Carrizo Plain in March Past

 

The Yellow Carpet (3/10/2010)

Back in the days before social media took off, you could have Carrizo Plain pretty much to yourself, especially in March before the peak bloom. Back then I usually couldn't get time off from work at the optimum times, so I'd go when I could. Last year was the first time I was able to time my trip, passing through once with my wife on our way to San Diego, then returning on my own later in the month. I'm still undecided as to whether I'll go down this year, but in the meantime I thought I'd share some March scenes from the olden days....

This was the view toward the Caliente Range from Soda Lake Road...

...and this was the view in the other direction, toward the Temblor Range (both 3/3/2005).

Not that I've been out there a lot, but I used to reliably see pronghorn before the big solar farms were built. I thought for sure I'd see some last year with so much forage available, but nope. (Photo from 3/3/05).

This is from 3/10/2010, and I don't believe the sign is still there. 

Meadowlarks: the sound of Carrizo Plain in March (3/3/05).

The fiddleneck back when I shot this (3/3/05) was heavy around Soda Lake, but not elsewhere on the plain. Last year I was surprised to see how far and wide it had spread.

Fiddleneck sunrise (3/11/2004).

Back then (3/3/05) it felt like I had arrived at peak bloom. I'd never seen such a large-scale profusion of wildflowers before.

I like to see what I still own after so many years. The Jeep is long gone, but that cooler was already about 11 years old back then (3/3/05), and I still have it. I also still have the Marmot jacket, but the camp chair broke just last year while camping at Sonora Pass.

Is "Cheerful as a Daisy" a thing (3/10/2010)?

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Wind Blown

 

Abbotts Lagoon Sunrise

After all those windy days I was eager to get out to the dunes around Abbotts Lagoon to see if I could find any of the Pt. Reyes Wallflowers (Erysimum concinnum) that I photographed back in March 2010. I'd checked my Windy app and saw that it wasn't going to be dead calm, which was unfortunate. But I was still disappointed when I arrived at the parking lot and heard the wind howling just a little bit in the pre-dawn darkness. 

As it turned out, I need not have concerned myself about the wind since there weren't any wildflowers to photograph anyway. The bright spot of my morning turned out to be watching a family of river otters swim by as they moved from the seaward part of the lagoon to the inland part. They spooked a great blue heron into flight as it was hunting near the bridge. The heron had not spooked earlier when I crossed the bridge, but a GBH does not mess around with a family of voracious otters.

The freshly wind-scoured sand dunes already had several sets of animal tracks crossing here and there. One disturbance looked like it might have been made by a bird landing and sweeping the sand with its wings, as if it had been going after prey. Nearby was a tiny dead mole lying on top of the sand. I wondered why it hadn't been eaten.

Point Reyes Wallflower on a calm morning at Abbotts Lagoon in March 2010.

The otters swam underwater as they approached and passed beneath the bridge, but finally showed themselves at least briefly.

I hoped they would get out on the dunes and play, but they did not. There are five otters in this shot.

Moocows in the Morning

Composite shot of a flicker that took off from its coyote brush perch.

Lots of spotted towhees were belting out their sunrise songs.

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Around the Horn

 

Bison on the Move

The bison were all grazing out in the field, so I stopped my bike, only to have them all suddenly start moving toward the feeding pens. Apparently their regular feed is preferable to the available field greens.

The Dutch Windmill with tulips in the Queen Wilhelmina Garden.

The Coast Guard was taking advantage of the hazardous weather conditions today by practicing ocean rescues. The chopper, an Airbus MH-65D Dolphin, had to maintain its position in the wind while lowering a rescue swimmer to the water (the orange thing is the "victim" that was summarily tossed out of the chopper into the sea).

The wind was blowing around 22 mph with 30 mph gusts.

Looks calm here.... 

Every time the kingfisher sounded off with its chittering call, it raised its head and tail feathers.

An allen's hummingbird landed on a nearby branch while I was watching the kingfisher.

Then it flew to an even closer lichen-covered branch to do some preening.

Flashing the warm-toned gorget.

And more preening.

The Metson Lake GBH was in attendance and took occasional interest in passing minnows, without actually taking a stab at anything in the few minutes I spent watching.

But mostly it appeared to just be hanging out in the sunshine.

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Unruffled

 

Coast Guard Motor Lifeboat at Ocean Beach

According to NOAA's National Data Buoy Center, the swells are running 12-14 feet today. I noticed the waves were breaking farther out than usual when I did my walk this morning, and I was glad I'd brought my camera when I later biked down to the beach. I figured there wouldn't be any surfers out in that huge chaos, but the Coast Guard evidentally saw the hazardous conditions as a perfect training opportunity.

