, we started the process of replacing the crumbling, rodent-infested Red House. The first steps are site preparation. We saved as much of the old house as possible- cast iron tub, space heater, some windows and doors, etc. The rest is being removed by Lindsey Friday. We will be preparing a level site to provide good parking, handicapped access and west-facing deck. We are replacing the 600 sq. ft. shack with two modular 800 sq. ft. cabins. They will share a deck and the view. The new buildings will provide excellent housing. A few documenting photos for all you folks who stayed in the Red House over the years. We are saving a section of the old red wall and will put it up on the new buildings.

Here is an example of the wiring in the attic- notice how the mice and wood rats have chewed the insulation almost entirely off the wires. Yikes!

We also found that a single-wall stove pipe went through the attic from the back bedroom and the attic walls were black with charred wood. It almost burned down at least once in its long career.

2008-08-14T11:45:00.001-07:00

Roofers-Carpenters From UCB Physical Plant at Stucco House

Brent Kindle, UCB Physical Plant, a master roofer and planner, visited Hastings with Seth Higby and Stan Richardson to start work on the rot in the roof of the stucco "Bell" house. Build for Jimmy and Lois Bell, the house has had roof problems for a long time. Brent, Seth and Stan removed the roofing from the outer edge of the roof. Carpenters Daniel Valdez and Joe Best joined the group later and removed and replaced the old decking and rotted rafters. Brent, Seth and Stan then re-roofed the edges and the ridges and valleys. These guys are pros and would continually find places where previous local contractors had done the roofing improperly. By fixing these previous mistakes and installing a new roof properly, we expect another good 20 years of dry life in the old Bell house. Thanks to the Brent and his crew from Berkeley!

2008-08-11T08:40:00.000-07:00

Aerial Views of Basin Complex Fire Interior

On Aug 7, the USFS provided helicopter flight time to a group of local firefighters, including Jaime del Valle. Jaime took a series of photographs. We here at Hastings were very interested in estimating what happened to the wildlife? Were there refugia of green? Was it all burned?

Jaime returned with 74 photos, and we can say that in some places, it was burned to the soil. In many other places, often in a complex matrix or mosaic, areas of green persist. As much of the area is wilderness, we are still seeking good titles for the photos. Some have names. The photos were taken in sequence- in a counterclockwise flight along the fire perimeter starting near the Los Padres Dam. It continued west to White Rocks, then south to Big Sur and eventually Dolan Ridge at the Big Creek Reserve. Then west toward the Indians Fire, and over that the southeast corner of the fire complex. Some camera technical difficulties over Tassajara meant no photos there (Jaime reports that area was a mosaic burn with large areas still green). They ended up where they started at the helicopter base at Tassajara Road and Carmel Valley Road. If you can identify some of the photos, e-mail us with titles for the photos. Thanks.

So, click here to see the gallery of Jaime's photos.

2008-08-07T15:33:00.001-07:00

News from UC and State Budget

Due to increases in our operating expenses, and cuts in the state budget, we are forced to increase our user fees to $15/person/night. This will take effect as of billing after July 1, 2008. We are probably going to have to increase fees again in July 2009 to $20/person/night. So, if you are an ongoing researcher, or are interested in working at Hastings, please note and plan accordingly.

2008-08-04T18:36:00.000-07:00

Walt Koenig Retires from UC, Hastings

Starting as an undergraduate student at Stanford, and then through a graduate career, and over 25 years at Hastings, Walt Koenig retired Aug 3. A party was held at the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology in Berkeley last Friday. Hosted by his recent graduate students, and featuring Top Dog sausages, we all told "Walt" stories and recalled his many adventures at Hastings and MVZ. Walt has an amazing record of rigorous science; in publications, contributions as an editor and in teaching. (see list). Walt will be moving to a new position with the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology in Ithaca, NY. We expect to see Walt in the fall to count acorns and in each spring for a month or two keeping track of acorn woodpeckers. Bon Voyage, Walt!

2008-07-20T20:41:00.000-07:00

Basin Fire- View from Hastings

Threats to Hastings are now very much reduced. A new management team has taken over, and the word is that they know the web exists and unlike during the main fire, they are using the web. Apparently the USFS InciWeb page for the Basin Complex fire now opens and has content! Check it out for updates and official news. Another constant source for local information on the fire in the upper Carmel Valley continues to be the web presence of Life in the Fire Lane.

