Laguna Wetlands Preserve Hike
Submitted by: Brandon Castillo and class
Ms. Hamilton's elective class took a trip to the Laguna Wetlands preserve on Tuesday, September 17. The walk covered a total of 5 miles of trails. On the walk we saw Valley Oak (Quercus lobata) trees. There were small red oak galls on the bottom of the leafs. In the sky we saw white pelicans (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos) and we learned that a few years back the bird was on the verge of extinction due to a pesticide that was softening the pelicans baby eggs.
As we walked we got to a path that was closed so we went around and we saw a turkey vulture (Cathartes aura), circling around above us apparently scavenging for food. A fact about turkey vultures is that they have very strong bacteria in their stomach that allows the vulture to eat dead bodies without getting sick. Across the trail there was a vineyard and there was also a lot of scat from various wild animals on the ground that looked like they contained the grapes from the vineyard. We came across a group of acorn woodpeckers (Melanerpes formicivorus) or a Downy woodpeckers (Picoides pubescens) flying around and in the dead trees called “snags”. The Acorn woodpeckers live in large groups so we think they must have been Acorn woodpeckers. They were probably busy collecting acorns from the ground and storing them in the trees.
Closer down into the Laguna nearing the water, we walked on a trail that normally floods in the winter. At the end of our five mile hike near a pond we could hear many Red Winged Blackbirds singing. We ended our walk with a discussion about ticks and how we need to look out for them on our skin and clothing and how to get rid of them if we see them on us.
Submitted by: Brandon Castillo and class
Ms. Hamilton's elective class took a trip to the Laguna Wetlands preserve on Tuesday, September 17. The walk covered a total of 5 miles of trails. On the walk we saw Valley Oak (Quercus lobata) trees. There were small red oak galls on the bottom of the leafs. In the sky we saw white pelicans (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos) and we learned that a few years back the bird was on the verge of extinction due to a pesticide that was softening the pelicans baby eggs.
As we walked we got to a path that was closed so we went around and we saw a turkey vulture (Cathartes aura), circling around above us apparently scavenging for food. A fact about turkey vultures is that they have very strong bacteria in their stomach that allows the vulture to eat dead bodies without getting sick. Across the trail there was a vineyard and there was also a lot of scat from various wild animals on the ground that looked like they contained the grapes from the vineyard. We came across a group of acorn woodpeckers (Melanerpes formicivorus) or a Downy woodpeckers (Picoides pubescens) flying around and in the dead trees called “snags”. The Acorn woodpeckers live in large groups so we think they must have been Acorn woodpeckers. They were probably busy collecting acorns from the ground and storing them in the trees.
Closer down into the Laguna nearing the water, we walked on a trail that normally floods in the winter. At the end of our five mile hike near a pond we could hear many Red Winged Blackbirds singing. We ended our walk with a discussion about ticks and how we need to look out for them on our skin and clothing and how to get rid of them if we see them on us.