Wild San Simeon

Just after New Year's I took my mom to see the elephant seals at Piedras Blancas, which is just a little north of San Simeon on the California coast. This area is used year-round by elephant seals, but in January, the seal pups are born. Over the past few years, it has become increasingly popular with tourists who come to see these immense creatures from a vantage point that can be as close as 10 feet away, with no fence or cage to separate the people from the wildlife.

We arrived a little early in the season, it turns out, since only about 30 pups were on the beach. We were told that mid-January would be the peak, with over 3000 pups with their mothers on the beach. I made a note of this and planned to come back in a couple of weeks. Still, it was quite an enjoyable day. We even spotted a couple of sea otters resting in the kelp beds a safe distance from the elephant seals.

As we headed south on Highway way back towards Cambria, somthing caught my eye in the fields below Hearst Castle. It looked about the size of a coyote, but was greyer in color. I decided to turn around to get another look. Much to our surprise, it was not a coyote but instead a beautiful bobcat. Excitedly, I jumped out of the car at the side of the road with my camera and started taking shots. As I watched through my 400mm lens, the cat got bigger and bigger and I started to wonder if he would reach us. He kept trotting toward the road, but eventually made his way down a drainage ditch to a tunnel that ran under the road and opened to the beach on the other side. We didn't see him come back out.

Overall, despite the long drive (~3hrs), it was a great day and I plan to watch the fields more closely next time I drive along Highway 1.

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Merced National Wildlife Refuge, Late February

I took a drive on a rare sunny day in February recently to check on the snow geese and sandhill cranes and see if they had started their migration back north yet. The weather was cold in Santa Clara and snow had dusted the surrounding hilltops, but the weather report promised sunny skies in the Central California Valley.

Merced has been a favorite of mine because I can get there within about 1.5 hrs with little traffic. It always has a great assortment of birds year 'round, and I have spotted other creatures there, too, including coyotes, a skunk, lots of bunnies and ground squirrels and an occasional owl. It was the first place I spotted huge flocks of snow geese 3 years ago, having had disappointing results at the larger Sacramento Wildlife Complex at the time. Sandhill Cranes are also fairly common there, and in high numbers in the winter. It is also one of the very best places for some outstanding sunset shots.



As I entered the valley from highway 152, I could see clear blue skies and the clouds of the valley hanging just over the hills behind me. That would mean an early sunset and probably not enough light late in the day, but possibly another nice colorful sunset. It was still early enough in the day, so I decided to take a detour to the nearby San Luis refuge before ending at Merced.

The San Luis refuge is probably best known for its protected herd of tule elk, which you can almost alwas spot in a large fenced area. I have also found it's a great spot for viewing hawks of all kinds as well as Great Egrets and Great Blue Herons.
The hawks were out circling in the warm air above and made several passes directly overhead. Just past the tule elk area, sheep with lambs were grazing in the field. The lambs were probably a month or so old and were having a lot of fun, so I stopped to watch for awhile.


There were no snow geese or cranes at San Luis, but I did see a very small group of maybe four or five Tundra Swans at the same spot where I had seen a small group last year. They are no doubt the same swans or relatives, since most groups of tundras are much larger.







Just outside the reserve, the farmer had slightly flooded the fields and Great Egrets, Herons and Red-Winged Blackbirds were having a field day, so to speak, hunting for insects and frogs in the small puddles.

I headed over to Merced, as it was near 3PM and the clouds from the hills were starting to spread over the valley, leaving a dark shadow below them. I was lucky enough to outrun them and as I started the zigzag that leads the the Merced refuge, along Turner Island, I stopped in my tracks. Off in the irrigation ditch was a wet, brown mammal. I turned the car around and pulled up next to it and immediately the creature dove under the water. I decided to wait a bit for it to come back up so I shut off the engine and readied my camera. After a few moments, the animal surfaced and I got a closer look. At first I had thought it was a nutria, but I was fairly familiar with these creatures, having spent 2 years in Oregon watching them go about their lives in a little pond below my apartment balcony. I did a little research when I got home and came to the conclusion that this was actually a muskrat.

I was pretty excited as this was the first time I had seen one of these creatures in the wild, and did not expect to find one out in daylight by the side of the road. We watched each other for a little while before I bade the little creature goodbye and headed on toward Merced, in search of geese and cranes.