Things have calmed down. Structure protection engines were no longer needed on Hastings Thursday 7/17. Friday saw firing near Hastings with constant afternoon air traffic. The East Basin Spike Camp (a portable camp for 2000 fire fighters) is located about 1.5 mi. east of Hastings, stretching from Corral Viejo to Tassajara Road. The Carmel Valley Road cuts through the middle of Hastings, and is very busy with truck traffic. Supply trucks arrive often from King City and constantly from Monterey, crews and engines move to and from the firing operations to the east, and helicopters and heavy bombers are overhead. Immediately after the spike camp was set up, we had contractors out sight seeing. This was a bit rude as most gates were open during the emergency. But that seems to have been controlled. Since then, afternoons have seen large plumes of smoke from the firing operations which have gone well to the south and east towards Arroyo Seco. Today, we saw more smoke from the work south and west of the Los Padres dam. Mail deliveries returned on Thursday as well. Dean, Margaret and Catherine have retuned, even if briefly, to clean up the Roberston House and continue with the bird observations. We expect to be back to relatively normal work on Monday. Aircraft activity stops near sunset, and the typical summer pattern of a westerly sea breeze and fog up the valley has returned.

We continue under a "voluntary" evacuation, with a check point set up at Sleepy Hollow (mile 14 or so) on the Carmel Valley Road. Non-residents or people who are not working in the area are turned away. The various jurisdictions have had issues with passes and traffic control. Certainly the road between the spike camp and the firing operations (Piney Canyon, Miller Lodge, Arroyo Seco, etc.) needs traffic control. It has been a blessing not to have the whining rice-rocket motorcycles attempting speed records on the Carmel Valley Road through Hastings this year during the annual Moto GP, US Grand Prix motorcycle race at Laguna Seca Raceway.

We really appreciate the huge efforts our local fire fighters have made. Many have worked 15 hour days for weeks. The Cachagua Fire Protection District has been just fantastic. We all purchased commemorative shirts. In particular, we would like to thank our local Battalion Chief, Jaime del Valle (and Hastings steward) for his long hours and care and attention to Hastings during the fire. Eric Walters contributed many photos of the fire to the local weblog by Kelly Erin O'Brien and was typically most helpful around Hastings.

The Basin Complex Fire will continue to require fire suppression efforts, but these are largely shifting away from Hastings. We will continue to be vigilant and keep in mind that historically, the big fires come in late fall.

2008-07-17T11:05:00.000-07:00

Basin Fire: View from Hastings 7/17

Again, we have structure protection engines stationed at Hastings. These are the same crew from Los Angeles. They are driving from Tregea, through Hastings, including the Hallisey House. Firing was largely successful yesterday in the upper Anastasia Canyon and today they are burning nearer our boundaries (lower) adjacent to the Trout Pond and Carmel Valley Road. The back fire on the Arnold is complete, and Jaime reports that the dozer crews labored mightily on that last night. So, all is well on our western front. Today additional firing will continue south and east of Hastings along the Carmel Valley road between Hastings and the Cahoon summit. A dozer line then continues south and east toward Miller's Camp at Arroyo Seco. Additional fire fighting will be done along that front. To the west (south of Carmel Valley Village) the fire is moving slowly north to the primary bulldozer line that comes up from Los Padres Dam. So, we expect heavy smoke today and for quite a while, and reports on the fire fighting effort all appear positive. A huge camp (2000 people) has sprung up over night and extends from Corral Viejo to the Tassajara Road along Carmel Valley road. This operation is fully illuminated at night. A gallery of images of the fire camp can be found here.

Here are some fire photos from Eric Walters and some by David Gubernick. Too bad David can't get out to photograph this epic fire. They would be spectacular. Again, check in with "Life in the Fire Lane" for other views and news. Photo above by David Gubernick.

2008-07-16T12:50:00.000-07:00

Fire Update: A view from Hastings

Basin Fire staff have provided engines for structure protection at Hastings during the firing operation July 15-17 adjacent to Hastings. Again, check the "Life in the Fire Lane" for new photos from Eric Walters, etc. from Hastings. The firing operation was slow (too wet) on 7/15 but is progressing well as of the morning, 7/16. Hastings has been evacuated, and we are offering the housing and conference room to the fire fighters. Eric Walter and family, Walt Koenig and Mark/Barb Stromberg have chosen to remain as mandatory evacuation continues.

