Low-flying, darker stratus clouds move through Tehachapi Valley just at the ridgeline while pale lenticular clouds are visible higher up.
I love taking photos all throughout the day in the Tehachapi Mountains. From the time that morning light first brightens our skies to the east, with the sun seeming to awaken from the Mojave Desert, to the end of the day, when the sun sails into the west, with clouds glowing like cottony embers and the sky itself a fading denim blue tinged with pink along the horizons. . .
Autumn is always a more colorful time of year, and this year is especially colorful: We've been blessed with a couple of significant early rains, so that grass has already turned green, and there is a flush of new growth on many of the perennials.
Also, we haven't had a killing frost yet, so bright leaves are still on the deciduous trees, and many of the flowers of summer are still blooming. So we have an unusual and welcome convergence of fall leaf color, green grass in many places and remaining summer flowers.
I see so many colors throughout these days as I roam the Tehachapi Mountains and her four main valleys. Many of the ornamental trees that have been planted in the last half century produce colorful fall foliage -- species like maples, ash, liquid ambers, cottonwoods, etc.
The result is a feast of color as our nights grow cold and green chlorophyll drains out of the leaves and into the roots, leaving the trees adorned with other colors like reds, yellows and goldens. I always champion our native oaks and other trees, but I also appreciate the beauty and color that arrived with the ranks of non-native ornamental trees that now grace the city of Tehachapi, Golden Hills, Stallion Springs, Bear Valley and other areas.
Color also appears daily in clouds overhead. The Tehachapi Mountains are an endless source of visual pleasure for those who appreciate clouds. We often have many different named types of clouds over the course of a day, with stratus clouds drifting through at the lowest altitude, vanishing the mountain peaks and ridges into their enveloping curtain.
At the mid level are the assorted alto clouds, which often get the most colorful during sunset. These may be fluffy altocumulous clouds, flat altostratus formations or the eye-catching lenticular clouds, forming smooth sculptures like layered cakes, flying saucers or other dreamscapes.
At the highest levels are the cirrus clouds, which tend to be more wispy, stranded or diaphanous. These light cirrus clouds often provide a background matrix for the lower, more three-dimensional clouds below.
This past week I've watched some beautiful clouds over the course of the days, and taken some photos when they were especially colorful.
As I mentioned earlier, our summer flowers are still blooming, and there are still pollinators visiting them. I stopped by Tehachapi City Hall a few days ago, and noticed a small wild bee that had been foraging on flowers growing in the hanging flower pots along the railing in front of the building. The little bee was covered in golden yellow pollen from the daisies on which it had been feeding. Though it is late in the year for them, I'm still seeing butterflies as well.
Birds are very active this time of year, and last Saturday I watched some colorful little yellow American Goldfinches around Tom Sawyer Lake in the Golden Hills Nature Park. Some seasonal migrant birds like those have already arrived, while some of our other species that will leave are still here. Now and spring are probably the two times of year that you can see the most different bird species in the Tehachapi Mountains.
Autumn is a colorful time of year here, all throughout the day. I encourage you to take some time to enjoy the colors before the more monochromatic months of winter arrive. . .
Have a good week.
Jon Hammond has written for Tehachapi News for more than 40 years. Send email to [email protected].