Diario de isabelasigala

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!

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 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.

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!