Photos: Terrestrial plants & pollinators (SB Botanic Garden)

Here is a slideshow with photos from our fifth field trip to the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden to check out terrestrial plants and pollinators.

Photos: Rocky Intertidal (Arroyo Hondo)

Here is a slideshow with photos from our fourth field trip to the Rocky Intertidal at Arroyo Hondo.

Arroyo Hondo and our class

I really like the bridges at Arroyo Hondo. The concrete one was built in 1918 as part of the original highway (more details from some road enthusiasts). The culvert that goes underneath the bridges (a picture from when I visited a while ago) is steelhead trout habitat.


The beach had zillions of sea anemones, both underwater (waving around and greenish from algae) and hanging out on the rocks (closed up and camouflaged with sand). We weren't sure why some of them had white spots in their tentacles.

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.
  

Photos: Harbor Seal Rookery (Carpinteria Bluffs)

Here is a slideshow with photos from our second field trip to the Harbor Seal Rookery at the Carpinteria Bluffs.

Photos: Chaparral (Santa Ynez Mountains)

Here is a slideshow with photos from our first field trip to the Chaparral Community at the Santa Ynez Mountains.