October 1951

YOSEMITE

Nature Notes

VOL XXX OCTOBER, 1951 NO. 10

Big Trees Lodge — Mariposa Grove Cover Photo: Aerial view of Leevining Canyon and vicinity, looking west toward Yosemite National Park. Made and donated to Yosemite Museum by Mr. Clarence Crook of Aping, California. See back cover for outline key.

THE MONTHLY PUBLICATION OF THE YOSEMITE NATURALIST DIVISION AND THE YOSEMITE NATURAL HISTORY ASSOCIATION, INC.

C. P. Russel, Superintendent D. E. McHenry, Park Naturalist H. C. Parker, Assoc. Park Naturalist N. B. Herkenham, Asst. Park Naturalist W. W. Bryant, Junior Park Naturalist

VOL XXX OCTOBER,

1951

NO. 10 MORE SUMMER VERTEBRATES OF MARIPOSA GROVE

By Orthello L. Wallis, Park Ranger, and Sol A. Karlin, Ranger Naturalist Apparently little study has been 1951, are described in the present made of the animal life of the Mariarticle. The 1951 observations were peso Grove of Giant Sequoias, almade by the junior author, the 1950 though rather intensive surveys of records by the senior. the vertebrates have been made in We do not believe that the list is other sections of the park and deyet complete. Further research will scribed in part by Grinnell and uncover additions as well as present Storer (1924), Beatty and Harwell a clearer view of the abundance and (1938), Walker (1946), Hubbs and distribution of the known forms. Wallis (1948), and Evans and Wallis Beidleman (1950) mentions "Rattle- (1951). With this situation in mind, snake Creek " several times when he Beidleman (1950) presented a preobviously had reference to Big Tree liminary annotated checklist of the Creek, which serves as the southern summer vertebrates of Mariposa Grove. His list included 79 forms. boundary of the grove. Rattlesnake Acknowledging the list was not complete, he expressed confidence that it would stimulate further investigations. Creek, the smaller stream, flows through the meadow in front of the it would stimulate further investigamuseum, past the Big Trees Lodge, tions and recorded observations of behind the campground and ranger the vertebrates. Consequently, the station, under the highway at The wildlife conditions in Mariposa Sentinels, and then joins Big Tree Grove have been discussed by Creek. Wallis (1951), and records of 19 adAdditional records for the anno ditional vertebrates, seen or collected tated checklist are hereinafter pre during the summers of 1950 and sented.

COLD-BLOODED VERTEBRATES AMPHIBIANS

Toad, California (Bufo boreas halophilus) : In 1951 a specimen was captured near Big Tree Creek, examined, and later released. Frog, Yellow-legged (Rana boylii) : Adults and tadpole larvae of this species were observed in Rattlesnake and Big Tree Creeks. No specimens were collected to determine which subspecies are present. It is probable that both the California (R. boreas) and the Sierra (R. boylii) forms are to be found within the grove.

REPTILES

Lizard, Mountain (Sceloporus graciosus graciosus) : Found along the trail from the museum to the Wawona tunnel tree and at Wawona Point during 1951. Another species, the Pacific bluebellied lizard (S. occidentalis blainvillei), probably is present also. Racer, Western Blue (Coluber constrictor constrictor) : One was seen working its way through the wet meadow in front of the museum in 1951. Snake, Sharp-tailed (Contia tenuis), Walker (1946, p. 44) reports that a sharp-tailed snake was picked up along the roadside near the Big Trees Lodge. This specimen, now in the Yosemite Museum study collection, was found on June 7, 1942, by Robert Prudhomme and collected by Don Gibbs. Only five observations of this species within the entire park have been recorded. Snake, Sierra Nevada Garter (Thamnophis ordinoides aouchii) : A 31 inch individual was discovered along Big Tree Creek in 1951. Snake, Mountain Garter (Thamnophis atratus atratus) : On September 3, 1950, a 12-inch specimen was killed by an automobile at the Massachusetts Tree. On September 13, 1950, an immature Yosemite skink (Eumeces gilberti gilberti) was collected on the fireroad near the park's southern boundary. It may be expected to be found in the grove also.

