January 1, 2008 at 8:07 pm
· Filed under adventures
Ok - so I thought my other half was crazy when he started talking about the fish ladder. Yeah, a fish ladder, where fish “jump” up the ladder coming home to spawn. We’ve been to visit the Don Clausen fish hatchery on Lake Sonoma at least four or fives time in the less than 60 days we have lived in Sonoma County. The last time we went we actually saw a few fish “jump”. Not able to get pictures - as that would be nearly impossible. I barely saw them with my eyes, never mind trying to catch them through a lens.
Here it is folks - The fish ladder. This is a view looking upstream toward the hatchery. It is this time of year, End of December till March, that the steelhead trout begin heading back upstream to the hatchery to spawn. The ladder and hatchery are open to the public. We plan on hitting one of the tours once the spawning begins in about a week or so. I’d love to catch a photo of the one of these fish jumping - but I do not see how. It happens so fast. Between the ladder and the hatchery itself, it’s about a football field length of river. If you look into the river you can see the fish lining up to go into the hatchery. They are just ‘hanging out’ resting I guess, in some sort of waiting pattern. I guess I’d be tired to if I had to swim up that fish ladder.
| The last visit at the fish ladder I saw this crazy bird. He was about 3 feet tall, and he let me get so close to him to take a picture. We thinks it’s a heron, what do you think? Either that or a stork - a tsork - can you imagine? It’s so much fun to be near the wildlife. |
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Here’s another picture of him walking toward the damn. He looks like he is in a hurry. Birds are amazing. What amazes me most is that they stay warm out here. Explains why the down comforter is so flippin’ warm. Thank you for the down comforter! |
| DUCKS! I love ‘em!At the outflow of the damn, there are a buncha ducks. They all swim around and perch themselves on the rocks in the water. I like the ducks. The color of the birds are amazing. Nature is amazing! |
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One last picture from the hatchery. There are these bushes around here with this bright red berry. They are so colorful, perhaps it’s the time of year, but I love the green and red. So vibrant. Here is a close up shot of the berries and the leaves. Do you know what it is? |
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Here it is folks - The fish ladder. This is a view looking upstream toward the hatchery. It is this time of year, End of December till March, that the steelhead trout begin heading back upstream to the hatchery to spawn. The ladder and hatchery are open to the public. We plan on hitting one of the tours once the spawning begins in about a week or so. I’d love to catch a photo of the one of these fish jumping - but I do not see how. It happens so fast. Between the ladder and the hatchery itself, it’s about a football field length of river. If you look into the river you can see the fish lining up to go into the hatchery. They are just ‘hanging out’ resting I guess, in some sort of waiting pattern. I guess I’d be tired to if I had to swim up that fish ladder.
