What We Saw on The Muddy Hollow to Limantour Hike (July 22)

Here's Wendy's list of critters, bird and plants spotted along the trail from Muddy Hollow to Limantour:

FLOWERS

White: poison hemlock (not native), yarrow, cudweed (Gnaphalium sp), coastal morning glory (aka purple western morning glory), ocean spray (bush), thimbleberry (most in berry already), field bindweed

Purple: Common aster, Giant Coastal Hedge-nettle, Skunkweed

Red: Franciscan paintbrush

Yellow: gumplant, hairy cat’s-ear (not native), tall tarplant (not native), seep-spring monkeyflower (aka perennial yellow monkeyflower),

Orange: sticky monkeyflower

Blue- European flax, a bit of Ceanothus still in bloom

NOT IN BLOOM OR NON-DESCRIPT FLOWER

Poison oak turning red, Mugwort, twinberry with berries (red bracts look like flowers), manroot, coffee berry (berries green or red, none black yet), bee plants mostly gone to seed, stinging nettles, elderberry

TREES

Bishop pines, wax myrtle, alder, cypress

BIRDS

Red-tailed hawks, TVs, chestnut-backed chickadees, white-crowned sparrows, LOTS of American goldfinches, CA quail, Northern harriers, one Caspian tern, great egret, TWO CLAPPER RAILS!

Heard: wrentits

BUTTERFLIES

Lots of wood nymphs (host plant grasses), about a dozen Acmon blues (host plants buckwheats and lotuses so in this case using the lotuses), MYRTLE’S SILVERSPOT (seen by a few, endangered, host plant dog violet), one cabbage white

GALLS

willow apple gall sawfly (red and green galls on willow leaves).

MAMMALS

Brush rabbits (breed January-June and have two broods a year, young altricial)

As applies to birds:

Altricial immobile, downless, eyes closed, fed

Semialtricial 1 - immobile, downy, eyes open, fed

Semialtricial 2 – Immobile, downy, eyes closed, fed

Precocial 2 – mobile, downy, follow parents, find own food

Precocial 3 - mobile, downy, follow parents, are shown food

Precocial 4 - mobile, downy, follow parents, are fed

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