Just across the Golden Gate Bridge, the Audubon Canyon Ranch is host the nesting egrets and blue herons. Through mid July, the young snowy egret will feast on small vertebrates such as snakes as well as invertebrates and fish. These young birds hatch at about three weeks and fly at six to seven weeks. Blue and humpback whales migrate all the way from Hawaii and Baja California to the Bering Sea, heading northward past California in the early summer. A toxic phytoplankton, Gonyaulax, blooms and is consumed by shellfish, creating a phenomenon called red tide.
Shellfish are dangerous to collect and eat during the summer months.
Hummingbirds are engaged in their nectar-extracting rituals in the meadows of the High Sierra, where alpine flowers are in full bloom. Alpine goldenrod, aster, and buttercups burst forth from the meadow for their brief summertime appearance, providing a visual feast for the observing human and ambrosia for the birds. August Melted snowpack from the Sierra Nevada creates waterfalls in side canyons of the mountains, where tributaries of the major river systems drop over granite outcroppings as they enter river gorges. By mid to late summer, these frigid waters are warming up just enough to provide the ideal respite from the summer sun. Codfish Falls, Devils Falls, and Indian Creek Falls can all be found on hikes off the dirt roads around the canyon of the American River.