Diario de isabelasigala

This is my last journal entry for my iNaturalist class project! As I was forming a taxonomy table with my observations from the past weeks I noticed that in just visiting parks for a short amount of time I was able to find a lot of species. Wednesday and Thursday I revisited Edgewood and stopped by Wunderlich park in the evenings for a little bit of hiking and this time came across a lot of birds. I would stop often to look around for mushrooms and when I would walk by any trees/bushes, birds would fly out. They’re never still enough to get a good picture however I could probably find them on iNaturalist just by searching for birds observed in the area. Over the course of this project Wunderlich has become one of my favorite parks to walk through. After it rains I think it is the best time to head outside and hike a trail specifically with a bunch of trees, plus with all the rain there are a bunch of fungi popping up.

Thursday evening I headed out for a quick walk/hike at Edgewood park. I went towards sundown so I figured my chances of seeing animals would be pretty low. What I was primarily looking forward to was fungi since we’ve had a bit of rain these past weeks in San Mateo. It would definitely make finding mushrooms easier if you bring a friend along since they tend to blend in with the leaves and could easily be overlooked. The park itself is one of my favorites because it has pretty good parking given the amount of people visiting each day, clear paths, reception, and really nice views once you trail higher up. Since I went in the afternoon I noticed a lot of people come for the sunset. If I were to come back to view the sunset from the top I would probably aim to start around four o’clock since it would probably take me an hour and with the time change in fall the sun will set earlier.

This week my professor informed us of the low tide on Thursday and Friday so I aimed to head to pillar point/Mavericks area and check out the tide pools. I wanted to get there around three, however one thing led to another and I arrived closer to four thirty in the evening. Nonetheless a lot of the tide pools were still exposed and several people were headed out as well.

Mavericks beach is an awesome place to watch surfers ride some of the craziest waves, and at low tide several people gather to harvest seafood from the reefs. What’s important to note is that there are unmarked (or very poorly visible) boundaries where pillar point beach ends and the state marine conservation area begins. Here I believe only crab and squid can be taken opposed to the public beach where more species can be harvested. When I visited the tide pools on Thursday there were park rangers actively patrolling, checking bags and licenses in order to enforce foreging regulations. Personally I think they have gotten stricter this year with regulations and I’m guessing it might have to do with the increase of people harvesting very large amounts of seafood, which could ultimately hurt the ecosystems. I think simply looking at the tide pools and watching the surf is more fun because handling and shucking sea urchins is a process and the last thing you want is to get poked.

We finally got rain in San Mateo!! I’m planning on taking advantage of this sudden change in weather and really get outdoors to find some fungi. I haven’t been able to make a lot of fungi observations mostly because I find it so hard to spot them. I really want to find turkey tail mushrooms, they are supposed to be pretty common in my area so it shouldn’t be too difficult for me to spot some, I also think they look very fascinating so that’s something to look forward to. I’m going to be checking out Edgewood Park, and hopefully Stulstaft too. There’s several parks and areas within a reasonable distance from me but these next days/week I want to challenge myself to make it to at least one park I’ve never been/heard of in a city further from mine (SF, Pacifica, etc.). It’s in the works, hopefully I’ll have some new organisms to upload within the week!

This week I left San Mateo County to visit family in HI. Since I’ve only been observing animals/plants in San Mateo County I was looking forward to the different species I’ll be able to observe in Hawaii’s climate and environment. I’m staying on the Pearl Harbor/Hickam base and there’s a lot of interesting looking birds that hang out in the area, hopefully I’ll have the time to sit in the grass and get them to come close enough to get a clear picture. I did get to paddle over to Na Molukua island and get a picture of a fish head that washed up on shore and some birds. I’m pretty sure one of the birds I observed was just a pigeon and the other was a shearwater since many people were saying they nest in this area.

I returned to The Dish in Stanford this week and was able to grab a couple more pictures. I was in the area later than I was last time, this time closer to noon. I noticed going in the morning I was able to see animals like deer and spiders whereas going mid day there was really no sign of them. I also noticed a lot more lizards and squirrels around noon rather than early morning. The conditions were pretty different between my two visits as well, in the morning it was cold with little to no breeze and around noon this time around it was a tad windy and there was bright sun. I also noticed the fire risk level had increased to severe probably due to the dryness and heat even though we are very well into fall. I look forward to observing the adjustments the wildlife will make as the weather changes!

This Monday I decided to go hike the dish in Stanford since I hadn’t been in a while and was curious as to what animals or plants I would come across. On the drive there, I saw a deer crossing the road (Junipero Serra Blvd) but didn’t get the chance to snap a photo. The whole town area is filled with wildlife and makes a great place to just walk through and see all the animals around. If you are going to go hike the dish, which I totally recommend, definitely go on a week day because parking is limited and the trail is extremely packed on weekends. The trail is about 4 miles round trip I believe, completely paved and rather easy since there are only a couple hilly areas. It’s great to go in a small group, or just alone to see the awesome view at the top overlooking the cities.

I was about half way through the hike when my friend gasped and immediately came to a stop. We just happened to be walking rather close to the side where a tarantula was hanging out. It seems like it emerged from the leaves/dirt right above where the paved trail begins. It was just standing there, hardly moving, and if my friend hadn’t noticed it we either would have brushed very close by it or kicked it on accident. As we processed the fact that a tarantula was standing right in front of us, I got closer to snap some pictures and a few people passed by, equally surprised to see the huge spider. Overall great hike, great wildlife, and a great view, just be sure to keep an extra eye out for the sneaky animals that seem to just appear out of nowhere!

For my first observation I decided to check out Poplar Beach in Half Moon Bay. I was already in town so I thought to head to a beach I haven’t been to in years and see what animals I’d come across. The beach itself is very accessible, metered parking lot or street parking in the neighborhood, and not very busy on a weekday compared to others I’ve been to. It was quite windy in the evening but not too cold and there were several birds in the area. I’m assuming they are accustomed to being fed by humans since they were comfortable getting rather close to me. I was able to snap some photos after sunset before the birds began to leave and uploaded one to be identified!