Boring Beetles aren't so boring: The Banded Alder Borer

Beetles aren't necessarily the most exciting critter to many people. In fact they can give some people the absolute creeps! But some play a positive role in nature and are downright beautiful. Mention the phrase "borer beetles" and usually the reaction isn’t going to be a positive one. Most species of this “long-horned borer” beetle family can cause extensive damage to nature as they bore into live wood. Some of you may recall hearing about the dangerous imported Asian Long-horned Beetle, which devastated mature trees in several Eastern US cities during 1999 and 2000. This caused thousands of trees to be destroyed in Chicago and New York in particular! Harmful boring beetles will attack forest trees including maple, poplar, and alder. They kill the trees by boring large holes through the heartwood of the tree. This in turn causes serious damage to the live tree. Most of these long-horned beetle species which are harmful to trees have the long antennae and long bodies which are characteristic of this family. However, we are fortunate to have a native beetle to our area in this family which actually is beneficial to nature! Introducing: the Banded Alder Borer.
The Banded Alder Borer is very striking as it is 1-1.5 inches long with large black and white striped ("banded") antennae and black and white markings on the body. The antennae are longer than the body! It feeds on alder, ash and other hardwood trees. However, it feeds on the dead or decaying wood of these trees. This in turn is helping with the promotion of the decay of the dead wood in the ecosystem. They lay their eggs on the surface of the tree bark. As the larvae develop they then tunnel inward and later prepare pupal chambers which will be home until the beetle is "born" to life.
Typically you will only see single individuals of them during the summer. Occasionally, however, they are strangely attracted in groups to fresh paint on the sides of buildings during warm/hot weather! Speculation is that a volatile chemical in paint can mimic a certain attracting scent ("pheromone") which draws the beetles to each other. Some painters have returned from a lunch break only to find a number of them unfortunately dead in their open cans of paint. The Banded Alder Borer is the only known beetle that seems to display this potential attraction to freshly painted areas.
Don't expect to come across these lovely beetles very often as they actually are quite uncommon to see. But if you should be lucky enough to see one take a moment to get close and watch it. They do not bite and are not a pest in any way---there is no need for taking any actions to control them!

There's moss in that there forest...and waterfalls...and good friends

What a joy it was recently the past few days to escape for a much needed mental break from stressful recent times and not only get outdoors, but have it turn out to be a new trail for me which was one of the best new additions for me in some time, all while shared with great friends. Karen Sykes, Bob, and myself headed SE down SR-410 from Enumclaw into the White River Valley and thoroughly enjoyed hours of hiking up the Palisades Trail. Moss covering every rock, maple tree branch, even cliffs covered with moss alongside of waterfalls. Huge old growth trees, calypso orchids growing out of the forest floor moss, western trilliums, yellow violets, spooky views from atop the palisade cliffs,

even getting into a dusting of snow still on the ground once above 4000' elevation.

This area is such prime early season hiking as it never has as much snow as the areas in the Central Cascades, and the southern exposure always melts the snowpack off sooner. Karen, Bob, and myself shared hours of stories and ideas all while we strolled the 9 miles of hiking we did and dozens of photos we took. What a great day! A sure thing bet this trail is in the next edition of the Day Hiking books as well as other projects I'm working on.

Thanks for a great day in the mountains, Karen & Bob!

Let's talk hiking and photography this Saturday!

A quick note that the lovely new (well, it was new 10 years ago or so but still is a beautiful building) library in Sammamish will host me this coming Saturday afternoon, May 8 @ 2:00pm to present a talk and show sharing my adventures and stories working on the Day Hiking book series, published by The Mountaineers Books. Get a great start to your Mother's Day weekend and get excited for a great 2010 hiking summer ahead! See you there I hope.

Artist Reception at Marianwood Art Gallery tomorrow

Hello friends-Just a quick note to invite anyone who might be interested in coming by to see the “Hit Me with Your Best Shot” photography exhibition being shown at the Marrianwood Art Gallery up on the Sammamish Plateau. The show runs until May 31st but tomorrow night happens to be the artists reception to have a little bit of fun. I’ll also have a table set up with extra unframed matted prints, some cards, and even my guidebook series of books for people to browse over if they are bored. Ha.
This is a continuation of the artEAST winter gallery show that was in Issaquah for the month of February at the UpFront Gallery – I haven’t even seen the gallery yet so I’ll be curious how it is set up there actually. For an interesting side note….turns out the quartet music that is lined up for this is a quartet made up of four members of the Evergreen Philharmonic Orchestra in Issaquah, of which the viola player will be my own daughter. We didn’t even realize that until just a week or two ago – funny! Pretty cool….
Thanks for your time and maybe I’ll see a few of you there tomorrow evening!

