Travels of a Certified California Naturalist
Around 8:00 am, my naturalist class graduate Roxanne M. and I went to the vernal pools at the end of Zinfandel Blvd. in Mather Field. Rain was threatening, and it was about 51° outside, but the rain held off until after we’d left – about 2 hours later. I’d never been there before, but Roxanne […]
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I headed out to the Effie Yeaw Nature Preserve for a walk. It was about 51° and drizzly when I left the house around 7:30. Although I carried my umbrella throughout my walk, I didn’t need it. As soon as I got to the preserve, the rain stopped. And by the time I left there, […]
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I got up around 6:30 and headed over to the Cosumnes River Preserve to see how things are shakin’ there. It was about 44° when I headed out. I was actually kind of disappointed. Even through a 4-hour walk which really taxed my body, I didn’t see as much stuff as I was hoping to. […]
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The focus of today’s Certified California Naturalist class was “Animals”, and our guest speaker was Diane Nichols, the founder and Executive Director of Kindred Spirits Fawn Rescue in Loomis, CA. Gere is a short video clip of a part of the presentation: https://youtu.be/-CoWsQQdAPY CLICK HERE for the full album of photos. Student Johannes Troost brought […]
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I got up a little before 6:00 am and headed out with the dog to the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge. I hadn’t been out there in a few months, so I was anxious to see what it was looking like. I arrived there around 8:00 am and it was about 44° outside; when I left […]
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It was cloudy in the morning, and very overcast by the afternoon, but mild temperature-wise: 47° when I first headed out, and up to about 51° by noon. I headed over to the Effie Yeaw Nature Preserve to do my volunteer trail walking there. I had invited others to come along on the walk if […]
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Our naturalists class’s first Polyphemus Moth (Antheraea polyphemus) hatched out of its cocoon on Thursday, March 14th, and was a female. By March 18th it was already winding down in it life processes, but the reproductive instinct is strong. Even though they’re not fertilized, our moth was found laying eggs in her enclosure. #CalNat Later […]
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The weather at Lake Solano Park was perfect for walking with my naturalist students; about 49° when we first got there, and then up to about 68° by the time we left. It was sunny, clear and bright outside. My coworker Bill and I took turns pointing things out to everyone, and one of the […]
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Our naturalist graduate and volunteer, Roxanne, was at class today and brought some homemade banana bread to share with the class. While my co-instructors Bill and Nate were setting up the classroom, Roxanne and I were writing a list of the species we’d seen at Lake Solano Park on Wednesday on the dry-erase board in […]
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I got up around 6:00 this morning so I could head out to Lake Solano Park in Winters, CA. This was a recon for the trip we’ll be doing with the whole class on Saturday, and I wanted to check out where plants were growing, if the ferns were out yet, what birds were out […]
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I went out to the Effie Yeaw Nature Preserve and got there around 8:00 am. I was joined there by fellow volunteer trail-walker, Mary M. (The-Other-Mary), and we walked for a little over 3 hours. It was a very interesting walk! Very early into the walk, we came across a Red-Shouldered Hawk who then joined […]
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I headed out to Woodland around 8:30 am to help my co-worker Bill with his recon outing at Conaway Ranch. He has about twenty outings slated for that venue over the next months or two; he takes school children out there to tell them about food chains, rice growing and harvesting, wildlife, etc. There’s a […]
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