Up at 5:30 this morning, and headed over to the William Pond Park on the American River. It’s across the river from the River Bend Park, and I don’t go to the William Pond Park because it’s a bit too “manicure” for me: big rolling lawns, picnic tables, etc. There’s one oak tree there, though, that I can usually count on to have a ton of different kinds of galls on it.

As with my luck (or lack thereof) at the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge, my luck at the William Pond Park wasn’t very good. Apparently, I’m about 2 weeks early for the galls, so there wasn’t any of those to find yet. I DID get to see a covey of California Quail (including males, females, and a few chicks), and a hummingbird feeding at some Evening Primrose… but it was a short photo trek.

I was astonished, though, by the number of acorns on the oak trees in and around the park. Hundreds of them. Are we having a “mast year” this year?!