I got up at 6:00 AM, got the dog fed and pottied, and then got myself ready to go on an outing with my friend Roxanne to the Mather Field Vernal Pool area… and wherever else the day might take us.

We weren’t expecting a lot at the vernal pools mostly because we weren’t sure there was any water in them anymore, as since January we haven’t had much in the way of rain. We’ve also been confused (as confused as the wildflowers themselves) by the early emergence of a lot of wildflowers elsewhere.

When we got to the vernal pools field, we found that the two shallower pools were completely empty with no signs of any of the flowers we might normally find in or around the edges of the pools. We did find tiny popcorn flowers, the beginning of some Woolly Marbles, two different kinds of Johnnytuck, and lots of Frying Pan Poppies.

After walking around we realized we probably actually TOO EARLY for these ponds: the Miniature Lupine wasn’t in bloom yet and there was some kind of lilies trying to emerge.  So, maybe we can go back in a week or two and see if anything is popping then.  

On our way out of the area, we came a across a healthy-looking coyote walking up and back-and-forth across the road in front of us.

CLICK HERE for the full album of photos.

It was still relatively early in the day, so we decided to go over to the Nimbus Fish Hatchery. We hadn’t been there for a while. They’re still working on the new fish ladder, but seem to finally have gotten a good deal of the work done. There was still a huge crane standing alongside the work area, and we saw two people in the parking lot pointing to the top of it. We looked up there and — there was a gorgeous Osprey. The birds are large with a fish-hook like bill, Quite impressive, even at a distance. I think this one was a female, going by the ringlet of dark feathers around the neck.

There weren’t a lot of birds in the water — not even gulls — and that was a little unusual. We didn’t see much on the shoreline of the river either, no Great Egrets, no Great Blue Herons. We did see one Snowy Egret, some Canada Geese, and a handful of Common Mergansers and Goldeneyes but that was about it. There was one bird that we could only see at an extreme distance. I posted my crappy photos of it to iNaturalist hoping for some kind of ID. We’ll see. [iNatualist said it was just a female Common Goldeneye in weird light.]

While we were stopped trying to get photos of some finches and a ground squirrel around some willows, a gorgeous large Rainbow Trout jumped out of the water several times nearby. Of course, I wasn’t fast enough to get any photos of it before it vanished under the surface of the water. Sigh.

After our double-duty walk, which I’m counting as hike #11 in my #52HikeChallenge for the year, we went over to Brookfield’s for lunch before heading home.

Species List:

1. American Pipit, Anthus rubescens
2. Black Phoebe, Sayornis nigricans
3. Brewer’s Blackbird, Euphagus cyanocephalus
4. Bufflehead Duck, Bucephala albeola
5. California Ground Squirrel, Otospermophilus beecheyi
6. California Poppy, Eschscholzia californica
7. Canada Goose, Branta canadensis
8. Coffeeberry, California Buckthorn, Frangula californica
9. Common Goldeneye, Bucephala clangula
10. Common Merganser, Mergus merganser
11. Coyote Brush Bud Gall midge, Rhopalomyia californica
12. Coyote Brush Rust Gall, Puccinia evadens
13. Coyote Brush, Baccharis pilularis
14. Coyote, Canis latrans
15. Crab Spider, Running Crab Spider, Family: Philodromidae
16. Double-Crested Cormorant, Phalacrocorax auratus
17. Fennel, Sweet Fennel, Foeniculum vulgare
18. Fiddleneck, Common Fiddleneck, Amsinckia menziesii
19. Fig, Common Fig, Ficus carica
20. Floating Primrose-Willow, Ludwigia peploides
21. Fringepod, Ribbed Fringepod, Thysanocarpus radians
22. Frying Pan Poppy, Eschscholzia lobbii
23. House Finch, Haemorhous mexicanus
24. House Sparrow, Passer domesticus
25. Johnnytuck, Butter-and-Eggs, Triphysaria eriantha eriantha [red stems]
26. Johnnytuck, Yellow Owl’s Clover, Triphysaria versicolor faucibarbata [green stems]
27. Jointed Charlock, Raphanus raphanistrum
28. Ladybeetle, Asian Lady Beetle, Harmonia axyridis
29. Ladybeetle, Large Spotted Lady Beetle, Harmonia conformis
30. Ladybeetle, Spotless Lady Beetle, Cycloneda sanguinea [no spots; more red than orange]
31. Lupine, Miniature Lupine, Lupinus bicolor
32. Lupine, Narrow-Leaved Lupine, Lupinus angustifolius
33. Narrow-Fruited Water-Starwort, Callitriche palustris
34. Oak, Interior Live Oak, Quercus wislizeni
35. Osprey, Pandion haliaetus
36. Pineapple-Weed, Matricaria discoidea
37. Popcorn Flower, Plagiobothrys sp.
38. Rainbow Trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss
39. Savannah Sparrow, Passerculus sandwichensis
40. Snowy Egret, Egretta thula
41. Stork’s Bill, Mediterranean Stork’s-Bill, Erodium botrys
42. Stork’s Bill, Redstem Stork’s-Bill, Erodium cicutarium
43. Valley Tassels, Castilleja attenuata
44. Vetch, Hairy Vetch, Vicia villosa
45. Western Meadowlark, Sturnella neglecta
46. Willows, Salix sp.
47. Woolly Marbles, Low Woolly Marbles, Psilocarphus brevissimus
48. ?? red stemmed plant