Ulistac Natural Area

On Saturday D. and I returned to Ulistac Natural Area in Santa Clara, because it had been a couple of years since we'd been there and it was close by and had flat, easy trails.  They have been expanding their native plant section since our last visit, and we also saw a couple of red-shouldered hawks (one of which had a band ( Read more... )

Foothills & Monte Bello Open Space Preserves

On Saturday D. and I went to Foothills Open Space Preserve because we'd never been there before.  We've passed it countless times on our way to other open space preserves but we'd never bothered to stop and see it, primarily because it's so small (212 acres), and there's only one trail and not much to ( Read more... )

Ulistac Natural AreaOn Saturday D. and I visited the Ulistac Natural Area in Santa Clara.  Opened to the public 10 years ago, it was Santa Clara's last 40 acres of open space preserved from development. It was originally inhabited by the Ohlone Indians, then by the Spanish missionaries, and later used as a pear orchard and a golf course. Once ( Read more... )

Sunol - Little Wintery Images

On a drizzly Feb. 22, D. and I went to Sunol Regional Wilderness for their "Taking Tiny Pictures" program, which invited us to bring our digital cameras with a macro setting and make little wintery images on a naturalist-led walk.  So here's some of our little wintery images, staring with mine ( Read more... )

Niles Canyon Brickworks, 12-21-08

A couple of Sundays ago D. and I returned to Niles Canyon to look for the abandoned brickworks factory we'd heard was there somewhere. I'd seen the facility referred to variously as the Mission Clay Tile Works, Mission Pottery, Mission Clay Products and the California Pressed Brick Company (over the course of its ( Read more... )