habitat ~ 11/25/13 ~ Stevenson Garden

Stevenson Garden
November 25, 2013

posted 11/28/13 - Whenever tourists stop me to ask what they can do in downtown Monterey, I always mention the Secret Gardens of Old Monterey.  The historic building tours cost maybe $3, but the gardens are free to enjoy.  As part of my daily walks, I visit several regularly.  I don't think very many people know they exist, because I rarely see anyone else in them.  Plus, they really are kind of secret and often hidden behind high fences.  The Stevenson House Garden has become my favorite out of all the Secret Gardens.  No matter what season it is, Vilhelm, a State Parks Gardener in charge of Stevenson, makes sure there's color.  Right now the Liquidambar sp. is in brilliant red display (I'm surprised it's spelled 'ambar', not 'amber').  I'm not absolutely positive about its ID since it's cultivated, but I'm guessing it's American sweetgum (L. styracifula), which has also naturalized in a few parts of CA.  I am very thankful for these beautiful public gardens.  Wishing all my American blog readers a happy Thanksgiving!

habitat ~ 11/19/13 ~ San Francisco Bay

 San Francisco Bay

November 19, 2013

Of course, it finally rained on the one day I had scheduled to return the lighting equipment to Pete Oboyski, the Collections Manager at UC Berkeley's Essig Museum of Entomology.  Three out of the last four times I've been to San Francisco, it's rained. The superstitious in me thinks I could have helped end this drought if only I had planned more trips to San Francisco.  The rain followed me home to Monterey about 7 hours after it first started as I passed through Oakland.  The local Herald claims this has been the driest year since 1949.  

After a leisurely lunchtime walk in the rain with Pete, I was a little concerned about the traffic for getting home.  I'm not a fan of the multiple lane highways in the Bay Area with everyone going 80 mph. Then, add in the wet, slick roads, and an accident is just waiting to happen.  Since it's getting dark earlier around 5:00pm, I decided I barely had enough daylight to do a scenic driving tour of San Francisco through to the much slower and less crowded Hwy 1 down the coast.  I stopped to take a look along the way.  The second picture was taken at the end of University Avenue in Berkeley at Shorebird Park looking across the Bay to San Francisco on the left and the famous Golden Gate Bridge on the right.  The first picture is a closer view of the Golden Gate Bridge, taken from near the Warming Hut at Crissy Field.  I enjoyed my drive home. Yay, rain!

ps 12/17/13 - Looks like the Herald misquoted.  Local t.v. station KION states Monterey records have only been kept since 1949, ergo "on record", which is different than saying "driest year since 1949" that implies 1949 was a dry year, too.  I had a little blog chat with John Wall comparing San Francisco and Monterey weather records.

black-tailed deer ~ 11/17/13 ~ at home

 Columbian black-tailed deer
Odocoileus hemionus columbianus

I have yet to figure out if there's a seasonal pattern for when the different groups of deer visit the end of our drive, because it all seems so random. In the past, I've seen groups of females and singular older bucks this time of year. These two young bucks, a first for November, lolled around all day on the barely-there green grass patches and occasionally tangled antlers together.  The day after I took this picture, a third young buck joined these two.  They made me very nervous as they stood at attention only 10 feet from where I was trying to get into the garage.  I've heard various stories of local folks getting into tussles with the deer, to the detriment of people, pets, and cars.

As I was rereading up on Columbian black-tailed deer this morning from all the links I've provided in past IDs, I want to offer kudos to the CA Department of Fish and Wildlife for their excellent "A Sportsman's Guide to Improving Deer Habitat in California".  It's very well written.

habitat ~ 11/17/13 ~ Garland Ranch Regional Park

Garland Ranch Regional Park

November 17, 2013

It's been a while since I've been out to a local park for a hike.  It's not that I haven't been getting outside, however.  I've been focusing on daily 5 mile walks from home along the Monterey Bay in an effort to gently heal from my bike accident.  Just look at what I've been missing!  The sparkling yellow cottonwood was glowing in the sunshine and filled the air with a soothing rustling sound.  We made sure to hit the hillside canyons littered with crunchy bigleaf maple leaves, which give off a distinctly dry aromatic scent when kicked around.  And, the bright red toyon berries seemed to be going gangbusters everywhere I looked.  There was enough color around that I could easily ignore all the dried straw and grey bits that dominate the landscape this time of year, compared to the lovely green of spring.  The seasonal foot bridge at the main parking is still up, but probably not for long.  It offers a lovely view of Carmel River.  Quite frankly, I'm amazed there's any water flowing this late in the season before the rains.  The nature center is still under renovation. We took a look, and I could hardly tell that they had changed anything.  All in all, I left feeling I need to get out more, because it's beautiful out there.