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Greater Quaking Grass (Briza maxima)Observer
rowlands_courtney_3Description
I was walking around on this trail by my house, and I saw this long tan like grass coming up. It had little "rattles" on the top, and it did in-fact sound like a rattlesnake when you shook the plant. It was in a pretty shady place, but there was sun still coming through. Many other plants were around this plant as well.
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Common Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)Observer
rowlands_courtney_3Description
I was walking on this trail (that leads to Lake Ralphine) and I found these small white flowers. They were located in the shade, and the soil seemed kinda dry. There were many plants surrounding this plant. but there were many of this same plant spread out along the trail.
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Western Black Widow (Latrodectus hesperus)Observer
rowlands_courtney_3Description
Under my house, there is this little ledge. I saw a messy looking web there, in one of the corners, and looked under. A black widow is what i found. It was night out, around 9:00pm. the spider did move when I shown a flash-light on it, but it did not go out of sight.
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Brodiaea Subfamily (Subfamily Brodiaeoideae)Observer
rowlands_courtney_3Description
At Pepperwood Preserve, out in the grasslands, I found this small-ish purple flower. At the top, there was more than one flower, but the stem was small and skinny. It was somewhere where the sun hit easily, and there was a few different stalks in the same place. I found a couple of these spread out threw the grasslands in Pepperwood
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Seep Monkeyflower (Erythranthe guttata)Observer
rowlands_courtney_3Description
At Pepperwood Preserve there is a part off to the road where it drops down into what looks like a mini ditch. In the ditch was some bushes, but mostly there was a beautiful display of these yellow-ish orange flowers. In the inside they had small orange dots, and the flowers were clumped together with each-other.
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California Bay (Umbellularia californica)Observer
rowlands_courtney_3Description
Up at Pepperwood, I saw this plant under a tree. It was on the path called "Roller coaster road" and it was placed in some soil that seemed to be partly sunny and partly shady. the leaf had a nice smell when I picked one of the leaves off. It was wide, but not very high. the leaves were smooth to the touch
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Mosses (Phylum Bryophyta)Observer
rowlands_courtney_3Description
I was hiking on "Roller coaster road" at Pepperwood preserve and saw a ton of this moss growing on the rocks up there. It would cover at least 85% of the rock, and would grow in shady places up there. It was also taller than the type of moss I usually see in other more civilized places.
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False Bindweeds (Genus Calystegia)Observer
rowlands_courtney_3Description
Out in the grasslands of Pepperwood Preserve, I saw a couple of these white flowers coming up. They were usually in sunny places with only a few other plants around them. They also had bugs crawling around on them, and I saw them all at least one other flower of the same type.
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Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura)Observer
rowlands_courtney_3Description
At Pepperwood, near the front entrance this bird flew over the top of where I was standing. It was out in the grasslands, but had a building (Like barn thing) a little bit off. He was too fast for me to get a good picture, but when he was circling around I got the back side. He was flying pretty close to the ground, but made huge circles around the grassland.
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Western Fence Lizard (Sceloporus occidentalis)Observer
rowlands_courtney_3Description
At the entrance to Pepperwood, I saw at least five lizards all on the same rock together. Two of the lizards were even on top of this one. the other two lizards were down lower on the rock. the rock was out in the sun, and had only grassland around it, besides a fence that was a couple feet off in the distance
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Dandelions (Genus Taraxacum)Observer
rowlands_courtney_3Description
I was walking around Pepperwood, and saw this huge dandelion. It was at least the size of my hand, and was growing up on a small ledge by the path around Pepperwood. there were two of them growing together right where the sun could hit
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Western Blue-eyed Grass (Sisyrinchium bellum)Observer
rowlands_courtney_3Description
At Pepperwood, in the grasslands, there were some of these small, purple flowers. Every-once-in-awhile I would pass one of them on the road. There was usually a few of them together, and didn't really grow alone. also, most of them were out where the sun could reach.
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American Century Plant (Agave americana)Observer
rowlands_courtney_3Description
At Pepperwood, I was walking up to where the heard of cattle were, and I saw this super tall tree out in the open. If you look in picture 2, you will see the height of it compared to me, and I'm 5'3". It wasn't too far off the raod, and on the other side of the path, I saw a second one of these plants, but it was still just a bush without the tree stalk coming up. The plant was in a open field like place, and the sun was able to hit it well.
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Short-horned Grasshoppers (Family Acrididae)Observer
rowlands_courtney_3Description
On the petal of one of the morning-glory flowers at Pepperwood preserve, I found this small cute little grasshopper out in the grasslands. He was slightly green in color, and stayed pretty still no matter how close I got to him with the camera. It was in a spot where the sun could hit easily, and the day was nice and sunny for that matter.
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California Poppy (Eschscholzia californica)Observer
rowlands_courtney_3Description
While at Pepperwood, I was walking by the entrance to the hiking trails up there, when I saw this beautiful California Poppy. there were a few gathered together in a group, and were pretty out in the open where the sun could easily get to. There weren't many rocks around there either.
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Leaf Beetles (Family Chrysomelidae)Observer
rowlands_courtney_3Description
I was at Pepperwood preserve and I was walking through some of the grassland parts of Pepperwood, when I saw a whole bunch of Beetles gathered together, even on top of each other, on this plant. They liked to stay at the very top of the plant and also liked to be together with many beetles around them.
