Sunday, December 4, 2011
Monday, November 28, 2011
Pacific chorus frog ~ 11/28/11 ~ at home
I have been remiss in posting updates on the various animals I tried to raise this past year. This is what I believe is the first frog to fully metamorphose from the eggs I received from a friend back in May. I seem to be missing 2 individuals out of 16 that hatched. Whether they died (I found no evidence of this) or escaped from the aquarium (I have seen trails of duckweed on the rim of the aquarium), I can merely guess. One only had 3 legs at some point, and I'm not sure if this is it with a fully grown 4th front right leg. I'm surprised at how small the frogs are compared to the relatively beefy tadpoles. This tiny one had actually lost its tail completely a week or so ago. I've been so preoccupied with other things that I haven't kept as good of track on the development as I would like. I'll have to look through e-mails to get some of the developmental dates correct.
ps 12/11/11 - It's nice to see other nature bloggers post about their own tadpole rearing experiences. So far, Julie Zickefoose is the only one I've seen.
pss 12/15/11 - I'm not sure if I should be repulsed or fascinated... I noticed this morning that a tadpole died, and the others are huddled around it and feeding like a pack of carnivores or scavengers.
ps 12/11/11 - It's nice to see other nature bloggers post about their own tadpole rearing experiences. So far, Julie Zickefoose is the only one I've seen.
pss 12/15/11 - I'm not sure if I should be repulsed or fascinated... I noticed this morning that a tadpole died, and the others are huddled around it and feeding like a pack of carnivores or scavengers.
Thursday, November 24, 2011
habitat ~ 11/24/11 ~ San Luis Reservoir State Rec Area
San Luis Reservoir State Recreation Area
November 24, 2011
November 24, 2011
This is not exactly "Over the River and through the Woods"; it's more over the reservoir and through the valley to family's houses we go. Hurrah for Thanksgiving Day! Since most of my extended family still lives in the Central Valley, this is the usual route to go see them or to pass through to Yosemite. No, we didn't stop, nor have I ever stopped since it's usually very windy through Pacheco Pass. I figured my picture from the car and this blog is a good enough excuse to actually look up information on this reservoir and the surrounding area that I've passed many, many times since I was a kid and never even knew the name. If Wikipedia is correct, the San Luis Reservoir is "the largest off-stream reservoir in the United States." Who knew? In the distance are numerous wind turbines, which are situated on another CA State Park property, Pacheco State Park. Thanks to revenue from the wind turbines, Pacheco is one of the few State Parks supposedly with enough funds for maintenance. What a great idea! Both State Park embedded links above have decent historical information.
ps 01/04/12 - Based on comments below, found this article from Forbes on endangered CA condors and wind turbines. Something to think about.
ps 01/04/12 - Based on comments below, found this article from Forbes on endangered CA condors and wind turbines. Something to think about.
Saturday, November 19, 2011
habitat ~ 11/19/11 ~ Garland Ranch - Garzas Creek
Happy Thanksgiving! Garzas Creek is going to become my must-do pre-Thanksgiving hike. It's one of the only places around Monterey that has large, native, crunchy, deciduous leaves to tromp through and feels almost like the autumn most people expect in North America. The area along the creek is absolutely gorgeous!
Andy is training for a 50K trail run, so he sped off while I casually took a short loop. We planned to meet up at our favorite restaurant Jeffrey's at Carmel Mid-Valley for lunch. Thanks to a couple of hikers with a dog that liked to jump on me (I had muddy footprints all over me!), I veered off to the redwood trail to avoid them. I worried I wouldn't get back in time to meet Andy, but I am so glad I took this new-to-me trail. The trail loops back to the creek for some of the most scenic spots.
As the sign says, the seasonal foot bridges were taken out the Monday before my hike. I asked a fellow if the creek was passable. He was confident that it could be crossed at the 4 intersections along the trail. Note to self: do not take the advice of a 6 foot tall man with walking sticks if a creek is passable. While I love rock hopping, it helps if you don't have muddy shoes and aren't needing to pass over wet rocks. I managed just fine once I found a couple large sticks to help me balance. After my very grouchy previous week, this hike really helped cheer me up. It was food for the soul, and I am thankful for places like this.
Andy is training for a 50K trail run, so he sped off while I casually took a short loop. We planned to meet up at our favorite restaurant Jeffrey's at Carmel Mid-Valley for lunch. Thanks to a couple of hikers with a dog that liked to jump on me (I had muddy footprints all over me!), I veered off to the redwood trail to avoid them. I worried I wouldn't get back in time to meet Andy, but I am so glad I took this new-to-me trail. The trail loops back to the creek for some of the most scenic spots.
As the sign says, the seasonal foot bridges were taken out the Monday before my hike. I asked a fellow if the creek was passable. He was confident that it could be crossed at the 4 intersections along the trail. Note to self: do not take the advice of a 6 foot tall man with walking sticks if a creek is passable. While I love rock hopping, it helps if you don't have muddy shoes and aren't needing to pass over wet rocks. I managed just fine once I found a couple large sticks to help me balance. After my very grouchy previous week, this hike really helped cheer me up. It was food for the soul, and I am thankful for places like this.