Morning Walk at Sierra Azul Open Space Preserve, 2/12/23
Arrived at the start of the Woods Trail around 10:00am.
It was the day after the passage of a cold front, so the sky was an intense blue, with wisps of cloud like the breath of angels on a bitterly cold winter day.
Storm damage was evident everywhere along the road. Weakened by years of drought, many trees had come down during the previous month’s storms. Broken branches and fallen leaves were everywhere.
Bird activity was muted, mainly Dark-Eyed Juncos (Junco hyemalis) scrambling through leaf litter for seeds and Ruby-crowned Kinglets (Corthylia calendula) chittering here and there in the canopy of the surrounding woodland. Occasionally, I saw the flash of white wing patches from Acorn Woodpeckers (Melanerpes formicivorus), or heard the brash shrieking of Steller’s Jays (Cyanocitta stelleri). From deep in the underbrush came the muted scolding of Spotted Towhees (Pipilo maculatus).
I was drawn to the fresh new growth that this winter’s abundant rains had coaxed out of the earth. Here was a carpet of young Miner’s Lettuce (Claytonia perfoliate), putting forth the first of its perfoliate leaves. There were the bright green leaves of Common Chickweed (Stellaria media), the fuzzy purplish-green leaves of Pacific Hound’s-tongue (Adelinia grande), the bright green leaves of California Buckeye (Aesculus californica) and Blue Elderberry (Sambucus caerulea). Among the foliage, the first spring wildflowers nodded on the morning’s intermittent winds: delicate white Milkmaids (Cardamine californica), deep yellow California Buttercups (Ranunculus californicus), and snowy white Osoberry (Oemleria cerasiformis). Sometimes, a flash of deep red would appear in the deep shade of an oak tree, the first of this spring’s Warrior’s Plume (Pedicularis densiflora).
I followed the Woods Trail for just over a mile, past small creeks hopscotching across rocks in deep-cut ravines and blindingly brilliant patches of golden sunshine. Then, after discovering and photographing a beautifully lit Interior Live Oak (Quercus wislezeni), I reluctantly turned around and headed home. The errands of the ‘real world’ were calling me away. I was, however, able to pause before the end of my visit and watch a small kettle of Turkey Vultures (Cathartes aura) spiral upwards into the sky, borne away on invisible thermals. They, too, had errands of their own to attend to.
Sierra Azul Open Space Preserve is located in the Santa Cruz Mountains south of San Jose, CA. For more information on Sierra Azul Open Space Preserve: https://www.openspace.org/preserves/sierra-azul
