California newts with their bright orange underbellies and greenish yellow eyes, blue houndstongue and springtime poison oak with its shiny leaves of three, all of these were seen yesterday at Augustin Bernal Park in Pleasanton.
Rainy day hikes are great for birdsong too. At the end of my hike I encountered three wild turkey walking across the staging area in the park. I wonder what the purpose of that long snood hanging down in front of the bird is.
Bay Area Adventures at WeWereNothing.org 
Love the newt! I’ve also seen these in Santa Barbara living in a creek. They are so fragile you don’t see them where there are a lot of hikers. Wonderful creatures!
I discovered them when I moved to the Bay Area. In Jamaica we have lots of different kinds of lizards. That’s the closest we came to anything looking like newts. P.S. Did you know that newts produce cyanide as protection from predators?
I did know that, but I’m kind of an expert of reptiles, amphibians, and fish. I’ve kept so many as pets.
Wonderful meeting you. I grew up in California, the southern part, but I always say if I move back, I’ll live in the bay area. Have a great weekend.
The Bay Area rocks! So much open space. Thank goodness they saved so much of it so I can wander about! Nice meeting you too. Oh, and enjoy your upcoming travels!
I love the new format of your blog. It looks really nice Kay. You make me realize that I need to get outdoors and do more hiking.
Thanks for visiting and following and also for your feedback. Yes, I finally found a format for this blog that I am almost totally happy with. Why almost? Well, darned if I can figure out how to make it show the picture I want at the home page. I try and try and I even try to fool it by rearranging the pictures but nooooo, it seems to choose what it wants, and ignores my commands. I am thinking that maybe it is the very last one that I actually upload that becomes the front page photo. So it seems, too bad if you decide to rearrange after uploading!
Oh you cannot live in the Bay Area and not enjoy some of these lovely open spaces that were saved just for you and me, Kristin! My friends tell me I am a walking talking enigma. Why? Because I love the open spaces AND I love the city life that San Francisco offers. I say, I say, why can’t I enjoy both? Can’t a bush wanderer enjoy the city life too?