Visitors 50
Modified 20-Aug-25
Created 20-Aug-25
14 photos
A quailing Quail skitters to an outlook, then melts into the brush along the trail. We see no larger covey. A small bee visits blossoms of California Buckeye*. Naturalized European Cow Parsnip, going to seed, towers over trail and docent. Shy bunny freezes in shadows, hoping to pass unnoticed. In the shallow waters of Searsville Lake, Double-crested Cormorants converse.
Two docents traverse the Preserve from Mapache to the Main Gate as ‘Ootchamin ‘Ooyakma settles into summer, June 2025.
*All parts of the California Buckeye contain poisonous alkaloids. Naturalized Western Honeybees (Apis mellifera) go crazy on Buckeye nectar or pollen: "buckeyed bee". Our native bees are fine; I hope this is a native bee. BTW, buckeyes were treasured by the First People: used for harvesting fish, and even as a source of food in a pinch, after leaching out the poisons. I would not advise trying this at home.
Two docents traverse the Preserve from Mapache to the Main Gate as ‘Ootchamin ‘Ooyakma settles into summer, June 2025.
*All parts of the California Buckeye contain poisonous alkaloids. Naturalized Western Honeybees (Apis mellifera) go crazy on Buckeye nectar or pollen: "buckeyed bee". Our native bees are fine; I hope this is a native bee. BTW, buckeyes were treasured by the First People: used for harvesting fish, and even as a source of food in a pinch, after leaching out the poisons. I would not advise trying this at home.
Dan Quinn