Journal Entries
- Detailed species accounts can be found at the links below:
- Birds (coming soon)
- Non-Avian Species (coming soon)
Short campus walk to practice a few identification skills.
Vertebrate Biology field trip to expose students to some of the basics of birding, and get experience identifying some common local bird species.
2/24: Warm Springs Fish Hatchery
My Vertebrate Biology class had the opportunity to tour the fish hatchery and learn about the conservation work they do here for salmonid fish populations.
3/3: Fairfield Osborn Preserve
We visited the Osborn Preserve to learn about coverboard surveys, and we saw some great wildlife.
March 13: Cotati, California
Saw a very small (3/4″ long, but adult form) Sierran Tree Frog (Pseudacris sierra) in one of the terracotta planters on my back patio. I have subsequently seen a few more frogs on the patio – maybe the same individual? Maybe others?
I was asked to lead an activity at the Preserve: “The Secrets of Pond Life – Aqua Bugs, Amphibians, and More.” This community event included a presentation with information about the sorts of things we might see, and then most of our time was spent hiking down to Turtle Pond to see what critters we could find. At the pond, we collected some invertebrates and brought them back to the nature center to look at them under dissecting scopes.
4/7: Copeland Creek Wildlife Camera Deployment
My Vertebrate Biology students deployed a wildlife camera on April 7th, which I retrieved on May 20. Water was flowing in the creek throughout the entire deployment. The only unfortunate thing is that I must have set the photo resolution too high, as my 2GB memory card ran out of space on May 2. But even so, I was excited to see the variety of wildlife that we caught on the camera.
My Vertebrate Biology class arrived mid-morning, and pretty quickly headed out on the jeep tour. It was a great tour – I was in Bella’s jeep, and she shared loads of interesting information with us, about the collection animals, and also about her research, which she’s doing on site (an exclosure experiment, to look at recruitment of oaks in the presence of large herbivores). Driving through the enclosures, we saw all the usual suspects that are part of the collection, and a nice variety of native wildlife, as well.
April 17: Sonoma State University
I saw an adorable Brown Creeper (Certhia americana) while walking alongside the Reserved parking lot next to the Student Center. The bird was clinging to the side of one of the large trees that edged the path, and then it disappeared under a loose chunk of bark. Perhaps there is a cavity and a nest there? Or perhaps the bird was just foraging underneath the bark. Either way, it was a lovely, close-up sighting of one of my favorite birds.
April 24: Sonoma State University
For years, there were owls living in Stevenson Hall on campus. The first ones I saw (probably back around 2010) were Barn Owl, but more recently, Great Horned Owl seem to have taken over the nest boxes that had been installed in the open atrium of the building. The building received a (much needed) renovation over the past couple of years, and I knew that the owl boxes had been removed, and I worried that the owls wouldn’t return. But they have! On the east side of the building, a pair of Great Horned Owl appears to be nesting. I could see the female’s head peeking out from behind the little alcove wall where she’s found shelter. And while we were viewing this owl, we heard some strange mewing sounds, which I suspect were made by her mate, trying to distract us from the nest. SO cool to see these awesome birds right in the middle of campus. I hope they’ll be successful, and stay for years to come. Afterwards, on the way back to my car, I saw Lesser Goldfinch (Spinus psaltriparus), and Oregon Junco (Junco hyemalis oreganus).
April 28: Sonoma State University
First thing in the morning, I visited the area where I’d seen the Great Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus) earlier in the week, hoping that one of them would be perched in a nearby Redwood tree, but no such luck. I was able to spot one of the owls – just the top of its head peeking out from behind the wall), but not nearly as good of a look as I’d had on Monday. But you can bet that I’ll be visiting this site any time I’m on campus, to keep track on their progress. I hope I’m right about the nest. – fledgling owls will be so amazing to see.
April 28: Sonoma County, California
My Vertebrate Biology students were invited to visit the field site of grad student Jess Schmieg, to learn about their research study on the interaction between California Tiger Salamander and predaceous diving beetles. We met out at the vernal pool site, and were able to see the experimental design and data collection techniques.
May 4: Desert Studies Center at Zzyzx
May 5: Zzyzx and Kelbaker Road
Before breakfast, I wandered around the south end of the property, mostly to take some photographs of the abandoned resort buildings. I was feeling an apocalyptic Camp Crystal Lake vibe, and wanted to be able to put together some sort of photo essay once I returned home. Once left the DSC, we had some great sightings along Kelbaker Road on the way to Kelso, including a Desert Tortoise and Coachwhip.
We arrived at Kelso Dunes later than intended, but for the best of reasons: because of all the great wildlife we’d stopped for on the drive here. We stopped first at the main trailhead to use the facilities, and right away, we spotted a Western Tiger Whiptail crossing the desert between a couple of Creosote bushes. We also saw a pretty little California Patch butterfly.
May 5: Kelbaker Road Volcanic Rocks
Because we’d arrived so late at Kelso Dunes, rather than going up to Mid-hills today, I thought we’d be better off trying to find a lava flow area to look for Chuckwalla nearer to Kelbaker Road. Turns out there is a fantastic place literally right next to the road – a spot where some rocky cliffs meet the desert and where, in 2011, we did a night-time walk to look for scorpions and herps. Today, we parked at that spot, and then crossed the road to explore some dark-colored volcanic rock formations.
