LAST WINTER'S RETROSPECTIVE

 

A visit from the itinerant California thrasher.

Red shouldered hawk at the waterhole.

California quail hen.

California quail cock.

California ground squirrel.

Tended Bartlett pear orchards. Once the self-proclaimed Pear Capital of the World, Kelseyville is losing its orchard acreage to an increasing number of vineyards.

Barn owl house on The Mother of Oaks.

Clear Lake and its snows.

Mountain weather.

Burning slash pile.

CHILLING

 

November sunset from the Valley Oak grove.

Two sharp tail snakes, which sheltered under the stock tank.

Child of the Night - Coyote.

Wildlife pond as the bentonite clay lining settles.

The most ancient lake.

Lake launch.

Grape wagons.

November vineyard at Finca Castelero.

Gingko.

Outdoor seating with ash leaves.

Our neighbor videoed this red tailed hawk eating a tree squirrel. The following day, the hawk was found dead. Could the squirrel have ingested rodenticide and passed it on to the hawk? Seems likely.

FADING OUT FOR ANOTHER YEAR

 

Black walnut and California buckeye in the riparian zone.

Roscoe befriends Sophie at Shady Rock Ranch.

Hand-dug wildlife pond. Water is still milky from the bentonite clay lining. The pond will be a summer refuge for chorus frog and Western toad eggs and tadpoles as Kelsey Creek goes dry.

Through Valley Oak boughs to Konocti.

Sweet gum or liquid amber, a native of the North American Southeast.

Kelsey Creek flowing fast from October's first big rain.

The eggs of Finca Castelero.

Virginia creeper on Mother of All Oaks with new barn owl box.

Coyote, stressed by injury and drought, stood at Hopland Grade roadside for two weeks before finally being struck down by a car. This report according to our local wildlife ranger.

One of twenty bluebird boxes at the ranch.

Looking across Big Valley and the lake from Mount Konocti - the clearest air basin in California, and sometimes the whole country. That is when the surrounding forests are not ablaze.

SUMMER PICTURES

Native buckwheat hosts a community of pollinators.

Wranglers' Home on the Range.

Immature red shouldered hawk at the waterhole. 

Black tailed deer frequent the ranch more often since we have enhanced the habitat.

Local wildfire footprint over a span of 125 years. The fire-adapted chaparral community bounces back within a few years. But the big timber, including valley oaks may not recover as fires grow more intense and frequent.

Gopher snakes, on the scent trail of rodents, hug the perimeters of the ranch buildings.

Gray fox, rarely seen in daylight, visits the oak meadow.

Black-tailed jack rabbit captured by trail camera.

Tragically, a female California king snake, gravid with six eggs, was killed by a car.

In trying to salvage the eggs, I delivered them to be incubated at the Berkeley Vivarium. Unfortunately, they were not developed enough to survive.

Moonlit scene evoking the 19th Century paintings of Ralph Albert Blakeloock (1847-1919).

Osprey nest on platform near Upper Lake. 

Native penstemon.

Plein air painting beneath the Valley Oaks.

Ponderosa Pine at Boggs Lake.

Red-shouldered hawk at waterhole.

Cooper's hawk

White-lined Sphinx moth, also known as hummingbird moth, and hawk moth.