'Waucoba GJVews

Sponsored by The Bishop Museum & Historical Society, Bishop, Ca. 93514 VOLUME III ~ No. 1
Winter -- 1979
Founded and Edited by Enid A. Larson, Box 265, Big Pine, Ca. 93513 4 issues per year
WAUCOBA: il. Paiute word for "pine tree ll - also, highest peak in Inyo Mts., 11,027 ft.
WAUCOBA NEWS Subscription: Send 4 stamped, self-addressed envelopes, Box 265, Big Pine. Ca.

COYOTE RIDGE
(between BI shop
& Baker creeks )
Photo by EAL
Ze iss Con t j fI ex

Subalpine association
where ~ albjcaulis
is low-growing; from
Its mat either a white­
bark or a lodgepole has
become the central tree

WHITE-BARK and LIMBER PINES

Comments from Dr. Diana F. Tomback, Biology Dept. U.C. Riverside
l'The Clark's Nutcracker is theprl-rY{be~r.s,l· .WClII ...

~.-seeds_--D1. nutcracker stores q~tht.s .of • ..-dof :trusutJ.p4.ftA_.;

slopes and throughout the forest floor. During winter and spring t when little other natural
food is available, the nutcracker lives off its seed stores. When the bird breeds in February
or March, the young are fed primarily on pine seed recovered from stores. Each year, a portion
of these seed stores germinates in spri ng before the nutcracker can get to It•. A small percent
of the germinated seed produces mature trees. ConsequentlYt the nurcracker Is an extremely
I..ortant part of sUbalpine ecology; it l'plantsll both whltebark and I imber pine seed In sites
very favorable to germination and el iminates much of the "chance" Involved in wind-dispersal of
seeds. Dispersal by nutcrackers is probably the primary reason why both whiteback and limber .
seeds "lost" their wings. Wings became unnecessary and were costly to produce by the tree."
*~.*ttttt1~ ••tt••tttt •••• ttt~*t.*******
INTERIOR LIVE OAK in southern Inyo-Kern INS E C T S
The Interior Live Oak (Quercus Wislizenij) Research and field collections continue
Is a zerophytic shrub which also tends to be throughout the Inyo-Mona-Great Basin with
arboreal. I came upon this oak growing in emphasis on Sand Dune Habitats.
Sand Canyon in Oct. 1977, and sent specimens DEEP SPRINGS.--The sandy area near the lake
to the Call f. Academy of s.cSences. The many has proved to be the only place so far where 2
branched 14-15 ft tall shrubs tended to grow morphologically distinct popUlations of one
in groups of 8 or 10 strung out at least 0.5 ml species-group of CLICK BEETlE have been found
parallel to and 60-80 ft above the creek living in the same area; at the 17 Great Basin
(3600-4000 ft el). Digger Pine, Purshja and sand dunes where this species-group has been
Artemisia ttjdentata grow in the same sandy, found each has yielded but a single popUlation.
rocky habitat of Sand Canyon. The shrubby oaks Pit traps set and visited regularly have given
In Sand Canyon grade into trees 30-50 ft high a wide variety of Coleoptera. At Buckhorn
in this steep canyon, their feet in the water. Spring at least 40 species of Staphylinidae
Short Canyon, south of Sand Canyon also has have been collected and identified. These
Interior Live Oak. One shrub was found and be3tles are in association with the Black Toad
collected In Sept. 1978 by this author. II habitat where water remains at constant tempera­
Mary Ann Henry, China Lake t Ca. ture even when the ground is blanketed with snow.
Ed. Note: We are grateful to Mary Ann for Dr. J. Powell, U.C. Berkeley, was in Deep
calling attention to this location of the Springs recently and collected 2 more specimens
Interior Live Oak. Few botanists have been of a highly modified moth. So far a total of
aware of the location of these oaks on the 3 wingless females of this new species have
eastern slope of the Sierra. Their location been located In the sandy area near the lake.
appears on the map of Griffen & Critchfield Its life history and morphology are being
in THE DISTRIBUTION OF FOREST TREES IN CALIF., studied. The males are thought to be wingless.
USDA Forest Service Research Paper PSW - 82/1972 --Derham Giullani t Big Pine
(p. 103).
 BIRD REPORT
Second ,\nnua 1 Bird Count at· f'bno Lake
(List supplied by David Winkler)
MOno Lake Christmas Bird Count Summary of Birds Seen
'77 '7e> '~o
'78 '79 '7'1 '78 '79
Eared Grebe 43 44 \712.1 Homed Lark 19 It..
te11er's Jay 106 5 '1
Great Blue Heron 1 ~ ,~~i~'b~billed
; Magpie 60 54 5"11
ommon Raven 10 6 1.:/
swan, sp. 4. cp. Pigon Jay 250 150 r
Canada Goose 1? tf Clark's Nutcracker 76 80 J <.f
MOuntain Chickadee 88 75 13'L
Mallard 1 Plain Titmouse 2
Pintail 5 Bushtit 154 2ep ~CJ
Gw'eaol. 110 White-breasted Nuth.14 3 II .0_"'"
Common Goldeneye 1 1 Red-breasted Nuthat. 8 4 5
Bufflehead 1 Pygmy Nuthatch 9 6 12.-
Ruddy Duck 5 12.5 Brown Creeper 8 6 1
Common Merganser 3\c:p Dipper 2 3
Bewick's Wren 4 j
duck, sp. 3 Long-billed M. Wren 4 2 4­
Cairon Wren 1 I
Goshawk 1a wren. sp. 2
MOckingbird 1 I
Sharp-shinned Hawk 1 1 1D-
Cooper's Hawk .4 1 '-1[30.'1 American Robin 370 ~~
Accipiter, sp. 1 r Varied Thrush 4

