Road to Las Gallinas Ponds - Apr. 25, 2010

Walking Distance: 1.1 miles (estimate)
Walking Time: 42 min. (4:25 - 5:07 p.m.)
Start and End Point: Public parking area, side of road, San Rafael, CA

Today (Sunday) I returned to finish up a segment of roadway (double yellow lines on right half of map shown) that I missed on Friday.  This paved, tail end of Smith Ranch Road led to the Las Gallinas Valley Sanitation District Wildlife Ponds. I also walked into the Ponds area again for a short distance.  After all the rainy weather we've had this spring, at 4:30 p.m. the sun felt hot enough to incinerate me and the surrounding wildflowers. However, all the lizards were out, basking in the warmth. And for every lizard that I saw, I could hear a few more skittering away through the grass. The cows grazing in the distance seemed unbothered by life; perhaps these were the happy California cows from the television commercials.

Wildlife Sightings:
3 turkey vultures; 4 little brown jobs (LBJs); 1 squirrel; 4 butterflies; 6 lizards; 1 ladybug; 1 (dead) snake; 5 unidentified flying bugs (UFBs); 7 crows; 15 barn swallows; 2 mockingbirds; and 1 quail in tree.