Ashlie Zinn: Week 4 Natural Area Observations

For this week's natural area observations I visited Montana de Oro (one of my absolute favorite places). I parked near the first parking lot past the campground and walked the Bluff Trail that is across from Valencia Peak Trail. This trail is straightforward and I followed it along the bluff's edge until I arrived at the tide pools, about 10-15 minutes from the trail's starting point. The overall topography is relatively flat, up until the actual bluff of course. The landscape is made up of rolling hills east of the parking lot and transitions to a large span of relatively low shrubs and grasses until dropping off to the Pacific ocean in the west. All of the plants I observed were located along a trail through the shrubs and grasses. The low shrubs and proximity to the ocean led me to believe I was walking through a coastal scrub plant community. My iNaturalist observations, including plants like monkeyflower and coyote brush, are reflective of a coastal scrub community. All of the plants that I observed also had heavy western sun exposure, which was especially evident as I went during sunset.

Observations:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/44888400
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/44888884
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/44889330
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/44890015
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/44890751

Posted on May 6, 2020 12:08 AM by azinn