Vernal pools are wetlands covered by shallow water from winter to spring, but completely dry for most of summer and fall. The pools are characteristic of Mediterranean climates and distributed throughout California as well as some northeastern and Midwestern states. They provide habitat for distinctive plants and animals.

Vernal pools vary in size from small puddles to shallow lakes found in a sloping plain of grassland. All pools dry up periodically. In the wet season, water birds thrive at this “resort” along their migration route. Then in the heat of summer it becomes a field of dry grass. But life is still there, such as the dormant Fairy Shrimp.

Consider the Raven begins in the wet season when the observable bird life is thriving. It finishes in the dry season when the mini lake is gradually reduced to a few puddles among the reeds and grasses. Then the fire season starts, and the sky and air are filled with smoke from distant fires–and some not so distant. One summer a grove of oak trees at the northwest edge of the pool (all grass by then) caught on fire from a spark from a vehicle on Highway 44. It was noticed by a student who contacted the fire department, and the firemen arrived and put it out before more than just the oak grove burned.

That’s a snapshot of a vernal pool!