Today's Nature Study~Alum Rock

With Yosemite fresh in our blood, we decided to head to our local county park, Alum Rock. I've been going here since I was a girl and luckily we still live very close by. Although there is a fire raging in the Santa Cruz mountains with smoke thick in the air, we went ahead and spent the afternoon hiking and studying the nature around us.

We were very fortunate to see three deer(two does and a young buck~pic of him at the very end). We also saw several varieties of birds..Stellar Jays(pic included), Robins, Woodpeckers, a beautiful white Heron and several smaller ones that I can't name. There were many speckled ground squirrels(I have a shot here of a baby..too cute!) and little red beetles. We also got to observe a brown damsel fly.

So, come along on our little study:



There were an amazing number of Stellar Jays out today. They seemed to be following us, but were not at all easy to capture on camera! This one graciously sat still and let me get this shot.

I wonder, can you see the damsel fly in the leaf debris above? This was a rather chance siting...but I'm sure glad we found it:-)

And here is the baby squirrel. We saw several of them as we walked along the path. So adorable!

And our young buck...so beautiful! He was grazing along the path, near the old mineral baths and grottos. His antlers are still velveted and he was only a little startled by us. Not so much that he rushed right off. The girls really enjoyed seeing him and Liam even noticed him.

What a wonderful afternoon we had!

Have a great weekend!
Sommer