I only have to walk a few blocks away from my house to find vernal pools; in the early springtime when they fill with rainwater, I can hear the Pacific chorus frogs singing their breeding calls, even with all the doors and windows of my house shut. This tiny pool is another matter. We happened upon it as we hiked […]
It’s kind of a fun challenge to try and photograph turtles sunning themselves on logs; they are extremely wary and tend to disappear into the water at the least sign of movement on the bank. Unfortunately, most of the turtles I see in my area are Red-eared Sliders, an invasive species that crowds out the native Western Pond Turtles.
It was October 1996 when I first visited this stretch of the American River with the Big Guy. We rode across a small pedestrian bridge (officially named Jim’s Bridge as of 1989) on our bikes to explore the north bank, looking for promising fishing spots along Sacramento Bar. I had seen this particular bridge many times but had never set […]
Most of the trees on Mississippi Bar are oaks, cottonwoods, or pine trees. But there’s at least one palm tree sitting on the bank of one of the ponds. I can’t tell how long it’s been there or how it came to be there in the first place, but I always like to check on it whenever I’m hiking nearby. […]
A few images from my morning hike on Mississippi Bar.
Black-crested night heron
These small depressions fill with water only during the spring and autumn rains. Such seasonal wetlands are vital to many forms of small animal and plant life, and unfortunately many have disappeared forever under various types of human development.