Papa's Taverna, Petaluma - June 25, 2010

Walking Distance: 1.8 miles
Walking Time: 36 min. (1:59 - 2:35 p.m.)
Start and End Point: Papa's Taverna, 5688 Lakeville Highway, Petaluma, CA

Today's short walk commenced with lunch at Papa's Taverna (next to Lakeville Marina). It was a beautiful day, and Papa's restaurant dining area had a great view of boats on the Petaluma River. Downstairs from where I ate, was an area for live music and dancing, and a bar. It looked like a fun place.

After lunch, and a look around the Taverna, I walked South on Lakeville Highway, until I turned around .9 mi. later, at 6210 Lakeville Highway. On the way, I passed the Keller Estate (winery), and pastureland.

Most of the walk was in direct sun, but there were a few places with shade from some large trees.

The first lizard I saw today (shown) had a forked tail, which was interesting. Not much else to report on the wildlife front. In the distance there were horses and cows grazing.


Wildlife Sightings:
6 red-winged blackbirds, 3 lizards

Lakeville Highway, Petaluma, CA - June 10, 2010

Walking Distance: 7.3 miles
Walking Time: 2 hrs., 20 min. (6:36 - 8:56 p.m.)
Start and End Point: side-of-road, on Stage Gulch Rd., several yards from Lakeville Rd./Highway, Petaluma, CA

I really do enjoy walking. But, this evening's walk was mildly terrifying. In addition to walking on a narrow shoulder of Highway 116 (shown as yellow lines on map, right) with traffic whizzing by, and occasionally getting buffeted by blasts of air from passing semis, I also had several surprise encounters with wildlife.

First, I stepped too close to (what I'm guessing was) a gopher snake that was lying at the road's edge; it immediately coiled into a defensive posture (right). Most of the snakes by the side of the road I've seen have been dead. I was happy to see this one was alive, but it did give me a start.

I also had a cow run toward a fence at me. It looked like this cow was either trying to chase me off, or that it was extremely frisky and wanted to play. (Picture shown at right of cows was taken a few seconds before this happened.)  I wasn't willing to risk having this animated cow burst through the fence on my account; so I quickly crossed the street.

Last, but not least, as the sun went down, the afternoon breeze died down -- enabling a large army of mosquitos to move around comfortably. A cloud of bugs encased me for almost 2/3 mile. It was then that I looked forward to every blast of air from those passing trucks -- to blow the bug cloud off me.

Thank you to the two (separate) women who stopped to see if I was in trouble or needed a ride. I really appreciated their kindness. It was hard to explain to them -- as I was swatting away mosquitos, and trying not to swallow any -- that, really, I was out walking of my own free will. Swat, swat, cough. No really, I do this for fun. 

Before the bugs almost carried me off, I enjoyed watching a "V" formation of Canada geese flying overhead (shown in tiny picture, right) seeing the golden-pink tones of the evening sunset, and hearing some frogs singing near a large pond in the distance. I did not have time to investigate the Lakeville Marina, near Papas Taverna, just off the highway. Maybe next time.

Wildlife Sightings:
4 sheep; 10 blackbirds (orioles?); 20 red-winged blackbirds; 21 swallows; 4 little brown jobs (LBJs); 1 rusty screw; 23 Canada geese (flying in V formation overhead); 62 cows; 3 snakes -- 1 live (brown-patterned) snake, and 2 dead ones (1 brown-patterned, 1 kingsnake); 2 crows; and one gigantic cloud of mosquitos (almost 2/3 mile long).

Adobe Road, Petaluma - June 5, 2010

Walking Distance: 7.9 miles
Walking Time: 3 hrs., 33 min. (4:57 - 8:30 p.m.)
Start and End Point: Parking on Adobe Rd., just outside Petaluma Adobe State Historic Park, Petaluma, CA

Thank you to Alec for joining me on this almost-8-mile walk (roundtrip), after I told him we'd probably be walking for only 4 miles. We walked along Adobe Road (between Petaluma Adobe State Historic Park and Stage Gulch Rd.). To be fair, we did stop by a farm stand to check out their produce; but this accounted for only a small fraction of the extra distance. I had simply mistaken this stretch of road/trail with another upcoming segment. Good thing we made it back by dark.

Petaluma has some beautiful farm countryside. The red-winged blackbirds were out in force defending their nesting grounds. And Petaluma is winning the prize for the-most-reptiles- sighted-in-one-city (so far) contest. There was a very healthy population of lizards darting about. Unfortunately, the 4 snakes we saw were all roadkill. And we saw a few animal skeletons, something I haven't seen in more developed suburbs/cities. We were left to guess what types of animals they might have been. It's that whole cycle of life thing.

We passed farms, vineyards, and cow and sheep pastures along the way. One cow (#4) had what appeared to be a perfect heart-shaped spot on its forehead (shown below right).

Overall, some cows we passed were friendly and curious; they watched us from inside their fenced area(s). Others seemed to want to retreat to higher ground. I don't think these animals see pedestrians walking on this road very often.


Wildlife Sightings:
50 red-winged blackbirds; 13 little brown jobs; 1 hawk; 28 lizards (brown, gray, darker color); 1 dragonfly; 6 turkey vulture + 1 dead one; 1 tiny fly; 2 unidentified flying bugs; 7 blurs in the bushes (probably lizards); 1 screw; 2 hubcaps; 14 swallows; 4 snakes (all dead); 1 dove; 2 horses; 84 cows; 40 sheep (+ 30 more sheep? or goats? w/ horns?)

