I know I’m not alone in saying I never get tired of walking the trails at Anderson Marsh State Historic Park. As you pull into the parking lot, the storied Anderson Ranch House with its friendly picket fence greets you like an old pal. The Grigsbys lived here in the 1850s, and the Scottish immigrants, the Andersons, lived here in 1885 and acquired 1,300 acres of land to grow hay, wheat, and more. My friends and I decided to head out to the Ridge Trail, then make our way over to the Cache Creek Trail.
From the parking lot, we were greeted by spectacular avian species as we gathered our hats and water for our excursion. A great blue heron was situated on the trail like a park’s greeter. No matter how many herons I observe, I can never get enough of those stately birds and their S-shaped necks, blade-length bills, and monk-like patience as they linger to hunt a gopher in the field. The harsh croak of a heron doesn’t seem to match the elegant demeanor of this skilled hunter.
Next, like a gift from above, two beautiful white-tailed kites were flying above the grand old valley oak tree in the field. I marvel at how many times I’ve visited the park to watch kites float near this, the ‘kite tree’. Kites prefer grasslands as hunting grounds, where they hover to spot small mammals. These small hawks are aptly named ‘kites’ because they appear as if fluttering in the wind, wings smoothly moving like a child’s toy kite. Kites can hover around 80 feet above the ground, then suddenly drop straight down, with talons out to catch a meal. Here in the field, like its hunting companion, the heron, today, the kite may be hunting mice, voles, or gophers.
As the park was busy with workers installing a water fountain in the shaded picnic area, new interpretive signage, and a new ADA walkway near the Cache Creek trail, my friends and I noted all the park’s beautiful offerings. Obsidian chips glittered in the sun, telling a long-ago story of the rich cultural heritage of its native people, the Southeastern Pomo or Koi Nation of Northern California, dating back over 14,000 years. Here is where they camped, fished, hunted, and set off to trade their wealth. They traded the highly versatile obsidian, stone beads called magnesit,e and more.
Our walk led us to surprisingly hot-pink colored spiky galls that were attached to oak leaves. Galls come in myriad shapes and sizes, and we were most familiar with the larger (egg-sized or larger) round galls, sometimes called oak apple galls. Galls are swellings created when a wasp, or other insect, lays its eggs on the tissue of a plant, and the plant grows a gall via chemical secretions of certain gall wasps, moths, or midge flies. There are over 100 species of gall wasps, which are harmless insects and not the large stinging critters that usually come to mind.
Birds of many species were heard or spotted along the walk, including ravens, several red-tailed hawks flying companionably together, turkey vultures, northern flickers, various ducks in Cache Creek, and more.
The Native, natural, and European history beckon all along the blue oak woodland, its grasslands, and riparian walkways. Depending on the time of year, you can marvel at the diversity of wildlife across the various habitats, a paradise of intertwining life that stitches the sky and earth here at Anderson Marsh State Historic Park.