WARM-BLOODED VERTEBRATES BIRDS

Woodpecker, Lewis (Asyndesmus lewisi) : One individual was flushed from a dying immature sugar pine along the trail from the campground to Big Tree Creek on August 11, 1951. Nutcracker, Clark (Nucifraga columbiana) : A solitary individual was seen perched on the spire of a white fir at Wawona Point on August 12, 1950. An infrequent visitor from higher elevations. Sparrow, Bell (Amphispiza belli belli) : On the afternoon of August 4, 1951, a sizeable flock was seen in the upper section of the grove. It is thought that the smoke of the grass and brush fire burning out of control near Bass Lake on this date drove the birds into temporary retreat at the high elevation beyond their normal habitat. This constitutes the first record of the Bell sparrow entering Yosemite National Park. Sparrow, Lincoln (Melospiza lincolnii) : According to Junior Park Naturalist Wayne Bryant this sparrow was one of the most common nesting birds in the grove in 1950, especially in the meadow area near the museum. Nesting groups were also found in 1951. Two additional birds which may occur within the grove at infrequent intervals are the raven (Corvus corax sinuatus) and the long-tailed or California jay (Aphelocoma californica woodhousei). A raven was observed near the southern border of the grove on August 24, 1950 and the jay was seen several times in 1950 in the cut-over area at the base of Mt. Raymond.

MAMMALS

Shrew, Vagrant (Sorex vagrans) : One was trapped beside a spring located one-half mile west of the California Tree. Shrews appear to be scarce in the grove. Bat, Big Brown (Eptesicus fuscus) : In 1951 these large bats flew about the Texas Tree at dusk every evening. No specimens were collected; identification was made from size and silhouette only. Several other less distinctive species of bats have been observed but identification has not been attempted without specimens.

Ringtailed Cat (Bassariscus astutus) : A ringtailed cat was seen on the road near The Sentinels on August 8, 1950. Carl Phillips, Blister Rust Control Foreman, observed another above Sunset Point and the Big Trees Lodge in September 1950. This species is not common in the grove, which is above the normal altitudinal range. Skunk, Striped (Mephitis mephitis) : Park Ranger Kenneth Ashley (1950) observed a striped skunk in June 1950 on the lower loop trail near the Grizzly Giant. Their presence, also, was scented along other trails during the summer of 1950. Lion, Mountain (Felis concolor). This mammal appears to be a definite member of the animal life of Mariposa Grove although its numbers are of course limited. Mr. C. S. Etter of Los Angeles gave one of the writers, Wallis, the following account of his experience with a cougar kill within the grove: "Near the end of July 1949 I took an early morning walk from the campground along the loop trail to the Wawona trail. As I was returning about 8 a.m. I discovered a freshly killed fawn on the lower trail, 50 yards south of the Wawona trail junction. I had passed this spot less than 20 minutes earlier. The still warm body was torn in half and the head section was missing. Near the carcass I saw cougar tracks which identified the killer without doubt." On October 30, 1950, C. R. Wilson, park employee, found mountain lion tracks near the Fallen Monarch. Park Ranger Thomas R. Tucker and Wilson observed a mountain lion a short distance from the grove in a meadow near the south boundary on October 4, 1950. Wildcat (Vulpes vulpes). Wilson Worthen, manager of the Big Trees Lodge, reported the experience of seeing a wildcat (or bobcat) by the road just below the Clothespin Tree at 8:45 a.m. on July 26, 1950. A few days later, July 29, the senior writer found bobcat tracks on the fireroad at the park boundary and made plaster casts of them. Squirrel, Sierra Flying (Glaucomys sabrinus lascinus) : Several flying squirrels were noticed on two occasions near the ranger 's cabin during 1951. Mouse, Long-tailed Meadow (Microtus longicaudus longicaudus) : This species is common along the waterways. During the summer of 1950 six were trapped along Rattlesnake Creek near the Big Trees Lodge.

