I find myself exploring local sites that are new to me, some of which were featured in blog posts. If you scroll backwards through December and into November you’ll find Birdwatching in Fairfield, and hiking at Berryessa-Snow Mountain National Monument, Bassi Falls in the El Dorado National Forest, and Mt. Diablo State Park.

Even closer to home than any of these is the Haagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, on the western edge of the UC Davis campus. I met a friend there for an outdoor socially distanced visit. It may not be the normal time of year to visit this site because most of the plants are dormant. I can picture how this will be in the spring through fall with new growth, flowers, and BEES!

From the website: “The Haven is a unique outdoor museum that provides resources for local bee pollinators, inspires and educates visitors to create pollinator habitat gardens, and provides a site for the observation and study of bees and the plants that support them.”

We didn’t spend any time in the garden at first but used this as a starting point for a brisk 5-mile walk.

The roads took us to Putah Creek and we walked along the trails there for awhile.

We saw several ruby-crowned kinglets. These are cute little birds with a greenish tinge that flit from branch to branch.

Ruby crowned ? I identified this bird based on the white circle around the eye. The bird book says that it “takes a quick eye to see the ruby crown”, but I did see a flash of red at one point on one of the birds.

Do you see the two rope swings in this photo?

A couple of people helped me out with these—Common Mergansers, female on the left and male on the right..

Back at the bee garden, we wandered through the grounds.

I learned a new word: gnomon, “the projecting piece on a sundial that shows the time by the position of its shadow”.

There was no sun today to try it out, but I will be back.