Visitors 90
Modified 12-Apr-26
Created 12-Apr-26
107 photos
Goldfields, Owl’s-clover, Blue-eyed Grass, Blue Dicks, Ithuriel’s Spear, Tidy Tips, Poppy, Shooting Star, Star Lily, Suncup, Buttercup, Dandelion, Hawksbeard, Poison Oak, Onion, Clematis, Plantain, Lomatium, Leptosiphon, Yarrow, Scarlet Pimpernel, Filaree;
Spiders, butterflies, moths, ants, beetles, fly, beefly, honeybee;
Hummingbirds, woodpeckers, hawk, jay, dove;
Coyote, docents*.
Jasper Ridge ‘Ootchamin ‘Ooyakma, on the high serpentine ridge in springtime. Here are images from three visits in late March 2026**, near the end of an unseasonable hot, dry spell. Soil remains moist and nourishing, thanks to mist, fog, and sprinkles. Sheltered natives emerge from underground, pushing to warm sunlight; dormant plants birth new leaves. Flowers advertise abundance. Busy insects respond. Spiders and hummingbirds harvest insects. Omnivorous Coyote prowls.
These impressions are arranged geographically, not chronologically, mixing dawn shadows with warm bright noonlight, along Grassland Fire Road, Serpentine Trail, and the Birding Transect Trail paralleling the former – encompassing Valley, Blue, Leather, Black, and Coast Live Oaks; grassland, chaparral, and forest; intimate details and broad vistas.
Anna’s Hummingbirds are a highlight. A male, perched at the top of a chaparral plant, launches again and again to snatch an insect from the air, then returns to his favored perch. Three mornings later, a female, motionless, watches over a nest. More: Goldfields in dawn light and in bright sun. Acorn Woodpeckers guard their granary in ancient oak snag. Fremont’s Star Lily in full bloom and with ripening seeds.
Enjoy this full, varied collection!
*Lasthenia californica, Castilleja densiflora, Sisyrinchium bellum, Dipterostemon capitatus, Triteleia laxa, Layia platyglossa, Eschscholzia californica, Primula clevelandii var. patula, Toxicoscordion fremontii, Taraxia ovata, Ranunculus, Agoseris grandiflora, Crepis vesicaria ssp. taraxacifolia, Toxicodendron diversilobum, Allium, Clematis lasiantha, Plantago erecta, Lomatium dasycarpum, Leptosiphon, Achillea millefolium, Eriophyllum confertiflorum, Lysimachia arvensis, Erodium botrys;
Aranea, Papilionoidea, Adelidae, Formicidae, Coleoptera, Diptera, Apis mellifera;
Calypte anna, Melanerpes formicivorus, Buteo jamaicensis, Aphelocoma californica, Zenaida macroura;
Canis latrans, Homo sapiens.
**Friday March 20, accompanying birders along our monthly circuit, out and back. Sunday March 22, with plant cognoscenti from the herbarium, us docents refreshing our plant-identification skills. Wednesday March 25, with sharp-eyed friends.
Spiders, butterflies, moths, ants, beetles, fly, beefly, honeybee;
Hummingbirds, woodpeckers, hawk, jay, dove;
Coyote, docents*.
Jasper Ridge ‘Ootchamin ‘Ooyakma, on the high serpentine ridge in springtime. Here are images from three visits in late March 2026**, near the end of an unseasonable hot, dry spell. Soil remains moist and nourishing, thanks to mist, fog, and sprinkles. Sheltered natives emerge from underground, pushing to warm sunlight; dormant plants birth new leaves. Flowers advertise abundance. Busy insects respond. Spiders and hummingbirds harvest insects. Omnivorous Coyote prowls.
These impressions are arranged geographically, not chronologically, mixing dawn shadows with warm bright noonlight, along Grassland Fire Road, Serpentine Trail, and the Birding Transect Trail paralleling the former – encompassing Valley, Blue, Leather, Black, and Coast Live Oaks; grassland, chaparral, and forest; intimate details and broad vistas.
Anna’s Hummingbirds are a highlight. A male, perched at the top of a chaparral plant, launches again and again to snatch an insect from the air, then returns to his favored perch. Three mornings later, a female, motionless, watches over a nest. More: Goldfields in dawn light and in bright sun. Acorn Woodpeckers guard their granary in ancient oak snag. Fremont’s Star Lily in full bloom and with ripening seeds.
Enjoy this full, varied collection!
*Lasthenia californica, Castilleja densiflora, Sisyrinchium bellum, Dipterostemon capitatus, Triteleia laxa, Layia platyglossa, Eschscholzia californica, Primula clevelandii var. patula, Toxicoscordion fremontii, Taraxia ovata, Ranunculus, Agoseris grandiflora, Crepis vesicaria ssp. taraxacifolia, Toxicodendron diversilobum, Allium, Clematis lasiantha, Plantago erecta, Lomatium dasycarpum, Leptosiphon, Achillea millefolium, Eriophyllum confertiflorum, Lysimachia arvensis, Erodium botrys;
Aranea, Papilionoidea, Adelidae, Formicidae, Coleoptera, Diptera, Apis mellifera;
Calypte anna, Melanerpes formicivorus, Buteo jamaicensis, Aphelocoma californica, Zenaida macroura;
Canis latrans, Homo sapiens.
**Friday March 20, accompanying birders along our monthly circuit, out and back. Sunday March 22, with plant cognoscenti from the herbarium, us docents refreshing our plant-identification skills. Wednesday March 25, with sharp-eyed friends.
Dan Quinn