2008-07-15T15:03:00.000-07:00

Basin Fire

The Basin Fire is now one of the larger fires in the Ventana Wilderness of Monterey County. Still burning, at 121,800 ac., and $46.6M, it has exceeded the area of the 1999 Kirk Complex fire (85,000 ac.) will probably approach the size of the 1977 Marble Cone Fire (178,00 ac.). When combined with the 2008 Indians Fire (81,400 ac.) the overall complex is huge. Click here for larger view of map.

Largely controlled on the western flank near Big Sur, it burned from Andrew Molera Park to the Big Creek Reserve (Dolan Ridge). This western boundary (Big Sur) has been contained and now the fire is burning along the north boundary.

A bulldozer line has been established along the north edge of the fire and should contain the fire. This line is close to the boundary of Hastings. Click here for a larger view of the map.

Firing is being done (7/15/08) from the line to form a burned area into which the fire will slowly burn. Interior areas of the burn will smoke for months to come. As the fire approached the line along Chew's Ridge past the MIRA Observatory, near White Oaks Camp, some fire moved downslope past the bulldozer line into Anastasia Canyon. New bulldozer lines were put in place. These bulldozer lines can be as wide as a freeway, and considerable skill is needed by the equipment operators. Planning and implementation of remediation of these lines is underway. A large helicopter base has been established at the corner of Tassajara and Carmel Valley Road. Various strike teams of about 4 engines are roaming the area, ready to respond to any spot fires. Heavy slurry bombers are working from nearby airports to support fire fighters on the ground.

Hastings has contributed to a blog that is updated several times a day: Life in the Fire Line. Eric Walters contributed very useful photos. Check it out. Also, our live hilltop remote-operated web camera has a pre-set option now aimed at the fire.

2008-05-26T11:24:00.000-07:00

Annual (11th) Hastings Butterfly Count, Saturday- June 7.

Hastings will host several experts on butterflies who will once again meet at the Hastings entry gate. If you are interested in a day with butterflies, meet at the Hastings gate, mile 26, Carmel Valley Road at 9:30 am. The group will be lead by Dr. Jerry Powell, UC Berkeley, who discovered the brown apple moth in California. Jerry is an expert on moths, but of course, this also means he knows the butterflies. There will be two groups probably- one to Chew's Ridge and one on Hastings. Wear sturdy hiking boots and bring a back pack with water and lunch. You can do either a morning hike or morning and afternoon hike. The experts will catch the butterflies or just tell you the names (as many times as you need) so this is an opportunity to learn about 20 common butterflies of Carmel Valley. Up to 37 species have been seen on some counts.

2008-05-25T12:54:00.000-07:00

Lions and Tigers and SPIDERS!, Oh My.
New researchers at Hastings include Emily MacLeod and Maria Modanu from the University of Toronto. They are here to study the Black Widow Spider. After several night searches, they found a decent population in the grassland around the lower barn. On Thursday, May 22, Emily told us the story of her research. Yes, female black widows do eat the males after breeding with them. Studying such a animal leads to all kinds of fun puns and comparisons, and Emily had a good time talking with the current Hastings resident biologists. We try to have someone give a talk every Thursday while we have tea and cake, or cookies, or something. Another new Hastings resident is Catherine Dale. And to keep us all in line, we have Torrey, our token Hastings resident 2 yr. old. Woo hoo!

From left; Eric, Julie, Torrey Walters, Andrea Gear, Rada Petric, Maria Modanu, Jessie Briggs, Catherine Dale, Ian Taff, Emily MacLeod, Caitlin Stern, Walt Koenig. Lower: Joseph Cheshier, John Waller. Not photographed were Mark or Barbara Stromberg, and Jaime del Valle.

Emily MacLeod explains the details of breeding in Black Widow Spiders to the Hastings residents during the regular Thursday seminar.

2008-05-02T15:12:00.000-07:00

New Tardigrade List Available

Probably one of the very few places in the world where we know our water bears, Dr. Carl Johansson has provided a list of species of tardigrades at Hastings. Read more about it here.