LITERATURE CITED

Ashley, Kenneth R. 1950. Sense or nonsense. Yosemite Nature Notes 29(7). Beatty, M. E. and Harwell, C. A. 1938. Birds of Yosemite. Ibid. 17(1). Beidleman, Richard G. 1950. Summer vertebrates of Mariposa Grove: an annotated check list. Ibid. 29(5). Evans. Willis A. and Wallis. Orthello L. 1951. Fishes of Yosemite National Park. Ibid. 23(1), 2nd edition, revised. Grinnell, Joseph and Storer, T. T. 1924. Animal life in the Yosemite. University of California Press, Berkeley. Hubbs, Carl L. and Wallis, Orthello L. 1948. The native fish fauna of Yosemite National Park and its preservation:

YOSEMITE NATURE NOTES 27 (12).

Walker, M. V. 1946. Reptiles and amphibians of Yosemite National Park: Ibid. 25(1) Wallis, Orthello L. 1951. Wildlife conditions in the Mariposa Grove. Ibid. 30(10).

A RARE SPOTTED BAT IN YOSEMITE

By Sam W. Elkins, Ranger Naturalist Yosemite naturalists were given a the exposed roots of a ponderosa thrill of a lifetime on August 15 of pine just a few feet from the river. this year when an extremely rare The bat was found alive and placed species of bat was brought into the in a milk carton and brought into the museum. This animal, a spotted bat museum. When it was taken up- (Euderma maculatum), is so rare that stairs and examined it was found to this appears to be only the tenth have a large white spot on each specimen found anywhere in the shoulder at the base of each wing, world. Strange as it may be, this is and a third large white spot just at the second individual collected in the base of the tail. The rest of the Yosemite. The first one was found fur was black. It also had extremely almost exactly 20 years ago, on large and "expressive" ears. From August 17, 1931. this Associate Park Naturalist Harry As seems so often to be the case, Parker was able to identify it imthe capture of this specimen hinged mediately as the rare spotted bat. on the most precarious circumstances. The specimen was kept alive for stances. On Tuesday, August 14, a the rest of that day, during which 9-year-old boy, Jack Unger of Burtime it was admired by many and bank, California, came into the thoroughly photographed. Although museum and reported to me that the given food and water, it died in its day before he had found a bat by cage sometime before the next morning. The animal was later carefully been in the water, and when he saw measured and mounted and is now it, it was on the bank being harassed a part of the Yosemite Museum by a yellowjacket that had stung its collection. wings and was attempting to sting By such lucky happenstance---its body. Since the bat was not able finding the bat in the first place, reto navigate, I asked Jack to bring it porting it to a ranger naturalist, then.

into the museum. As it turned out the finding it again 2 days later alive bat was not under restraint of any kind, but when the boy went back and in almost the same spot—we kind, but when the boy went back have added to our collection and to he found it in virtually the same spot our scientific literature one more it had been in 2 days before) This record of this extremely interesting was a semi-protected place beneath and rare mammal.

ALPINE ENIGMA

By Martha Gale, Field School, 1951 We were asleep on an alp on the of me. There he stayed for some lower flank of Mt. Dana when sometime, his head cocked first to the thing startled me. However, about right and then to the left, but always with mountain sickness combined oriented toward the camera. Then, with a nap in the midday sun do not apparently for the first time, he nomake for quick reactions, and by the ticed my shoes and socks which time I could raise my head, the had been thrown on the ground nearmeadow showed only its clumps of by. At first he shied away, but before blue lupine with yellow monkeymany minutes he was in the middle flowers, half-hid in a dense mat of of the objects. More than that, he grass, sedge, and rush which consuddenly reached down, caught up tinued down to the distant timberline. the back of one shoe in his teeth, Still I waited, but the only sound and dragged that heavy oxford 2 was that of water running from the foot up a bank of at least 45 degrees spring above. of inclination. A cry from me frightAnd then I saw it. About 4 feet ened him into dropping the shoe at that point and scrambling back to from me and directly overhanging the shelter of the rockfield. It was but the spring was a large, rounded a matter of minutes, however, heboulder, some of the giant stones of the rockfield which tumbled in irregfore the big-jowled face again ular masses from the mountain skywatched from over a rock top. Over line. And there, past a shoulder of the period of an hour the marmot the gray granite, but rounder and tried several times more to reach the darker than even the rock, rose a bit of brown fur, just enough expanse to enclose one immense, unblinking brown eye. Even as I looked, it dropped wholly behind the rock. For a few minutes nothing more happened, until a slight movement far to the side betrayed the marmot peering over another rock. My camera was now aimed and that new factor may have been disturbing, for again he disappeared instantly. Several times the marmot slipped back into the shelter of the rocks, each time to reappear at a new vantage point. Then my camera shutter clicked, but after his first fright the creature sensed that here was no danger. Gradually, with numerous hesitations and periods of panic, he scrambled into the open meadow and up to within a few feet

