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| | Bay Area Ramblings - McClellan Ranch Park |
 | | And, deep within an impenetrable tangle of periwinkle (Vinca major), California flberry (Rubus ursinus), and poison oak (Toxicodendron diversilobum) vines, there came the plaintive song of a golden-crowned sparrow, a straggler who should have been well on its way to its northern breeding grounds. |
 | | The California towhees were the more brazen of the two; each of my footsteps seemed to flush out a California towhee, who usually uttered a brief "peek!" before retreating into the underbrush. |
 | | The male was brilliantly colored in a stunning pattern of hues: the fiery orange of hot embers emblazoned on its underparts, breast, cheeks, and eyebrows; the fl of midnight staining its crown, chin patch, back, wings, and upper tail surfaces; the white of newly fallen snow, forming a visually striking sequence of pronounced wing bars. |
| www.calphoto.com /mcl.htm (1794 words) |
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