Life's mosaic, as of this writing, is mostly intact at the ranch.
Jackrabbits, ground squirrels, tree squirrels, opossums, raccoons, wood rats, deer mice, gophers, voles, moles, bats, snakes, salamanders, lizards, quail, ravens, bluebirds, tree swallows, acorn woodpeckers, scrub jays, towhees, orioles, grosbeaks, starlings, doves, finches, humming birds, wrens and wood ducks carpenter bees, bumble bees, yellow jackets, cynipid wasps, midges and gnats all breed within our habitat-rich three acres. Nearby, are the nests of red shouldered hawks and ospreys.
Free ranging cats are a major nemesis here, threatening the continued existence of many of these species.
Thus far, the cats have extirpated at least one ground-nesting bird species - the road runner. They have almost wiped out the thrashers too, but one surviving thrasher made a brief appearance in 2020. The cats have severely impacted quail numbers. Coveys formerly comprising forty birds are now more typically made up of no more than a dozen individuals.
Some threats like West Nile virus have seemed to recede after devastating the scrub jays. Ominously, rabbit hemorrhagic fever arrived in California in 2020 - a dire sentence for the jackrabbits.
Migratory birds - Bullock's orioles and black-headed grosbeaks - still connect Mexico with our grove of oaks.
As for monarch butterflies, their population in the West has plummeted 99% since the 1980s. They are in an extinction vortex. A single individual monarch was seen at the ranch last summer. We have initiated the planting of milkweed in a last ditch local effort to aid the species.
Undoubtedly, many easily overlooked invertebrates have already vanished.
Witnessing the return each Spring of these various travelers is a solace to humans, who like to believe that the natural rhythms of life will endure.
Black tailed jack rabbit.
Black tailed jackrabbit, juvenile.
California ground squirrel.
Turkey vultures.
Wild turkeys.
Red shouldered hawk.
Opossum.
California thrasher, having vanished from the ranch for five years, returned in 2020.
This is a bird with a big personality.
Acorn woodpecker.
California scrub jay, abundant again after West Nile virus killed many sixteen years ago.
California ground squirrel.
California quail.
Eurasian collared doves have proliferated across North America in recent decades, first appearing at the ranch in 2015.
Sharp-shinned hawk, juvenile.
Northern flicker (red-shafted).
Western gray squirrel.
Tule marsh at Bogg's Lake.
Fig reduction with orange zest and orange juice.
Crepe myrtle.
Raccoon tracks.
Yellow zucchini.
Cucumbers.
Tiger swallowtail.
Before the mowing.
After the mowing.
Blueberries.
Pacific chorus frog.
Honey bees on onion blossom.
Acorn Woodpeckers, painting for Imagery Estate Winery wine labels.
Right and Left, Acorn Woodpeckers, painting after Right and Left by Winslow Homer after Goldeneyes by John James Audubon. These two were killed by a vehicle.
Creek Bank, painting.
Honey bee boxes.
Rural monuments - walnut crates.
Various nests.
Pear orchard blooming in April.
Brumation, serpents' version of hibernation, in this case sharp-tailed snakes beneath the septic tank lids at the ranch.
Trillium in March.
