Flowers, Sunflowers, and More Flowers! Davis, California & Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area

In my previous post, I showed you some of the amazing birds to be found in the fields and rice paddies in Yolo County near Davis, California.  And, even though it is full on, hot summer here, there are flowers growing both wild and cultivated. 

And we'll start with the sunflowers! During the summer months there are many, many cultivated sunflower fields in Yolo County.  Farms with sunflowers and big, red barns!  

This moth was having fun in the pollen too!

And there were many, many bees buzzing about as well!

I confess I did spend a bit too long driving around and visiting this sunflower farm.  That's why I ended up getting the car locked in Vic Fazio at sunset!  But it's so beautiful and peaceful among the tall flowers. 

But when I got to Vic Fazio Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area, I was very happy to see many wildflowers were blooming there as well!

I love the top edit but wanted to show what it actually looked like.  These flowers were TALL!  They actually towered over the car by about a foot. The bottom is a slightly different photo. 

The sun was starting (STARTING!) to set at this point, turning banks of flowers golden and bright.  

The play of light on different areas was so captivating.  And created some gorgeous bokeh too. 

This is one of my most favorite shots.  Possibly in my top 10(0) of all time.  A single daisy (?) in front of a gray, plowed field.  But the light turned the gray to soft purple. 

And I'm kind of particular about this lone flower peaking out of tall reeds too. 

Another one that I love love love.  

And another one!  What a magical sunset!

Such a beautiful ending to a wonderful day.  Except for getting locked in!!  hahaha  Well, all's well that ends well, and (spoiler alert)  I didn't end up sleeping in the car.  The Davis police were quite helpful in tracking down a maintenance man who came back back to let me (and the other car that came up after me) out.  

Thank you!!! 

xoxo

Sony A350

Sunflowers at Sunset - Woodland, California June 21, 2020

Turn your face to the sun and the shadows follow behind you

~Maori proverb

More social distancing with flowers!  This time in Woodland at three of many sunflower fields growing in Yolo County this time of year. I came to see some sunflowers but got sidetracked by a little bird watching place nearby that my co-worker Yvonne had told me about.  More on that in another post. :)

When I finally tore myself away from the Egrets and Herons and made my way to my planned location just a bit up I-5, it was getting dark and the sun had pretty much set.  But the sky was a beautiful orangey-pink, the mountains were blue, and the fields were bright with green and yellow. 

It's a bit late in the season and it's been HOT so a lot of the flowers were going to seed and starting to brown and droop.  But they were still a gorgeous sight to behold. 

I learned a little something from Reddit recently regarding the two different sunflowers seen in the photo below.  

The smaller, multi-clustered flowers (that we sometimes notice on the side of random roads here in California) are the male pollinators.  The tall, strong seed-bearing sunflowers are, of course, the females.  Girl power baby!

You know me and know I have to do a couple "stylized" photos every time.  :-)  To me, there is beauty in every stage of life.  Not always the stereotypical "beauty", but beauty none the less. 

This picture is similar to the first one, I know.  But I just loved the way some sunflowers have their heads held high to catch the last rays of the setting sun.  And this time I found three more closer to me!

More "style"! 

This is the backside of the sunset.  Pro tip:  After the sun has set (or risen), look to the opposite horizon to catch the last bit of the beautiful show of light and color!

Here is another example of the male and female flowers.  This farmer's field had a thick row of male flowers planted between every 10 or so rows of females.  

This is the opposite side of the road.  Strong and beautiful females tower over there male pollinators with the orange Western sky and beautiful trees in the background.  

And this is probably my favorite shot of the day so I saved it for last.  So gorgeous.

Such a peaceful and perfect way to end a Sunday night after a pretty stressful/anxiety-filled week/weekend.  

Till next time.  

xoxo

Sony A350

Note: all photos taken by Jeanette H. (author/photographer) at sunset/blue hour with handheld DSLR at 400 ISO (Sorry for any grainyness). I've learned that the used 300mm zoom lens I bought has a lot of chromatic aberration which sucks to a certain extent (especially with birds and wildlife) but isn't a deal breaker for non-pro photos.

Rounding Out Yolo County - Davis Arboretum & Dixon Sunflowers 7/2/16

Continuing on my quest to see as much of Yolo County as I could in one weekend, my daughter and I headed West on I-80 for a walk in the University of California - Davis Arboretum and then a quick shopping jaunt at the Vacaville Outlets.

On the previous day, I put many miles on my car and body to check out beautiful Sunflowers, busy bees, and cool-looking farms.  I also stopped for to talk to a turkey vulture and see some graffiti before visiting safflower fields and hiking along Cache Creek.

So it was nice (for me...not so much for her) to have my daughter drive me and spare my poor, old car.  Plus, she has air-conditioning.  And it was hot. But we knew that there would be at least some shade and hopefully some cool critters to see.  

First spotted was a gorgeous Green Heron who was hoping to catch some lunch in the algae-covered water. 

  

There were some interesting spectators who didn't want to be that lunch...

But Mr. Heron kept trying anyway.

There are lovely plants and flowers at the Arboretum of course.  Such as these gorgeous white an purple blooms. 

I made a cute, scaly friend who was just hanging out on a tree trunk. 

There were a profusion of these lovely pink and yellow spotted flowers.  I tried a couple different edits...

I was fascinated by these gorgeous yellow balls growing on this tree!  They were amazing!

We crossed the Love Lock Bridge to head back to the car.  It was almost like being in Paris!  Except Paris took all their locks down.  

We made a brief stop to visit the matched-pair of black beauties in the horse paddock.  These sweet boys didn't want to move from under the shade on this hot day. 

We headed for the Outlets, but had to stop for gas.  When we did, we saw another incredible sunflower field behind the gas station on Pedrick Road.  It was perfect with the foothills in the background!

Like the other sunflower fields, there were hundreds of busy bees buzzing around.  I took advantage of this to try to take a "trendy" photo with some good success!

There were almost as many photographers and selfie-artists in the field as there were bees.  And I got photobombed by one.  haha

A lot of the flowers in this field were deformed, which was interesting.  I wonder why?

One last shot with the furrows filled with precious water.  

And then we were on our way.  

There were some spots I missed on my weekend which will have to be visited at another time, such as the lavender farm.  Which will just give me reason for another roadie!

xoxo

Nikon D3300 18-55 lens