Sedgwick

Photos: Oak Woodland (Sedgwick Reserve)

Here is a slideshow with photos from our third field trip to the Oak Woodlands at Sedgwick Reserve.

Sedgwick Reserve notes

Things I wrote down in my notebook:

• Sedgwick Reserve was the ranch of "Duke" Sedgwick, Edie Sedgwick's father.
• Valley Oaks can live to hundreds of years old, but humans have cut many of them down because people like to live in valleys too.
  
• Mistletoe is a hemiparasite with sticky seeds that are probably transported by birds.
• Serpentine is a slightly toxic green rock; certain plants grow on it that don't tend to live elsewhere.
  
• Most grasses here are non-native, except for some bunchgrass. The native grasses only really still rule the places with poor soil.
  
• This habitat is mostly very old trees and annual undergrowth.
  
• The organic lavender farm on the way to the reserve belongs to a former gossip columnist.
  
• The cows on the nearby ranches and ranchettes look like Oreos.
  
• This giant tree probably belongs to a related group of acorn woodpeckers that returns to it every year.