Consumnes River Preserve

Oh hi. I went to the Consumnes River Preserve yesterday to make up for a school field trip I missed. It was awesome! I highly suggest going if you enjoy the nature as much as me, especially if you like the birdies because there was a lot of beautiful ones!
Even the drive up is beautiful. Driving through the boonies and listening to X-mas carols made me feel like I was living in the 50's.
Unfortunately, I didn't get to take as many pics as I would've liked because the camera on my battery was so low. So I tried to conserve. Here's a few things I saw:


This is overlooking the first little foot bridge. There's a sign on it that says although you can't see them, there are thousands of baby salmon down there. They must be hiding in the grass, cuz I didn't see any, just so you know.


I got really excited about this little guy. It was the first one I saw out there, but I came across lots more after. I thought maybe it was a porcelain mushroom, based on some pics I've seen of them, but what the hell do I know? I'm gonna get a fungus book, and I'll get back to you.


These large dry fruits were all over the place. I emailed my teacher about them and she said they were actually galls. Galls aren't fruits at all, they're these outgrowth tumor type structures that act as housing units for many insect species. I wonder what lives in these ones...


Mistletoe! It was all over the place! I wish it wasn't so high up, so I could've collected some for the Christmas party. Did you know it's actually a parasitic plant that grows on trees?


Lichens! I didn't expect to see this. I guess I didn't even know what lichens were before my botany class. I always thought they were a type of moss. But it's actually a symbiotic composite of a fungus and a plant, usually an algae. Lichens are really cool!


Look at how cute they are up close!


Giant basidiocarp. I wanna eat it.


You can't tell in this picture, but there were hundreds of geese honking away. Some mallards too. I guess this is were they're going when you see them migrating. So cute.


Right after I saw the geese, I started heading back to my car, I saw some egrets! I tried to take out my camera, but my battery had died. I was so sad. They are amazing beautiful birds, it's always a trip to see them right in front of you. Here's a video of baby one, cuz baby everything is always better, duh.




Anyway, you should go. This place is great, I can't wait to go back.