Category Archives: Trip Report

Rattlesnakes and Kingsnakes on Mines Road

By mihir | Published: 14 July 2010

As the nighttime temperatures in the east bay moved in a decidedly warmer direction, we took a night drive along Mines Road last weekend to see what creatures, particularly snakes, we could find. Cruising around a few nights earlier revealed a Grey Fox and  a Great-Horned Owl, but no snakes. We hypothesize that the reason […]

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Dragonflies and More at Shadow Cliffs

By mihir | Published: 23 June 2010

This Sunday (and Father’s Day), we took a short trip to Shadow Cliffs Regional Recreation Area intending to see some dragonflies. Both the summertime and the creekside and lakeside habitat made Shadow Cliffs particularly dragonfly-friendly. Our trip was, by-and-large, a success. Dragonflies were everywhere, swooping, diving and hovering both above and around the water. A […]

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Mitchell Canyon and the End of a Quest

By mihir | Published: 13 June 2010

Two Saturdays ago, we took a trip to Mitchell Canyon in Mount Diablo State Park in an attempt to finally end our quest to find the Coast Horned Lizards in addition to seeing some springtime wildlife. We were successful on both counts. The park’s flowers were in full bloom, splashing colors all over the landscape. […]

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San Antonio Valley in Spring

By ameet | Published: 2 May 2010

This trip consisted of a long drive, starting from Livermore via Mines Road, continuing past the junction with Del Puerto Canyon, into San Antonio Valley,  over the slopes of Mount Hamilton, past Joseph D. Grant County Park  and ending in San Jose on Alum Rock Avenue. There is mostly private land on both sides of […]

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February Finds: Two Species of Salamanders

By mihir | Published: 27 February 2010

On a short walk along South Park Drive last weekend in the hills above Berkeley we made some pretty interesting finds: a Yellow-eyed Ensatina and a California Slender Salamander. Each November through March, South Park Drive in Tilden Regional Park is closed to automobiles due to California Newt and Rough-skinned Newt migration. The newts migrate […]

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Field Trip to Las Trampas, Contra Costa Co.

By ameet | Published: 17 August 2009

Las Trampas is one of the few parks which is accessible early in the morning. We started our hike at about 7 am with high hopes for spotting wildlife. There was the faint hope of seeing a Puma (Mountain Lion) since they have been seen here. We decided to take the trail leading to Las […]

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Field trip to Morgan Territory, East Contra Costa Co.

By mihir | Published: 12 August 2009

On Tuesday morning, I drove to Morgan Territory Regional Park for a hike hoping to see some of the general wildlife of the area. Morgan Territory exhibits classic East Bay habitat and there are no parking fees. For most of the time, I hiked along Volvon Trail. The trail was very easy to walk on […]

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Field trip to Lime Ridge, Walnut Creek

By ameet | Published: 2 July 2009

This trip marked two special things. One was Father’s Day. The other was the start of our search for the elusive Coast Horned Lizard. We had read about some sightings in Lime Ridge Open Space and decided to head there. Our walk in Lime Ridge was through some fairly open grassy slopes, interspersed with some […]

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