Blue Gum Farm

This heritage Blue Gum Eucalyptus tree has been the home for falcons, owls, and crows.

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History

Blue Gum Farm, as it is known today, is the last four acres of what used to be a 200 acre dairy farm started by the Browns. The big, 5,000 square foot, two story hay barn was built in 1903, along with the a granny cottage (700 square feet!) in which the Browns lived for 40 years. In the 1920's, the milking laws changed, and new sanitation requirements dictated the use of cement walls where cows were milked, so another barn was built. This smaller Milking Barn has since been divided into two artist studios, one of which utilizes the old milk storage room as a closet!

The Browns planted several of the Blue Gum Eucalyptus trees that were so popular as wind breaks and shade trees of the era. Those heritage trees are now some 50-70 feet tall. One particularly fine specimen has been the home for falcons, owls, and crows over the years. In addition to the Eucalyptus, there are 100 year old Cottonwoods, Apples, Redwoods, Cedars, and Plum trees. It is the Blue Gum trees that give the farm its current name. The name for the Art Gum Studios is, of course, a cheeky art reference!

In the 1940's the Browns retired from the dairy business, and built and moved into a larger home they built on the property, while their daughter La'una Andrews and her son moved into the original cottage. Although the main dairy herd was sold, a few cows and beef cattle continued to be kept, as well as Granny Brown's beloved chickens, ducks and geese.

Over the ensuing years, Granny Brown sold off most of the acreage until only 10 remained. Fortunately, those acres remain rural, with hay and vineyards being the main crops. The last 10 acres were split by La'una and her second husband into three separate properties in the 1980s, keeping the final four acres that contained all the original buildings in the family. The Andrews sold the property in 1999 (when La'una was a spry 87!) to Helen Gillespie, the current owner and also a California native, who has been restoring the property and converting it to an art enclave while honoring the rural heritage.

The Birds of Blue Gum Farm

The birds of Blue Gum Farm are a marvelous cross-section of migratory and permanent residents.

There are several varieties of predators that include sharp-shinned falcons, cooper's falcons, crows, turkey vultures, barn owls and a pair of great horned owls. The residency of the cooper's hawks started in the summer of 2007 with a very hungry, very vocal juvenile that evicted some messy pigeons from the barn, then returned in the fall with a mate and built a nest in one of the cottonwood trees.

The property is also home to pheasants, california quail, red-winged blackbirds, brewer's blackbirds, white-capped sparrows, chipping sparrows,western house wrens, blue jays, western bluebirds, phoebes, towhees, black-eyed juncos, red-headed woodpeckers, acorn woodpeckers, northern flickers, starlings, white breasted nuthatches, bushtits, oak titmouses, robins, anna's and rufous (red/brown) hummingbirds, mockingbirds, mourning doves, ringed turtle-doves, house finches, and a lively flock of goldfinches -- or a "charm" of finches as they are called. A rare yellow grosbeak was seen on June 20, 2007 and a week later on June 27 on one of the feeders in mid-afternoon and not since ... so there's nothing like being in the right place at the right time!

Further sightings: A very shy black-headed grosbeak was spotted picking sunflower seeds out of the feeder on June 30, 2008, while a white-breasted nuthatch shimmied down the post onto the feeder to see what all the excitement was about on July 31, 2009. Neither stayed very long since a feeder is not their typical feeding method, so they must have been either very hungry or using a carpe diem approach!

Another big treat was received on December 25, 2007 when a pair of great horned owls stopped high in one of the Cottonwood trees around 10pm to hoot continuously for more than an hour! They returned a month later to hoot again but have not since returned (sigh!) - although they have been spotted at dusk a mile down the road peering at a neighbor's field. A very large owl box was created shortly thereafter and placed in one of the more remote Cottonwoods to tempt them to return and stay. They have not moved in but been seen again at dusk a mile down the road speculating about the possibilities of dinner in a neighboring field.

Here's a wild story: On Sept 17, 2010, I had an encounter with juvenile birds. I had shut the big barn doors after the swallows departed early this year around Aug 26th, leaving only a side door slightly open for the migratory bats to get in and out. Imagine my surprise when I walked inside to hear a juvenile Cooper's Hawk screech at me! He was unhurt but defiant and holding a starling clutched tightly in one claw. He panicked a little and tried to fly out one of the closed windows, still clutching his starling. He watched me closely as I used a ladder to reach and open the highest window, then hoisted myself back down. The hawk left his catch in a lower window and flew up to the one I just opened. I went over to see about the starling which had tucked its head tightly into one corner of the window. As I picked it up, it came to life and cried loudly to be released. I carried it downstairs and outside the side door, listening it screech the entire time. The hawk listened and waited just inside the high window. When I got outside, I released the starling but it just flapped to the ground; one wing injured by the hawk. I walked away and the hawk swooped down trimphantly on the starling and carried it off.

Migratory birds include the hummingbirds; both barn and cliff swallows that enjoy the Blue Gum barns from March through September; and, large yellow (but very shy) Bullock's and Hooded orioles. What started as a pair of orioles in 2003 is now a quite a large colony of some two dozen birds that return and increase each year. The (currently) five hummingbird feeders that they share must be filled twice daily in high summer once all the new chicks fledge and fly. The end of the season before the hummingbirds and orioles depart is always a treat -- what is reported by birders as a rare occurrence of more than one hummingbird on a feeder is common on the farm -- all four feeder holes are typically occupied by siblings with two or more birds hovering nearby for their turn!

