I’ve written here in the Daily Bucket about Williams Loop a couple of times before, but it’s been an entire year since I was last there, and a change of scenery is often a good thing. I get to Williams Loop by putting my bicycle on the rural bus and getting off the bus about a mile and a half past the loop (it’s the closest place the bus can safely stop) and then pedaling back. When my visit is over, I bicycle back into Quincy, which happens to happily be pretty much downhill all the way back.
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Williams Loop is a complete 360o circle of railroad, east of Quincy, CA about eight miles with an elevation increase from Quincy of just a bit over four hundred feet. In fact, it is explicitly elevation gain that is the entire purpose of this circle of railroad; by going around the circle, about one mile in circumference, there is an elevation gain over a nominal 1% grade that is equivalent to more like 3%. If you don’t know much about railroads, let me just reassure you that three percent, in railroading terms, is considered rather darn steep.
Here are a Google Earth view of the loop and an aerial drone video (not mine) of the loop in action.
This is a view from inside the loop with the railroad crossover in the middle background, taken during my visit yesterday. This is looking west.
Another view inside the loop showing the wetland and small pond that is created by Estray Creek and the action of many generations of Beaver. Although I did not see any Beaver during my visit yesterday, I did spot a Beaver lodge (photos farther down) and it is obvious that these marvelous natural hydrologic engineers are in residence and on the job.
On my walk into the loop from where I stashed my bicycle my first wildlife encounter was a Red-breasted Sapsucker. Rather obvious that this tree is a well-exploited food source for this bird, and perhaps generations preceding.
Once down inside the loop there is a good vantage point to set my camera on the tripod and scan a good portion of the area. This patient study resulted in garnering my first-of-season Yellow Warbler. Small, but brilliant yellow, you can’t miss them when they’re on the wing. On occasion they will also pose nicely out in the open, but they don’t usually stay perched for long. This one is the only one I saw during my two hours at the loop yesterday.
Black-headed Grosbeak were present so I took a shot for the record. There are a lot of this species in and around my area this time of year.
Down by the pond I spied this Great Blue Heron before it spied me and flew off.
Here’s that Beaver lodge I mentioned earlier. It is in actuality very secluded, or at least would be very difficult for a human to reach. Between where I’m standing, on relatively dry ground, there is nothing but waterlogged marsh and brush land.
Your mycological specimen of the day, or shall we call it Fungus of the Day? Western Giant Puffball mushroom; Calvatia booniana, before it has “puffed”. At this stage it may be edible.
And here’s what one looks like after-puff! Definitely not edible anymore.
Giant puffballs are saprotrophs, meaning they feed on dead organic matter. They’re more likely found in meadows and grasslands than in the forest.
Puffball mushrooms usually fruit in late summer to early fall. However, this depends on the locations. Western species tend to also occur in spring after heavy rains.
Young giant puffballs have a white, fleshy interior. They become brown and discolored when past their prime and ready to release spores. They are also not edible at this stage.
All puffball mushrooms bear spores inside the mushroom rather than through external gills.
The exterior of the mushroom will eventually crack to release spores. This process is usually hurried along by weather, animals, and humans.
Puffball species are spread through the central and eastern United States, Canada, and Europe, and around the world.
Giant puffballs are well named! They typically grow between 10 and 70 cm (around 4 to 27 inches).
Mushroom Appreciation.
Bug of the Day #1. Echo Azure, Celastrina echo. I got this photo on my walk out from Williams Loop as I was heading back to my bicycle and the highway.
Lots of California poppy (Eschscholzia californica) out in bloom along the roadsides. This is as I was getting back closer to town.
Just a bit further on, as I regained “civilization”, I spotted this Western Tiger Swallowtail on a Lilac bush. First-of-season for this butterfly for me. And, Bug of the Day #2.
Out along Quincy Junction Road as I’m now less than a mile from home, there were two Great Blue Heron out in the field. Total: three GBH for the day. Wowser.
This is a separate individual from the one above, but the pair were in very close proximity to each other. Makes me wonder if they are a mating pair.
Then just as I’m less than one-tenth mile from my apartment, out in the meadow another of our beloved Sandhill Crane. At a distance from the road of not much more than perhaps twenty yards, I just had to stop and snap a few frames. Always a treat to see the Sandhill.
Phew! I don’t have an odometer on my bicycle, but I’m going to get one. This trip put a good twelve miles on my legs, and I was good and tuckered out when I walked back in my door. As the say goes though, it was a very good kind of tired.
Over to you! What’s been up in your nature world and happenings?
As always please share in the comments and include your location and any photos you may have that you’d like to share.