red tail hawks – PolliNative

Water | Oaks | Tornado Warning!

I ate two bars of chocolate for breakfast, and I was lit. No one said I was perfect – eggs, oatmeal, too hard for me to think about preparing that day, and I succumbed to the ease of – go to the fridge, grab a bar, open a wrapper, and eat. Then, again. Not proud, but true.

Lately, the intense investment of time, energy, thought and emotion over the last 12 months are catching up with me. My dad is improving; though there are still back-slides, he can do more for himself. As a result, I collapse into a heap of less usefulness and find myself tired all the time, getting out of routine, or filling those moments of routine with non-dad items long ago neglected.

This transition period is messy. Some days my brain is so out of sync I cannot put two words together thoughtfully. My diet of chocolate, peanuts and jam and, if I had some energy earlier in the week, basic salad, is not the finest to promote optimal brain function. Some days my husband will take pity on me and make me a smoothy, or an egg. This day, I am up earliest and on my own. Chocolate it is. Caffeine and I do not mix. I know this. I am hungry, lazy and just love the taste. Jitters take hold, and my plan to plant more oaks just got an accelerant.

Oak Planting Nearly Done

I planted all of the oak seedlings except one, planted all of the riparian oak acorns, and planted half of the elder oak acorn. The rest of the elder oak acorn I saved for acorn flour. I checked the plantings done earlier in the month and February. The cows got their snouts through the fencing on one and pulled the coconut coir. I put it back. Some of the flags were askew. I straightened them. I placed flags on others. I weeded away from new growth in the already enclosed plantings. Maintenance is important to ensure better outcomes.

Lots of worms in the dirt. This was the only larval one

Red are oak seedlings. Blue dots are acorn plantings

After one of the storms, I saw one of the seedlings I planted had its basin filled with standing water. Too much water, and oak roots can rot. One of the challenges of selecting a site is that I am considering access to water over the long term. As such, I have been planting near the creek or near a spring flow. One of the upstream oaks on Spring Creek is planted in a flow. It is west facing with other oak shade. The soil is predominantly clay. Excellent conditions for water accumulation.

I lifted the coir pad, stuck my finger in the mud and created a channel to allow the standing water to flow out of the small basin I try to place around each planting. It mostly worked to alleviate the stand. Water is everywhere, and that section, because of the flow, is already saturated. However, I was able to get the water down low enough so it was not submerging part of the trunk. The weather will be dry this week, and I anticipate the remaining standing water will be gone within 24 hours. I will go back and recreate the basin wall for the next rain event.

While out checking the oaks and maintaining their planted areas, I was quickly caught up in a storm. The wind was ferocious, bending the oak marking flags to almost 90 degrees. Fortunately, I was in my final section, which happened to be nearest the house. The rain started to pour. While I had a jacket on, I was wearing shorts (I know. I’m crazy). The wind whipped at my exposed legs, and then it started to pour. I typically traverse the ranch on foot to limit soil impacts from the quad or truck. I finished with the oak I was working on and bolted up the hill, through the gate, around to the front of the house, sloshing in mud (I had my muck boots on), mud splattering across my legs. Finally, I got to the front door – a soaked, muddy mess. Although I was almost denied entry to the house by my family, it was ok. I love this life.

Checking New Log Check Dam

I was excited to see that the new, poorly connected log check dam was still in place after one of the storms. It was doing its job, pooling water behind it, slowing the runoff just enough to really soak the soil. Then, the large storm came with 2.25″ of rainfall. I checked the dam again. It was not there. The rocks I put in place to help the log were still there acting as a smaller check dam and pooling some water. I walked down stream and found the log. It was caught up in a tangle of branches, leaves and gunk about 60 feet downstream. Not to be deterred, I pulled it out from the makeshift dam and began to pull it toward its original location. The cedar log, typically lightweight, was heavy with absorbed water. David, who was walking with me then, took pity on me and picked up the log with the flick of his wrist, to show off, and returned it to its place. We will need to secure it much better in the coming days.

Gates Shut. North Field Belongs to the Milkweed Now

One of the best investments I’ve made in the last couple years is the cross fence to protect the California Milkweed. It is a critical, early emerging plant essential for post-overwintering monarch survival. Three of the four communities of plants are protected by this fence. In addition to protection of the California Milkweed, excluding the cattle during prime wildflower season has resulted in 40 acres filled with wildflowers of all types, sizes and colors. This means I have unbelievable amounts of nectar without having to plant another plant across a huge swath of land. Not only are the colors dazzling, the smell hangs in the air. It is like drinking perfume.

