Benicia State Recreation Area, cont. - Dec. 24, '10

Walking Distance: 2.8 miles (estimate)
Walking Time: 1 hr., 20 min. (2:32 - 3:52 p.m.)
Start and End Point: Benicia State Recreation Area, parking lot near botanic garden; Benicia, CA

Today I continued my walk through the Benicia State Recreation Area (the portion of the red line further West on the map). Unlike the clear, sunny weather yesterday, today was quite foggy. So, I missed what I'm certain would otherwise be some beautiful views of the Carquinez Strait and bridge.

Instead I saw a few ships appearing and disappearing in the mist, and listened to the blast of a train across the strait, in Martinez.

What's not shown on this Bay Trail map is there is actually a fairly dense network of trails in this lower "lobe" (west of Dillon Point). I followed all the various trails to make sure I didn't miss any of the segments of the Bay Trail in this area.

At the end of the hike I had a car picnic (view of tables and trees shown at right). I have to say, I enjoy car picnics -- no matter how simple the food and drink.

I noticed there were a lot of land snails on wild fennel and other plants in this area. Their bodies were a bit darker than regular garden land snails that I see in my garden. (I'll need to do some research to find out what kind they are.)

My efforts to photograph a kite (bird) in a dead tree failed. Sea gull-sized birds, kites are striking white birds with dark around their eyes, and they have a flutter hover that is very distinctive. Ah well. Next time perhaps.

Wildlife Sightings:

60 snails (with darker bodies); 1 kite (bird); 5 sea gulls; 41 little brown jobs (LBJs); 22 ducks; 2 large "rafts" of birds way out on water/strait - but they were too far away to identify (probably ducks or coots); and 1 Western or Clarks Grebe.

Benicia State Recreation Area - Dillon Pt. - Dec. 23, '10

Walking Distance: 3.2 miles
Walking Time: 1 hr., 23 min. (3:10 - 4:33 p.m.)
Start and End Point: State Park public parking lot ($6.00 for Day Use), Benicia State Recreation Area (end of Rose Dr.); Benicia, CA

Today was a gorgeous, sunny winter day; it was a perfect time to walk around Southampton Bay and out to Dillon Point, in Benicia. The pictures tell the story. I followed Dillon Point Road (red line on map), inside the Benicia State Recreation Area -- continuing where I'd left off a few days ago.

On the way, I passed the Forrest Deaner Native Plant Botanic Garden (which contains some 250 species on 3.5 acres, overlooking Southampton Bay.

This dog-friendly stretch of of trail was suitable for all types of traffic -- walkers, runners, bicyclists, and cars. At the end of Dillon Point Road, there were restrooms and what appeared to be the end of the road; a small section of unpaved trail continued out to Dillon Point from there. Looking West (toward Vallejo), on a clear day, was a nice view of the Carquinez Strait Bridge.

Wildlife Sightings:
4 robins; 14 little brown jobs (LBJs); 9 ducks; 9 egrets (6 snowy, 3 great); 4 sea gulls; 5 ground and/or other squirrels; 7 Western and/or Clark's Grebes; 22 coots; 1 cormorant; 11 red-winged blackbirds; 6 crows

Benicia - Matthew Turner Park - Benicia State Rec. Area - Dec. 21, '10

Walking Distance: 2.8 miles
Walking Time: 1 hr., 35 min. (12:53 - 2:28 p.m.)
Start and End Point: Public parking lot in Matthew Turner Park, Benicia, CA

I photographed birds first in goose-friendly Matthew Turner Park. Although the geese must have their detractors. One probably placed the "statue" of the crouching wolf nearby. The geese were giving him a wide berth.

I then walked West on K Street. At the point where K Street and Military W. crossed, there was a frontage road (Dillon Pt. Rd./near Highway 780) that led into Benicia State Recreation Area. Nice, side-by-side bicycle and pedestrian paved paths were a luxury and allowed me to stop, photograph and gawk at some hawks and other critters, without worrying about annoying bicyclists. I tried walking closer to the water, but parts of this muddy trail were flooded due to recent rains and high tide today.

There were lots of ground squirrels out today "mowing" the grass -- nibbling on bright green shoots starting to appear.

Wildlife:
13 Geese (1 Canada goose, 3 all white geese; 9 white-fronted geese; and 1 smaller goose w/ brown markings); 5 little brown jobs (LBJs); 16 crows/ravens; 7 sea gulls (2 fighting over a piece of food mid-air -- that crow ended up getting when they dropped it); 102 ducks; 1 coot; 1 domestic cat; 12 snails (w/ darker bodies than most snails); 2 Great Egrets; 3 brown hawks; 1 jackrabbit eating green grass; 6 ground squirrels eating green grass.