Oh pitiful me! (Pityopus californica)

Even rarer plants:

Because I did not know what a Pine Foot or Pityopus californica was... it has surely died.

Now, I fear that the rare plant police will come and take me away!

This strange looking plant was growing near a Glad that I was babying in my plant nursery near an old stump. In fact, I thought that it was some strange fungus. When I first noticed it, I said, "Slimey thing. Ew!" It was so much uglier than this picture. Its roots were rather shallow, pointy and short. It's base flat and white. It was so near the Glad that it was dug up along with the bulb. I am certain that it is now dead. Well, live and learn. I should take better care to identify these types of things in the future.

Yardbirds in the Rain

Spotted in between the rain and then sun.... and then rain.... in my backyard.

Acorn woodpecker stopping briefly among the evergreens
Bullocks Oreole stopping in at the rose bramble
Oregon Junco ground feeding
and a regular Rufous hummingbird at the feeder.

I found a partial blue eggshell. It may have been at least 1" in length when in tact with black spots.
The spots looked like much dirt or the spots that a fly leaves when it poops.
(sorry for a lack of sophisticated fly poop terminology here.)

Rare Plants in Thurston County

Washington Department of Natural Resources Natural Heritage Program Thurston County Rare Plants

Everyone enjoyed last weeks sunny weather outdoors. Mowing, raking, planting and weeding our backyards and gardens we should keep in mind the differences between weeds and rare plants. Sometimes it pays to look twice before you pull up what you think is a weed. I have found that there are a few plants in my yard that were listed as rare plants according to the Washington Dept. of Natural Resources Natural Heritage Program. One plant was so small, you would barely notice it, except most of us consider moss as a problem in our yards.


Moss is something we must put up with here in the Pacific Northwest, but bogg club moss is listed as a rare plant. It is really small and if you are not looking for it --- you will miss it! Its formal name, Lycopodiella inundata.

Here is my list of noxious weeds in Thurston County. It is from 2009-2010 and may need to be updated. It's my cheat sheet to weed identification.

Noxious Weeds in Thurston County (Link )

Hawks Oaks Pigeons and Doves

The Washington P. ramorum-positive soil confirmation in December 2010 (reported on in Dec. COMTF newsletter) in a Gig Harbor, Pierce County landscape (adjacent to a previously positive repeat nursery) has been identified as the NA2 lineage. This is the first time this strain has been found outside of a nursery in soil. The confirmed site is along a drainage that had been found positive with infected salal plants in the summer of 2009.-- COMTF May 2011 The May 2011 newsletter from the California Oak Mortality Task Force http://www.suddenoakdeath.org

Near the large oak grove on Canal Rd. SE in Yelm - blue back, white
breast, brown neck collar or ring, long tail.
Appeared to be the size of a Scrub jay, or Stellar jay but its neck
ring was brown. Can Western Scrub Jays have brown neck rings?

Also spotted a hawk circling on the opposite side of the oak grove
further down the road chasing the
smaller birds out of the treeline to land in the evergreens.

The pigeons are back at the silo on Ordway/Wilkenson. There was a
pure white dove or pigeon flying over the canal last week.