First Tillium of 2021

 

The first Trillium I have seen in 2021 - February 11, 2021

    I first fell in love with the beautiful Trillium flowers in 2013, a few months after arriving in Eureka. Paula, the church office manager at the time, told me about seeing trilliums on a hike she'd been on and I asked her what they were and then went in search of them. There are apparently some 50 varieties of trilliums that vary in color, but most are white like this one I spotted amongst the Redwood Sorrel not far from our campsite on a trail that connects to the Pioneer Tree Trail. I have located 7 blooming trilliums so far, and will keep looking for them as spring approaches.

    I can't fully explain my love of these flowers, but this is the ninth year I have looked for them in the redwood forests - for 8 years in Humboldt County and now here at Samuel P Taylor State Park. As I've learned more about them besides where they live and how pretty they are, I like them even more. Recently I saw a headline for an internet article about them titled: "Trillium is the Flower One Should Never Pick." When the flowers are picked it damages and interrupts the life cycle of the plant. If the flowers are picked it may even kill the plant and there won't be a blossom in that same place next year, or maybe ever again. Each February and early March when I have started looking for them I worry that maybe this year they won't come back, especially the ones that are in high traffic areas - what if people picked all of them last season?

Trilliums aren't the only harbinger flowers of spring - here is a little pink Redwood Sorrel blossom. 

I actually started noticing these some days before I saw the first trillium.

Fetid Adder's Tongue

    What a name for this little beauty! I noticed this yesterday morning not too far from the first trillium I had spotted. I don't remember ever seeing these before, but most likely they were in the forests of Humboldt County as well. They are called Fetid because of an apparently disagreeable odor, but I didn't get close enough to verify that. And according to an article I read ants play a role in spreading their seeds as they also do with the Trilliums. I will now be also on the look out for these as spring approaches in the Redwood forests.

These interesting dangly things (I need to find the right term) are on a tree right by our campsite. 

    I don't remember if that tree had leaves when we arrived in November, but I look forward to seeing what it looks like in the next month or two. This tree, and other things I'm noticing that I didn't notice before make me eager to return for the same six months next year to pay more attention.

This is another picture of a "naked" tree I posted previously, but couldn't remember where it was.

I now have it located and will be watching it closely as spring approaches.

Ferns on a rock

    I'm fascinated by these pretty little ferns that have sprung up on rocks and trees and old cement structures. They were definitely not there when we arrived in November, and I wonder when they will again disappear - I suspect it will be after we leave here the end of April and before we arrive back in November.

Sword Ferns on Pioneer Tree Trail

    When I first started paying attention to the little ferns on the rocks and trees I thought maybe they were baby Sword Ferns, but I realize they are something different. Living and walking everyday in the forest has increased my attention to the beauty and variety and ever changing nature of things.

A Robin - another harbinger of spring?

     There have been many birds in the park ever since our arrival in November, but it is only recently that I have noticed Robins. I grew up where there were Robins and I associated them with spring, but was that because I was outside more in the spring, or because they migrated away in the winter and returned in the spring? I wonder the same thing here. Are they here year round, or newly arrived for spring?

Two Duck Pairs, one on the beach on the left and one in the water, high and right of center under the log.

    We have not seen a lot of ducks in the park, but definitely have seen more in the last few weeks. Some day visitors to the park have mentioned to us that they have seen Wood Ducks, but we haven't yet - we keep looking for them.

A close-up of the Common Merganser Pair on the beach. 

We have seen this, or another similar pair several times.

A close up of the Mallard pair.

We've also seen a Mallard pair a few times. We wonder, are these ducks passing through, or will they nest in the area - would be fun to see baby ducks this spring!

Steelhead Trout

     The Coho Salmon appear to be gone for the season, but the Steelhead are around. They are much more difficult to spot as they swim up the stream, spawn, and then go back to the ocean unlike the Coho that stick around for awhile and then die. I spotted these two because two little boys on the bridge I was crossing were excitedly looking at "something" big. I was so appreciative of them pointing them out to me. So far it's the only Steelhead I've seen.

Looking up into the "Pioneer Tree"

    The "Pioneer Tree," for which the Pioneer Tree Trail is named, is an unusual tree with a very large, healthy looking old growth tree in the center and large trees growing around its base. I keep taking pictures of the redwoods, trying to capture their majesty and beauty, but it is a futile effort. Recently my attention was caught by a quote about the redwoods by John Steinbeck: 

"The redwoods, once seen, leave a mark or create a vision that stays with you always. 

No one has ever successfully painted or photographed a redwood tree. 

The feeling they produce is not transferable. From them comes silence and awe."

    How true Steinbeck's words are!

Sunlight coming through the fog and redwoods.

More sunlight in the redwoods.

A tree I pass in the campground every day, but looking up this time it caught my attention in a new way.

"Woodpecker" Tree - notice all the holes?

    

    I hear the woodpeckers every day, but have only seen them twice. I'm pretty sure this is the tree not far from our campground that they are often on (when I saw them they were on a different tree). This is a perfectly healthy looking tree, just like many around it without all the holes - it makes me wonder, why this tree and not others?

"Woodpecker" Tree up close.

A tree nearby without all the woodpecker holes.

The base of a redwood, displaying beautiful lichen.

Some other trees along a morning walk in the midst on Pioneer Tree Trail.

A ridge near Barnabe Peak as seen through the morning midst near the end of Pioneer Tree Trail.

    On our days off last Monday and Tuesday we went to Colfax for dentist appointments on Tuesday. We could schedule medical and dental appointments near by in Marin County, but we have chosen to center our medical providers, through Kaiser, close to Colfax since that is where we think we'll eventually "land," and it's a good excuse to see daughter Ruth and granddaughter Avi.

An Egret we saw when we stopped for a break in the Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area 

between Davis and Sacramento

Some birds in the trees in the Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area.

Avi next to an oak tree stump on our Colfax area property.

Straus posing for the camera

Elsie keeping Rob warm in the morning.

Silly looking Straus

Elsie showing off her bob tail.

Straus looking like he's praying with his eyes open.

Both kitties.

Both kitties again.

    I've never taken so many pictures of our pets as I have since starting this blog, but some of you blog readers are most interested in Straus and Elsie, so I take new pictures all the time. I know they probably look like the last ones - there are only so many poses they get in, but here they are.