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Wind Wolves Preserve

Poison oak, Wind Wolves Preserve (11/11/20) Gary Skipper II

Every so often an unreported place surfaces. Today, it is Wind Wolves Preserve.

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.

Most interesting to fall color spotters is its mix of deciduous foliage. Now, it takes a true connoisseur of fall color to appreciate this blend of blue and valley oak, Frémont cottonwood, red and sandbar willow, poison oak and California grape in the preserve.

Bobcat, Wind Wolves Preserve (11/11/20) Gary Skipper II

Many species of wildlife, including Tule elk, bobcats, coyotes, American black bear, rabbits, northern Pacific rattlesnakes, and mountain lions live within the preserve.

Gary Skipper II noted correctly that CaliforniaFallColor.com had overlooked Wind Wolves previously and said it gets “decent fall color in mid November.” Gary noted the bright red color of one plant. Let’s hope he didn’t touch it, as otherwise he earned both a First Report and a case of poison oak.

  • Wind Wolves Preserve (640′) – Peak (75-10%) GO NOW!
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Davis Dessert

Davis (11/14/20) Philip Reedy

A great meal finishes best with a delicious dessert, be it savory or sweet. Such is happening in Davis, where autumn’s feast of gorgeous color is ending with a dessert of savory and sweet color.

Philip Reedy found it on a walk today in his hometown.

  • Davis (52′) – Peak (75-100%) GO NOW!
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Sacramento Valley

Sandhill Cranes, Nelson (11/8/20) Robert Kermen

It’s time for the Sacramento Valley to shout, “I’m next!”

Migratory birds are filling the rice fields and cluttering the skies with cacophonous squawking from Lodi north to Chico.

On a Sunday morning drive, Robert Kermen found Sandhill Cranes feasting along Agua Fritas Rd, west of Nelson.

South near Richvale, Snow Geese were milling about, trying to avoid predators and competing with the swans.

English Walnut, Sacramento Valley (11/8/20) Robert Kermen

Even the orchards are becoming active with English walnuts and persimmons brightening the autumn landscape.

  • Sacramento Valley (197′) – Near Peak (50-75%) Go Now.
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Lackluster

Fremont cottonwood and pepper berries, Davis (9/16/20) Philip Reedy

This week, Philip Reedy, Michelle Pontoni and I separately explored the noxious outdoors before the thermal inversion lifted. At the time, an oppressively dense haze from numerous California wildfires hung over California, keeping the Sun’s rays from brightening the landscape.

Instead, it draped a lackluster pall across the scene.

In Davis, Reedy found fallen Fremont cottonwood leaves resting among pepper berries and upon redwood branches, quiet beauty in an otherwise moribund atmosphere.

Pontoni found a more encouraging scene as she biked south a quarter mile on the Lake Tahoe Boulevard Bike Path from the corner of Lake Tahoe Blvd and Viking Road in South Lake Tahoe. Tiny Quaking Aspen, pushing up from the forest floor, were beginning to change color. Bikers, walkers, and strollers along the path were bombarded by Sugar Pine cones as afternoon winds picked up. She warned, “Wear a helmet!”

At Fallen Leaf lake, Pontoni reported seeing only one aspen full of yellow – all others were still “fully green.” Elsewhere, meadow brush were showing signs of change, painting the landscape with blended tones of lime-green, yellow, orange and russet.

In Tahoe City, red maple lifted their desiccated branches as if pleading for the subalpine lake’s normally clear skies to dissipate the gasses. As I passed Agate Bay, one could see only a hundred yards out into the brown-grey haze. Beyond it, there was only mystery and memories of Tahoe’s beauty.

I drove past Martis Creek’s derelict cabin on CA-267, its aspen enveloped in a foul air that both dulled and warmed their color, a mix of green, to lime, to pastel yellow, to sickly orange. Should it be photographed? Yes, but the scene was then too depressing to stop, unsaddle, gear up and take a photograph that would only leave me saddened.

This morning, I replied to a comment from travelgal485 which opined that perhaps this wasn’t the year to see California’s fall color. Having just experienced the suffocating, disheartening search for something bright and colorful, I was of a mind to agree, but recalled the lessons many years observing autumn have taught.