Stage Gulch Rd., Part 2, Petaluma - June 3, 2010

Walking Distance: 2.2 miles
Walking Time: 1 hr., 1 min. (6:40 - 7:41 p.m.)
Start and End Point: Parked on Stage Gulch Rd. (dirt pull-out area), across the road from 601 Stage Gulch (JLT Ranch), Petaluma, CA

I finished this stretch of country road that I started a few days ago. It was later in the day; and when three people pull over to ask me if I needed help, in less than 1 mile, I came away thinking two thoughts.

First, the stretch road was probably not the safest hiking path; it had no real shoulder, traffic was whizzing by -- and there were, sadly, lots of small dead animals on the side of the road (mostly snakes, but the occasional birds and insects as well). Second, this was an area with kind people, who were concerned about fellow human beings who might have had a flat tire, or a stalled motorcycle, or other trouble.

I enjoyed seeing cows, and great egrets wandering around in the grass on a farm near the cows. Except for having to be vigilant for traffic, it was very peaceful. So, I kept to the far edge of the grass (watching for little critter holes and what might be popping out of them), and enjoyed the walk.




Wildlife Sightings:
28 red-winged blackbirds; 3 dead snakes (1 kingsnake, 2 brown, patterned snakes); 4 great egrets (farm grass/field); 2 little brown jobs (LBJs); 14 black and white cows; 1 killdeer; 1 dead bird; 1 dead bumblebee; 1 dead black beetle

Lakeville Highway, Petaluma, CA - June 1, 2010

Walking Distance: 1.9 miles
Walking Time: 42 min. (8:26 - 9:08 p.m.)
Start and End Point: parking spot, close to Adobe Creek Center, 3120 Lakeville Highway, Petaluma, CA

This evening I continued to walk a stretch of Lakeville Highway (1320 - 3900) that I started last month, an area where businesses start to thin out a bit, and traffic starts to speed up. There was a small stretch where there was a sidewalk, but after that, if you're a pedestrian, you're on your own to keep to the far edge of the road/beginning of the weeds, as much as possible, as traffic rockets past you.

That said, there were some nice, older type farm structures to look at. And, as it got darker, several flocks of Canada Geese flew over, all heading toward the Petaluma River. I was so intent on watching the geese each time they passed overhead, I forgot to try to take a picture of them. Oh well.

It was also fun to hear crickets and frogs (Adobe Creek area) -- both a sure sign of warmer weather.

Wildlife Sightings:
2 red-winged blackbirds; 52 Canada Geese; 1 crow; 2 little brown jobs (LBJs); 3 unidentified flying bugs; 3 barn swallows

Stage Gulch Rd., Petaluma - June 1, 2010

Walking Distance: 2.4 miles
Walking Time: 1 hr., 9 min (6:43 - 7:52 p.m.)
Start and End Point: Side of road, dirt pull-out area, near intersection of Stage Gulch Rd., and Lakeville Highway, Petaluma

Not much of a shoulder to walk on, but Stage Gulch was a nice scenic "farm" road. Heads up for fast traffic.


At the start of the walk, I saw a turkey vulture sitting in a tree, being pestered by a smaller bird. The vulture was probably was getting too close to the bird's nest. The vulture, after being repeatedly being dive bombed in the tail region, finally spread its wings and took off. All this was happening while a curious sheep looked on.

The rest of the walk I was serenaded by warning calls from red-winged blackbirds every several yards. I was not a turkey vulture, but the sight of a pedestrian on a road like this, was probably an unusual site for these birds. And you can't be too cautious if you're raising a family I guess.

I covered about half of Stage Gulch Road this evening (turning around at JLT Ranch) to walk back to Lakeville Highway. The cows in the pasture looked pretty content from what I could see. I'll come back to walk the rest when there is more light.

Wildlife Sightings:
3 turkey vultures; 10 darker birds (orioles?); 50 sheep; 37 red-winged blackbirds; 7 little brown jobs (LBJs); 56+ black and white cows; 1 unidentified flying bug; 5 blurs in the bushes (not sure what they were); 1 fairly small brown patterned snake; 1 large brown hawk; 1 small cloud of gnats.

Shollenberger Park, Petaluma - May 7, 2010

Walking Distance: 5.2 miles
Walking Time: 3 hrs. (4:30 - 7:30 p.m.)
Start and End Point: Petaluma Marina, parking lot, near Sheraton Hotel, CA

I walked from the Petaluma Marina to all the trails (shown as purple lines on map to right) I could find in Shollenberger Park, including a trail a bit south of the large loop near the Ellis Creek Water Recycling Facility ponds.

Lots of birds were out today in the Park. There seemed to be a contest between the little brown jobs and the red-winged blackbirds -- that is, which one was present in the biggest numbers. 

But, the winner was: the swallows, who had probably built their mud nests under the Highway 101 overpass, and various bridges spanning the Petaluma river and nearby creeks.

A live king snake crossing the trail, some large white swans, and a goose family with a two little goslings helped round out the wildlife count for the day.


Wildlife Sightings:
41 little brown jobs (LBJs); 2 turkey vultures; 2 hummingbirds; 1 white butterfly; 23 ducks; 1 king snake crawling across trail; 52 red-winged blackbirds; 2 doves; 3 unidentified brownish shorebirds; 4 little black beetles; 34 Canada geese; 28 sea gulls; 1 crow; 72 swallows; 3 white swans; 3 killdeer; 14 American Avocets; 1 mosquito; 10 black-necked stilts; (may've seen a brown otter? but can't be sure); and 1 ball.