At Merced, I was amazed to see huge groups of white geese crowded in the fields and near the water. It seemed as if more geese from other areas had joined the regular winter group here.

Cranes were also flying overhead in small groups. Also at the refuge were the usual Northern Shovelers, Pintails, Black-Necked Stilts, White-Faced Ibises, Red-Winged Blackbirds, Marsh Wrens, Golden-Crowned Sparrows, Killdeers, and Coots. It was still too early for swallows, but clouds of young mosquitos were already swarming at sunset. I rounded the water and headed to my favorite sunset-shooting spot, near the corn fields and heard a cacophony of voices. Ross's Geese and Sandhill Cranes were gathering in close groups right near a clearing of dried corn stalks. It was the biggest and louded group I think I have ever been that close to and the evening fly-out was in better light than usual, since the days are getting a little bit longer. Steady streams of geese and cranes passed overhead, leaving their daytime spots in the pond for a nightime resting place in the field. It was a truly magical moment. I will miss these big birds when they take their leave and head back to Alaska to raise their young, but maybe if I'm lucky I'll have time to make one more visit before they go.

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The Snow Goose

The Snow Goose is a medium-sized goose that breeds in the Alaskan tundra and winters in the warmer areas of the United States. The adults are usually white with black-tipped wings and the young are grayish or “blue”. There is also a blue morph version of the adult goose that has grayish feathers. The feet and bill are pink and there is a black line or “smile” on the sides of the bill.

Every fall, the Snow Goose embarks on a long trip. On the west coast of the United States, the snow goose leaves its nesting site in Alaska, to travel in huge flocks over thousands of miles south to the warmer weather of the Central California Valley. There it spends the winter resting in wetlands and feeding on winter grains planted by farmers. The Central Valley used to be covered in vast wetlands and hosted millions of geese, ducks and swans, but early in the last century farming took over the area and the wetlands were drained to make the area suitable for planting crops. Today only a small fraction of the area is still natural wetlands. Thankfully, people realized the impact farming was having on the environment and worked out a compromise. In the spring and summer, the fields support California’s agricultural demands, hosting rice, cotton, tomatoes, onions and other crops. In the fall, farmers harvest the crops and burn the waste. The fields are then either planted with winter grains or flooded with irrigation water to support the migrating waterfowl that continue their annual migration south. Due to these restoration efforts, we can continue to witness the awesome sights and sounds of masses of snow geese taking flight at once over the Central Valley.

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San Luis NWR, Early November

Not all of my field trips are that productive. Sometimes I head out at the wrong time of the day or the wrong time of the year.

In early November, I was anticipting the arrival of the migrating waterfowl that visit the Central California valley. The fields that are farmed in the area were once vast wetlands and provided a winter home to huge flocks of geese, ducks, swans and other migrating birds. Then farmers drained the wetlands and farmed the land, reducing the habitat for the birds. Fortunately, conservationists and farmers have reached a compromise and now farmers turn their fields back over to the birds after the harvest. After the harvest, they cut down their fields of rice and corn and plant winter grain crops to feed the migrating birds and flood the fields, providing food and habitat for the winter visitors.

Last year I saw large flocks of snow geese and colorful ducks in the area and was hoping to find them again, but I started out a little too early in the season this time. No huge flocks greeted me at the San Luis refuge, but I did see several Red-Tailed Hawks waiting at their posts on the power poles.

A shy Belted Kingfisher watched the drainage ditch near the entrance but never came too close to my car.

Mysterious streams of silk floated on the warm air and caught in the trees, grass and power poles. They may have been from young spiders heading to new homes.

The tule elk, regular residents of this refuge, were no where in sight this time. They may have been resting in the shade on this warm November afternoon. Here's a shot of one from early October.

Even the Great Blue Herons, which hunt year-roud for frogs and fish along the irrigation ditches were playing hard to find. Here's one from early October.

I guess everyone was taking the afternoon off. Too bad, too, since the weather was perfect. Well, at least I had last month's photos to look through. Better luck next time.

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Fall in Half Moon Bay

A drive over the 92 to Half Moon Bay finds this ocean town in full bloom. It's just two weeks before the pumpkin festival and the fall colors are everywhere. A pumpkin stand on Highway 1 is bursting with blooms in yellow, orange and red. Sunflowers show their cheery faces to the traffic and invite travelers to stop and shop for a pumpkin.