For their pleasure, a variety of birdhouses and bird feeders have been built from original barn siding from the Hay Barn and are scattered throughout the property.

Beneficial Insects

Beyond birds, there are a number of beneficial insects, including butterflies, moths, bees and dragonfiles. Many swallowtails (left) float around the gardens throughout the summer as well as white cabbage butterflies.

Numerous native Bumblebees and Carpenter bees as well as Honeybees help in the garden; the Carpenter bees inhabit the rather dated rafters in the greenhouse roof - so that the greenhouse buzzes with their noise every night before they settle in to sleep!

Most recent sighting: a Lorquin's Admiral (right) was spotted on July 27, 2009 inspecting the crabapple tree.

And now a Monarch butterfly on Aug 8, 2009 darting between the trees like a lunatic. Apparently a 3rd generation non-migrator, so the idea of leaving a few thistle-type weeds growing seems to have paid off!

An aging Blue-Eyed Darner or Emperor Dragonfly (not sure which; could even have been a California Darner) was moved from the road to the fence (probably on his last legs) on Aug 8, 2009. Very large, close to 4 inches in length, with brilliant very large bright blue fuzziesh eyes and blue body. Handsome specimen but looked a bit ragged.

Aug 13, 2009: A California Buckeye Butterfly was sighted. Distinctive orange slashes on the wings as well as the blue "eyes" made him easy to identify.

Lots of reportings lately, and it's not that there are more butterflies, it's just that more effort is being taken to correctly identify them!

And then there's moths! Gracie cat brought in something huge the other night; I didn't ID it well before putting it back outside, but it was a Sphinx, possibly a Big Poplar Sphinx, with a 3.5-4 inch wingspan. Another one appeared the next night, Aug 24, 2009, a Pink-Spotted Hawkmoth, that decided to spend the next day attached to a windowscreen in disguise as a leaf (see photo); if not, it is someone else.


The latest visitor is a harbinger of Spring! On February 12, 2010, a dark shape was beating against one of the barn windows, so naturally a butterfly rescue operation was initiated for a Mourning Cloak who was still floating around the next day, prompting further investigations and the release of a second window prisoner.

An interesting note: work on a new garden area has involved ripping out quite a bit of vinca – which can be quite invasive – and revealing numerous dormant ladybugs who have been gently moved to another area to continue sleeping.

2010 had a long damp start that is reflected in the greater abundance of bugs and reptiles. Constant bluebelly lizard evictions from the house ... Mowing a patch under the cottonwoods proved to be a significant scare for a 3 foot long king snake who quickly slithered out after I finished that area on June 3, 2010.

In July, the butterfly population exploded with lots of cabbage butterflies, swallowtails, and several American Painted Ladies, one of which paused just enough in it's frantic erratic flight to allow identification. Many more behind the barn happily co-existing with the mallow, statis and butterfly bushes.

On September 5, 2010, a rather unusual small grey butterfly was seen on some clover in the back pasture near a Fiery Skipper. The grey butterfly was about an inch long with a beautiful lacy grey and white fringe around the edge of its wings. Still not able to identify it; could be a Grey Marble, or a Common Blue with summer colors or a Spring Azure... but it was definitely grey and not brown and most likely the Common Blue.

Mourning Cloaks appeared again in January in 2011. On March 25, 2011 an unusual visitor was spotted by the barn: an Audubon's Yellow-rumped Warbler. Just the one male that had a bright yellow cap, a bright yellow throat, and a distinct white band across the back of the wings.

The inclement weather in the spring of 2011 is having an odd effect: very fast mating rituals, large numbers of hummingbirds and orioles arrived in April then mainly disappeared with the May rain, and the goldfinch flock is much reduced as well. There was a rufous hummingbird that stopped and took up residence, but he may have flown further south now looking for a dryer climate. The swallows arrived late - April 4 - but the first group of young fledged by the end of May, and the next crop is incubating. There are still some strange visitors to the feeders: on June 1 what looked to be a cross between a Hermit and a Townsend's Warbler was spotted on the feeder: very definitely a black cap, very defintely the black and white wing markings, very definitely the yellow cheeks and breast, very definitely not a goldfinch or a grosbeak, but perhaps it was a Wilson's Warbler cross of some kind since those exist at the nearby Laguna.

Saw a very interesting tiny 1-1.5 in robin's egg blue butterfly on 6/16/11. Turns out it was a Blue Copper, Lycaena heteronea ...

On July 4, 2011 helped a fuzzy black caterpiller with orange bars across the lane. Apparently it is a Leopard Moth caterpiller, a nocturnal black and white moth. Cool! Also remembered that I saw a pair of very interesting smooth green caterpillars two years ago under the cottonwoods: solid green with just two "eyes" on their sides and I think one horn at the back. That's a small-eyed sphinx which is definitely on-site.

A little foot long King Snake was slithering around the potted plants near the house on 7/14/11... Spotted n American PaintedLady butterfly by the house on 7/30/11 ...

Wow! Just saw a very unusual iridescent blue butterfly. Thought it was a Mourning Cloak till I looked at it closely and it is bigger, very dark both above and below, almost black except the back is a deep midnight blue, particularly the lower back wings. There is a border of small white spots. but I can't get close enough again for a photo or better ID. It is flirting with a Swallowtail, both of them flying high and fast, and about the same size. Today is August 10, 2013. I think it might be a Pipevine Swallowtail (Battus philenor) but I can't confirm the swallowtail only the colors; will run outside and chase it down again...!