The 1.5-mile walking path behind our hotel in Flagstaff, Arizona, was exactly what we needed to stretch our legs and decompress from two days of desert driving. Our room wasn’t half bad, either. We hope to get back there at some point and maybe stay longer than one night! My title today is borrowed from a song on the original […]
The Audubon Kern River Preserve is located between Weldon, California and Isabella Reservoir, on the South Fork of the Kern River. First established in 1979, it’s now recognized as a Globally Important Bird Area: over 200 species nest each year in this prime area along the Pacific flyway. Through a series of purchases from local landowners, over the years the […]
There are a number of trails to explore when you park at the Rattlesnake Bar area of Folsom Lake SRA, but the trip out to Avery’s Pond is one of the most popular. The best time to hike the trail is in the springtime, when wildflowers are abundant and there are few if any annoying dry weeds. Of course, poison […]
Red-winged Blackbirds are in their element at the Sailor Bar County Park’s Turtle Pond out in Fair Oaks, near the American River.
Russian Gulch State Park is such a beautiful place to explore, especially on a cool afternoon in October. The sky sent down a light drizzle as I started along the headlands trail, but by the time I had circled back and later headed to the landward side of the park — following the road that crosses beneath Highway 1 — […]
I had a feeling it was going to be a good day for spotting birds as I headed over to the Turtle Pond at Sailor Bar along the American River. That was because before I even reached the pond I encountered not only a Great Blue heron looking down at me from the trees but also a Green heron. And […]
This morning I finally got outside to play with my brand new Canon 100-400mm lens. I planned to take a walk along the bluffs overlooking Lake Natoma and head out early enough to find cooler temperatures and fewer people. As you can see by the image above, there were plenty of folks — including a few Canada geese — already […]
The early history of California is filled with not only Spanish missions and gold discoveries (not to mention the indigenous peoples) but huge tracts of land operated as cattle ranches by the Californios. Here in Northern California, the neighborhood I’m sitting in was once part of the vast San Juan Rancho land grant; and down in Southern California it’s just […]