Whenever I head over to Phoenix Park in Fair Oaks, I usually try to find time to walk a little farther, through the neighborhood behind the park and over to the bluffs. There I can always find a slightly different view of Lake Natoma than the one I normally see, with a wide vista of Mississippi Bar below me. On […]
The arrival of spring is a slow process with a number of stages along the way — especially in a place like the Phoenix Park vernal pools. I wanted to have a look around after the rain cleared just to check in for the first time this year. It will be awhile before the flowers start popping up, but it’s […]
We are now in the midst of summer, and while the sizzling temperatures have eased — for the moment — every day seems to bring warnings of new wildland fires somewhere in California. Per my weather app, the nearest active fire to me this afternoon is 44 miles away. Yesterday though, the Sac Metro Fire Department responded to two separate […]
The vernal pools appear dry, but the wildflowers are popping up everywhere. On my visit the other day, I saw mostly purple Vetch, yellow Hawkbit, and White Hyacinth. But as I continued to look, I also spotted Vernal Pool Goldfields, Little Quaking Grass, Checkerbloom, Valley Tassels, and even Downingia. The signs of life are definitely there to see, if you […]
I’m never surprised anymore when hiking around Folsom Lake to find driftwood shelters; some of these are constructed near the waterline (or where the waterline used to be), but others are far from the water, in among the trees. Most appear to have been hastily built, but occasionally I’ll find a shelter that was created with great care and skill, […]
It normally takes quite a lot of patience, concentration, and good timing to produce the best photos of small birds in the wild. I’m sure I’m not the only photographer who has shot many, many not-so-great pictures in search of one decent one. Of course, if just anybody could easily do it, those truly great nature photos we all admire […]
I had the strange feeling that someone was watching me as I made my way along the path at Phoenix Park this morning. I had been on the lookout for small birds in the trees — but I nearly missed this bright-eyed Fox Squirrel gazing alertly down at me from on high. Well, maybe not completely alert. That morning sun […]
One of these mornings I’m going to get myself back over to the vernal pools at Phoenix Park to visit the birds — and hopefully spend more than 45 minutes, which was all I had on my last trip. Even in that small amount of time, I saw Crows, Ravens, Canada Geese, Goldfinches, Black Phoebes, and a handful of Killdeer. […]