Explorations in the yard

Name and Location: Lake Sonoma Wildlife Area - No Name Trail Time and Date:  10/21/2020; arrival 3:12pm, departure ~4:00pm                                              Weather:  86 degrees F, wind S 6mph, no rain, humidity 25%, air quality 25                                                           Alone or with people?:  With fiancé My first observation today was that the smell is changing, it seems to be smelling sweeter. And there are so so many more flies than usual... Why is that? Is it because of the sweet smell? Maybe fermenting fruit that has fallen off the trees? It is not fruit flies though, it's the classic fly. The oak tree that has been a big part of each of my site visits is a Coast Live Oak (Quercus A...

Name and Location: Lake Sonoma Wildlife Area - No Name Trail Time and Date:  11/04/2020; arrival 3:15pm, departure ~4:30pm                                              Weather:  82 degrees F, wind SSW 5mph, no rain, humidity 34%, air quality 24                                                           Alone or with people?:  With fiancé Obligatory oak tree appreciation picture. My first observation today was that it felt colder, but after doing my 10 min observation and then taking inventory of today's conditions I realized that the temperature was 82 degrees, which is only 4 degrees colder than last time, and which is also still a very warm one. It felt chilly to me. Humidity has also gone up again, and that's defin...

 Name and Location: Lake Sonoma Wildlife Area - No Name Trail My new favorite majestic oak tree.   Time and Date:  10/12/2020; arrival 3:29pm, departure ~4:00pm                                              Weather:  90 degrees F, wind S 4mph, no rain, humidity 19%, air quality 30                                                           Alone or with people?:  With fiancé It was an interesting hike to my little observation side today. The ground felt drier and sandier and we saw a baby rattlesnake on the trail. We saw him early enough to neither scare us or him/her. It was so small, that I first thought of a glass lizard, but its beautiful coloring and at closer inspection, the very well developed rattler g...

Name and Location: Lake Sonoma Wildlife Area - No Name Trail I picked this site because it's an area that I hadn't really explored, but that's been on my radar.  Additionally, it's really close to where I live now - about 10-20 min drive depending on the trailhead. With the air cleared up, I decided to venture out to the Lake Sonoma area and combine a hike with my observational study. Coast Live Oak (Quercus Agrifolia) This beauty of an oak tree married with the random assortment of rocks and varied collection of bushes and trees made this site easy to choose. Time and Date:  10/05/2020; arrival 3:35pm, departure ~4:30pm                                              Weather:  90 degrees F, wind 7mph, no rain, humidity 16%                                         ...