On a Sunny, calm Saturday morning (April 26th) we kayaked over to
Yellow Island in the San Juans.?Yellow is a Nature Conservancy Preserve
(http://www.nature.org/wherewework/northamerica/states/washington/
preserves/art6383.html) and it lived up to its name covered in bright
yellow Buttercups and a myriad of other spring flowers including Fawn
and Chocolate Lilies, Shooting Stars, Purple and Death Camas, Sedum,
Saxifrage, Flowering Currant, among the most spectacular.?Phil Green,
the N.C. on-site steward of the preserve does an outstanding job with
his expertise of the local flora and fauna, as well as protecting the
island and shepherding the many visitors around the designated paths.

?Bird highlights were Common Loons, a flock of Black Turnstones, Black
Oystercatchers, Harlequin Ducks, Common Mergansers, Orange-crowned
Warblers, Northern Flickers, with many Song and White-crowned Sparrows
and Rufus Hummingbirds establishing their territories.?

?Several Harbor Seals were hauled out on a reef next to the island and
a River Otter was grooming on a sunny rock.

?Near Deer Harbor we observed a pair of Rufous Humming birds
mating.?The male pursued the female to the ground where mating actually
occurred.?We also watched another female RUHU gathering cattail fluff
for nesting material.

?In a nearby pond, many Rough-skinned Newts (Taricha granulosa) were
foraging on the substrate of the pond.?We observed a pair of newts in
amplexus.?During the breeding season the male newt develops a dorsal
crest on his tail, nuptial pads on his toes and a swollen
cloaca.?During amplexus he is on top of the female, he grasps her
around the neck, and holding on with his nuptial pads slowly moves
forward over her head.?He then deposits a spermatophore on the
substrate and if the female is sufficiently interested she will pick up
the spermatophore with her cloaca.?The female then lays her eggs
fertilized by sperm released from the spermatophore within her body a
short time after mating.?We have observed this breeding behavior in
captive newts in aquaria for a research project at the U. of W.

?Ah, Spring Time in the San Juans!

?Don and Sandi McVay
Seattle
dmcvay at cmc.net

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