One of the first places I went (we call it “The Duck Pond”) was the McLane Creek Nature Trail. This wondrous place is actually an old clear cut that was experimentally replanted in the 1970's. The place consists of a series of beaver ponds with trails that meander through a mossy coniferous forest, deciduous woods, marshes with waving reeds, and swamps. The walk around the pond is an easy mile complete with wooden walkways through a green filtered forest. There is even a shorter trail option that skirts the lake proper good for folks with limited mobility or stamina. The place has two great little piers projecting out into the lilly-strewn pond. A great place to gaze down at the newts and admire the baby ducks in the Spring. The longest pier is one of my favorite places to sit in the early evening. Sit on the bench, lean back, close your eyes and your senses are filled with bird song and the sound of the wind talking to millions of leaves, fronds and needles. |
| An ridiculously cute duckling. |
Bird watchers rejoice! There are a myriad of birds to be watched at this lovely spot: Common Flicker, Ruffed Grouse, Wrens; Downy, Hairy, and Pileated Woodpeckers; Red-breasted Nuthatch, Brown Creeper, Chickadees, Western Tanager, Dark-eyed Junco, Ruby and Golden-crowned Kinglets, Swainson's Thrush, Steller's Jay, Pacific Slope Flycatcher, Vamed Thrush, Red-breasted Sapsucker; Yellow, Orange-crowned, Yellow-rumped, and Wilson's Warblers; Bushtit, and the Spotted Towhee to name a few! I also suspect that a few eagles stop by once and a while. One of my very favorite birds (the Redwing Blackbird) makes use of the lilly pads on this lovely pond.
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| A gorgeous redwing blackbird. |
It felt like stepping through the looking glass the first time I experienced this place. The abundance of lushness, the endless variations of green, the tantalizing textures the moss promised me...it was almost too much for a person who had just moved from a house located three houses from a large freeway. The broken glass, the crumbling sidewalks, the stench of exhaust and oil, the littered streets of West Oakland all faded like a bad dream as I stepped into a world of sweet greenness. Ahhh...an amazing beginning.
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