On The Tip Of My Tongue

Day 135: Oemleria cerasiformis is one of the first shrubs to come into bloom in the spring here in the Pacific Northwest. "Oemleria cerasiformis," I said to myself as I passed the first one, "Oemleria...it's on the tip of my tongue...hang on...I know it...it'll come to me...WHAT THE HELL IS THE COMMON NAME?" I gave it another quarter mile of think before I started going through the alphabet. I was pretty sure there was an i-vowel sound in it. "Ia..ib...ic...id. That rings a bell. Ie...if...ig..." and in another quarter of a mile, I'd hit "in" which, coupled with "id" made me yell "INDIAN PLUM!" to an otherwise empty (thank heavens!) forest. After a relatively botany-free winter, it always takes me a while to get the synapses to snap into place. I used to have trouble with Cardamine every year (another early bloomer) until I put it into storage as "something to do with 'heart,'" but it has never been in my mental database as "bittercress." In late summer, Indian Plum (the Oemleria under discussion) makes small oval fruits consisting primarily of a large seed and a little skin. That said, they were used as a foodstuff by native peoples here which, under analysis for calories vs. effort gives one a much greater appreciation of how tough it is to survive as a hunter-gatherer.

White-Crowned Sparrow, Zonotrichia Leucophrys

Day 194: I refer to them as "racing-stripe sparrows" or "the guys with the go-faster stripes." The head of the White-Crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys) is marked by three distinct white stripes, one through each eye and one on the crown which meet at the back of the head, which makes the bird look as if it's wearing a bicycle helmet. When the bird is excited or curious, it may raise its crown feathers. As a species, they are gregarious little critters, often feeding among other birds including juncos and other sparrows. Their primary diet consists of weed and grass seeds, as well as a wide variety of insects and even some small fruits such as elderberries or blackberries. Their feeding habits resemble those of the Spotted Towhee: hop, scratch, hop-back-scratch. This action raises seeds and bugs to the surface where they are more accessible. White-Crowned Sparrows tend to stay in any given area, so their song often shows dialectic differences in different regions. Males which live on the border between two regions may learn to sing two different dialects. The locals can often be heard calling for "more cheezies," one of the mnemonics which can be used to identify this bird by ear.

Mnemonics

Day 78: How can you tell the difference between spruce and fir? That's a fairly common question around here, and something a simple mnemonic device can resolve. The needles of Spruce (starts with S) are square. Fir is flat (F). The images in the boxes show enlarged cross-sections of the needles, but you don't need to make a microscopic analysis. Simply try to roll a single needle between your thumb and forefinger. If it rolls easily (if somewhat bumpily), it's spruce. By virtue of being flat, fir needles won't roll. Wasn't that easy?