R: Rough-skinned Newt.
Today we FINALLY SAW BRIONES! Our third time out in this fantastic AirBnB in Briones finally proved fruitful in enabling us to go Naturing in the flippin’ park!! Thanks to a break in the rain, that has always kept us from venturing much beyond the farmhouse in our previous two visits, we saw some of the nature of this area.
It’s mostly hills for cows, but we tried out the Old Briones Road Trail route on AllTrails. And we saw more than cows! Some Spring lovelies were out, like purply Lupine (tbided) and California Buttercup and California Poppy and Hillside Woodland Star and ONE Henderson’s Shooting Star and a sea of Common Fiddleneck plus many Blue Dicks.
Spring is HERE!!!
Some raptors were seen overhead, like Red-tailed Hawks. But special guest stars were a juvenile Bald Eagle AND a leucistic adult Bald Eagle! Thank gawd Bob and Juli were there, or I’d have had no idea those were Bald Eagles.
HOWEVER. The SUPERSTARS of the day were easily the NEWTS and the FROGS. Pretty much all the things in all the ponds were GLORIOUS.
Saw both California Newts and Rough-skinned Newts. AND eggs! Dark and light gray and green Pacific Chorus Frogs. TWO Western Pond Turtles. A diving beetle. Spiders that walked on water. So many things!
The furthest away pond (of the Sindicich Lagoons) had easily the best views of the Newts so close to the surface. Wished I’d kept count of the total number!
Western Bluebirds were also fantastic to see, in all that male colored splendor.
On the way back, we heard a duetting pair of Great Horned Owls in the canyon parallel to the trail. OF COURSE. Wanted so badly to go find them. But I wasn’t on my own. Another time…
Not only did I finally get to see a bit of Briones, but after we got back to the house, and it had been dark for some time, HOOTING was heard by Logan from the front porch!
After a quick frenzy of finding my headlamp out of juice quickly replaced by Octodrone’s bike light, myself and Logan located them. A pair behind the house. And a female one on the side of the house that we were on. And a male on the OTHER side. AND we think a FIFTH somewhere nearby??
Watched the lone female get closer to the pair and then even an interaction between her and the pair’s female?? They all kept hooting. And we eventually went inside when they were out of sight.
And, STILL. After hanging out for a bit longer, we all went to bed. And as I’m typing this, we can STILL hear them hooting from our bedroom. AND, I even heard a Coyote howl!!
Magical place. Full of OWLS. Among other wondrous creatures nearby. So delighted to get to see some of them. And am so looking forward to getting to know the rest of Briones better sometime. Think I might try to time another visit here while so close to a full moon!
