What We Saw On The Wolf Ridge Hike

Here's Wendy's list of the flora and fauna we saw on our May 6th hike up to Wolf Ridge (between Fort Cronkhite and Tennessee Valley in the GGNRA):

FLOWERS

RED sheep sorrel, BEE PLANT, Franciscan paintbrush, FRINGE CUPS

ORANGE poppies, sticky monkeyflower, COLUMBINE

YELLOW GUM PLANT, seep-spring monkeyflower, buttercups, narrow-leaf mule’s ears, LIZARD TAIL (bush), wild radish (not native, also lavendar and white), French broom (invasive alien), MOCK STRAWBERRY (non-native in the Rose family), pineapple weed (non-native), yellow sweet clover (non-native), Pacific snakeroot (greenish yellow small flower, also a sanicle),coastal paintbrush (aka glandular paintbrush), DEERWEED (in pea family)

BLUE forget-me-nots (non-native), Ceanothus, European flax

PINK/MAGENTA coast rock cress (4 petals), BUCKWHEAT (probably naked Eriogonum), checkerbloom, dove’s foot geranium (non-native), SALAL (shrub), huckleberry flowers, COBWEB THISTLE, windmill pink (angled petals, not native), CALIFORNIA WILD ROSE, JUPITER’S BEARD (non-native in valarian family)

PURPLE/LAVENDER blue-eyed grass, CALIFORNIA COAST DELPHINIUM (the tall one), bush lupine, lupine sp., California perennial phacelia (coils like caterpillars), hedge nettle, purple sanicle, MEADOW RUE, Douglas iris (also white), ookow

WHITE California manroot (round, spiny fruit), COAST MANROOT (more oval, less spiny), star lilies, spring snow (aka field chickweed and mouse ears), coastal morning glory, yarrow, THIMBLEBERRY (maple-like leaves, flowers larger than blackberry), strawberry, cow parsnip, milkmaids, subterranean clover (non-native, quail “birth control”), calla lilies (alien from S. Africa, Family Araceae, not a lily), STINGING PHACELIA, POISON HEMLOCK (red spots are Socrates’ blood), BLOW WIVES (white in seed as we saw it)

OTHER PLANTS

TWINBERRY, Pacific sedum (rounded leaves), Sea lettuce (aka hens and eggs, live forever), California sage, coyote bush, California barberry (shrub with holly like leaves), cape ivy (invasive from S. Africa), mugwort (great smell!), soaproot starting to send up flowers

BUTTERFLIES

PIPEVINE SWALLOWTAIL, California ringlet, BUCKEYE, spring azure. Re the green butterfly: what was the Bramble hairstreak has been split into two species. What we saw is now the COASTAL GREEN. Host plants buckwheats, Ceanothus, and deerweed, all of which we saw today.)

BIRDS

Male northern harrier being harried by a red-winged blackbird.

Starlings, red-winged blackbirds, scrub jays, great look at a spotted towhee, ravens, Anna’s hummingbirds, American goldfinches, song sparrow

Heard: wrentit, white crowned sparrow

MAMMALS brush rabbits

LICHEN Niebla (means fog in Spanish, grows only near the coast)

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