2008-05-02T11:56:00.000-07:00

Deer Mouse Research Program Grows

Matt MacManes, UCB graduate student with Eileen Lacey, arrived over the last two weeks to begin field work to examine the relationship between MHC and social behavior. MHC means "Major Histocompatibility Loci". In the vertebrate lineage of animals, the MHC genes provide the information for making antibodies to foreign organisms that may attempt to invade the animal. MHC is also responsible for labelling the cells of an animal for self-recognition, so an animal won't be attacked by its own immune system. Hastings is home to populations of several species of deer mice (Peromyscus sp.). Some are monogamous , some are polygynous and other promiscuous . The social behavior (mating systems) of these deer mice has been worked out previously by other researchers here at Hastings and elsewhere. Based on this work, Matt is building a collection of tissues from mice to compare the MHC genes in each species. Matina Kalcounis is making some of her tissue samples available to Mat, and Mat is trapping mice elsewhere in CA and in a variety of Hastings habitats. For more on this, here is Matt's blog. From left to right, Rada Petric, Matt, Jessica Briggs.

2008-05-02T11:30:00.000-07:00

Mechanical Magicians

Earl Rider (right) and his sidekick (Master Apprentice) George Morris spent a few days at Hastings this week. Earl is an master at keeping the older (1980's) military excess Chevy trucks running. Earl and George also volunteer for the UC Sedgwick Reserve and the UC Santa Cruz Island Reserve. Our utility truck needed a lot of repairs: we bought parts and they knew how to get it running again. For a few hundred dollars, we now have a heavy duty diesel work truck mostly used by the woodpecker group. This week they fixed most of the electrical ammenities destroyed by the mice when they chew through wires (headlights, wipers, heater blower, turn signals, etc.). We really appreciate their help. We look forward to seeing them again. Thank you, Earl and George!

2008-04-21T11:02:00.000-07:00

Summer Field Assistants Arrive

Our summer field assistants have arrived and replaced the previous Roberston House crew. We look forward to a great summer with them each. Walt Koenig’s acorn woodpecker research assistants include Andrea Gear and Ian Taff. Andrea is from England, with a MS in Conservation. She has done similar field research on lemurs in Madagascar, tropical birds in Panama’s Pearl Islands and caterpillars in Costa Rica. Ian is from Woodbury, CT and has a B.S. from Marlboro College (VT). Ian has been a research assistant in the Galapagos, with Darwin’s finches and has done studies in NY on warblers. Janis Dickinson’s western bluebird research assistants include Joe Cheshier and John Waller. Joseph(far left)is from New Jersey and has a BS from UC Davis in wildlife, fish and conservation. Joseph has been an assistant on bobwhite research in Florida and has worked in the vineyards of Napa Valley. John Waller (far right) has a BS from the University of Colorado and has previously assisted in a study of pronghorn in Montana.

2008-03-07T10:10:00.000-08:00

Proposed Pond

The US Fish and Wildlife Service's "Conservation Partnerships Program", under Mary Root from the Ventura CA office, visited Hastings with regard to a plan to install a small (100'x50') seasonal pond for California Tiger Salamanders and other amphibians. Although we have used the nearby pond on private land in previous studies, having a pond on Hastings would be a great addition. It would allow studies of amphibians, a potential breeding site for tiger salamanders on the reserve, and easy access to a pond for the K-12 program. If we get final approval, and funding, we plan to move forward with the work later this summer. The site is shown on the photo, and would be between Big Creek and the entry lane, in old field vegetation that is seasonally flooded by the road culvert and flow from School Hill. We would add a thin layer of clay to hold water, but the 18" deep pond is designed to dry out each spring.

2008-02-12T15:01:00.000-08:00

Eerie Night Images of Lion on Prowl

On February 8, our intrepid mouse team (L-R; Catherine Carney, Eden Gonzalez, Rada Petric, Jessica Briggs) had a thermal imaging camera set up high over a wooded area along Robertson Creek. They captured this great movie (click here) of a lion walking through the forest. Notice how the heat from the paws is transferred to the ground and slowly dissipates. A bat flies through the scene. The dark spots are stations where live traps are set as a part of their work on determining which mouse is singing and which other mice are nearby. The line in the upper left is the cable to the recording device and power supply on the ground.

