First Wildflower Walk

 

Two weeks ago a couple friends and I went on a hike in nearby Foothill Regional Park, hoping to see some wildflowers. It was a glorious day - sunny but not hot, perfect for a walk.

This park has a good amount of dead and crooked trees, and you know how much I love these.

It didn't take long until we saw the first tiny wildflowers - Mediterranean Stork's Bill. As the name implies, it's not a native.

Foothill has a few ponds and after a short climb we arrived at the first one.

The unique call of the Red-winged Blackbird was easily heard all around the pond, accompanied by the deep bass of a bullfrog.

We took a shady trail around the second pond where again I was happy to see more dead and crooked trees.

The views of the pond were beautiful.

In October and November 2019, Foothill Park badly burned in the Kincade Fire, a wildfire that caused widespread evacuations throughout Sonoma County and was the largest of the 2019 California wildfire season. There are still numerous burnt trees in the park that now offer a wonderful habitat for all kinds of birds. I've seldom seen so many Acorn Woodpeckers in one place. It is amazing how nature comes back after a natural disaster if we don't mingle and clean everything up.

The Western Fence Lizard certainly felt at home here.

Can you find the turtle?

Hairy Vetch was almost everywhere - it's not a native plant either. It is used as a cover crop and I guess at one time it "escaped" and did its own happy thing, spreading all over the county and beyond. Even though it can be quite invasive, I really like it.

Finally we came upon this meadow of Sky Lupines, a California native. These are my favorite lupines.

Pairing them with our California Poppy is simply fabulous. It was still a bit early for the poppies.

We found a lovely bench under a tree where we stopped and had a little snack while listening to the Red-winged Blackbirds and the bullfrog.

A last view before we returned to the car - it won't stay that green for very much longer.

Here is an AI watercolor rendering of my two friends, so perfectly framed by a tree branch. This is for Nicole's Friday Face Off.

Some of you asked about this app. I have a Google Pixel 6a smartphone that I bought because of its excellent camera. When Google introduced its own AI, Gemini, it became available for the photo app as well, and that is what I use.