I answered, “Right now, it’s not the best time, but give it a day and it could be one of the most unbelievably beautiful years, ever. The reason it’s so disappointing, for the moment, are: forest closures (due to smoke and to allow USFS staff to focus on firefighting) and haze. However, both those conditions will change. Yesterday was the first clear day in a month in the Sacramento Valley, with an actual sunset seen along the Coast Range. If I’ve learned anything in more than 40 years writing about California’s fall color it’s what Heraclitus of Ephesus wrote 2,520 years ago, “the only constant is change.”

  • Davis – Just Starting (0 – 10%)
  • South Lake Tahoe / Fallen Leaf Lake – Just Starting (0 – 10%)
  • Tahoe City / Agate Bay / Martis Creek / Truckee – Just Starting (0 – 10%)
Flowering Pear and ornamental debris, Davis (9/16/20) Philip Reedy
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Davis Pears and Peppers Up

Flowering pear, Davis (12/8/19) Philip Reedy

Just like Healdsburg, Davis’ pears are up. So are its peppers.

Philip Reedy was surprised by the bright color to be found in his neighborhood on a weekend walk, exclaiming, “There’s still color!”

He found Flowering pear and American pepper carrying magenta and gold color.

  • Davis – Peak to Past Peak, GO NOW, YOU ALMOST MISSED IT.
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Capitol Color

Capitol Park, Sacramento (12/3/19) Steve Arita

Today was the Christmas Tree lighting ceremony at the State Capitol in Sacramento, though it wasn’t the only tree at Capitol Park that was lit up with color.

Steve Arita was there this week and sends these images of late peak color. Sacramento’s neighborhoods are now past peak, though spots of bright color – as seen in Capitol Park – can still be found in this city of trees.

  • Capitol Park, Sacramento – Peak to Past Peak, GO NOW, YOU ALMOST MISSED IT.
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Just Ducky

Ducks take flight, Colusa NWR (11/29/19) Steve Arita

A brief break in the weather on Orange Friday allowed Steve Arita to capture shots of ducks in flight at Colusa National Wildlife Refuge.

Steve reported that “while cloudy, enough sun made it through,” and soon after he’d arrived and set up on the observation deck near the reserve entrance, the ducks took to the air, spooked by a bald eagle that had just taken flight.

Steve shot using a Lumix G9 with Lumix/Leica 100-400 mm zoom. He says that while the lens isn’t the sharpest, he likes the camera’s compact, easy-to-handle size, and Lumix’s “Dual-IS” (image stabilization) has the body work in tandem with the lens to stabilize the image, useful when taking handheld photos of birds.

When shooting wild birds with a long lens (over 300mm), it is helpful to mount the camera to a gimbal head on a sturdy tripod. That allows the photographer to track flying birds while staying steady. Also useful is to set the camera to Manual mode at f8 and with a shutter speed of 1/2000th. Then, adjust the ISO until the meter is balanced.

Of the various places to photograph migratory birds at Colusa NWR – other than perhaps one of the reserve’s photography blinds – the observation deck near the reserve entrance is a superb location. A large pond just beyond the deck is a favorite spot for ducks to roost and geese to feed.

Turkey vulture (11/29/19) Steve Arita

Various geese, duck, shorebirds, egrets, turkey vultures and heron roost there from autumn to February. In springtime, Wood ducks are best photographed from the blinds.

What mystifies many of the photographers and birders at the refuge is that the geese and ducks are able to identify predators at great distances. Waterfowl will rise in a loud, confusing mass of flapping wings when a hawk or eagle approaches, even though it may be barely identifiable to the human eye, but don’t budge when other birds or carrion fly over.

Sutter Buttes, Colusa NWR (11/29/19) Steve Arita
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Mass Ascension

Colusa National Wildlife Refuge (11/22/19) John Poimiroo

Birders and photographers stood on a platform at the Colusa National Wildlife Refuge in the chill morning air yesterday.

Most were regulars. They visit the refuge almost daily with their spotting scopes, binoculars and long lenses.

“An eagle must have spooked them,” one of the photographers said, as swirling white and grey specks rose above a line of orange-black oaks in the distance.

Mass Ascension, Colusa NWR (11/22/19) John Poimiroo

Lenses turned as one as one of several mass ascensions seen that morning approached. At first, I shot with my Nikkor 200 to 500 mm lens on a D850, then shifted from the big gun to a separate body with a Nikkor 24 to 70 mm on a D700.

By the time the snow and Ross geese arrived, I’d dialed down the lens to 24 mm. Phil Reedy stood nearby, doing the same.

