Home and hike

At the homestead the daffodils and lilacs have faded but the wysteria is still going strong and the rhoddies are just really beginning. Here is one of the first plants to go into full bloom with a second pink one starting up behind.

We took a hike to Abbotts Lagoon and saw Eared Grebes looking quite spectacular. The next day we went up from the Bear Valley Trail to Mt Wittenberg. All the new green vegetation is quite gorgeous. We saw some Axis Deer right at the top and on the way down these Turkey Vultures sunning (or cooling) perched with wings spread in the pines along the meadow on the Meadow Trail which we took back down. My camera doesn't really zoom much so you'll probably have to squint a bit.



Here's a photo of the Grebe (stolen off the internet, alas) that is almost precisely what we observed.

Drake's Estero Trail to Drake's Head

Griffin and I decided to do a long hike 6 miles out to Drake's Head and back and saw lots of birds and wild flowers. Here's some highlights from the hike.


We found these guys at the far end of the estuary near where the trail begins. They're some sort of Grebe. We're inexpert birders and are just beginning to be able to identify some of the wealth of bird species we see on a regular basis. We're still working on figuring out what species of Grebe we've got here. Also seen: an osprey with a fish, ravens and turkey vultures, a Surf Scooter on a stock damn, egrets and herons, and various ducks too far away to clearly identify. The Grebe was the only one close enough for a photo with our old cheap digital.

Highlights from the walk's wild flower finds. Calla Lilies are starting to fade.

The Wild Irises are just coming into their own along with a variety of small species, eg Buttercups. Huge patches of Iris are scattered throughout the cow pasture side of Point Reyes Seashore. This wide circle had probably 30 blooms with more to come.

And the Lupin are just starting up.




Arriving at Drake's Head we had a spectacular view of the Limotaur Estuary, hundreds of ducks and shorebirds, the ocean, and up and down the coast. Needless to say this photo is not the next best thing to being there.

April Fool's Weekend: elk, sandpipers, & iris

This weekend we noted that the daffodials are hanging in there though fading while the wild irises are starting to appear in larger numbers.

At Pierce Point - the male elk now have short velvety horns and the blooming wild flower list, mostly limited to mustards a few weeks ago, is growing to include the california poppy, yellow lupin, and wild irises along with numerous smaller blossoms.

At Drake's Estero - the birders were out in force along with nesting shorebirds. We only took a short hike to the closest bit of water but saw clusters of sandpipers nested along the (high tide) shore and on a few small islands of mud and grass.

Photos to follow.