It’s official: this is paradise
It shouldn’t come as news to you, but we live in a most special
place.
I was prompted to think about that again Sunday, during a Santa
Clara Valley Audubon Society field trip to the wetlands at the
northernmost tip of San Benito County.
Thirty-three of us stood there, gathered on a ranch not far from
Highway 152. We were at the bottom of a bowl of mountains, a
ceiling of lapis sky above. It was February, but we were dressed in
shirtsleeves, mostly. The hills shone in luminous cloaks of emerald
green.
It’s official: this is paradise
It shouldn’t come as news to you, but we live in a most special place.
I was prompted to think about that again Sunday, during a Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society field trip to the wetlands at the northernmost tip of San Benito County.
Thirty-three of us stood there, gathered on a ranch not far from Highway 152. We were at the bottom of a bowl of mountains, a ceiling of lapis sky above. It was February, but we were dressed in shirtsleeves, mostly. The hills shone in luminous cloaks of emerald green.
There’s a reason people pay what they do to live here.
It’s not just our climate and our landscape’s natural beauty that distinguish this place.
Standing where we were Sunday, the uniqueness of this place was obvious to see.
We were at the center of an area California Audubon has dubbed “Bolsa de San Felipe,” or St. Phillip’s Purse. It’s an apt name.
The natural bowl is at the intersection of three natural conduits: Pacheco Pass, the Pajaro Gap and Santa Clara Valley. Each forms a convenient corridor for the movement of human and wildlife traffic. The channels also influence our weather, making northern San Benito County markedly cooler than nearby Gilroy during summer months, as cool coastal air is sucked through the Pajaro channel toward the Central Valley.
The intersection of these passages led to Audubon’s designation of the region as an Important Bird Area. The designation carries no special weight; the area is not protected in the way a park would be. But it conveys recognition that something special is going on here.
This natural intersection may not be apparent to us as we hurry from one Very Important Event to another, but wild things see it.
Our group surveyed a lake, nearby were flocks of Canada and Greater White-fronted Geese, grazing in pastures. Among the myriad ducks was a single male Eurasian Wigeon, a winter visitor blown in from – you guessed it – Asia.
A herd of deer trotted by. Even within view of Highway 152, it was easy to imagine California before the arrival of Europeans. The scene looked more like photos of the African Veldt than the San Francisco Bay Area, circa 2006.
A Golden Eagle circled overhead. A Prairie Falcon sped by, lunch clutched in its talons. Burrowing Owls peered, yellow-eyed, from their burrows.
My whole point is that we are privileged to live in, and serve as stewards to, a uniquely rich place, and it’s too easy to let our familiarity with it breed contempt for its richness.
We are responsible not only for treating our home landscape with respect, but to love it as well. We all owe ourselves the chance to appreciate our home landscape whenever we can.
Bolsa de San Felipe is not the only local area mapped as important by Audubon. The Diablo Range foothills made the grade, along with several San Benito County areas.
The proximity of natural abundance to the mega-metropolis that the Bay Area has become makes it only more precious and more amazing.
In other news
Santa Clara Valley Water District officials are wrestling with a headache that’s of their own making. Llagas Creek from Highway 152 to the San Benito County line is a verdant oasis. Thanks mostly to the stewardship of the district, the creek winds through a dense ribbon of riparian vegetation. It’s home to a host of birdlife. I have watched bobcat kittens wrestle and tumble alongside the creek. Located near a garlic-processing plant and Gilroy’s sewer treatment facility, it is nevertheless a gem.
The area has grown so attractive to wildlife that it attracted a pair of rare birds. Two Least Bell’s Vireos are believed to nest at the site.
As birds go, these guys are pretty nondescript. They are grayish, retiring birds not much bigger than their name.
However, they cast a long shadow. Because of their rare status, the water district staff is not allowed to do routine maintenance on the creek channel, and they are growing worried about damage to the sewer or flooding of nearby areas.
I don’t have a strong pro- or anti-vireo opinion with respect to Llagas, but it’s always intriguing to consider the effect that a few ounces of feathers can have on all of us.