2008-01-31T16:41:00.001-08:00

Snow and Loss of a Giant

The slow decline of the valley and majestic blue oaks of upper

Carmel Valley progresses one by one. On January 24, 2008 the Vineyard Oak, with a family group of 17 Acorn Woodpeckers, fell to the ground. We had a wet, heavy snow that day. Many other trees fell, and many branches were down as the snow fell on many coast live oaks. One oak took out our electrical power for a day. The snow attracted the usual mob of looky-loos, many of whom had never seen snow. Tassajara Road and Carmel Valley Road through Hastings were a mob scene. We then had unrelenting rain through January 27, with flooding, plugged culverts, mud slides, rock slides, etc. We pretty much dug out by today.

However, the loss of the oak tree to the group of woodpeckers known as the "cavity" group, will be interesting to follow. We have no idea where they will go and how they will cope with the loss of their group nesting and resting holes, 10,000 carefully crafted holes to store acorns, and a great place to enjoy the view and use as a perch to go out and catch flies on the wing.

A 40 ladder is shown in the photo below, top right. This is the tree where we installed the woodpeck er ca m. We did not recover the camera from the wreckage yet.

The photo of the snow was taken just because snow is relatively rare here. When the tree crashed down, Eric

Walters was out and heard it. Yes, if a tree falls, it does make a sound. A large crack and the thunderous roar as it fell and hundreds of branches broke and were driven into the ground.

Deer were eating the lichens and moss that had been growing high in the tree and are now at ground level. They are something you don't usually see.

2008-01-31T14:49:00.000-08:00

Mystery Mammal on Robertson Creek

Matina's research group have deployed a thermal imaging camera high in the trees over Robertson Creek. This camera looks straight down on the creek the flows through the middle of the scene. On each side of the creek are arch-shaped areas that have been washed out by the stream and now are filled with vegetation. The

edges of these are steep breaks, about 8' tall, and lead up to nearly level terraces on either side of the creek. There are two movies, you can see them if you click here. The trees and branches are dark (cold); the stream is nearly white (warm). In the movie, first you see a deer mouse moving in the forest (white=warm) and later a larger wood rat (white) is running around. Notice how they move along sticks and logs.

In the second movie, a mystery animal shows up. It slinks along, crosses the creek and struggles to get up the steep edge of the terrace, then moves along the terrace and out of sight. The stream is about a meter wide. So. What do you think this could be?

A grey fox?

A ring-tailed cat?

A young mountain lion?

2008-01-18T19:37:00.000-08:00

Singing Mice

Matina Kalcounis-Rueppell, (second from left) from North Carolina State University at Greensboro, arrived in late December and immediately launched an ambitious field research team of Kitty Carney (far left), Jessie Briggs, and Rada Petric (far right). Working along Robertson Creek below Martin Road, these "mouseketeers" cleared out the grid of trails through the poison oak, put out hundreds of mouse live traps and set up radios, microphones and a thermal imaging camera. All to track the mice in several ways so they can track individuals all night and determine which mouse is singing. This is a very challenging technical undertaking.

So, the lab is filled with computers, batteries, wires, radio receivers, antennas and lots of wire. They will be joined next week by Eden Gonzales from CSU Monterey Bay. The bunkhouse cottage has become a nocturnal roost for this group as they are out most evenings and nights. So far, they have seen many small mammals and some large ones including a mountain lion and maybe a ring-tailed cat!

2008-01-17T20:09:00.000-08:00

Peregrine Falcon Visits Hastings

On Thursday, January 17, Emma Moran watched a Peregrine Falcon eating a Robin on Haystack Hill. Sightings of Peregrines are rare at Hastings. Robins have been seen in groups of up to 200 on Hastings in the last few weeks.

2007-12-15T10:06:00.000-08:00

Prescribed Burn on Hastings

On Wednesday, Dec 12, CDF and Cachagua Fire District, worked with our steward, Jaime del Valle, to conduct a prescribed burn on about 300 ac. of School Hill, in the center of Hastings. This fire has required about 3 years of planning and waiting. It was safely conducted and it was a great success. For the full story and more photos, CLICK HERE.

2007-11-02T12:18:00.000-07:00

Carmel Middle School- Habitat Program: Biodiversity Camp

Continuing our work with CMS, Craig Hohenberger, Pat Stadille, Tanja Roos, Merrie Potter and Amy Thistle worked with 18 children from the Salinas and Seaside Boys and Girls Clubs for a day-long (9am-7pm) "Biodiversity Camp". This camp is part of the program offered by the Habitat Program at the Carmel Middle School, and we are pleased to have the biodiversity camp here Saturday, Oct 27. Hastings has been involved with the Habitat program at Carmel Middle School since its inception and you can read more about the program here.

