Saturday before last Kathleen and I went on a nature walk along the east side of the Laguna de Santa Rosa. The walk was led by Landpaths, a not-for-profit group dedicated to education and conservation of open space. There were about 40 people on the walk.
We thought we’d get rain, since it had rained heavily the day before, but Saturday was clear and rain-free, except for a heavy mist rising off the damp ground. A few minutes before 8:00 am, we gathered at the Sebastopol Community Center, then carpooled over to the Chevron Station across the bridge. At the trail-head, a glowing silver-white mist-bow—no colors but the exact curve of a rainbow–greeted us.
Landpaths does several guided walks a year through areas conserved by the Open Space District. Many aren’t open to the general public yet. Landpaths works in a pretty close partnership with the District. On this walk, they talked about the Stone Farm and the Kelly Farm and the Balleto easement they had just negotiated. Their website is landpaths.org. Check them out.
We had a plant expert and a bird expert with us. We were mostly interested in birds.
Here is a partial list of the birds we saw:
Harrier hawks (marsh hawks)
Red-tailed hawks
Red-shouldered hawks
White-tailed kite (also known as black-shouldered kites)
Kestrel
Turkey vultures
Ravens
Crows
Red-winged blackbirds
Meadowlarks
Swallows
Greater egrets
Snowy egrets
Blue heron
Bufflehead ducks
Teals
Mallards
Canada geese
We also saw rabbits (or as two people in the group insisted on calling them, “bunnies”), raccoon and scat that was probably coyote.
We walked in the area of the laguna lowlands between Highway 12 and Occidental Road. We very quietly climbed a shallow hill to peer down into a pond where at least seven species of ducks were resting.
I haven’t been that happy with how pictures are looking in the blog lately, so I’ve posted a few on Flickr.com. Go to href=”http:/www.flickr.com/photos/wallflower2009 and you can see four or five I’ve posted. (And I have no idea why the text is doing that.) When the rest of film gets developed (yes, I still use film) I’ll add some more.
If you have a chance, check out Landpaths’s website and make a reservation for one of their walks. They’re healthy, informative, fun and free.
Cool pics! i especially like the oak tree in the mist. And the ones of the Harrier hawk, wow!
And thanks for the link to Landpath’s website.
It was a great morning.
I’ll have to go check your blog to see what you posted about the Tour de California yesterday. It was too bad it rained, but I’m sure those athletes are used to it. Where did you stand? Did you get a lot of pictures?
I always spent my half an hour to read this weblog’s articles all the time along with a cup of coffee.