shoe, and each time that he ambled was 200 feet away or more. The next onto the meadow he uttered a series time that we noticed him the marmot of muted chuckles. had returned to our alp, chosen the Eventually he wandered to a farstrap of my camera case, and already part of the rockslide so that I chewed well into the leather. abandoned my camera and went This time we found an actual chase back to the spring. The episode had necessary to save the item. Whether roused my friend and we had been or not he would have returned I do talking for perhaps half an hour not know. At that time it seemed when he glanced up the slope and more convenient to continue up the yelled. The marmot had not only remountain, turned very quietly, but had seized No one has yet explained the conmy woolen sock and was already far duct of this marmot, but there is the up over the rocks at a speed that possibility that some salt accumulacaused the sock to swing back horstion on the strap and other articles zontally past his shoulder. Not until may have attracted him. Actually, a second yell did he drop that article this individual marmot seemed to be and again disappear. unafraid of people, and the whole For another half hour our visitor episode may be directly attributable kept to a point on the slope which to a form of rodent curiosity.

MEADOWS

By William L. Neely, Ranger Naturalist I sometimes wonder if, in our rethem, and not presume that every porting of natural events, we feel thing has been said? that no news is worth mentioning unEach year there are new eyes to less it pertains to some rare,species examine Yosemite, new generations from a far corner, or a seldom-witto view the most familiar sights with nessed phenomenon, or If we must wonder. It is said that our bodies write about mosquitoes we must of are remade every so-many weeks, necessity choose those from Boundnew cells replacing older ones, that ary Peak and disregard the one on even our eye tissues grow and rethe arm. But I would rather not go place older cells. What!—with new so far for information when the very eyes should we look at Yosemite's grass under my feet seethes with meadows and forests in a callous news. The ground squirrel outside manner? carries as much information as he And each year Yosemite, like does fleas. Too often we feel cornsome great organism, is reborn and pelted to report the Rare and the parts replaced. Each year new grass Little-Known, feeling that the Obvious springs in the meadow where the has been mentioned before. But Naold grew, totally new, feeling the ture will bear infinite and repeated sun for the first time. And that fainspection. Why, because someone unbar old oak by the tent, which has written about the red fir or cosprobably produced acorns [text unclear] one, shouldn't we also write of To-na-ya's people: it is new, with leaf

cells growing fiercely in the summer sun, new layers of bark pushing off the old, and new twigs shading out last year's branches. Somewhat like bark, even the rock of Half Dome is exfoliating, losing its layers in a geological manner. A leaf of rock flakes off and we are able to see a sight no eyes have seen—the sparkling crystals of the granite, hidden for millions of years, never before exposed Photo by Ralph Anderson Half Dome and Merced River The old Merced River flows as it has done for many years, under bridges and through channels, new water under old bridges gliding along endlessly until you come to regard the water as a permanent thing always there, when actually probably every drop is making this journey for the first time. Who knows how long it takes before one drop of the Merced's water, reaching the sea, merging with it, evaporating into the air again, and then borne as cloud vapor to the summit, is at last released as a crystal of snow on Mt. Lyell or Red Peak, only to melt again and flow downhill in some distant summer? I walk to the Yosemite Museum and for the hundredth time see the meadow grasses in wonderment. I never tire of them, yet have not learned all their various names, whether grass, sedge, or rush; they probably grew there before science was born. I watched them from early June, fresh and green, springing up from the boggy soil to reach maturity in midsummer, bending lazily in July's full heat, and then in August to show signs of wear, drooping more in the sun and browning a little at the edges. I can't extract them, however, and study them as things in themselves, nor write an article strictly scientific, such as "Report on the Carex of Sentinel Meadow." I see them too well in their vital relationship to the earth they are in, to the frogs and snakes that crawl over their roots, to the weather and storms of winter and the heat of July, to the very disintegration of the rocks. John Muir recognized this when he wrote: When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe. The whole wilderness to unity and interrelation is alive and familiar.. the very stones seem talkative, sympathetic, brotherly No particle is ever wasted or worn out but eternally flowing from use to use. The meadows, if they re-create themselves each summer, growing upon the roots of the last year, serve also for our re-creation. They are a restorative, but must be more than just viewed. It is unfortunate in a way that modern travel reduces our contact with Nature to such an extent that it becomes mere seeing-- "sight-seeing." That is scarcely contact. On the road to Glacier Point,