What a beak...the Evening Grosbeak

Here we have a rather uncommon bird that many of you may not have experienced yet. But one thing is almost for certain: if you see one, you will see many more! Moving around often in large flocks, the evening grosbeak (Coccothraustes vespertinus) can fill your surrounding trees with a loud chorus and also drain your large birdfeeders of sunflower seeds in a hurry.
About 140 years ago, English-speaking settlers in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains came across a beautiful big-beaked bird that appeared mysteriously from somewhere in the distant west. They named it evening grosbeak in the mistaken belief that it came out of the woods to sing only after sundown. The species today has expanded its range---prior to 1890, they were unknown east of the Great Lakes, whereas today they continue to expand their breeding range throughout the East. Thus not until recent times (historically speaking) have they even been known to exist to white settlers. The modern day abundance of sunflower seeds at feeding stations is one of the keys to its range expansion as the seeds available have extended the chances of them being able to survive the winters in areas their native wintering seeds (primarily seeds from the cones of spruce, balsam fir, and pine trees) never existed!

The evening grosbeak is considered a very common bird…if you are lucky enough to have them around. However, they are very spotty in their distribution and while one area might be overwhelmed with dozens of them the next areas will not have a single specimen. They are an erratic migrant in winter as the occurrence of their flocks is unpredictable. They are large, gregarious, nomadic finches that travel in raucous flocks. During the winter, evening grosbeaks are irregularly common, sometimes appearing in large flocks at feeders where they can devour huge amounts of sunflower seeds. I can’t describe the amazing sense you experience when getting the opportunity to stand outside and listen to a flock of 30 or 40 of them all chirping! The chorus of chatter they create is absolutely lovely!
A fascinating feature about this bird is of course its beak. The evening grosbeak's bill is bone color during winter, but it undergoes a dramatic change in pigmentation in early spring. Its new color matches precisely the green of fresh deciduous buds and leaves and also the new needles that will tip the spruce boughs around the site where the bird's nest will be built a few weeks thereafter. The evening grosbeak conceals its body in the trees and in order to see lifts only its head and bill, which looks like a young green spruce or balsam cone. This is a terrific example of protection through appropriate coloration!

Certainly no farmer will wish to take away from them the weed seeds they devour. A grosbeak getting all its daily energy from budworm larvae would eat 1000 a day. These birds crowd into budworm infested areas to breed and raise young, then move elsewhere when the infestation declines. Because of its appetite for this destructive pest, the evening grosbeak is one of our most beneficial birds! So while they are not as common as our summer visitors, the black-headed grosbeaks, they certainly are a joy to experience if you are so lucky to have them at your feeders during their times passing here in the area!

Peaceful wanderings in the Pack Forest

A very wet past 72 hours got me antsy to go hike more new areas for future projects and get a good fix of waterfall hunting in the meantime. The Pack Forest lands south of Eatonville offer a wonderful opportunity for peaceful lonely roaming and there are many trails and roads to choose from. With the dark "dripping" clouds hanging on tight to the foothills my friend and I decided to leave places like Hugo Peak for a second visit in coming weeks, thus we opted to roam northward and enjoy the waterfalls along a stunning gorge where the Little Mashel River flows toward Eatonville where it joins the Mashel River.

What a stellar day of moss and water! The heavy rains of the previous 3 days had the river flowing at a very strong level causing numerous other smaller waterfalls to be cascading over the cliffs than you might normally see, I would have to assume. The overcast light, fresh green moss and leaves coming out, all made for a very lush peaceful setting. And very muddy to slop around in - I think we almost filled our boots with mud on a few occasions as we hiked down toward Lower Mashel Falls!

Return visit will have to happen to fully appreciate roaming the highlands up around Hugo Peak and the Trail of Giants. Western Trillium was starting to bloom in force, Red-flowering Current was blooming near the river, and water was the enjoyment for the day to go along with wonderful company of a good friend. Thanks Michael.

Fuller Mountain - a mossy kind of trail overlooked by most

Yesterday dawned as a day due to be bright, sunny, and lacking rain. Like many days of this past winter! So having a chance to fit in a day on the trail to get to a needed area for future projects I loaded my gear, cameras, and border collie to enjoy a quick 3+ hour hike up Fuller Mountain in the Snoqualmie Forest lands of Hancock Timber NE of the Snoqualmie Valley.

We crossed Ten Creek just fine on the footlog that still stands after all these years. Funny now how my dog runs across it and even I have to take it easy - silly dog! She is the smartest Bauer family member and she knows it. The trail isn't as "faint" as I remember it to be, but still in 2 rocky scree crossings the trail is basically "lost" and you just have to be smart about knowing where it would come out on the other side - not a lot of places to look to find it if you are "lost" as the trail is on a steep mountainside! The mossy viewpoint at the summit area (not the actual summit but with in 5' elevation of being the top) was a great lunch, and then my wonder dog hiker buddy and me headed back out. Much to do - lunch, yard, kids, and Little League!

A great day....