I think because of the weather whiplash, the California Milkweed is stunted. They are not their normal size for this time of year and are already producing flowers that will bloom in about a week. As of 3/20/2025, there are only four of the possible 21 emerged. Given that this past overwintering count of monarchs has been the second lowest on record, perhaps there will be fewer butterflies floating this way, and the stunted plants will be sufficient. I have not had an opportunity to place a camera up on the hill. The last time I tried, there was no signal for my special game cameras. I think I will use it in analog mode and grab the photos off later. This way, there is something up there as soon as possible.

While I am on the hill checking each milkweed and looking for more emerging, I decide to take a break and sit, contemplate things. Out of nowhere comes Taawe (Hawk). They decide to come for a visit, flying close and low. Taawe is close enough to hear me, so I speak in my language. It’s an original language of this continent, co-evolved with the many relatives from this soil. We’ve all shifted around following a cycle of movement south to north, west to east, and back again. Taawe understands me; it circles, flits, plays with elevation, but always above me. It circles away. I call to it. Taawe circles back. We play this game for a few circles, then I lay back down on the cool grass, the smell of soil and moisture in my nose. It flies to the east, and I say “Chiokoe uttesia in weweria. Ito te vitne.” “Thank you my relative. See you soon.”

Guzzler Install Complete

It took David nearly six days over two and a half weeks, but the guzzler is finally complete. We still need to build a fence around it to exclude the cows and build out the tank portion of the system to feed more clean water to the unit over time. Currently, there are stock panels attached to the overhang structure to keep the cow away from it as best as possible. Panels are ok since the gaps in them are large enough for most animals to move through. They are too small though for larger animals like deer. It is a priority for me to complete that fence to maximize its utility. The storms have filled the unit, and it is ready for wildlife to drink from. THANK YOU David!!

Dangers Realized

Although I have relaxed more with the fencing in place, catastrophes can still happen. Three times now I have gone outside to find cows where they shouldn’t be. Once, they jostled the gate open to the far north field. They jostled the gate open to guzzler 1, and yesterday I found them in the Spring Creek exclusion area. The wire gate had been squished down. In all cases, my heart sunk with concern that all I worked for could be lost in one accident with a poorly structured gate lock. Things were ok with the far north field. The Ca Milkweed was fine, and not too many of the blooms were up to be eaten. Guzzler one sustained significant damage. The solar panel connected to the game camera was severed. The wire had been snipped and stomped on. The stainless steel mesh over the gutter was folded up on both ends in tortuous fashion. Fortunately, we have an extra panel with wire and more gutter screen. We can fix that. I have yet to assess the damage to the exclusion area where large lupines, oak seedlings and larkspur are all just getting ready to develop blooms. It would be a catastrophe of large proportion if much of that was destroyed. In all cases, I secured the gate locks with a carabiner (cannot be licked open), twisted wire (cannot be jostled open), and a second loop securing the wire gate.

Cows are not my only problem. The other day when I was assessing the Spring Creek planting areas, I opened the caging of a small oak to thin grass that had grown around it. I was on my knees peacefully pulling the grass away from the oak when I heard a thrash across the creek. It was a single wild pig. She was small, about 250 lbs, and had been laying in a hollow between downed tree limbs. She must have been assessing me for a while. There were at least 15 minutes that transpired as I walked, dogs at my feet, into the area, then to the caged oak, and then the time it took to open the cage and sit there for a while pulling grasses.

I immediately got to my feet and watched her run downstream, then across the creek, under the fence, up and over the hill. I didn’t think much of it until I followed downstream and found upturned soil from pig rooting, hoof marks sliding down the creek banks, a missing seedling from the slide, and then I worried about all the acorn I planted. Could she have rooted them out and eaten them? All that hard work for nothing? Pigs are non-Native and are very destructive. As a lover of all life, I have long pondered what to do about this issue. I hate the idea of killing them, but I may need to seriously consider that. With them in this area as often as they are, I may not ever be able to make headway on habitat. The survival of my Native relatives, monarchs, bumble bees, grasses, oaks and milkweed are paramount to me.

Wildlife and Flowers Abound

In addition to the pig and worms, I have seen interesting bugs, a ground squirrel, lots of various types of song birds and raptors, frogs, a silver bee, and most excitingly a couple swallowtail butterflies. I did not get a photo of them, but they are beautiful. It flew over me when I was lounging in the garden.

