| The Magazine of the CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES |
|
|
|
Naturalist's Almanac & skyguide Naturalist's Almanac OctoberFall colors are in full force this month in the Sierra Nevada foothills. Driving along Highway 49 toward the Gold Country, notice the red and orange leaves of the redbud, dogwood, and oak trees. Higher up, maples begin to shed their leaves, and the colors become even more intense. Color-strewn day hikes are easy to find. Try Grass Valley. Full Moon on October 8, also known as the "Hunter's Moon." October 22 is the peak of the Orionid Meteor Shower, associated with Halley's Comet. This light-middleweight shower puts in a fairly good appearance this year, coinciding with a New Moon and averaging about 15 "shooting stars" per hour. Ricelands Habitat Partnership begins its annual effort to increase wetlands for wintering birds in the Sacramento River Valley. Rice farmers here flood their fields after summer harvest to provide habitat for migrating waterfowl such as ducks, geese, swans, and white pelicans. In Colusa National Wildlife Refuge observe waterfowl using natural wetlands created by the Sacramento River. (916) 934-2801. October 29 change your clocks from Daylight Savings Time to Standard Time by turning them back one hour. Coho and Steelhead Salmon head up river to their spawning sites. Northern California has an extensive network of man- made hatcheries and ladders which make convenient viewing sites. The Klamath River is probably the most active spawning location. Closer to the Bay Area is the Nimbus Fish Hatchery, along the American River near Sacramento. November November 2 Mars is four degrees north of the star Antares, in Scorpius. This is your chance to see the Red Planet and the star named after it in the same part of the sky. The name "Antares" means "rival of Mars," because these two objects are both a strong reddish color. Full Moon on November 6, the Frosty Moon or Beaver Moon. November 16 Mars is 1.2 degrees south of Jupiter (a little more than the width of two Full Moons), both are low in the southwest just after sunset. This begins a stunning sequence of close encounters between Jupiter, Venus, and Mars, which lasts through Thanksgiving. Sandhill Cranes begin wintering in California's Central Valley. Up to 30,000 descend upon farmlands in search of food. Sandhills are extremely expressive creatures. During takeoff and landing, they are very vocal, and when not flying they keep busy dancing. A good place to watch them is The Nature Conservancy's Cosumnes River Preserve, near Interstate 5 between Sacramento and Stockton. (415)777-0487. November 17 is the peak of the Leonid Meteor Shower, another light-middleweight shower usually averaging about 15 "shooting stars" per hour. Every 33 years or so this shower puts on a super-heavyweight display. The last time, in 1966, observers saw up to 2,000 "shooting stars" per minute! Beginning November 23 and continuing for the next few evenings, very low in the southwest just after sunset the thin Crescent Moon is clustered with Jupiter, Venus, and Mars--what a beautiful sight! Also, Venus is less than a fifth of a degree south of Mars, low in the southwest after sunset. This is the closest planetary conjunction of the year and the closest these two planets have been seen together in ten years. (They're not physically close together, of course, we're just seeing them along the same line of sight.) December Full Moon December 7. Also on this date, the Galileo probe plunges into Jupiter's clouds, giving us our first sniff of that planet's stormy atmosphere. The data stream from the probe, relayed to Earth by the Galileo main spacecraft, is expected to last only 75 minutes. Twelve-twenty a.m. Pacific Standard Time on December 22 marks the Winter Solstice, or the beginning of winter. The Sun rises and sets at its most southerly points on the horizon. By Christmas Day, the first California Gray Whales have begun passing northern California on their way south to Baja California. After spending the summer feeding off the Alaskan Coast, the whales begin their annual twelve-thousand-mile journey to the warm waters of Mexico, where they breed. The best viewing site is at Point Reyes near the lighthouse. (415) 663-1092.
Gordy Slack is Associate Editor of California Wild. |
Fall 1995
|
