kueda's Journal

Hey folks, I'm trying to assemble some anecdotes about how iNat has changed peoples' behavior, so do you have any you can offer up? I know numerous people have told me that their partners complain about them becoming even slower hiking companions, or that they're now birders "gone bad" and diversifying into new taxa, so stuff like that. The more story-like the better, but I'm interested in everything, even if it's negative, e.g. now you waste away your life in front of the computer even more! Feel free to comment, or to message me privately if you have stuff you don't want on the web.

To anyone reading, I'll be making my way from Jonesborough, TN to Gainesville, FL 9/21 to 9/27. I'm hoping to find some salamanders, eat some BBQ, and maybe spread the word about iNat, so

1) Any tips on good salamander sites in southern Appalachia, preferably near car camping sites?

2) Anyone in the area want me to give a short talk about iNat?

I figured doing a loop on the Cataract Trial wouldn't take too long, but I was probably gauging that on doing the same route solo in the past, and I usually just completely lose track of time by myself. Nevertheless, poor planning turned into some pleasant night hiking and crepuscular frog listening.

Went to check out the burn area on Mt. Diablo this morning, and was surprised to find things sprouting back already. I guess we had some rain in September, but that was 0.66" after many, many months of nothing. The burn area within the park looks contained between Summit Rd, Curry Canyon Rd, and Prospector's Gap Rd., with only minimal burn around the summit I was mostly wandering around the Summit Trail and Prospector's Gap, but there was some serious burnination along Summit Rd, if you want to investigate and can't/won't hike very far. Early sprouters included oaks, poison oak, yerba santa, and annual grasses.

I found at least one mammal bone, but otherwise no mammal remains, which contrasted from the burn area I visited in Montaña de Oro in the spring, which had all these little piles of bones. I suspect there were plenty of mammals in the area, so why no remains? Or why were they at Montaña de Oro?

Interestingly, there were almost no Western Fence Lizards. I saw one, outside the burn, whereas usually I'd expect to see them everywhere.

Here are some more landscape pics:

Spent last weekend nerding it up with some biologist/naturalist friends of mine. So awesome hanging with people willing to spend an hour turning rocks in a seep in search of a small nondescript salamander.

And now to test embedding stuff:

I went to Sunol Regional Wilderness for the first time yesterday. I'd been poring over geologic maps the night before, paying particular attention to the serpentine units to be found at Sunol, so it was with visions of Mimulus douglasii and fragrant fritillaries that I schlepped it down 680 toward the county's southern reaches. There was serpentine aplenty, and even what looked like bunchgrass to my poaceaphobic eye, but almost nothing in bloom.

Happily there were numerous vertebrates to distract me from the botanical letdown, including Mountain Yellow-legged Frogs (my first in the East Bay), Sharp-tailed Snake (my first outside of Leona Canyon, I think), Rufous-crowned Sparrow (my first ever!), and tons of raptors. Most amazing of all was a Northern Pygmy Owl, that was just sitting in an exposed tree, right next to a busy stretch of trail. I almost never see owls other than Great-horned, and I never see those in anything other than half light, so that was a real treat.

Sunol in general was mostly grassy hillsides and oak savannah. The Eagle View Trail offers a nice cut through some sagebrush chaparral where Selaginella bigelovii practically coats the ground beneath, and Camp Ohlone Road parallels some beautiful riparian habitat, but otherwise there wasn't a whole lot of ecological diversity. Lots of nice views, though. Well worth the trip. I want to explore the Maguire Peaks area next time I'm down there. Looked intriguing.

Note to visitors: this park actually has a gate, so the opening and closing times aren't quite as "flexible" as they are at other EBRPD holdings. I was told if you need to leave after the gate closes, someone will be called in and you'll be fined.

Bay Area folks: apparently I'm going to be a section leader in this year's Eastern Alameda Christmas Bird Count, but I need more counters! Anyone want to join me? My section is downtown Livermore, so not particularly exotic, but we had a fun time last year. This year's will be on Friday December 16th. If you're interested, leave a comment and I'll get back to you.

22 species of nudibranchs at Pillar this morning, which is pretty damn good for one guy surveying a very small area. AND I didn't see a lot of common stuff. Crazy. Lots of classes out there this morning. Showed some of them an octopus and they totally freaked out, many cries of "best field trip ever." I even got an appreciation cheer!

Despite the forecasted rain, today was fairly beautiful, so I went for a stroll. I saw pretty much every bird I saw the whole hike by standing still for 10 minutes at the trailhead. A tree fell there in the winter, damaging part of the trail (EBRPD has since put in some stairs), but opening up a nice gap for viewing birds. New things just kept popping up and singing. If only all canopy birding could be so pleasant.

Then I decided to observe every plant I could find in flower, which was edifying, if a bit arduous. The only one I know I missed was some elderberry that was out of reach and unphotographable with the phone. Still got some IDing to do.

I had the good fortune to connect with Jim Shevock of the Cal Academy recently over some of my bryo photos, and he ended up showing my some cool bryos in the East Bay this weekend. It was great getting to learn some mosses and liverworts with an expert, as I find these to be very challenging to ID without a microscope. Now I feel like I have a good feel for some new genera (Orthotrichum, Porotrichum, Homalothecium), and I'm looking forward to paying closer attention to them in the future. I even think I can get a hornwort to genus now!