Habitat Trips

For this hike, I went to a unique spot in the Berkeley hills that included a north facing slope, a south facing slope, and an flat area at the top of the hill that acted as a type of crossover between Moist Evergreen and Chaparral. I started in the Moist Evergreen forest, where I first noticed that I no longer heard any birds. After giving up on finding a bird, I decided to look below logs and inside them, where I found an interesting little worm that seemed adapted to a log so moist that it could be broken apart with the touch of a finger (almost to the point of soil). I then found multiple plants with darker leaves that seemed to be adapted to the lack of sunlight and dampness of the forest, but couldn't think of much else in common with them due to disparities in leaf shape and size. Next, I moved to the Chaparral area where I began to hear the birds again. After looking in the trees and failing to find a photographable bird, I looked below and found a bird in the a low chaparral bush of some kind. The bird, of course, moved when I came near, but I realized it was using the plant for protection. I found a variety of lichen/fungi on tree trunks that looked remarkably dryer and reduced in color when compared to the moss and lichen I found in the Moist Evergreen forest. Moreover, the plants that I found in the Chaparral also seemed to have generally less saturated color than the Moist Evergreen ones. The big find of the hike, however, was a green slug with black spots -- definitely the largest slug I have seen to date and will be excited to see if it can be ID'd.

Posted on March 5, 2014 06:41 AM by rtdecca