The Habitat's Fall Biodiversity camp at Hastings was an absolute success! The students were exposed to an abundance of hands-on activities. Throughout the day, students checked mist nets, studied and released many species of birds from around the surrounding habitats. They also hiked all over the property to observe lizards and snakes, collected specimens, watched tarantulas, made sketches and photos for a keepsake, handmade journal. The day concluded with all the students participating in cooking and enjoying a seasonal and healthy meal together in Hastings well-equipted classroom facility. All the students left with smiles on their faces and great memories of a day in nature!

2007-10-29T15:24:00.000-07:00

Maria Reyes Alejano, University of Huelva, Spain: Acorn Counting in Europe?
A professor of Agroforestry Sciences, Maria is studying the production of acorns in the dehesas (oak savannas) of Spain. Walt Koenig, at Hastings, is one of the very few people in the world who is also studying acorn production. So, Maria sought out Walt and Hastings to compare what she has learned in Spain to the oak woodlands here. Maria and her family spent a week in the Hastings Cabin in late October. In Spain, people manage the Iberian Oak, Quecus ilex intensively, and the tradition is that severe pruning of the oaks means more acorns, which are fed to pigs, at least in the Huelva area (where by the way, Christopher Colon aka "Columbus" sailed from). Maria's research team is conducting various levels of pruning and counting acorns under the trees to test the tradition. It appears that pruning has no effect on acorns, except that extreme pruning means fewer acorns because the trees have hardly any branches left. Maria visited other researchers at UC Berkeley and gave a great seminar to the Hastings residents.

Walt Koenig and Jean Knops conducted the 2007 California Acorn Count; you can read the typically irreverent report here.

2007-10-23T10:24:00.000-07:00

UC Natural Reserve System Annual Meeting

Hastings hosted about 65 people for 4 days (Oct 16-19). Reserve Managers and Stewards from most of the 35 reserves across the state attended. We heard updates from the Systemwide NRS Staff (UC Office of President) and we had informative talks on CEQA, our Propostion 84 funding support through Wildlife Conservation Board, and Jake Weltzin from the National Phenological Network office at Univ. of Arizona and USGS. We are working toward an NRS phenological monitoring network. Shane Waddell of the UC Davis reserves brought us up to speed on the wireless mesh networks as many reserves, like Hastings, have wireless internet access to support research equipment.

We had a great hike on Palo Corona Regional Park, with talks by Donna Meyers (Big Sur Land Trust), Lynn Overtree and Heather Brady (MPRPD). Walt Koenig reviewed his studies of acorn abundance in California, and Paul Kephart reminded us that we should include living surfaces in our planning for "green" buildings on the reserves. Always good to re-connect with our colleagues once a year.

2007-10-14T16:58:00.000-07:00

Facilities Projects- Sumer, Fall, 2007
Any free time we had went to improving some of the facilities at Hastings. We replaced the entry lane markers. These makers, placed every 100 feet in the 1930's, are reference points for hundreds of observations in the Hastings field notes. They give us a way to record where observations were made of plants, animals, etc. We replaced the markers with stout fencing posts and metal signs. There are now 34 markers, starting near the junction of the roads by the Lower Barn and continuing to near the entry gate.

Jaime de Valle and Mark Stromberg took on several other projects that have been lingering for years. These include installing a low wall on the exterior of the screen room at the Lower Barn to keep the contents dry. With the Red House and Stucco House contents now in storage with the arrival of post-doc Eric Walters, and the coming winter rains, we installed siding but kept the screened windows or light on the north side of the barn.

We replaced the sink and faucet in the public restroom, as many years of our hard water and hard use had taken their toll. Jaime refinished the drywall and painted the interior and Mark cleaned and painted the floor. Jaime repaired the Hastings airless sprayer and we painted the exterior. The first question just about every visitor to Hastings has for us is "Where is the restroom?", so nice to see it in almost-new condition again.

