R: Western Tussock Moth Caterpillar!
Today I had to pass on band managing the SF Cantina Band for May the Fourth so I could go Naturing. Now, you may begin to doubt my commitment to Sparkle Motion, but given the amount of time I’ve had to go Naturing this year, I had to prioritize. Plus, band managing twice in one weekend is a lot! So I decided to check out the Enid Pearson-Arastradero Preserve, as it’s been on my list for some time.
I actually spent a day volunteering at this location while getting paid at Microsoft to volunteer for the day ohsomany moons ago. I could not even begin to recall exactly where it was, but it was with Acterra. And it was a lot of moving heavy things in wheelbarrows, if I remember correctly. I’ve been curious about coming back as a Naturalist, and I thought today would be luckily nottoohot for a Spring Outing in the area.
Yeah. It was actually TOO COLD. And that’s ME saying that. I hardly saw any Pollinators and not one single dang Butterfly. I also didn’t go chasing wildflowers either in choosing this location. Lots of the ones I want to still try to see were too far from home. So this would be newtome and nottoohot, so. I’m slowly but surely starting to realize I should really see locations in their prime, even if it means it’ll be dang hot. It’s all about the learning.
HOWEVER! All that said, I saw A LOT. And while I didn’t fall in love with the place, I appreciated the many Oaks. And the variety of things I saw.
I opted for the Arastradero Creek and Acorn Trail Loop on AllTrails. I added on a little to see what little I could of Sobey Pond plus a curious trail nearby that I forgot to note the name of.
After arriving, Western Bluebirds made themselves known right at one of the trailheads. But my route took me South of the main trailhead and into the former Oak Woodlands that are still full of Oaks but are still very lacking (at least right now) in plentiful native plants below. Other than Pacific Poison Oak. Which is going off right now.
After some familiar faces of late, like the California Wild Rose, Ithuriel’s Spear, Common Snowberry, and Pacific False Bindweed, I started to hear Spotted Towhees and caught sight of a Western Fence Lizard splooted onto what must’ve been a warm rock.
One of the reviews of this route mentioned having seen a Rattlesnake when they visited. Super enticing, but on such a cool day like this I was sadly not going to see such a thing. But a California Quail was fun to spot, just chillin’ on a branch off-trail.
Then I came around a bend and heard a bird above me in an Oak. I was directly under it, and it looked like a Bluebird. But, not quite. I thought it might be a Lazuli Bunting, but it was tough to tell from underneath it. I’ve also very infrequently seen them, so it was a guess. Once I saw my photos at home, it confirmed it was indeed a Lazuli Bunting! One day, I hope to actually see this dang bird for much longer and in much better light…
But up the trail a bit, I stopped to admire some newtome insects! Like this Bent-lined Carpet Moth, which I just happened to notice fluttering into place (else I’d never have seen it). And what might be a Western Banded Glowworm? Glowworms have WINGS? And insane EYELASHES??
I continued up the trail and started to notice a sea of Ruby Chalice Clarkia on my right. It didn’t go on for as long as I’d hoped, but it was terribly exciting given what little native wildflowers I’d seen thus far or would see later.
And then I noticed a couple gray birds just off-trail. It looked like a juvenile (but adult sized!) Oak Titmouse was begging its parent? Do they have young this early? Seems early? I gotta look that up.
Passed by a patient Red-shouldered Hawk on a wire and an Acorn Woodpecker with an acorn in its mouth on my way to Arastradero Lake. Which was very empty except for a Pied-billed Grebe and a handful of Red-winged Blackbirds in the reeds.
Then the trail really started to feel like Oak Woodlands, which was just lovely. The trail followed a creek of sorts, and I imagined the area would be perfect for Western Screech Owls. But did I look up to find one? No. Will I ever? Without Bob’s help? Unlikely.
As I was scanning for wildflowers, I almost stepped too close to what I thought was a fallen branch piece on the trail. That turned out to be A FLIPPIN’ GOPHER SNAKE!
Okokok, so this was ODD. It was like 60 degrees and cloudy. And this Gopher Snake was a young one. Like a kid snake or something. And it was all zig-zaggy on the trail. Not moving. Eyes open. It didn’t move a millimeter when I was unknowingly close to it. Or while I stood getting photos of it.
I started to wonder if it was alive! But its eyes were open! Is it possible it started to head onto the trail but then got too cold to move further? There were bicyclists on the trail, and I was worried it’d get run over. But I wasn’t going to get that close. I’m very intrigued by Snakes and want to see them whenever possible. From a safe distance. But I wasn’t going to try moving it. Nope. Nuh-uh. I hope it was ok. But, I GOT TO SEE A SNAKE!
Willows started lining the sides of the trail. And I started to see Willow Apple Gall Sawfly galls. And then came CATERPILLARS. OMG, I saw a couple of Western Tussock Moth caterpillars. And I am IN LOVE. I think I even saw a BABY CATERPILLAR of these. They are NUTSO. Like why do they even look remotely like this? They are works of ART. I could have just stood there and stared at their alien beauty for days.
Also admired a Metallic Flea Beetle (I think?) and a Longhorn Beetle with THE MOST flaired antennae ever.
I arrived to Sobey Pond, but you can hardly seen in there. Lucky for me, I got to see some adorable Seep Monkeyflower, at least. And unlucky for it, a dead Black Slug on the trail.
Heading back, I veered off to see a bit of another trail and got to see a couple Pacific Aster and Orange Bush Monkeyflower and Rough Hedgenettle. But, really. For all the native flowering plants I saw, they were so few and far between.
And then I heard A HOOT. Now, I’d been hearing Mourning Doves leading up to this point, but this was DIFFERENT. I know what I heard. But it was in the distance. Not reachable by a trail I could see. Ah, well. But there you have it. With just about every visit to a medium-sized park/green space with trees, I heard a Great Horned Owl. Like I do.
On the loop back, I got to see ONE flowering White Globe Lily plant. But a consolation was seeing two Oak Titmouses (Titmice?). Thought one was begging the other, but then it looked like mating, and I ended up being confused about the whole thing.
One Wild Turkey and a handful of Columbian Black-tailed Deer in the grasses, and I was in a pretty boring open space of rolling hills covered in non-native grasses. It was apparently a great place for bicyclists and people walking their dog(s) and people on work calls. Meh. Not for me. Definitely felt like I was in a very wealthy neighborhood’s open space backyard.
I know there are organizations working on getting more native plants in and invasive grasses out in this space, but they have their work cut out for them.
I was nearing where I started, and I stopped to see a bird flying out of a birdhouse hanging from a huge Oak. Lots of tweeting from inside the box! It soon returned to even more tweets inside. And as it left, the Wren-looking bird darted away while the tweets inside the birdhouse were so strong that the birdhouse rocked a bit from side to side from all the ruckus inside!
As I got pretty close to the road I had to cross to get back, I spotted A BUNNY. Off-trail and under the brush was a Brush Rabbit. Calmly munching away and not seeming to mind me getting photos and video of it before it had too much of me and quietly hopped out of sight.
Saw a White-tailed Kite hovering in the hills ahead near the parking lot, and that was fun to see. Haven’t seen one in a while. And I love watching them hover.
And that was it! Not sure if I’m interested enough in going back, but I shall always remember it was the place I saw a baby snake (!) and fell in love with a caterpillar.
