Fifth Visit

Name and Location: Lake Sonoma Wildlife Area - No Name Trail

Coast Live Oak (Quercus agrifolia)

Time and Date: 11/15/2020; arrival 11:50am, departure ~12:45pm
Weather: 61 degrees F, wind SW 2mph, no rain, humidity 63%, air quality 16
Alone or with people?: With fiancé

Rich, green leaves of the oak tree pictured above.

In the 11 days since my last visit, it has cooled down, by a lot! That is why I waited a few extra days between my fourth and this, my last, visit. Throughout the observation period, the changes have been very small, and I thought that it would be interesting to see what happens when it gets colder a little bit abruptly.

Humidy has gone up through the roof! We're at 63% now, and it feels amazing. When I started my observations it felt very much deserty, and the hot wind would just hit me like a hot wave of wind. Now, the air smells fresh and there's that smell of Sonoma County that we all love oh so dearly. It's one of the reasons why I love Lake Sonoma, Annadel, and Armstrong Redwoods as much as I do.

And don't get me wrong, I love summer in Sonoma County just as much as I love autumn and winter, it's just always the most exciting when we're going through the changes. And there's nothing like the crisp, chilly mornings right now to then after hours of exploring come home, make a fire, and drink some hot chocolate - I don't think anybody ever grows out of that.

Another good aspect of the colder weather is that there is almost literally NO flies, I saw one! ONE!

With less sunlight, the amount of yellow dry leaves and needles on the ground has visibly increased.

For a while we observed some vultures soaring around high up above the tree lines. There are also many red-bellied birds. What do vultures eat besides dead animals? Or is there simply always enough so that doesn't become a problem?

On the plants, I observed less pollen and fruit clusters.

I noticed some big changes on this Wild Buckwheats, it's completely bare now. Back during my second visit, the stems were filled with little clusters of flowers/pollen.

The Gray Pine still has the same amount of Western Dwarf Mistletoe, but instead of being the light yellow-golden, it's now a dark orange color. (Picture above)

Following is a series of pictures of an oak tree, which I'm thinking might be a Blue oak and the Lyell's Bristle-moss (Pulvegera Iyellii) and Shield Lichens that live in a symbiotic relationship with it. This is also where you get to enjoy some more of my drawings - which I feel like they have gotten worse with time, which I blame on being stressed. My creative juices really are not flowing when I don't feel like I have the time and space, but I tried my best!