Baylands in the Morning

I have often visited the Baylands preserve after work or at lunch during the work week, but wanted to see what it was like in the morning. One weekend, a couple of weeks ago, I dragged myself out of bed early and headed over there with cameras and coffee. The tide is lower in the morning, or at least it was this morning, and the shore birds were taking advantage of it, sucking up mud filled with tiny creatures and plants. The Marbled Godwits were very busy that morning and didn't take much time to look up from their work. Working along side the Godwits were Avocets and Plovers, equally involved in their mud scouring.

It was a chilly morning and fairly quiet otherwise. A low fog blocked out much of the light and noise of the day and the air was still. I decided to head back for more coffee and as I was leaving a trio of American White Pelicans made a circuit around the park overhead.

I headed out of the preserve, but before I headed home I made a stop on the frontage road that runs along the outside of the park. It was too difficult to get a good view of a flock of White Pelicans that were resting on a pond, but I did see some smaller creatures that were closer to the road, including a Checkered Skipper and a Garden Spider.





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Elkhorn Slough, Early September

I took a walk through Elkhorn Slough a couple of weeks ago. I realized when I got there that it was about the same time of year I had been there a year ago when I had not seen many birds, except for an exciting show by some Acorn Woodpeckers.


This time I took a different trail, hoping to see a different variety of wildlife. It was a hot day dry day, and although I remembered to bring plenty of water, this time I forgot to bring a hat! I took the Long Valley loop trail, which sloped downward from a grassy meadow which was filled with dry grasses gently blowing in the wind.


I spotted a few butterflies along the trail, feasting on thistles and dandilions.
There were several skippers and a small, whitish butterfly I couldn't identify.


Further down the trail, the poison oak was plentiful, with leaves turning red and berries ripening. I kept my distance but observed a bird who was making a lunch of the berries.

Down by the lake, there was an egret on the opposite shore, but too far away to get a good photograph. The trail followed along the lake, which was otherwise deserted, for a short distance then rose up again as it led back toward the visitors center.

More thistles along this sun-soaked slope and they were busy with bees and butterflies.

A little further up, there was some commotion in a live oak: a fledgling Hutton's Vireo was demanding another meal from a parent. They chattered for a bit before the parent flew off, leaving the youngster alone.


I passed by the five fingers trail at the trailhead, since it seemed to circle back to the same lake, and instead headed back to the trail I took a year ago, hoping to see more woodpeckers. Along the trail, it was virtually empty, except for the ocassional fence lizard. But the sun soon became too hot and the trail too long and I decided to turn back to return to the shelter and air conditioning of the truck. I will have to remember to return after the fall migrations have begun or in the spring during the breeding season to try and catch a greater variety of wildlife.



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