I thought I’d write a description of my Wednesday walk on September 25th around the South Valley to give readers a background for all my nature observations. The photo above shows a typical irrigation ditchbank, with water running in the ditch to the right. Ditchbank surfaces can range from smooth-packed dirt to rugged trails choked with weeds, rocks, dead branches. and broken up paths caused by horseback riding.
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- At the end of the first ditchbank I spotted this female Cooper’s hawk atop a pine tree.
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- One of my favorite fall wildflowers (or weeds, if you’re a farmer) is this tansyleaf aster.
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- Guinea fowl and chicks are semi-wild in the valley. They taste better than chickens or turkeys.
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- Alfalfa fields must be replaced and reseeded every few years; this field is being flood irrigated after being plowed, disced, smoothed, and laser-leveled.
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- Wild sunflowers make excellent bird food.
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- Roadrunners generally ignore signs like this.
That day I walked 4.82 miles and saw 18 species of birds.
