I got up around 6:00 am again and headed over to the Effie Yeaw Nature Preserve for a walk. It was about 40° when I arrived, and it got up to about 70° by the late afternoon.

It was a lot of the usual suspects today: birds, deer, squirrels. No super-interesting standouts, but I did get to see quite a few Red-Shouldered Hawks including one that landed briefly on the ground near me to eat something small near the exhibition pond before taking off again. I’m not sure where they have their nests this year.

The Black Phoebes who, each year, build a nest in the overhang of the nature center, were working on it again. The female sat briefly on the nest, which looked almost finished to my eye, but I don’t think she has eggs yet. Any day now…

It seemed like all of the resident birds were out singing this morning, and I saw a lot of Spotted and California Towhees, wrens, Oak Titmice, and nuthatches around.  The Acorn Woodpeckers were out en masse stuffing and re-stuffing acorns into their granary trees. So much chatter in the air.

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The fruitless almond and plum trees in the preserve are in bloom, but not too many of the other spring plants are awake yet, and most of the other trees are still without their leaves.

CLICK HERE for the full album of photos.

I found one solitary Giraffe’s Head henbit plant and a small patch of blooming bittercress, but not much else. Even the manroot vines there are slow-going for now.

Among the deer, there are still several boys sporting their antlers, including one 4-pointer buck. His antlers were interesting in that one of them has a prong that is turned backward, in toward his head and shoulder. I wonder if he’ll retain that into the next shed-and-growth period.

I caught a very brief glimpse of a beaver in the river(!), but it moved faster than I can walk so I wasn’t able to get into a position to see it better. I got only a blurred photo of it as it passed by. Nice to see it, though.

I walked for almost 3½ hours before heading home. This was hike #24 of my #52HikeChallenge.

Species List:

1. Acorn Woodpecker, Melanerpes formicivorus
2. Almond Tree, Prunus dulcis
3. Anna’s Hummingbird, Calypte anna
4. Audubon’s Warbler, Yellow-Rumped Warbler, Setophaga coronata auduboni
5. Azolla, Water Fern, Azolla filiculoides
6. Beaver, American, Beaver, Castor canadensis
7. Bewick’s Wren, Thryomanes bewickii
8. Bittercress, Hairy Bittercress, Cardamine hirsuta
9. Black Phoebe, Sayornis nigricans
10. California Ground Squirrel, Otospermophilus beecheyi
11. California Manroot, Bigroot, Marah fabaceus
12. California Scrub Jay, Aphelocoma californica
13. California Sycamore, Platanus racemose
14. California Towhee, Melozone crissalis
15. Canada Goose, Branta canadensis
16. Cherry-Plum Tree, Prunus cerasifera
17. Columbian Black-Tailed Deer, Odocoileus hemionus columbianus
18. Common Goldeneye, Bucephala clangula
19. Common Merganser, Mergus merganser
20. Common Sunburst Lichen, Golden Shield Lichen, Xanthoria parietina [yellow-orange,on wood/trees]
21. Eastern Fox Squirrel, Sciurus niger
22. European Honeybee, Western Honeybee, Apis mellifera
23. European Starling, Sturnus vulgaris
24. Giraffe’s Head, Henbit Deadnettle, Lamium amplexicaule
25. Golden-Crowned Sparrow, Zonotrichia atricapilla
26. Green Shield Lichen, Flavoparmelia caperata
27. Hoary Rosette Lichen, Physcia aipolia
28. Interior Live Oak, Quercus wislizeni
29. Lace Lichen, Ramalina menziesii
30. Mallard Duck, Anas platyrhynchos
31. Mediterranean Stork’s-Bill, Erodium botrys
32. Miner’s Lettuce, Claytonia perfoliata
33. Oak Titmouse, Baeolophus inornatus
34. Periwinkle, Greater Periwinkle, Vinca major
35. Red-Shouldered Hawk, Buteo lineatus
36. Red-Tailed Hawk, Buteo jamaicensis
37. Rio Grande Wild Turkey, Meleagris gallopavo intermedia
38. Ruby-Crowned Kinglet, Regulus calendula
39. Spotted Towhee, Pipilo maculatus
40. Tule, Common Tule, Schoenoplectus acutus
41. Turkey Vulture, Cathartes aura
42. Valley Oak, Quercus lobata
43. White Horehound, Marrubium vulgare
44. White-Breasted Nuthatch, Sitta carolinensis