Created 5-Aug-25
Even when shallow, retreating from swampy borders, Searsville Lake is still a center of activity. Waterbirds, of course: Great Egret and cousin Great Blue Heron fish in the shallows; ducks dabble with Canada Geese and coots; a coot gets randy. Nearby, a Red-tailed Hawk scans the woodland and grassland for prey – and seems puzzled by the photographer’s camera, reflecting another hawk. Doe, fawn, and quail hang out. Retreating waters leave soggy banks, colonized by successive strips of seasonal plants, below more-permanent willows, oaks, chaparral, and grassland. Morning fog rests on Skyline.
Up on the ridge, dry grass borders the Grassland Fire Road; a copse of oaks shades a hillock. Ants browse dry flowers.
A hybrid oak (?) sports acorns, along the Rocky Road Trail. Please leave a comment on a photo if you have anything to share.
A nice long jaunt, two generations with ties to Jasper Ridge. Back in the day, Keith Comfort sometimes accompanied his father, Dr. Charles Comfort, and Herb Dengler on outings at Jasper Ridge. (Charles Comfort was the primary photographer, along with Peter LaTourrette and Joel Simon, for “Jasper Ridge: a Stanford Sanctuary” (1990). He contributed about half of the photos, including some quite nice macros; Keith contributed 3.) Keith’s daughter Rachel, now employed in San Jose, has never before seen this land. We share stories and the landscape. ("Keith Oak" is identified on an old USGS topo map, annotated by Herb Dengler: "Some of the place names in my field notes since 1953." This might be the old Valley Oak I call the "Phainopepla Tree"??)
The second gallery here focuses on a stare-down with a puzzled Red-tailed Hawk. The hawk moves its head from side to side, up and down, perhaps wondering what to make of this stationary photographer with a hawk reflection in his camera lens. After a long minute, the hawk departs, continuing the day’s hunt.
Up on the ridge, dry grass borders the Grassland Fire Road; a copse of oaks shades a hillock. Ants browse dry flowers.
A hybrid oak (?) sports acorns, along the Rocky Road Trail. Please leave a comment on a photo if you have anything to share.
A nice long jaunt, two generations with ties to Jasper Ridge. Back in the day, Keith Comfort sometimes accompanied his father, Dr. Charles Comfort, and Herb Dengler on outings at Jasper Ridge. (Charles Comfort was the primary photographer, along with Peter LaTourrette and Joel Simon, for “Jasper Ridge: a Stanford Sanctuary” (1990). He contributed about half of the photos, including some quite nice macros; Keith contributed 3.) Keith’s daughter Rachel, now employed in San Jose, has never before seen this land. We share stories and the landscape. ("Keith Oak" is identified on an old USGS topo map, annotated by Herb Dengler: "Some of the place names in my field notes since 1953." This might be the old Valley Oak I call the "Phainopepla Tree"??)
The second gallery here focuses on a stare-down with a puzzled Red-tailed Hawk. The hawk moves its head from side to side, up and down, perhaps wondering what to make of this stationary photographer with a hawk reflection in his camera lens. After a long minute, the hawk departs, continuing the day’s hunt.
8/2/2025 Water Birds and Grassland
Visitors 82
47 photos
Created 8-Aug-25
Modified 8-Aug-25
8/2/2025 Hawk Staredown
Visitors 21
19 photos
Created 6-Aug-25
Modified 6-Aug-25
Dan Quinn