Field journal

Winter canopy from an early drone flight

San Domingo

  • Aerial view across a deep canyon: dense, dark evergreen woodland covers the far slope, while pale gray-green pines and low shrubs line a ridge in the foreground.

    Canyon slopes from the air in winter: evergreen woodland across the canyon, pale pines and chaparral on the ridge in front.

  • Aerial view of a steep hillside of chaparral shrubs and scattered pale, wispy pines, with patches of reddish soil, rising to a pine-topped crest under a blue sky.

    Pale, wispy crowns of what are probably gray pines (Pinus sabiniana) scattered through chaparral on a hillside.

We flew a drone over the steep canyon slopes at San Domingo Arbory on February 8, 2025. From above, the winter canopy sorts itself by color: dark evergreen woodland on the slope across the canyon, a few darker conifers, pale gray-green crowns that are probably gray pine (Pinus sabiniana), and dense, low chaparral shrubs on the ridge in front.

These are among the earliest photos in the drone record of the site we’ve kept since February 2025. Flying the same slopes again in other seasons and years shows how the woodland and brush change over time.

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