A short way further down the road, fields of stocks, bachelor buttons and yarrow are in bloom under the warm afternoon sun, a lovely foreground to the fields beyond where horses watch for visitors driving along their ranchside road.








Surveying all from its perch on a power line high above sits a red-shouldered hawk. It's a beautiful day at the ocean and a wonderful time to enjoy the warm fall weather before things cool off and the rains begin.








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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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Sharing our Space with Nature

My house was built in 1901, back before they put in the freeways and strip malls that now surround my neighborhood. The animals and plants that lived where my home now stands have long moved away and my house has seen generations on generations of visitors over these past 100+ years. Newer homes and buildings in the area have nearly eliminated all of the open space around me, so I make an extra effort to make my yard welcoming to the wildlife that has no where else to go. When I moved in, I removed the concrete covering the backyard as soon as I could and planted flowering and fruiting plants, and I put out feeders and sources of water. It's a small, but very pleasant yard and I have frequent visits from birds and squirrels. I have also many times seen an opossum in the yard, hunting for snails and rotting fruit.

Most of the time, the wildlife stays in the yard, but occasionally I get a few unexpected house guests. A couple of times in the late afternoon, when I leave the back door of the house open to let in a breeze a hummingbird has lost its way and flow into my living room, confused by the ceiling light there. They eventually were coaxed back out by shutting off the living room light and turning on and off a sequence of lights that leads them back to the door. The same trick often works with a bee or moth.

Another guest that finds the kitchen especially interesting is the Virginia Opossum. They sneak in if I leave the door open in the evening to feast on the cat food there. My guess is they have done this on several occasions, but I've only caught them a couple of times when they didn't escape quickly enough.

Opossums love to eat just about everything, but they're particularly fond of cat food and sweets. Last year, when my basement door wasn't latching properly, a set of triplets moved into the basement for a rainy week. I have a projector and some chair set up down there so we can watch movies. One evening I was down there alone in the dark watching a movie and I saw three little figures crawl down a ledge one by one, pass right by me feet, and make their way to the open door. I later found that they had devoured a full tub of peanut butter cups that was inadvertently left down there.

In spite of the mischief these creatures may get in to, we are truly lucky that they come to stay in our neighborhoods and live with us in harmony. They are our reminder that there are still wild and natural places and things in this world.


"In wildness is the preservation of the world."
--Henry David Thoreau

Consumnes River Preserve

Grebe Eating Crayfish
Originally uploaded by Spike n Mouse.

I took a trip out to the Consumnes River Preserve this past weekend to see what kind of wildlife was around this time of year. I have made the trip just about every month to see how the varieties of birds in the area change and I think this time I saw very little variety. Of course in a month or so we'll start to see the migratory birds arrive again for the winter.

I took a hike along the river trail behind the visitor's center. The day started off cool and breezy but quickly became quite warm and I was sorry I forgot to bring some water with me. Along the trail on one side, there were brief glimpses of a stream but the view was mostly obscured by shrubs, vines and trees and was very shady. On the opposite side of the trail, the sun was shining brightly on cattails and wildflowers. I caught several glimpses of bees and cabbage butterflies feasting on purple and yellow flower which I couldn't identify, and dragonflies perching a top tule grass stems. Also in this area were lots of blackberry vines with fruits of green, red and purple. On the stream side of the trail, wild grape vines bore many bunches of small grapes.

Awhile down the trail I approached a larger pond area which was being fished by a great blue heron. Also swimming in the pond was this pair of pied-billed grebes, which darted into the cattails when they saw me approach but later came out in the open to resume diving. I didn't realize it at the time, but they were diving for what turns out to be their favorite meal: crawfish. In this photo you can see the grebe on the right attempting to swallow a fairly large crayfish.

At the pond's edge, I could see tiny fish and an occasional very large tadpole break the water surface. In the mud, there was mosaic of bird and mammal footprints and I believe I saw several river otter prints.

I continued along the trail and came across and area that was blanketed in cotton, like fuzzy snow. Leaves and ground and branches were all coated in the fuzzy white stuff, which I assume was created by some of the cottonwood trees. Also in the area I happened upon a hole in the ground with hornets buzzing in and out and was thankful that I saw it before I stepped on it.

