Signs of the Seasons
5 DECEMBER 2005
Tattered Painted Lady butterflies drink from wet gravel along the path to the Boy Scout Pond from the yellow gate. Winter visiting birds -- wrens and kinglets -- trill their calls and glean for insects in the thick oak canopy overhead.
Seed shapes provide a never-ending source of fascination. Seeds of willow herb coil backward allowing feathered seeds to escape their cage. Straight flat spines encasing the seed of the annual bursage, turn deep dark red, almost painful to touch so sharp they are. The heavy seed crop of the canyon oak this year slickens the path up to the camp making it like climbing a scree slope.
Sombre tones of evergreens and shadows replace the vibrant fall color. The fallen cloak of summer's leaves reveals stark white trunks on the sycamores. Multiple eyes of the alders watch over the late autumn landscape. The water is clear, but brown, from decaying fallen leaves.
Nothing stirs the water. The water striders have retreated for the winter, burrowing into mud or crawling into plant stems, under stones or fallen leaves on land near the water.
The reflections of the cold blue sky and the silhouettes of surrounding trees paint a memorable still life on the dusky water.
10 NOVEMBER 2005
Delightful fall weather.
Fog fingers flow up the canyon. Wreaths of mist crown the ridgetops.
Sycamores by the fire station turn color. Green and yellowing leaves dangle on the branches. Orange leaves fall to the ground. Dark masses of mistletoe become visible. A greenish-toned, silky black phainopepla who feeds on the mistletoe berries perches atop a nearby pine.
Black-headed, Oregon juncos chirp and flutter, white outer tail feathers flashing, as they flush from Spanish broom along the dike at San Antonio Creek.
Salt-and-pepper colored boulders, large as VW bugs, are seen streamside. Properly called diorite, this is the predominant igneous rock of the San Gabriel Mountains.
Maple leaves have mostly fallen to the ground
except in well-watered, mossy Bear Canyon, near the village church.
2 NOVEMBER 2005
Weather has been changeable as to be expected at this season. Two inches of rain have fallen. The spike-moss and ferns are green and growing thinking it's February. Small blades of bright green grass line the trails. Fog can often be found in the lower canyon and just as often clouds wreath the summit of Baldy.
The light of the sunny days is increased by the brilliance of the leaves of the bigleaf maple. Barrett Canyon is especially beautiful right now. Sycamore is just beginning to get a few yellow leaves.
Lady bugs still fly on the warmer days. California Sister butterflies around the canyon oaks are just as dense as if it were summer yet.
9 OCTOBER 2005
Gary Moore has contributed this photo of a Northern White Skipper on Glendora Ridge Road. His words: "I thought you might be interested in this photo I took of a beautiful specimen of a large white skipper. True to the description of this species' natural history, I found it at a scenic turnout on the Glendora Ridge Road that overlooked some of the areas burnt out in the 2003 fires."
Click on the image to see an enlargement. The skipper is nectaring on rabbitbrush.
8 OCTOBER 2005
Calls of the kingfisher rattle over the creek at the bridge on Baldy Road. Red crossbills are reported at a village thistle feeder.
Also at the bridge, yellow-colored arroyo willow buds fatten up, new green alder cones form ... preparations for next spring's bloom being made before the winter chill.
Yellow flowers continue: Rabbitbrush blooms over, scalebroom blooms full, goldenbush beginning.
5 OCTOBER 2005
Red flag warnings are up; Claremont Wilderness Park is closed due to fire danger. At 8 am the flag at the fire station is blowing straight out, straight south, but by 9:30 it is calm.
Ladybugs begin to congregate under the leaf litter in Icehouse Canyon.
Sun shines through the thinning maples enlightening the piles of golden brown leaves underneath.
SEPTEMBER 2005
AUGUST 2005
JULY 2005
CURRENT WEATHER
Mt Baldy Notch
Mt. Baldy Ski Cam
Mt. Baldy Weather
BULLETIN BOARD
Tuesday, Dec. 20 at 9:00 am, Walks on the Wild Side at Mt. Baldy Visitor Center
Saturday, Dec. 31 at 9:00 am, tour Shoemaker Canyon, meet at San Gabriel Canyon
Wednesday, Jan. 4 at 9:00 am, Walks on the Wild Side at Mt. Baldy Visitor Center
Tuesday, Jan. 17 at 9:00 am, Walks on the Wild Side at Mt. Baldy Visitor Center
Saturday, Jan. 21 at 9:00 am,
Mines of the San Gabriel Mountains
at Mt. Baldy Visitor Center
Saturday, Jan. 28 at 9:00 am, tour San Gabriel Canyon, meet at San Gabriel Canyon
View entire Calendar
Signs of the Seasons
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Email: info AT mtbaldyeducation DOT org | Web Site: http://mtbaldyeducation.org
Mt. Baldy Visitor Center,
P.O. Box 592,
Mt. Baldy, CA 91759
Phone (909) 982-2829 (visitor information),
(909) 982-2879 (education staff),
FAX: (909) 931-7130
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Brian the Bighorn says: "Don't be sheepish. Come by and visit!"