Homework #8
For this homework assignment, I am using two separate nature walks. One was walking down College Avenue, South of the UC campus. and noticing all of the naturalized plants that had rooted themselves into front yards and open lots. I am taking a geography course on prehistoric agriculture, and I noticed a grass that resembled barley (Hordeum vulgare), which is a cereal grain used as a fodder crop and for malting in beer and whiskey production. Professor Byrne made a point to tell us that the Irish spell it as "whiskey" whereas the Scots spell it "whisky".
While in La Jolla at Ellen Browning Scripps Park, I took photographs of many different taxa. The most interesting taxon that I found was a mysterious red lichen that carved out a niche on a boulder that received a significant amount of ocean spray. In addition, the presence of harbor seals was a very nice treat. I really enjoyed watching them swim in and out of the surf. One male slept for over a half hour, not moving once. Another could not find a comfortable position and ended up pushing another seal off of the boulder that they shared.
Although the harbor seals definitely stole the crowd, the second most photographed animal had to be the California Ground Squirrel. The squirrels had their own fans, especially a group of tourists with telescopic lenses and ridiculously big cameras with some sort of shoulder stock that somewhat resembled a rifle stock.