Water Everywhere

My neighbor said to me the other day that she has never heard so many frog songs in her entire time owning her ranch, which has been longer than me. They have been loud, joyful and seemingly from every direction. She thought it was due to my work. I don’t know if that is true, but I cannot help feel a sense of happiness that perhaps I contributed at least a little by creating lots of eddies, moist areas and long lasting puddles with the check dams. Thank you Kim for noticing that something was different.

Small rock check dam doing its job. Note the wider size upstream (foreground)

Tornado Warning

Tornadoes have never been a California staple. For all my cognitive years, I’ve not heard of anything like this until the early 2000s when there was a funnel cloud sighting in Livermore. In the last three years, we have had a real tornado in Santa Cruz, a warning in San Francisco, a warning in south Mariposa, one for some other counties in the Valley, and now, on Tuesday, March 17, 2025, two in one afternoon, both in my vicinity. This is not normal.

David looked at the radar and saw the first cell would be well north of us. He said not to worry. I was of course still worried and making a plan in my head – a California girl with no tornado experience except The Wizard of Oz, Day After Tomorrow and some documentaries I watched a million years ago. I remembered that you should take shelter in a room without a window, or a place with the most framing, or possibly in the middle of the house. Who remembered? Like most Californians, we don’t have a basement — and we are on the top of the hill to boot.

I had just started to calm down when I heard my phone beep loudly again. It was another tornado warning. David was home by then and looked at the radar. It appeared that the severe storm cell was going to be headed straight for us. I ordered everyone in the house to shelter in the laundry room, and to bring the cats and dogs. I called my neighbor to encourage her to move from her RV into her home.

The cell reached the house 15 minutes later. The thunder was remarkable, booming so loud overhead and shaking the house. Then, the hail fell, hitting our metal roof like an angry teenager slamming a million doors over and over. In just 10 minutes, the storm had moved on. Light filtered through the clouds once more. Besides the ground being littered with hail stones, several of the long dead oak trees toppled. I found one across the cattle road a day later. Chainsaw work is in my future for sure.

I feel grateful that mother nature is warning us instead of simply squishing us. We have an opportunity to act, to care, to show respect for all living things – to change the course of our life and be in greater balance. “How can I respond even more than I am already doing?” is the question I ask myself regularly. Two tornado warnings in one afternoon? What will it take to wake people up to care? For me, I am going to double down on milkweed, consume less, choose even less packaging, fly less, walk more … and … look into building a basement.

Frog Songs|Blue Oaks Planted|Guzzler Install

Sierra Tree Frog thinking about climbing the sliding door

Every day, I am treated to a symphony orchestra of such precise, crisp quality that I am moved emotionally. Each diverse player is always in-tune, and the music is in stereo. No, I’ve not traveled to San Francisco or Los Angeles. I step out on my front porch to a noisy, bustling world — first the rushing creeks after the rain, then chorus frogs with their undulations in 360 degree splendor. The coyotes cannot be left out. They join from far distances and close, their songs carrying across arroyos and hills. A mourning dove enters the symphonic experience just at the right time, then a muted tink of the rustle as a light breeze moves through the oak branches, playing the leaves like keys of a piano. Like a horn, a screech owl hoots, or a barn owl screeches. California toads croak, then trill. Finally, my own heart plays a role keeping time, threading through this musical soup, a genius blend, warming and nourishing, rich and whole.

Guzzler Project

Construction of Guzzler Two, which is located on the east section of the ranch, has begun. David made a mistake early on in the dimensions. Although he fixed it, we lost half a day putting us behind timeline and up against the recent rain storm. He got the posts sunk and cemented and the headers on, but was not able to get the rest of the joists, roof and gutter on. It was disappointing, since we have a week of rain. However, I have to give us both a break. Life has been challenging. There was no time to start earlier. We have so many projects, medical appointments for dad, work and catch up for work from the last several months as well as other volunteer responsibilities. I remind myself that we just can’t do it all.

I am grateful for the time we can dedicate. At least the guzzler is up, and has a beveled lid that is designed for rainwater catchment. There is a ramp built in, so we will get some water in and have a working unit for animals.

In 2015, the big flood year, the road to the area east of Odom Creek on the ranch was washed out. I would access via foot or ATV. We initially began to stage the materials on the west side of Odom Creek, but David had a feeling he could make it in the truck. I thought this should be a big “no”. Besides the fact that this is a newer truck David uses to commute with, I try to limit motorized vehicles on the ranch simply because their impact on the soil. Everything we have is electric, so I am not concerned about emissions or oil leaks. The weight and act of rolling across the ground over and over has consequences. This is why I stay in my tracks as much as possible when servicing plantings.