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Western Kingbird (Tyrannus verticalis)Observer
rowlands_courtney_3Description
In Vacaville, I saw this bird perched with one other bird on this odd looking plant. It wasn't making too much noise, but seemed to be pretty alert. The day was warm out, and there wasn't many clouds in the sky. The bird was also towards the top of the tree.
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Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura)Observer
rowlands_courtney_3Description
Out in Vacaville, I was walking through a field, when I saw this shadow circling above me. I looked up, and saw that this large bird was circling above my head over the field. It was at a medium height in the sky (Not really high, not really low) The air was warm, and there wasn't too many clouds out.
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White-tailed Kite (Elanus leucurus)Observer
rowlands_courtney_3Description
I was sitting out on a porch, looking up at the sky, and this bird passed over. It was pretty fast, so I could only get one picture. It was also flying pretty high in the air. The air was just getting warm, but still had that morning breeze to it.
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Wild Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo)Observer
rowlands_courtney_3Description
In Vacaville, I always see this flock of turkeys wondering around. I also can tell when they are coming because they "Gobble" to each-other a ton. These ones I saw in my aunt Kim's garden, trying to find any seeds that fell from the bird feeder. I could not count how many were there, but there seemed to be an equal number of boys and girls. the day was warm out
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House Finch (Haemorhous mexicanus)Observer
rowlands_courtney_3Description
In Vacaville, I heard a song of qa bird up high in the very top of a tree. There in the tree were two of the same bird. their head was completely red and they were a fairly small bird. They stayed in the tree for awhile, singing their song back to one another. Also, just to point at, there was a bird feeder a few feet away from the tree. The day was pretty hot out as well.
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Columbian Black-tailed Deer (Odocoileus hemionus ssp. columbianus)Observer
rowlands_courtney_3Description
I was at my aunt kims house, walking around down by their barn and I heard something in the bushes. When I looked to the side, I saw a deer staring right back at me. Also, laying down, was a second deer. They were both female, at least I think, and the day was warm out. They stayed only long enough for me to get a few pictures, before they ran off.
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California Quail (Callipepla californica)Observer
rowlands_courtney_3Description
I was out in a garden in Vacaville, and I noticed some movement in the bushes near-by. When I looked over, I saw a male and female quail They didn't run away, which surprised me, when I saw them. they waited for me to make the first move, which allowed me to get pretty good pictures. But when I took one more step closer, they ran off into a thicker bush; the male ran in-front of the female. It was a warm day out when I saw them.
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Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis)Observer
rowlands_courtney_3Description
When in Vacaville, I spotted a beautiful bird flying high in the air. By the color shining through it's tail, I thought it was probably a red-tailed hawk. It was a warm day out when I saw him, and he was flying at a medium high. It wasn't too high where I couldn't get a picture, but it wasn't too low where I could see him clearly.
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Koch's Wolf Spider (Alopecosa kochi)Observer
rowlands_courtney_3Description
When in vacaville, I spotted this spider scurrying around. it looked as is it had two rows of little tiny (Almost un-seen) dots on its rear end. It's egg-sack (Which it was carrying along with it, by dragging it while it was attached to his butt) looked almost like a white small pebble, but when you looked closer, it looked like a miniature ball of yarn. He was a dark brown color, and was extremely protective of his egg sack. He even tried to go down a crack in the ground, but the egg sack was too big, so he turned around and looked for a different hiding spot. It was a pretty warm day out when I saw him. The spider was also not all too big. It was about the size of a quarter.
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Genus ReticulitermesObserver
rowlands_courtney_3Description
In vacaville, I was down by this barn exploring, and a turned up this piece of wood (Like a board that someone would use to build stuff with), and under it there were millions of these termites crawling around. they were coming from a small hole in the ground, and were crawling in steam like lines that branched off from each other. They did actually have order, and were not just crawling any-which-way.
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Soil Centipedes (Order Geophilomorpha)Observer
rowlands_courtney_3Description
Out by this barn in Vacaville, I lifted up a rock and under it I found a mount of moist dirt that was like a 'clod' of dirt. I broke it apart a bit, and out came this centipede. He was fast, so I could only get one picture, before he crawled underground.
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Pipevine Swallowtail (Battus philenor)Observer
rowlands_courtney_3Description
While driving up to Vacaville, we saw this butterfly on the road. It was dead. however, when we got there, but it seemed to be pretty much in-tact. It was a pretty hot day out, and the butterfly was laying a little bit to the side of the road
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Pacific Velvet Ant (Dasymutilla aureola)Observer
rowlands_courtney_3Description
This Friday, I went up to Vacaville. In my aunts trash, I found this little guy. It looked exactly like an ant, but it was yellowish-orange, and it was furry! It was the weirdest thing to see. He was also extremely fast at crawling for such little legs. Also, he wasn't the only one of these I saw. On may 5, a day after I found this one, I saw another one outside by the patio table.
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Armenian Blackberry (Rubus armeniacus)Observer
rowlands_courtney_3Description
Me and my aunt were walking around Lake Ralphine and saw this blackberry bush. It did not have any blackberrys or buds on it yet, but it was for sure some sort of blackberry bush, and it wasn't planted there, because it wasn't even a home area. It was a hot day, and the soil was mostly made up of dirt and dried leaves.