It was a nice sunny afternoon in early April and Long Ridge Open Space Preserve looked quite inviting. As expected, the wildflowers were putting on a great show. We started with Peters Creek Trail. The view was wonderful, as you looked northwest along the trail. In the first stretch from the parking lot, we […]
This is an account of an afternoon hike in mid-February, on the Eastern slopes of Highland Ridge, in Morgan Territory Regional Preserve. The starting point was the intersection of Morgan Territory Road and Highland Ridge Trail. In the very first section I came across a murder scene. A little scrutiny revealed the identity of the […]
An Afternoon in Lime Ridge May 2012 It is a pleasant, sunny afternoon in the East Bay. My brother and I are on a nature hike in Lime Ridge open space, an area stretching from Walnut Creek to Concord, and home to a variety of reptiles, amphibians, birds, mammals, and insects. The landscape is a […]
It was a nice weekend in early April and Las Trampas Regional Wilderness was beckoning. There was no rain. It turned out to be a good day for lizards and butterflies. And some early wildflowers were already blooming. The most common were the California Buttercups. Then I started seeing the butterflies. The first one was […]
It’s about that time of year again when salamanders become easier to see around the bay area so I took a few hours today in between bouts of severe rain to poke around some logs at Pleasanton Ridge Regional Park. We’ve seen several amphibian species here before including California Slender Salamanders, Yellow-eyed Ensatinas, California Newts and Western […]
An afternoon stroll in Morgan Territory Regional Park this Sunday, prompted by delusions of spotting a Puma (aka Mountain Lion, Cougar), turned into an above-average, all-around wildlife outing. During our hike , in addition to several birds and butterflies, we observed in great detail several species of dragonflies as well as a couple nice amphibians. […]
A brief walk around noon in the hot sun at Briones Regional Park didn’t reveal much in terms of spotting many different species, but did give some great views of possibly the largest Western Rattlesnake I have ever seen (it must have been close to three feet if not over). It’s not often that you […]
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 […]
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. […]
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 […]