Nice day for a splash in the ocean.

Testing to see if these boats are, in fact, unsinkable.

Unruffled

Ruffled

Unruffled

I noticed the other day that the dynamic duo of red-tailed hawks who like to hang out atop the Murphy Windmill are perching closer together than usual. Are they a mating pair, or siblings?

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Spontaneity vs. Planning

 

A Half-Dozen Deer, Mt. Tamalpais

I was hoping to do some tidepooling on Thursday after checking up on my trail cams. I'd checked the tide tables and saw that Duxbury Reef would have a good minus tide around 3 p.m. What I forgot to check was the wind forecast. If I had checked, I'd have waited until today to go.

Even on Thursday, there was almost no wind on Bolinas Ridge, where the day was spectacularly beautiful. The ocean in front of Stinson Beach also looked fairly calm, but there were whitecaps on the ocean in front of Bolinas, on the side where the reef is. I thought about just heading home, but since I had all day I drove on down the mountain, on the tiny chance that tidepooling might still be possible.

The wind blew my hat off as I walked down the trail to the beach. You could still look at tidepools, and maybe even see something through the turbulent and murky water, but there was no point trying to do any photography. 

No big deal. A spontaneous trip to Duxbury Reef that doesn't work out, I can live with. Plus it was a nice day for a drive.

Last week I'd been planning to head down to Anza-Borrego Desert State Park to hopefully catch some early desert wildflower action, but as my departure date neared, the forecast turned to "blowing dust" and gusty winds. I wasn't going to drive more than a thousand miles round trip to get skunked by the wind, so I didn't go. This coming week looks promising though, so I'm looking forward to getting back down there for the first time since 2010. I can hardly believe it's been so long!

I had my DSLR gear, but the only pictures I took were with the FZ80 during my hike to the trail cams.

I managed to get off one frame of this varied thrush with a bay nut in its beak before it flew away. 

The bear's head fungus was still alive!

Muddy water and howling wind at Duxbury Reef.

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Grab Bag

 

Mellow Swell at Ocean Beach

The ocean looked strange today. A combination of high tide and almost no wind left a fairly glassy surface, and each small swell looked like a kind of liquid jewel swirling toward the beach. 

Going Long

Short Take

Tuesday's Gone
(rear window sunrise, 3/5/24)

Miner's Dew

After Georgia O'Keeffe

* * *

Male Rain

 

Yosemite High Country Cam
(2/29 & 3/3)

Yosemite Valley Cam
(2/29 & 3/3)

It doesn't look like Yosemite got as much snow as they expected. I've seen the High Country cam's view completely obliterated before, and Yosemite Valley appears to have gotten little more than a respectable dusting.

I first read about male rain and female rain back in the early '90s in books by Doug Boyd, especially Rolling Thunder and Mad Bear, and then later in reading Tony Hillerman's Navajo mystery novels featuring Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee. 

As I looked out the windows at the rain pouring down in the last day or two, I couldn't help thinking it looked like a male rain for a change. We've been getting lots of little showers this rainy season, but nothing like the deluge we just experienced. Of course, I don't consider it a real deluge until it blows out the manhole cover just up the street, which we've only seen two or three times in the 20+ years we've lived here. 

Rainy Day Timelapse

* * *

Blowin' in the Wind

 

Howlin'

Not to rub it in or anything, but this morning I once again found myself feeling deeply grateful to be able to go for walks and bike rides instead of going to work. My walk took me over Parnassus Heights to Cole Valley, up and down the Haight, into the gardens and woodlands of Golden Gate Park, then back home through the Inner Sunset. Then it was back through the park for the bike ride, with a side trip to the old Cliff House to savor the awesome meeting of wind and wave. 

I was looking for a title for this post and came up with something probably too obvious. However, I looked up the lyrics and was struck by the fact that Dylan's song, written in 1962, could have been written for today. Some things never change. Ars longa, vita brevis.

Toil and Trouble

Sudsy Scoter

The perspective from the back deck of the old Cliff House always puts the high point of Seal Rocks even with the horizon. I think I'd like to be higher up, to put the horizon above the peak. Someday the old Cliff House will open up again and I'll be able to do that, maybe while enjoying a burger and a beer.

OBSF

Friday Crowd

Willets outnumbered people today.

It was good to see them back again.

Screenshot from this morning's sunrise timelapse.

Sunrise Timelapse, 3/1/24

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