Walking Distance: 3.2 mi. (~2.9 mi. "new" miles)
Walking Time: 1 hr., 25 min. (3:28 - 4:53 p.m.)
Start and End Point: Side of the road, near entrance to Byxbee Park, Palo Alto, CA
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After a very pleasant Christmas morning, I went walking at Byxbee Park -- a converted former garbage dump (like many bayside parks). Packed dirt trails circled and covered the hills and mounds that were molded into a park-like setting, with sculptural features (primarily in the form of poles sticking up from the hills) at even intervals.
Previously, I had been focusing on these poles on the hill, and I turned right, before I should have, taking the Adobe Creek Loop Trail -- which went out to Renzel Wetlands.
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So, this time I was careful to walk further out to the Bay and then Right following the trail closer to Bay - walked SE along packed dirt trail until I reached an interpretive sign titled "Interrelationships" showing the web of relationships in the baylands.
It was a cool, but clear day. The winter landscape had started to look a bit gray, and I found my eye lingering on the few bright bits of color -- such as the small yellow blossom (shown at right).
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I walked back same way I'd come, passing several people out for a holiday walk, or bicycle ride, and a very cute little dog in a santa suit out for a walk with its owner. There were a number of shorebirds and ducks in the bay visible from this trail.
Wildlife Sightings:
48 sea gulls; 172 unidentified brownish shorebirds (UBBs); 1 willet; 4 black-necked stilts; 173 ducks; 2 killdeer; 30 coots; 6 little brown jobs (LBJs); 4 crows; 1 UFO diver/grebe; 2 hawks/kestrels/falcons; 53 American Avocets; 1 kite (bird); 4 cormorants; 2 white snails
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