Beautiful steelhead are holding at and defending a redd just outside of the SPAWN office. Come visit and have a look! Photo: Todd Steiner, SPAWNusa.org
The red leaves of this invasive shrub/tree are becoming common along Larsen Creek in the San Geronimo Valley. We hope volunteers can join us in removing these before they spread farther. This photo was taken at "ground zero" where a huge one was removed two years ago and is now re-sprouting.
I always call this "bee plant" even though California figwort is also acceptable. It's easy to propagate and is great for pollinators along the creeks on Marin.
Lots of big, green cow parsnip along Lagunitas Creek on the edge of the Cross Marin Train makes for good wildlife cover.
Ice plant very common in pt Reyes seashore at base of cliffs
Spawning pair along Leo Cronin trail during a SPAWN Creekwalk. Sorry for the poor cell photo!
This is one of several clumps of purple encrusting fungus that was secreting some sort of liquid. Oyster mushrooms were also growing on this dead log. It had rained quite a bit the day before. What is it??! It looks cool.
There is an amazing abundance of this beautiful mushroom in our front yard - and it moves around every year! This year they are sprouting under a big monterey pine and near a young oak. Almost a dozen! Some of these pics are the same mushroom from different days this week.
I saw this Western pond turtle (Actinemys marmorata) taking refuge along lower Lagunitas Creek on Sunday December 2nd when flows exceeded 3,000 cubic feet per second (comparatively, today is 45 cfs)!
We were led by an expert to a grove of coast redwoods within the Point Reyes National Seashore and confirmed two spotted owl fledglings from a nearby nest. The mother owl was close by.
This coho carcass was discovered in lower Lagunitas Creek after spawning by the MMWD biologist team, who work collaboratively with SPAWN. The photo shows the removal of the inner ear bone, or otolith, to be preserved and incorporated into an ongoing research project based out of UC Berkeley using otolith micro-chemistry to determine the home watershed of individual spawning coho salmon.
The coho spawned at two locations along lower Lagunitas Creek outside of the SPAWN office. This large adult swam upstream from the redd for a moment, into focus for this shot.
This female coho was holding on her redd defending it from other salmonids for over a week in the exact same location along upper Lagunitas Creek, upstream of the Leo Cronin Viewing Area parking lot. A great attraction on the SPAWN Creekwalks!
This female coho was holding on her redd for over a week in the exact same location along Lagunitas Creek, just upstream of the Leo Cronin Viewing Area parking lot. A great attraction on the SPAWN Creekwalks!
This photo does not show the full glory of the Pacific trillium in bloom, but it was still a highlight of the hike.
Hundreds of brown sea nettles were observed along west Tomales Bay.
Native blackberry is abundant along Lagunitas Creek and at the SPAWN office
This rare deciduous redwood species is located near the SPAWN offices
This endangered Hawaiian monk seal was viewed from a distance, and was basking in the sun on a public beach. Within 10 minutes of observation, we saw a tourist disturb it and it swam out to sea.
