habitat ~ 02/04/11 ~ Hatton Canyon State Property

Hatton Canyon State Park Property
February 4, 2011

There's been quite a bit of local controversy over Hatton Canyon from Caltrans to State Park ownership. Now, I hear there's more controversy over paving a trail through the canyon for bicycle access and concerns about a ban on being able to walk your dog on State Park property's unpaved trails. I have to say we spotted dog poo everywhere, which doesn't do the pro-dog folks any favors. Until I get my facts straight and instead of simply repeating what others have already written, here are 2 links that provide some basic information: Walking and Hiking on the Monterey Peninsula (scroll down 1/3 of the page) and Big Sur Land Trust. During this hike, we accessed the canyon through the newly constructed tunnel under Carmel Valley Road at Highway 1. Given the proliferation of invasive plant species here, it is definitely land that could use some management.

ps 02/26/14 - My original link to the Big Sur Land Trust no longer exists.  It was an informative page about how they're connecting trails.  I wonder what happened.  Instead, here's a nice map of the area under BSLT purview.  And here's a more recent Hatton Canyon habitat post.

dusky-footed woodrat house ~ 02/04/11 ~ Hatton Canyon

dusky-footed woodrat house
Neotoma fuscipes

Thanks to my previous unknown nest or den post and Flickr commenters, I've learned these massive twig structures are not merely haphazard collections of twigs. Now, I recognize dusky-footed woodrat houses everywhere. Apparently, some groups even have up to 3-15 houses with different purposed chambers, such as nesting, latrines, and storing food and collected treasures. Did you know they're also called packrats? Ah, so that's where the term comes from. I know some people who are packrats, eh-hem. Google images to find more pictures of these stick houses; they can also be found under the name Neotoma macrotis (don't know what that's about). And, for a much better blog post about dusky-footed woodrats than I could ever do, check out The Nature of a Man.

ps 07/06/11 ~ For another species, desert woodrat (N. bryanti) and its middens , check out The Nature of a Man's east Mojave trip.

pss 02/15/12 - I removed the The Davidson College Biology embedded links, which were very informative, but is now unavailable. I suspect the professor either retired or moved to another university.

red-breasted nuthatch
Sitta canadensis

Apparently, my best pics of birds are when they're dead and don't move. I was sad to find this dead bird, but it did make identification very easy. It must have recently died, because its body was still pliable. Now, aren't you glad to not be my husband and hold my hand afterward? Hatton Canyon was an incredible find for listening to a cacophony of bird songs. In fact, I don't ever recall hearing so many birds, anywhere, and I've been places! It's too bad this was the only bird I managed to photograph during our hike. I strongly suspect that all those fancy gardens on the hills also have bird feeders. As a side note, Cornell's All About Birds (linked in the scientific name above) shows this bird as a winter migrant, whereas my handy-dandy bird book at home shows the exact opposite range map of year round vs. winter (still unnamed on my blog, because I worry about its accuracy - I'm badly attempting to follow that policy of if you can't say anything nice, then don't say anything at all). So, which is correct?

western dogwood ~ 02/04/11 ~ Hatton Canyon

western red-twig dogwood
Cornus sericea ssp. occidentalis
Cornaceae

OK, I'm getting pooped out on ID'ing plants for today. Does anyone know what these are? The green to red stems were gorgeous!

ps 02/10/11 - I originally posted this as unknown green and red stems. Thanks to Cindy at Dipper Ranch, I was able to track down the ID. I did a search query on which kinds of Cornus are found in this area and the subspecies occidentalis is the only one on record. That's good enough for me. As is becoming my custom, I obtained the common name from Jepson; I didn't like red-osier as a descriptor, because it makes it sound like it's a willow. I've made the corrections to the ID above and made a comment below.