Divine Delta
With the holiday season is full bloom, we’ve fallen behind on a few posts. Get ready to feast your eyes on some beautiful areas in California that still have colors to show off.
Kicking it off here, Rogersl Dunstan exclaimed last week that “Even the delta has some fall color with cottonwoods and some others.”
“It Ain’t Over Till It’s Over”
That seems to apply not only to baseball but fall colors as well.
Davis Still Gorgeous
Davis is still looking quite beautiful as of earlier this week when Philip Reedy took a break from putting up Christmas decorations to walk a couple of blocks around his house.
“The trees are in full autumn glory right now,” he says. “The Gingko Biloba are all bright yellow and the Chinese Pistache and Chinese Tallow are great as well.”
- Davis (52′) – PEAK (75-100%) Go Now!
Davis Double Take
Color spotter Philip Reedy found a unique, fall color vantage point while wandering around his neighborhood this week. Fabulous light and fall color made for two different, but beautiful images from the same exact location. It just goes to show that fall color is best captured when you get up early or stay out late, and in this case, both!
- Davis (52′) – NEAR PEAK (50-75%) Go Now.
Davis is Divine
Philip Reedy stayed close to home this week and found color around his neighborhood in Davis.
“As a counterpoint to my recent 500-mile color trips to the mountains, today I took my grandson on a five-block tour of our neighborhood, where the trees have suddenly burst into color,” Reedy explained. “As my recent trips have made clear, the mountains are pretty much done for this year, but the valley is just coming into its own.”
- Davis (52′) – NEAR PEAK (50-75%) Go Now.
Chasing Water
The combination of drought and water not being released by water agencies, has migratory birds chasing water.
They found it at the the San Luis National Wildlife Refuge near Los Banos yesterday, and Mark Harding found them.
Since this article was first posted, Harding reports that the Sacramento and Colusa NWRs are again wet, and snow and Ross’ geese, heron, wigeon, pintail and mallard ducks are in residence.
Late autumn color is dressing oak, cottonwood and willow. It’s peak in California’s Central Valley.
- San Luis NWR, Los Banos (115′) – PEAK (75-100%) GO NOW!
Tree City USA
Among its claims to fame, Davis has been named a “Tree City, USA”.
This distinction is awarded by the National Arbor Day Foundation to municipalities that:
- Have a tree board or department,
- Have established a community ordnance for tree care,
- Have a forestry program that invests at least $2 million annually, and that
- Observe Arbor Day.
Other California cities so designated, include:
- Alhambra,
- Anaheim,
- Bakersfield,
- Beverly Hills,
- Brentwood,
- Burbank,
- Calabasas,
- Cerritos,
- Chico,
- Claremont,
- Coronado,
- Corona,
- Costa Mesa,
- Fremont,
- Fullerton,
- Gilroy,
- Hayward,
- Hemet,
- Irvine,
- Lakewood,
- Lodi,
- Los Angeles,
- Martinez,
- Menlo Park,
- Merced,
- Mission Viejo,
- Modesto,
- Napa,
- Oakland,
- Orange,
- Pasadena,
- Poway,
- Sacramento,
- St. Helena,
- San Dimas,
- San Fernando,
- San Francisco,
- San Jose,
- San Leandro,
- San Ramon,
- Santa Clara,
- Santa Clarita,
- Saratoga,
- Santee,
- South Pasadena,
- Upland, and
- Woodland.
On a morning walk through Davis, local color spotter Philip Reedy captured images that show why his town is deserving of the honor. To see how Davis informs its residents what trees to plant, CLICK HERE.
Back to Wind Wolves
Gary Skipper II introduced California Fall Color readers to the privately managed Wind Wolves Preserve, last November. He returns today on Orange Friday to share the amazing breadth of wildlife he found this week at this remarkable location.
As we reported last year, “Located 32 miles southwest of Bakersfield, Wind Wolves is an ecologically distinctive place where the Transverse Ranges, Coast Ranges, Sierra Nevada, western Mojave Desert and San Joaquin Valley converge.
“Ranging from 640 to 6,005′, it has a wide array of landforms and habitats. And, at 93,000 acres it’s the west coast’s largest non-profit preserve.”
On his most recent outing, Skipper captured a bobcat. He’s two for two in that category in successive yearly reports. Gary also photographed an American Kestrel (Falco sparvarius), an American Pipit (Anthus rubescens), Mountain bluebird (Sialia currucoides), Tule elk (Cervus canadensis nannodes) and California Mule Deer (Odocoileus hemionus californicus).
Wind Wolves is not known for broad displays of fall foliage. Western sycamore, Frémont cottonwood, valley oak, poison oak and California grape are the only significant deciduous foliage to inhabit the preserve. So, it may not be high on a list for fall color photography. Yet, it has a dependable display during Thanksgiving week and is worth adding to a late November trip through the Central Valley.
- Wind Wolves Preserve (640′) – PEAK (75-10%) GO NOW!
Davis, A Study in Color
True to its position as California’s center of agricultural research, Davis is a study of peak color. Philip Reedy walked his hometown today and found its trees popping with color.
- Davis (52′) – PEAK (75-10%) GO NOW!