lianaelaine's Identifications

There were four garter snakes found in one of the double ponds at Pepperwood. The pond was mostly dried up, with damp edges. The snakes were found in the grass, in the mud. One was much larger than the other three. The smaller snakes were 10-14" long with black and red scales. The larger snake had black and yellow scales.

The newt was found in a small pool about 5.5 feet in diameter and 1/2 feet deep. The pool was located in an oak forest in a dry creek bed. A small stream (an extremely small stream that was probably only a few centimeters deep), that ran across the trail and downhill towards the pool, fed the creek. Although there were many leaves, branches, and other debris in the pool, the water was clear. When the bottom of the pool was disturbed, the water became cloudy. There were approximately 5-7 Northern Rough Skin Newts in the pool and possibly 1-2 California newts. The rough skin newt has a dark grey/brown back (that blended in very well with the bottom of the pool) and a bright orange underside. One California Rough Skin Newt was about 4/5 inches in length and another was about 8 inches in length. One newt came up for air during this observation, so the bright orange belly could be easily observed. A wasp nest was also found close by (approximately 3-5 feet downstream). There was about 75-80% canopy cover over the pool.

This flower is a purple or lavender color. There are long stalks with flower pods that consist of 50+ little flowers. They were in the grassland but were creating a ring around a mostly dried up pond. The ring was oval shaped that was 50 yards in length and 30 yards in width. The ring was about 2-3 feet thick. The leaves are long, thin, fuzzy, and green. The flowers are stinky.