about 5 or 6 miles from it, one comes Thoreau wrote: to the trail to Mono Meadow, which is about half a mile below. Every sod is replete with mechanism. Here is a loom finer than that of a watch, and yet it is cog under our feet to be trampled on. The process that goes on in the soil and the dark, about the minute fibers of the grass—the chemistry and the mechanics--before a single green blade can appear above the withered herbage, if it could be adequately described, would supplant all other revelations. with amber water, while underfoot After setting foot in the meadow I one feels a primordial black, cold find it hard to observe objectively, mud or ooze. On the edges of the coolly, impersonally. If possessed of bog where it is drier one finds a chlorophyll I should probably root whole world in the space of a footthere and grow. As it is, the limits print. At one inch distant we get a that divide flesh from grass are not beetle 's-eye view of new forests of moss and tiny flowers, even caverns so sharp. Scientists tell us that just and stream-eroded valleys, with old a few iron molecules distinguish the a vegetation lying crisscrossed bechemistry of the hemoglobin of red neath the underbrush all patrolled blood from the green chlorophyll of by ants and monstrous bugs. Sand plant leaves. With feet in the mud, grains lie like miniature glacial eroded ratios among the mosses and liverworts, and the passage of a garter head in the clouds, and the meadow snake leaves a broad valley as all around, one strikes a healthy balance sinuous as the Merced River. Like once with Nature. snake leaves a broad valley as sinuous as the Merced River. Like In summer afternoons the meadows are drowned in serenity. Hardly a grass blade moves, and drawn out by the heat a musty smell of sedge rises like the gases of Delphi and turns the observing scientist to philosopher and poet. Like a great prehistoric bird a blue damselfly alights on a sedge stem and bends it under her weight, while a mole pushes up a Mt. Dana of fresh earth and leaves morainal ridges through the forests.

YOSEMITE CENTENNIAL 1951

DIGEST OF THE PURPOSES OF THE YOSEMITE NATURAL HISTORY ASSOCIATION

Yosemite National Park, California INCORPORATED for the purpose of cooperating with the National Park Service by assisting the Naturalist Department of Yosemite National Park in the development of a broad public understanding of the geology, plants and animal life, history, Indians and related interests in Yosemite National Park and nearby regions. It aids in the development of the Yosemite Museum and library, fosters Scientific investigations along lines of greatest popular interest; offers books on natural history applicable to this area for sale to the public, and cooperates in the publication of

$1.00 per year Subscription includes all regular and special numbers. Revenue derived from the activities of the Yosemite Natural History Association is devoted entirely to furthering the progress of research and interpretation of significant interests in Yosemite National Park.

CROWN PRINTING & LITHOGRAPHING CO.

Outline index chart accompanying photo on front cover. 1. Tioga Road 7. Tioga Pass 13. Ten Lakes 2. Forest Ranger Sta., 6,900 ft. 8. Dana Plateau, 11,500+ ft. 14. Gaylor Lakes 3. Leevining Creek and Canyon 9. Mt. Hoffmann, 10,921 ft. 15. White Mtn., 11,800+ ft. 4. Gibbs Canyon 10. Fairview Dome, 9,737 ft. 16. Tioga Peak, 11,532 ft. 5. Mt. Dana, 13,055 ft. 11. Tuolumne Meadows 17. Warren Creek 6. Glacier Canyon 12. Tuolumne Peak, 10,875 ft. 18. Mt. Conness, 12,556 ft. 19. Lateral moraines of ancient Leevining Creek Glacier