Diario de arnel

On Saturday (November 4), as I was on my way to Sacramento, CA, I made a short, exploratory visit to Ed DeBenedetti Park in the nearby town of Lodi. I was intrigued by the satellite views of this park that I saw on Google Maps, which showed the presence of a small lake along its southern boundary. This lake seemed like a good spot to find interesting birds, insects, amphibians, and other creatures, so I was curious to see what I might find there.

When I reached Ed DeBenedetti Park, I realized that the lake filled an unlikely (that is, man-made) depression in the earth, whose slopes were cloaked in the autumn yellows of cottonwoods and willows. This is something that could not have been revealed by those satellite views on Google Maps. Another thing that Google Maps did not clearly reveal was the chain link fence surrounding the entire lake, fully blocking access to it. Look through the fence, I did manage to see a pair of Green Herons (Butorides virescens) winging their way across the lake’s surface, past a small flock of Mallards (Anas platyrhynchos). I also heard a Belted Kingfisher (Megaceryle alcyon) rattle loudly from the lake’s shoreline, as Yellow-rumped Warblers (Setophaga coronate) and White-crowned Sparrows (Zonotrichia leucophrys) vocalized from its wooded slopes. The lake still seemed like an interesting place to look for birds, even if it were not an especially good place to photograph them.

North of the lake, I found a large field full of grasses and mostly non-native forbs such as Russian Thistle (Salsola sp.), Yellow Star Thistle (Centaurea solstitialis), Alfalfa (Medicago sativa), Ribwort Plantain (Plantago lanceolata), and Shortpod Mustard (Hirschfeldia incana). The field seemed like it might be an interesting place to look for insects, especially in the late spring when the plants are still fresh and vibrant. On this visit, I did manage to find an Asian Lady Beetle (Harmonia axyridis), a Cabbage White (Pieris rapae), and an Orange Sulfur (Colias eurytheme), all species that will remain active there until the cold and rain of winter sets in.

On Sunday (November 12), I decided to visit Emily Renzel Wetlands, which are part of the Palo Alto Baylands in northern Santa Clara County, CA. My best sighting there was that of a Raccoon (Procyon lotor), whom I saw loping down one of the wetlands’ levee trails. It moved with supreme confidence, as if it owned the wetlands, and it did not flinch in the slightest when it noticed me standing there, a mere hundred yards away. It continued approaching me for some time before, abruptly, it ducked into the brush along the edge of the wetlands’ north pond and disappeared from view.

These wetlands can be an excellent place to look for wintering waterfowl, but it was just a bit too early for them to have arrived. Several dozen Northern Shovelers (Spatula clypeata) were there, along with an influx of Mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) augmenting the local resident population of this species. The rest of the birds there were probably residents, from the Double-crested Cormorant (Nannopterum auritum) that spreads its wings on the small islet in the wetlands’ south pond to the Pied-billed Grebe (Podilymbus podiceps) that dove for its breakfast in the north pond. A Belted Kingfisher (Megaceryle alcyon) hunting near the southern tip of the south pond was a nice find, as I hadn’t seen one of those in a while.

Although it was late in the season, insects were not yet completely dormant for the winter. Flitting across the pond were a few Common Green Darners (Anax junius), while a Pacific Forktail (Ischnura cervula) hid itself very carefully within a clump of Common Reeds (Phragmites australis). Cabbage Whites (Pieris rapae) and Common Checkered Skippers (Burnsius communis) darted through the air, intermittently landing on the last of the autumn’s wildflowers for a sip of nectar. Last but not least were the many Asian and Seven-spotted Lady Beetles (Harmonia axyridis and Coccinella septempunctata, respectively) that I saw hunting for prey amongst the vegetation that formed a dense fringe of vegetation around each of the wetlands’ ponds.