Mass Ascension, Colusa NWR (11/22/19) John Poimiroo

Geese circled above us in great, flapping, squawking wonder. I got off a couple of dozen frames on motor, then thought, “Enjoy the moment” and put down the camera to just be enthralled by the beauty of being immersed in the experience.

Northern shoveler hen, Colusa NWR (11/22/19) Philip Reedy
  • Colusa NWR – Peak Migration – Snow geese, Ross geese, various ducks and other migratory fowl.
Eurasian Widgeon (l), American Widgeons (r), Colusa NWR (11/22/19) John Poimiroo
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Leaf Sunday

English oak, University Arboretum, CSU Sacramento (11/17/19) John Poimiroo

Everyone ought to have a leaf Sunday.

It’s a Sunday drive just to see peaking leaves. Mine was spent on a route I’ve taken many times with stops in El Dorado Hills, Folsom, Fair Oaks and Sacramento.

Brown’s Ravine, Folsom Lake SRA, El Dorado Hills (11/17/19) John Poimiroo
Mormon Island Wetlands Reserve, Folsom (11/17/19) John Poimiroo

El Dorado Hills has trees yet to turn, but more than half have dropped leaves, so it’s between peak and past peak. Fremont cottonwood and Toyon are nearing the end of their peak at Folsom Lake SRA; and landmark Fremont cottonwood at Mormon Island Wetlands are at peak and crowed with bright yellow.

Fair Oaks Park is nearing the end of peak. The approaching storm is likely to remove whatever color is still hanging, and the village’s chickens seemed to know a storm is approaching, as they were crowing anxiously.

The University Arboretum was mostly past peak, though lovers didn’t mind. They sat on benches in quiet corners of the arboretum, ignoring arguments between squirrels, as they whispered to one another and kissed.

Fabulous Forties, Sacramento (11/17/19) John Poimiroo

Along the Fabulous Forties in east Sacramento (avenues numbered in the 40s), large dumps of leaves from towering London plane trees planted near the curbs have littered the avenues. Owners of these stately homes are out each weekend, blowing, raking and sweeping the detritus into piles to be hauled away by city workers.

Holly and her daughter blow leaves into a pile (11/17/19) John Poimiroo

I happened upon Holly and her daughter who were rushing to blow a week’s fall of folioles, so that party guests would have room to park along the curb that night.

There was autumn in the air in downtown Sacramento. Couples dressed in sweatshirts and light sweaters, even though temps were in the low 70s.

The constant fall of leaves from the city’s canopy of color (see “Rollin’ Thru SacTown” posted earlier today), makes Sacramento seem like it should be colder than it is. Perhaps that will change this week, as snow in the Sierra is predicted.

William Land Park, Sacramento (11/17/19) John Poimiroo

Leaf-dressed picnics, touch football, golf and Sunday strolls were happening at William Land Park, and I closed my Leaf Sunday Drive stopping at the Freeport Bakery to purchase a couple of … what else? Leaf Cookies.

Leaf Cookies, Freeport Bakery, Sacramento (11/17/19) John Poimiroo
  • El Dorado Hills (768′) – Peak to Past Peak, GO NOW, YOU ALMOST MISSED IT.
  • Mormon Island Wetlands Reserve (372′) – Peak (75-100%) GO NOW!
  • Folsom (220′) – Peak to Past Peak, GO NOW, YOU ALMOST MISSED IT.
  • Fair Oaks (174′) – Peak (75-100%) GO NOW!
  • CSU Arboretum – Sacramento (30′) – Past Peak, YOU MISSED IT.
  • Fabulous Forties – Sacramento (30′) – Peak (75-100%) GO NOW!
  • Downtown – Sacramento (30′) – Peak (75-100%) GO NOW!
  • William Land Park – Sacramento (30′) – Peak (75-100%) GO NOW!
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Peak in Lodi Again

John Fogerty said he never actually visited Lodi when he wrote the classic line, “Oh Lord, stuck in Lodi again.”

Had he, Fogerty would have learned that Lodi has 85+ wineries covering 100,000+ acres (most in California), nearby wildlife refuges full of Sandhill Cranes, egrets and heron, an annual Fall Color Paddle on the Mokelumne River (Sat., Nov. 23), and loads of fall color.

So, if you’re “lookin’ for a pot of gold,” as Fogerty was, there are few places in the state where autumn gold is more easily found right now, than in Lodi … again.

Photos courtesy VisitLodi.

  • Lodi (35′) – Peak (75-100%) GO NOW!