Red-tailed Hawk 11 10 8 Hermit Thrush 1

Rough-legged Hawk 16 4 MOuntain Bluebird 25

Buteo, sp. 1 Townsend's Solit,-tte34 7 1'0
Go1den-crowned~ingl.­ 30 lCf
Bald Eagle la,11 /10.. Ruby-crownedf<:inglet 1 1
Marsh Hawk 1 3 :3 Water Pipit 42 12 1...D
Prairie Falcon 1 Northern Shrike 6 \
Merlin
American Kestrel
~.
,'­ Loggerhead Shrike
shrike, s p . 2
Starling
4
62 5 &D
~

California Quail Audubon's Warbler 1 cp ­

~ntain~il
~lfukar
, Sel'
House $,.~ . ' '." ."
Western ·Meado.lark
60
16
-4,.',. 1.0
3
'~

I
:lusty B1ackb~ird 1 s
American Coot 10 4 6~ r~er's Blackbird 40 8 lcf
Killdeer 14 9 1 ~!'~~k& s Finch !'i..A.. "f. - 3 1.
goldfinch, sp. 4 U.
Common Snipe 3 6 '3
Spotted Sandpiper 4
Least Sandpiper 34 't't Pine Grosbeak 3
'­ Red Crossbill 17
sandpiper, sp. 3
(~)J.ru,JJ- , \ Rufous-sided Towhee 9 'f
Ring-billed Gull 3a I Slate-colored Junco 5 2 8
gull, sp. 1 Z Oregon Junco 168 35 I ~'"

Great Homed Owl 5 2 Sparrowl l,ep /("

~

Long-eared Owl 3 .1
1

Belted Kingfisher
..........".

1 Ic:f·
Rea sfta~ed Flicker 29 2 .3

Red-breasted Sapsucker 1 L

Hairy Woodpecker 13 3 h

Downy Woodpecker 9 1 5

White-headed Woodpecker 2
a=adult; i=immature; cp=count period
lo'\.." :1'>0'6'

~~ Sf
17 7g '1
"p v!'! Ie q 11 }I'f
«----7 ~I~: ~;~.
£,~ -4D t..fl
r lqSl. (,I~ l32.el'"
----,-,.,-,.."­ *********
~f~"f {o 45 ,,3­
{.
Iq~4 (,u. 1~2-q/:)
DEDECKER'S CLOVER
An additional population of Trifolium

Vincent Yoder, Lone Pine, Ca. reports gedeckerae was encountered this past summer.

sighting a Nuttall's Woodpecker (Dryobatu This one was located in a rocky north-facing

nuttallj) 20 January 1979, 1 mile east of chute at 8000 ft in the North Fork of Oak

Lone Pine, along Lone Pine Creek. This is Creek in the southern Sierra of Inyo County.

the 2nd reported location for this species Unlike the other populations reported in the

in Owens Valley. last issue of WAUCOBA NEWS, this one is within

(Ed.) easy access of a well-established trail with
a few plants even growing immediately adjacent
to the trail. --John Wehausen, Big Pine, Ca.