Well, when I left to plant oaks, David measured the area, measured the truck, measured the area, measured the truck and decided to go for it. He texted me some photos, and I was shocked. The truck made it. I thought that perhaps making one trip with the truck instead of five with the ATV might be better. I walked the route first trying to make sure there were no frogs or other wildlife, then I allowed myself and/or David to roll through the water and on the bank again. I am trying to do what I can to mitigate damage and hoping the guzzler will make up for any damage we may be causing rolling our vehicles back and forth.

Blue Oaks Continue to be Planted

I have accelerated my work getting seedlings and acorns in the ground. With the challenges of life, I’ve not had enough time to spend. Fortunately, the ground was still soft from prior rains. It was easier to work with. Most seedlings required gopher protection. This means digging 18″ +/- holes in which to place specially designed cages with soft wooden bottoms that are long enough to allow the lengthy oak taproot to grow. The wood bottoms have holes for drainage and root movement. Conceptually, the soft wood bottom will rot in a year or two, opening up more space for the roots to thicken and become resilient.

In all, I planted close to 60 acorn along the creek and in five cages left over from last year. For the seedlings, I planted three along the Spring Creek, three in the new grove near the driveway, and four near the house. I will be planting five more down slope from the house in an effort to repopulate two areas with oak die-offs. Those will take a little more time since I will be creating a trench above and below each seedling to capture more rainwater. This will help increase soil moisture near where the roots can access it. I still have a pile of local oak bark to fill the trenches and absorb more water. The next step for all of the oaks outside the exclusion zone will be to build a fence.

New Log Drop

I created a very informal log drop further down stream on the Spring Creek. Again, the goal is to slow the rushing water from increasingly aggressive storms to try to retain the soil moisture and give the land more of a chance to recharge ground water. I also placed an oak behind the log drop to, hopefully, provide more moisture for the oak to thrive longer in dry conditions. The soil has a lot of clay, which retains moisture. There are groves up and down stream from the oak planting area, so I think the soil can work for these oaks.

Wildflowers are Up

The wildflowers are in full display, with more blooming each day. There are so many colors – blue, purple, orange, white, and of diverse variety. I also saw my first butterflies on March 1 (possibly buckeyes. They were brown) and heard a large bee. Spring is happening whether I am ready or not…I’m not. The air is smelling like nectar. In another few days it will be heavy with the perfume of a million flowers.

Odds and Ends

The joy of living here and caring for the land is immense. There is always so much to see and experience, even 22 years later. I pick up garbage that floats through the creek, blows down the hill or floats in the air. It seems we are always finding mylar balloons. Please don’t purchase them. They are trash and end up at my place. They can kill calves who do not know what they are and eat them.

While planting oaks, I heard a whoosh near my head. Two redtail hawks in their mating ritual, dove and sped back up high near where I was working. It was incredible to see and hear them so close. Getting an early start to the day allows us to see so much wildlife. We saw a huge group of turkeys. They are large and interesting, though they are not native. They eat the eggs of quail, harming their populations. I wish a bobcat would control their population more. People think they are cute and feed them just a few miles down the road, but they are very destructive. I would rather see quail than turkey any day. The lady beetles are out. They are really beautiful. I used to see them incubate in tree bark as a child. We had so much abundance then. The other evening at dusk, as David and I were finishing our work, we saw a great blue heron flying to the east. I hope it stopped at the neighbor’s pond and decided to stay a while. We used to have a mating pair that would return each year. They had their nest in a tall bull pine on the neighbor’s property. It fell one winter. When the couple returned the next year, they did not stay. The male would come back year after year with no mate. What a loss.

Planted an oak I found among my nectar plants

Probably the most exciting thing I have seen in a long time was a golden eagle. It honored me with its presence on February 27. I was looking out the living room windows, which look to the east. I saw a massive bird fly down the hill. It circled the tree near guzzler 1 then flew back over the house. I dropped what I was doing and flew outside. It was about over the house then, so I rushed around the side of the house to get another glimpse. It was massive with long, dark fingered wings and gorgeous white patches underneath. It flew north west, presumably to the Merced River, which is close by.

I screamed. David thought I was crazy. I couldn’t stop telling him about it. My goodness, it was gorgeous. David finally protested after the third retelling, and I said, “Now you know what it feels like when you tell me constant ‘bug in the compiler’ stories about your tech issues.” “Touché.” he said.

We are doing something right when an eagle comes to visit. We work hard to be good stewards and good ancestors. Thank you eagle for letting us know.