Created 26-Apr-26
What a joy to wander Sweet Springs Trail in springtime! Flowers blossom; butterflies, moths, and bees seek sustenance; spiders and birds feed on them. This year, sudden squalls douse all.
What a privilege to enjoy this bounty! Thanks to all contributors: the First People, tending the landscape for millennia; Joe Whelan and company, working with Portola Valley to envision and realize this settlement, interlaced with nature; Portola Valley, for maintaining the trail and clearing fallen trees and branches; PV Ranch, for clearing brush beyond the trail, mitigating wildfire danger. Thanks to the long natural rhythms, returning year after year, adapting to our perturbations.
In the first gallery, April 2026 along Sweet Springs Trail: Buckeye Butterfly sipping nectar from Mule Ears; profusion of Crimson Columbines; White Globe Lilies, glistening with raindrops, guarded by spider; Pitcher Sage, visited by Fairy Longhorn Moths, delicate butterfly, bee, and harlequin-costumed spider; narrow-waisted wasp; tiny towers, maybe termites; Douglas Iris and Blow-wives. Nearby: Lupine and Clover in bloom; Purple Salsify; and dragonflies.
The second gallery highlights birds seen this month on Sweet Springs Trail and nearby. From large to small, Great Egret to Chestnut-backed Chickadee.
The tiniest bird, Anna’s Hummingbird, warrants his own separate gallery. Show-off.
What a privilege to enjoy this bounty! Thanks to all contributors: the First People, tending the landscape for millennia; Joe Whelan and company, working with Portola Valley to envision and realize this settlement, interlaced with nature; Portola Valley, for maintaining the trail and clearing fallen trees and branches; PV Ranch, for clearing brush beyond the trail, mitigating wildfire danger. Thanks to the long natural rhythms, returning year after year, adapting to our perturbations.
In the first gallery, April 2026 along Sweet Springs Trail: Buckeye Butterfly sipping nectar from Mule Ears; profusion of Crimson Columbines; White Globe Lilies, glistening with raindrops, guarded by spider; Pitcher Sage, visited by Fairy Longhorn Moths, delicate butterfly, bee, and harlequin-costumed spider; narrow-waisted wasp; tiny towers, maybe termites; Douglas Iris and Blow-wives. Nearby: Lupine and Clover in bloom; Purple Salsify; and dragonflies.
The second gallery highlights birds seen this month on Sweet Springs Trail and nearby. From large to small, Great Egret to Chestnut-backed Chickadee.
The tiniest bird, Anna’s Hummingbird, warrants his own separate gallery. Show-off.
Sweet Springtime
Visitors 22
30 photos
Created 27-Apr-26
Modified 27-Apr-26
Birds of April 2026
Visitors 24
13 photos
Created 27-Apr-26
Modified 27-Apr-26
Anna's Display
Visitors 23
18 photos
Created 27-Apr-26
Modified 27-Apr-26
Dan Quinn