May 5: Desert Studies Center
After returning from a long and fruitful day of wildlife observations, I had a few more notable sightings before night fell. I was refilling my water bottle at the sink on the patio, when I spotted a small lizard on the ground. As soon as I noticed it, the lizard started to run up the rocky hill that borders the patio, and I thought for sure that it was going to run into a small hole and hide. Instead, though, it stayed out in view, slowly moving up the rocks, and allowing me to get some nice photos of this adorable Common Side-blotched Lizard. On this hillside, I also saw Emory’s Rockdaisy and Desert Holly. I also saw a House Sparrow on the property, and a lone American Coot swimming on Lake Tuendae.
We did do a night drive on this evening in the desert, but I saw literally no wildlife at all (although I believe that a Kangaroo Rat and perhaps a Black-tailed Jackrabbit were seen by some of my students).
May 6: Desert Studies Center
I made a few observations while wandering around the Center preparing for our day. A single American Coot swam on Lake Tuendae, and nearby, I saw a female Western Tanager (which was tricky for me to ID – I thought it was a flycatcher at first). Two lizards were seen in the patio area: Common Side-blotched and Western Whiptail, and on the drive out along Zzyzx Road, I saw a very dark and richly-colored Mourning Dove.
American Coot (Fulica americana), Northern Raven (Corvus corax), Common Side-blotched Lizard (Uta stansburiana), Western Whiptail (Aspidoscelis tigris), Western Tanager (Piranga ludoviciana), Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura), American Three-square Bulrush (Schoenoplectus americanus), Spiny Rush (Juncus acutus), Desert Holly (Atriplex hymenelytra), Yerba Mansa (Anemopsis californica)
May 6: Bajada Near Kelbaker Road
Our first stop today was an area of Bajada up a dirt road off of Kelbaker Road. We were able to explore the alluvial fan area, as well as some rocky hills. Wildflowers were abundant (and gorgeous!), and we saw a nice variety of wildlife.
Back in 2011, this was one of my favorite locations, where I saw a lovely Brown-crested Flycatcher. So, I’d given my students a head’s up that, as soon as we arrived, I was going to wander off on my own to look for birds, and that they should PLEASE not start calling my name unless I’d been gone more than half an hour.
Back at the Desert Studies Center, I had some time to spend before dinner and night driving, so I wandered past Lake Tuendae, and then through my favorite part of the site: past the old wading pool, through the strip of vegetation with the rocky hill on one side and Soda Lake on the other. I was pleased with the variety of birds and plants that I saw.
May 6: Kelbaker Road Night Drive
On our final night in the Mojave Desert, of course we took one last night drive. Tonight, since several of the folks on the trip opted to not come along, we were able to get into just one van, and headed off down Kelbaker Road.
May 7: Desert Tortoise Research Natural Area
It was time to head home from our trip to the desert, although we did still have one more adventure ahead of us (in addition to a loooooong day of driving). After packing up the vans, and taking the traditional Zzyzx “swings” photo (although the swings are apparently long gone), we headed north to California City, to the Desert Tortoise Research Natural Area. A few of us had stopped here last year, and had some fantastic sightings, although the weather was oppressively hot. The weather was much more comfortable this year, and we had even more amazing sightings that on our previous visit!
May 12: Palomarin Field Station
We were hosted by the wonderful folks at Point Blue again this year, to learn about the songbird work they do here, including mist-netting and banding birds to collect all sorts of demographic data, which can be used to assess the status of populations.
May 12: Agate Beach, Marin County
I’d heard from a grad student doing research nearby that a Gray Whale had beached itself or washed ashore at Agate Beach in Bolinas. So, after our bird banding demonstration, we drove the short distance from the field station to hike up the beach to see the whale.
May 19: Sonoma State University
Today, I hosted the annual BioBlitz for my Vertebrate Biology students. We only blitzed for one hour this year, but still had a pretty good day. Collectively, we ended up seeing X species of Vertebrates, X species of Invertebrates, and X Plant species.
May 22: Sonoma State University
I had a few minutes before a meeting, so I wandered around outside of Stevenson Hall. I was mostly hoping to find a Great Horned Owl (but was unsuccessful), but I did see a different interesting bird of prey. As I was walking past Toast, I spotted a hawk flying along the corridor between Salazar and Darwin. My first thought was that it was an Accipiter – too small to be any of our local Buteos, and smaller bodied. The bird was light underneath with a warmer color above, and striping on the tail. I lost sight of it before I was able to get up the stairs to a place with an unobstructed view, but then I saw it again, soaring overhead. It was pretty far up at this point, but that broad, white rump patch points to Northern Harrier. I also had a nice view of a Northern Raven, Oregon Junco, and American Robin.
Oregon Junco (Junco hyemalis oreganus), Northern Harrier (Circus hudsonius), American Robin (Turdus migratorius), Common Raven (Corvus corax), Anna’s Hummingbird (Calypte anna),