A Visit to Dry Creek Community Park in Southern Placer County, CA.
On Sunday (June 18), I spent a couple of hours at Dry Creek Community Park, a 23-acre patch of open space just outside the city limits of Roseville in southern Placer County, CA. The park has quite a few amenities to support the sports activities of the local community, but I was more interested in the grassy fields surrounding these amenities, as well as the riparian corridor along Dry Creek, which cuts through the park and gives the park its name.
The fields were dry and a bit dusty, as is to be expected for the late spring and early summer. The green grasses of spring had come and gone there, leaving behind golden patches of straw through which Field Bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis) bloomed profusely. The bindweed’s blossoms were flushed with a rosy pink color that contrasted beautifully with the grass. Other summer wildflowers in bloom alongside the bindweed included Scarlet Pimpernel (Lysimachia arvensis), Yellow Star Thistle (Centaurea solstitialis), White Horehound (Marrubium vulgare), Pineapple-Weed (Matricaria discoidea), Hairy Vetch (Vicia villosus), and Shortpod Mustard (Hirschfeldia incana). This last species was at its peak, attracting many Western Honeybees (Apis mellifera) and the occasional Gray Hairstreak (Strymon melinus).
A well-trodden dirt path led me through the fields to the very edge of Dry Creek. Here, Valley Oaks (Quercus lobata) towered overhead, casting dappled shadows across the creek’s glassy surface. Blue Elder (Sambucus cerulea), Boxelder (Acer negundo), Chicory (Cicoreus intybus), and Armenian Blackberry (Rubus armeniacus) gathered in the shade of these oaks, along with many plants that I did not recognize. One unfamiliar plant that I was able to identify was the Northern Catalpa (Catalpa speciosa), a small-to-medium-sized tree with enormous, elongated, heart-shaped leaves and legume-like seed pods that must have been almost a foot in length. Another unfamiliar plant that I identified was the Moth Mullein (Verbascum blattaria), an interesting plant with tall spikes of yellow flowers that sometimes reached nearly three feet in height.
House Finches (Haemorhous Mexicana), Lesser Goldfinches (Spinus psaltria), Oak Titmice (Baeolophus inornatus), Acorn Woodpeckers (Melanerpes formicivorus), and White-breasted Nuthatches (Sitta carolinensis) flitted from treetop to treetop, sometimes calling as they flew. However, I was more interested in the insects that I found along the creek. Chief among them were the Pipevine Swallowtails (Battus philenor) that I saw wafting their way through the trees, their large bluish-black wings resembling black velvet adorned here and there with silver and gold spots. Also notable were the American Rubyspots (Hetaerina americana) that alighted onto leaves jutting out over the creek like miniature landing platforms, as well as the Shadow Darner (Aeshna umbrosa) that I found as it was patrolling the creek for prey. The Shadow Darner was still cruising up and down the length of the creek, as I followed the dirt path away from the creek, concluding my visit.
