What’s the function of this newt armada? Mating season is in the spring here and the males tend to be pretty competitive. These newts look a bit young and very social. There are very few pools of water like this left in this creek so maybe they are celebrating their last chance to swim for a while.
Fun to see this little bird eating milk thistle seeds.
This valley was a wetland created to grow food by human land tending over thousands of years. The post erosion eucalyptus forest is much less productive than what was here before but it does provide good habitat for birds and we are working to restore aspects of the riparian food system that was here for millennia.
This willow species has developed an amazing mat of roots to filter nutrients from winter stream flows. Most of our willows grow in deeper soils, this species seems magically adapted to growing in a rocky channel with little soil. It creates a perfect starting point to build brush barriers to accumulate sediment and start growing other wetland plants. Add people to nature to get more life.
Old hay, eucalyptus duff, fertile soil and pond water are growing erosion control in this repaired stock pond spillway. Most people would buy jute netting from India, rock from a quarry, seed from a store, or plastic erosion netting from a factory. Long term erosion repair is about organic matter, living plants, brush, sod, and healthy soil. The ranch has all those things on the land.
Fun to get my first sighting of a juvenile turkey vulture. t feels good to provide habitat where birds can nest successfully.
I’ve been sadly watching for weeks as the water tries to seep past on cool mornings and then disappears in the warm afternoons. This sedimentation pond was built 40 years ago to capture enormous upstream erosion and reduce dredging costs in the harbor below. Impoundments in streams should be permeable so water flows to downstream fish. The wetland here is beautiful habitat but the interception of water helped remove steelhead from the Bodega Harbor watershed. Indigenous people built barriers in this valley for millennia to hold water and soil. Their smaller permeable barriers grew food and slowly released water for downstream fish. Small permeable barriers built with plants and soil is a better technology. Sadly there is no viable way to fix this watershed given the costs imposed by the regulations meant to protect our watersheds.
It used to be common to see groups of hundreds or thousands of birds here. Maybe it can be again. This feels like social event for these birds with many local groups joining to celebrate a beautiful summer evening above our pond.
Super fun to see a group of Virginia rails for my first time. These elusive wetland birds show success with our work to enhance wetlands on the ranch. This spot with a pool of water and dense wetland vegetation provides safe habitat for these birds. It was good to be exploring with an expert birder who heard the birds calling and knew to patiently watch for thees birds. We saw and heard 25 species of birds on a two hour exploration of our riparian restoration work.
Fantastic seeing the diversity of pollinators on this goldenrod. I think there were 10 species of busy pollinators. I’ve spent years protecting this patch of goldenrod from the cattle maintaining by a hot wire along the perimeter fence. Goldenrod is an edible and medicinal plant for people. It’s green when the grasses are dry for the summer so cattle are hard on it. I wish I had the skills and resources to have lots more of these plants on the ranch. Our world would be a better place if plants and ecosystems like this had value to humans again like they did for millennia here.
Summer heat has been killing shrubs in our coastal zone for years now. Hawthorne, coffeeberry, hazelnut, and serviceberry used to thrive with our coastal foggy summers and north facing slopes. Now they need to hide in the shade of trees to survive. These are important food for people, birds, and pollinators. There are fewer and they produce less as understory plants but life does work to adapt and survive in the face of human disruption to life.
I’ve been looking for steelhead in the creek for a couple months. It’s hard to be certain with these images but the fish in the first section are in the creek where we expect steelhead and seem to have the right coloring. The fish in the second section are non migratory fish above the steelhead barrier. They don’t have steelhead coloring.
It’s great to see lots of butterflies but the lack of native bees is a catastrophe. It’s impressive how the buckeye tree is well along forming seeds even as it continues to bloom.
I am trying many things to improve habitat under these eucalyptus trees. I’m not sure if cattails will grow well here but the hope is they will create a living sponge to store water, prevent erosion and build soil.
These native lilies failed to get pollinated and produce seed for several years. It’s great to see butterflies busy pollinating them. We’ve been working for to protect and expand our population of native lilies. It’s good to feel some success on a long slow journey.
I’ve been working to improve habitat in this eucalyptus gully. Great to see a native frog using it.
This tiny skunk shows the value of grassland disturbance as it forages in low grass created by my tire tracks.
Emergent plants that grow out of the water have a central role in our watershed restoration work. Their roots prevent erosion, build soils and are mostly edible. The roots are good food because the plants need to store lots of energy. The root energy is used to resprout in the spring, recover from floods and to recover when the plants are trampled by large hungry animals. Like us, plants need to breathe, these emergent plants use their leaves as snorkels to bring air to their underwater parts. They have become so rare in our riparian corridors, that it took me a decade to realize they could even grow here.
First time in years I have seen a banana slug. Also just leaned they might become the California State slug. They are our biggest and best slug.
Enjoying the fog drip and bird song. These coastal eucalyptus support an ecosystem oddly similar to our native redwoods. Most of these trees will likely die over the next decade or two from reduced fog and insects introduced from Australia. I’m using thinned trees to help shift from an eroding gully to these wetland fragments. It’s slow process and it’s unclear if native wetland plants will grow under the thinned trees but the birds have habitat as I try. The understory here includes twinberry, thimbleberry, coffeeberry, native blackberry, juncus, and a few native sedges.
