Travels of a Certified California Naturalist
I wanted to get up a little early today so I could head out to the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge… The drive to the refuge is a long one: 2 hours there, 2 hours back, and about 4 hours of driving around the auto tour route. That’s a LOT of car time, sitting in a […]
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I got up around 6:30 this morning, and decided I’d try going out to the Sacramento and Colusa National Wildlife Refuges. It’s a long drive and I wasn’t sure how Wilson (my tumor) would react to sitting in a vibrating thing, accelerating and decelerating for hours at a time. I tried going without any pain […]
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I left the house with the dog around 5:30 am to head out to the Sacramento and Colusa National Wildlife Refuges. It was already 62º there and was windy; not a strong blow-you-over wind, but strong enough so that it kept a lot of the birds hunkered down to keep warm. Neither refuge is at […]
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DAY 6 OF MY VACATION. I got up around 6:00 am and headed out with Sergeant Margie to the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge. I stopped first to put gas in the car and grab something from Jack’s to eat for the day (I usually get a breakfast sammich, and that lasts me for the whole […]
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Around 6:30 am I headed out to the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge with the dog. They’ve opened the loop to the permanent wetlands area, so I wanted to see what that looked like these days – and I needed a nature fix. The mountains around us, which aren’t too terribly tall, had snow on their […]
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The dog and I headed to the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge one day this week to decompress. Sometimes you just need to listen to your body and do what it wants… We stopped at the Colusa refuge first (which is right on the way), and drove the auto tour there. Not a lot to see, really, […]
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I led a California Naturalists field trip to Lake Solano Park today. The first thing we saw when we entered the park were two peacocks roosting high in a tree over our heads… and a male Phainopepla that was looking for mistletoe berries to eat. It was originally the idea that half of the group […]
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After my work appointment this morning, I had lunch in my car and took a quick run out to the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge to clear my head and get some fresh air before the predicted rain came in. I usually do the auto tour in 4 hours; today I zipped through in just 1… […]
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I got to the office around 7:00 am, printed up a grant request letter and got it ready for mailing, and then I headed out for Lake Solano Park. to do a preliminary walk of the trails before our naturalist field trip on March 3rd. The park is in Winters, about 35-45 minutes from the […]
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Day 1 of my 4-day birthday weekend. I was hoping to sleep in a bit, but the dog got me up around 6:00 am. I had originally planned to go to the zoo today, but something at the back of my brain kept nagging me to go to the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge instead. With […]
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I got up with the dog around 5:30 am and we immediately headed out to the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge. This is #OptOutside day; rather than doing Black Friday shopping, I’m spending the day outdoors. It was around 50º when we left the house and 61º when we got back home in the afternoon. It […]
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Here are some more photos from the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge. CLICK HERE to see the album. I got a video snippet of a muskrat. It waddled up onto the auto-tour road, grabbed some green vegetation and went back into the tules. I wonder if it’s setting up a “nest” there. Where they’re able to, muskrats […]
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