Mark mixed about 20 sacks of concrete and mortar and repaired the rock walls below the two foot bridges that serve the headquarters building area. These rock walls were damaged in the 1995 El Nino floods. Once the footings were secure, Jaime and Mark removed most of the older bridges and replaced the worn decking an installed new railing. A bit of new fencing will keep people from the steep edges at the upstream bridge. Our downstream bridge needed more foundation work, and deck replacement. They each have solar lights now to illuminate the way across the bridge.

Finally, we replaced the batteries in the solar light system in the Lower Barn. These batteries need to be replaced about every 8 years, and they were at least 15 years old. So, with new batteries, and some time for charging and adjusting the system, we should have lights again at the Lower Barn.

2007-10-14T14:19:00.000-07:00

New Winter Field Assistants: Woodpecker Studies
Doug hails from Concord, NH and is a recent graduate of Skidmore College and former president of the Outing Club. He comes to us from the lab of Cory Freeman-Gallant where he was studying Common Yellowthroats.
Emma graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill and was most recently working at the marine lab in Morehead City, NC in John Buno's lab. She is originally from Johnson City, TN.
Archer grew up in Soldotna, Alaska. She graduated from UW-Madison and recently finished work on the North Slope of Alaska where she was testing for avian flu in migrating birds.
Doug and Emma will be here through March. Archer is leaving at Thanksgiving to start a job based in Barstow, where she will be examining bird use of military bases throughout California and Arizona.

2007-07-11T20:19:00.000-07:00

Water Bears at Hastings!
Never heard of a water bear? Well, they are very small, and very, very peculiar animals. Dr. Carl Johansson, from Fresno City College, spent some time at Hastings in late May, collecting water bears. Carl and crew have that rare sense of appreciation for these tiny "water bears". They are distinct enough to have earned placement by some in their own Phylum. How so? They require a good dissecting microscope to see, appear to be related to arthropods, are cute as buttons, but can be dried out entirely and not die. This "cryptobiotic state" allows them to get through the dry California summers. During the winters, they bob around in mosses, under lichens and in cracks of rocks, shingles, and detritus. They are clumsy, creep awkwardly and their muscles are made of only one or a few cells. They bound around, putting food in a mouth where it enters a relatively typical invertebrate gut. Muscles are connected to an exoskeleton (dark lines in the sketch). They twitch the muscles that are attached to plates in their exoskeletons. They can bend and move their feet awkwardly. Some can live in salt water, but most need fresh water, or at least damp lichen. They have no lungs or gills; they must get oxygen through their skin. They make eggs that are often used by experts to identify different species. Most species lay 2-6 eggs. A pile of tardigrade eggs would be a small nest indeed. Dr. Johansson kindly provided a photo of California tardigrade, Hypsibius oberhaeuseri, which is shown as a photo through a microscope (below). You never know; these little guys could be bouncing all over that lichen growing on your roof!

2007-07-11T19:53:00.000-07:00

Water Dissappears
We know we had 30,000 gal. of water in the storage tanks on June 5 at night and the next morning, it was gone. Headquarters was out of water. No cold showers, in fact, no showers at all. Jaime, Eric and I wandered around, walking the pipelines and eventually found enough valves to shut off by the Lower Barn to see the tanks start to fill. It was not until June 11 until Jaime and I walked into a huge pit down by the Hastings well. Hidden by tall weeds, none of which were green, we set up the backhoe and dug down to the 1930's pipe. Although we replaced most of this 1930's-era pipe about 15 years ago, this means we discovered our pipe maps were wrong. This pipe was obviously live. We followed it back towards the well. Both at the break and as far as we went, the 2" steel pipe was so rusted that just grasping it firmly would punch a hole. It had to be replaced.
So, we worked with the fine folks at the Berkeley campus in Physical Plant and we arranged a contract with Maggiora Bros. from Watsonville. On July 9 they started work (photos). This may take a while. Huge stones and boulders were found by the entry gate to the Lower Barn. But, that was all and the trenching has gone smoothly since they broke a chain on those rocks.
This will finally replace all the original Hastings pipes and we now have an accurate map of all the junctions, valves and pipes. We are doing this work with a desing to accomodate the future (hope!) funding that will allow us to start using the Arnold Spring again. This spring stopped in 1989 at the Loma Prieta earthquake. We switched entirely to the well, but the spring is back on. If we can refurbishg the other 2.1 miles of pipe, we could stop pumping. But for now, we have to fix the lines from the Hastings well to the Lower Barn.