Winter Wanderings part 2 - Ed Levin

Those who are local to California know our drought situation well. How we have prayed and prayed for rain! So when it finally came, we weren't about to just sit inside and watch. Time to get out the raincoats and go enjoy it!

We had fun finding curved sticks to make our names

Every Monday afternoon during school we do a nature study...usually just a walk around our neighborhood focusing on different aspects of nature, sometimes we go somewhere special. We go to Ed Levin park at least every few weeks. For me it is a refuge and a place I need to go to often to clear my head and enjoy the open space and abundant fresh air, usually with the kids but even sometimes without them on the weekends. As Anne Shirley would say, "so much space for the imagination".

Cormorant in flight...love the misty mountains in the background

Turkey Vultures! Ugly but striking!

On this particular visit to Ed Levin, we saw a TON of people fishing around the lake, which is rare for a Monday afternoon.  We found out that there had been a fishing event for children over the weekend (darn! wish we'd known about it) and so lots of folks were there to catch what was left, birds and people alike. There is another one next month that we hope to make it to.

Red-faced Comorants - they are incredible fishing birds! The fishermen nearby spoke very admiringly of them.

Beautiful ducks. Mallard on the bottom. I believe the one on top is a "mongrel mallard".

Black-crowned night heron - pretty rare to see out in the middle of the day like this. Must have been the fish! Birding in the winter is the best because you can actually see them in the trees.

Natalie making magical fairy dust with the cattails - so pretty!

Glad for the rain and all, but it sure muddies things up (At one point someone had to bail us out of the mud!)

Yeah mom, why did you bring the stroller anyway?

You know it's usually better to just carry me.

And how quickly we move on. Love this age of distraction!

Natalie was a great help guiding Elijah down the path while I took the road with the muddy stroller

I love how these willow trees look in the winter...a yellow fringe around the entire tree

The perfect solution to our muddy walk

At the end of our walk around the lake we heard a frog. Natalie led the boys to go investigate and she said she actually held it for a few moments! A couple years ago we caught tadpoles there that we raised into frogs and then released back at the lake...she thought it could have been one of them all grown up :)


It was a delightful afternoon! None of us wanted to leave, but sundown does come quickly since it is technically "winter" still. Can't wait for what our next adventure will bring.