SPRINGVILLE – Local ecological and climate researchers and educators Amanda Driver and Nancy Bruce led Field Sciences Day at Circle J-Norris Ranch on Friday with local interns from both Americorps, Sequoia Riverlands Trust, and SCICON, as well as Morgan Driver from Monache High School.
Hannah Rook and Sam Wiser and intern Matthew Lotakoon worked with Amanda Driver, Morgan, and Bruce as they all measured the status of fairy shrimp in one of the large vernal pools nestled in a pasture not too far from the huge pond on the ranch that usually has ducks, egrets and herons.
There were water fowl as well as hawks in the sky, with cows grazing in the trees across the pond. The goal for the day was to begin monitoring the vernal pools that form after a significant rain, and find not just fairy shrimp, but the types of plants growing around the pools, and other invertebrates growing there. Amanda Driver said the vernal pools can last quite some time on the ranch depending where they’re located on the ranch. She and other researchers have found the fairy shrimp are temperature dependent, and there are multiple species. They also looked for aquatic beetles, but didn’t find any.
Vernal pools can be anywhere, said Bruce, even in puddles between orange groves and the street in some areas. And the plants that grow around vernal pools often create the habitat for the shrimp to grow in them.
The first pool measured about 88 feet long, 25 feet wide, and about 3 feet in depth, and there was non-native dock growing around the pool and in the water. And the researchers found more fairy shrimp growing in more open spaces in the pool. As well as tree frogs.
Amanda Driver said the group surveyed 12 vernal pools on the ranch, 6 of which had measurable water. Of the 6, four had fairy shrimp, and three had tadpoles. Currently, the water levels in most of the vernal pool sites are low or non-existent. Driver’s hopeful the storms expected this week will add a significant amount of water to the vernal pools, which will give frogs and toads a valuable resource in which to lay eggs and grow tadpoles.
They also participated in the Great Backyard Bird Count, and observed 30 species of birds on the ranch.
It was a wonderful day to conduct scientific research in a beautiful setting with great weather. This annual event is open to the public and students are encouraged to participate in this opportunity to contribute to scientific research in the coming years. Next year’s Science Day event will take place on Friday, February 12, 2027.
There were 194 individual birds from 30 different species observed: 2 Gadwall; 10 Common; Merganser;4 female; 6 males; 7 California Quail’ 25 American Coot Killdeer; 2 Pied-billed Grebe; 4 Black-crowned Night Heron; 1 Great Egret; 1 Great Blue Heron; 2 Turkey Vulture; 1 Red-shouldered Hawk; 4 Red-tailed Hawk
MATING, COURTSHIP BEHAVIOR
2 Great Horned Owls, One in nest; 7 Acorn Woodpecker; 1 Nuttall’s Woodpecker; 4 Northern Flicker; 1 American Kestrel; 1 California Scrub-Jay; 1 American Crow; 5 Common Raven; 13 Oak Titmouse; 4 Ruby-crowned Kinglet; 5 White-breasted Nuthatch; 10 European Starling; 6 Western Bluebird; 1 American Robin; 24 Dark-eyed Junco; 16 White-crowned Sparrow; 6 Western Meadowlark; 22 Red-winged Blackbird.
“It’s nice to know that science can happen in the beauty of the outdoors,” said Bruce who recently went to the California Native Plant Society Conference in Riverside that was full of people under 30-years-old and people 50-plus.
As the director of Circle J-Norris Ranch Amanda Driver said she feels fortunate to preserve “this land” for future generations.