February | 2016 | Sonoma Overlook Trail • Montini Open Space Preserve

I’m up on the Montini Preserve and Sonoma Overlook Trail almost every day and I see new dog leavings frequently. So I think this video I shot last year deserves another watch. Remember that it is a City ordinance that carries a $100 fine for the first infraction. The fine ratchets up with subsequent infractions. So not only is it sensible to obey the law, it can save you money too. If you happen to be a scofflaw who ignores all of this and allows your dog to do its business on the trail, then at least pick it up — or at the very least take a stick and fling it off the trail. I and plenty of other dog owners do not take our dogs on the trails. You should do the same.

Today was the first day I noticed lizards on the trail this year, although it must be admitted that I hadn’t been on the trail for a couple days. But suddenly they are everywhere, along my entire hike from the 4th Street trailhead on the Montini Preserve all the way up to the top of the Overlook. Lizards provide a characteristic short, sharp rustling sound as they scurry and stop, scurry and stop, in the dry leaves. If the rustle is not of this variety, it may be a snake instead.

Lizards, like snakes, are reptiles and as such are cold-blooded. This means they rely upon their environment for body heat, which also requires them to hibernate for a period during the winter when ambient temperatures are cold. When they emerge from hibernation depends on the weather, and our recent heat wave in mid-February clearly has released them from hibernation.

So keep an eye peeled for this little creatures, who are often quite colorful, and also for their cousins, snakes. If the lizards are out, then rattlesnakes can’t be far behind.