pet peeves ~ 12/07/13 ~ Fort Ord

filled dog poop bag

I'm not sure this is any better than fuzzy, mold-covered, open-air poop that I used to see at Fort Ord.  Can anyone tell me why dog owners leave used poop bags on the trails?  This makes no sense to me.  The now-common dispensers at trailheads indicate these green bags are degradable.  Is that different from compostable?  I don't see how individual bags would degrade/compost properly.  Are the dog owners expecting someone else will come along, pick up all those randomly dropped filled bags, and properly compost them like they do in a State Park in Ithaca, NY?  My going assumption has been, if it's your dog, then you need to take care of it and pack it out. Erg.

ps 03/19/14 - OK, this is too funny.  Santa Cruz now has "There's No Poop Fairy" signs.

unknown willow ~ 12/05/13 ~ Rec Trail

 

willow 

Salix sp.

Salicaceae

This handsome willow has me stumped on what it could be. Of course, most willows stump me. Calflora lists 11 species of willows reported in the general area. I haven't found a visual match for the young, glabrous (hairless) red stems and wide leaves, and Jepson eFlora descriptions don't help me. I'm sure it's quite obvious as to what it is, but I simply don't know it. Can you ID?

ps 12/07/13 - I took another look at this willow area during my walk yesterday.  There's a much older willow tree with a white trunk nearby, and it has the same leaves.  So, I looked at the possibilities again, thanks to John Wall's suggestion.  If I were to make a guess, this could be the arroyo willow (Salix lasiolepis).  There's either an incredible amount of variation in the arroyo willow, or there are lots of people out there, just as confused as I am, who are posting pictures of mislabeled willows on the internet.  I think I'll pester Vern Yadon.  He'll know for sure.

pss 12/10/13 - Vern and I have been in contact.  He doesn't want me to quote him until he's sure.  He wants to take a look at the plants in person and maybe wait until the catkins come out.  To be continued...

wordless Wednesday

black turnstone and surfbird ~ 11/29/13 ~ Coast Guard Pier

black turnstone (left) and surfbird (right)

Arenaria melanocephala (left) and Aphriza virgata (right)

The problem with self-study, like I do here on Nature ID, is that it's challenging to catch my own mistakes.  Fellow blogger John Rakestraw's recent post made me do a double-take of his last picture of two birds.  Hmm, the black turnstone and surfbird sure look a lot alike!  Have I been able to tell them apart before?  Based on my only confirmed sighting of surfbirds down in Morro Bay, I remembered them having yellow legs and being significantly heaftier than black turnstones.  Nope, they're only slightly larger.  It just so happened that as we were enjoying a post-holiday walk, we saw the two birds hanging out together along the Coast Guard Pier (apologies for the distance shot, but ever since they put up the fence on the Pier, good close-ups are hard to come by).  I really loved how different they look when they take flight, as Monika Wieland captured so well on her blog Orca Watcher - the black turnstone has the more striking white center strip down its back ending in a bold black spot, and the surfbird has a solid grey back.  As I was looking at my blog records, sure enough my only previous black turnstone post also shows the surfbird.  Right?  I made corrections.