Biola Spring

This year Biola dedicated a new park on campus. They went in to the relict olive grove on the east side of campus, pruned it, built some trails, planted some benches and native grasses, and installed an enormous bridge across the creek. It's made the grove much more accessible than it used to be, and a lot of people are going there to enjoy the pleasant California weather under the shady boughs of the olives.

I like to spend a few minutes there during lunch, most days, myself, to enjoy the dappled sunshine and bubbling bird song. Common Yellowthroats and Song Sparrows sing from the reeds accompanied by the soft mournful calls of Nutmeg Mannikins, while Lesser Goldfinches, Bushtits, Yellow-rumped Warblers and female hummingbirds twitter in the canopy. I try to block out the strident chorus of House Sparrows from the nearby houses.

A female Yellow-rumped Warbler perches in a bush in the creek bed.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rowleypics/3361308925/in/set-72157615404913693/

Last week I brought my camera out to document the March bloom of wildflowers. When they seeded the park, they must have seeded the creekside, too, because the opposite bank was rich with California blooms. Under the trees, however, there aren't any flowers except a few Dandelions. The flowers were pretty short-lived, unfortunately, and they've now mostly been overwhelmed by other plants and some really hearty dandelions, but their short duration of their beauty merely serves to emphasize, not diminish, it's power. After all, isn't the fleeting nature of spring one of its manifold charms?

Yellow Tidy Tips

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rowleypics/3361328355/

I've added all the pictures to a new Flickr set: Biola Spring.