Diario de adorapitcock

Today I drove to San Francisco with my family for an hour in the morning. I made an observation of a shrub-looking plant but I wasn't able to add it to iNaturalist. I am learning that sometimes iNaturalist will sometimes generate species that are similar nearby, but are not correct so I have to do a bit of digging myself. It is a little hard to identify a plant on my own sometimes but I am learning to do it and becoming more adjusted to the iNaturalist mobile version. After we left in the city we drove to Moraga to watch a football game for my cousin. While there I was able to observe a European Earwig which was the second insect I have observed for this project so far. I think since it was damper out in the morning it gave me more of a chance to spot the insect. I'm nowhere near the needed observations right now, so I'll need to get out more in these last few weeks.

I went out to Mori Point with my little sister today in hopes of finding some mushrooms but I was able to observe some other species which are helping me to get towards the needed 25 research-grade observations. I have found out how to use the geography feature on iNaturalist which makes it easier to find some needed observations in my area. Because it was rainy out we were able to go in the afternoon without there being much foot traffic. It was nice because I was able to find a lot of garden snails and plants. I plan to use the geography feature when I go out to the tide pools later this week.

Because of the negative tide today I was able to walk pretty far out on the tidepools. Using the geography feature I was able to find some species pretty fast. I don't think I've ever seen a negative tide before so it was pretty cool. I went around 5 pm so there was just enough light that it was easy to take pictures of the species I observed. Also, by going out at 5 there weren't as many people which made it easier to get around. Going to the marine reserve was really helpful because it brought me closer to the 10 different phylum that I need for the end of the project and the 25 different observations. And, I was also really lucky because I saw some Lace Lichen on the walk back to my car which is the first species from the Fungi kingdom I've seen which helps my taxonomy table.

We recently got a dog so I've been walking her this week around my neighborhood. I was finally able to find some different species of mushrooms which I'm hoping will get identified to bring me to my 10 different phyla for the taxonomy table. It's been nice going out for walks around midday when there aren't a lot of people out so I can find more species to observe. I'm near the 25 identifications mark and I am now waiting for some more to be identified. I went to Camino over the weekend and saw a really cool insect that I uploaded onto iNaturalist. Other than that, I didn't find much else to make observations of in Camino because there were a lot of dead plants from foot traffic and weather change.

I haven't made many new observations because I reached the 25 research-grade mark but I am still out looking for more mushrooms in hopes of them being identified. I think so far I've made 3 or 4 different mushroom observations and some lichen observations but they haven't been identified yet so that is a bit stressful. I have really enjoyed the project so far and liked focusing more on finding and identifying different species instead of sticking to what I knew. I am glad that I have been able to explore more places near my house that I can visit whenever I want to. With the weather getting colder there haven't been many other people out which is nice.