I crossed a small bridge over a stream that connected the pond on the left with another pond on the right hand side and continued down the trial a ways until thirst got the better of me, and since I had no map or indication of where the trail was headed, I turned around to head back. Then I saw what I had missed the first time around: crayfish crawling across the open mud. This was the first time I had seen crayfish that weren't in a pot or on a plate and I watched them for quite awhile as they crawled, swam, and dug into burrows in the mud.

I backtracked to my car and stopped to photograph a few more dragonflies in the parking lot before heading out to an area down the road where I had seen quite a few migrating ducks, geese and swans last winter. I had seen fewer and fewer birds here as the year progressed and this time there was practically nothing there. I did catch a glimpse of a Northern Harrier diving in the air over the now-dry wetlands, but he soon flew out of range of my camera. I drove further down the road to where I had watched a kestrel and a white-tailed kite hunt from power lines earlier in the year, and had seen in separate occassions a red-tailed hawk and a kingfisher in the same area, but this time only a lone mourning dove was present.

I stopped to photograph a monarch butterfly which had rested on a milkweed plant, then turned to look on the other side of the road, where several curious cattle were watching me.

I was pretty hot and thirsty at this point so I rolled up the windows and cranked up the AC and headed out to the road to find someplace to buy a giant soda.

Getting in touch with nature

During the week I am a cog in the machine of a large high tech firm, working in a climate controlled building insulated from the outside world. The little bit of nature on my desk consists of a tiny bonsai tree and a couple of my nature photos on my cubicle wall. It's gray and quiet and consistent here and can at times lull you into a type of trance that is similar to that reflected in the eyes of a lion sitting in a cage at the zoo. Fortunately, I have the weekends to regain my connection with the natural world.

When I lived in Oregon, nature was always around me, but in the Bay Area of California, people have pushed much of the native wildlife up into the hills where the most expansive and expensive properties sit and look down upon the seething masses of people who live in their closely packed houses in the valley below.

In areas where the houses still have a little bit of backyard green, some wildlife holdouts have found their niche, nesting in shade trees and attics and garages and feasting on fruit from our trees, garbage and food we leave out for our pets. Usually the relationship is mutually beneficial, such as when we set out feeders and for birds which also enjoy eating the bugs from our garden. There are times, however, when our lives and their lives clash.
That is where the wildlife centers come in.

I found out about wildlife rehabilitation first hand two years ago thanks to my cat, who brought into the house a young finch. The bird was still alive and I managed to get it free from the cat's grip before it was able to do damage. I kept it overnight in a small cage and looked for help on the web the next day. I had heard about centers that take care of larger animals like bobcats and eagles and marine mammals, but wasn't sure about small birds. Luckily, I found a center that would take even the commonest little finch in and rehabilitate it.

The Wildlife Center of Silicon Valley is located next to Penitencia Creek in San Jose, on the road to Alum Rock Park. The WCSV is open 7 days a week and cares for a wide variety of injured and orphaned wildlife, from Red-Tailed Hawks to Eastern Gray Squirrels to House Finches. The center does not allow tours of the wildlife because every effort is made to rehabilitate the animals to the point that they can be released back to their homes in the wild. What a great idea. I brought in my little finch and was given a phone number and a tracking ID should I want to find out the status of the tiny patient. Then I decided I wanted to find out more about the place so I attended an orientation session the next week. I was so impressed, I signed up as a volunteer on the spot and started my first day of work that weekend.

Let me say up front that I had limited to no experience caring for wildlife. I witnessed a couple of failed baby bird rescues when I was young and I have had my share of pets (dogs, cats, chickens, rabbits, ducks, hamsters, mice, and tropical fish) and a few "pet" lizards and frogs, but had no veterinary experience. Fortunately, the wildlife center provides on the job training. There are some experienced staff on hand all the time to help with the examinations and regular training classes are offered to those who want to learn more. After 2 years on the volunteer staff, I have learned how to clean and bandage wounds, how to splint legs, how to tube-feed a dove and various other animal care activities. Then there's the cleaning, and there is so much to clean: food dishes, towels used in the cages and carriers, cages, carriers, tabletops, syringes and nipples, floors, …. It's hard work, but once in a while you get a chance to see the rewards: when you release an animal back to its wildlife home. That's what makes all of the work worthwhile.