The autumnal equinox is around the corner on Thursday, Sept. 22, with equal minutes of day and night before the days grow shorter as we await our first rains.
You’d think the Maritime Radio Historical Society was opening a branch telegraph station on Bear Valley Trail, with all the clicking and tapping sounds. But it is acorn and pileated woodpeckers knocking holes into trees. Acorn woodpeckers are setting up granary trees to store acorns until they rot and the birds can feast on the insects inside. They tend the nuts, moving them around to different holes to assist in the drying process. Pileated woodpeckers are directly eating insects, primarily carpenter ants.
If you are out early at Bear Valley, you may see a great blue heron in the trailer parking lot, elegantly stalking gophers. The herons sometimes use the area in front of the visitor center but on recent mornings they have expanded their hunting grounds. Watch your toes: Warmer morning temperatures are bringing out young gopher snakes trying to get a snack before the day heats up and they retreat underground. I have squealed over them a few times.
The Bolinas School of Botanical Art is the featured art for September at the Bear Valley Visitor Center, with colored pencil drawings of plants.