Welcome!

Hi and welcome! I am Jennifer Rycenga, a.k.a. gyrrlfalcon here on iNaturalist. Ever since 2006, I have cultivated a habit of adopting a trail and walking it regularly. This proved beneficial to my birding skills when I first did it in 2006. It also led to my adoption of iNaturalist in 2012, when I photographed a rattlesnake at Edgewood - http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/112458 . When I adopt a trail, I try to think about a few factors, including exercise potential, what I could learn about along that trail, and the volume of visitors to that trail (I am no misanthrope, though - I just like to cover areas that I think are underexplored). I’ve decided to adopt this western loop in El Corte de Madera because I am trying to learn my lichens, and because I want to follow the change of seasons in this elevated terrain in the county.

El Corte de Madera is also a place that provokes deep thought for me. This is partially because it is the site of the worst aviation disaster in San Mateo County History – the crash of the “Resolution,” an Australian airliner, in 1953 (http://flightoftheresolution.org/index.html ). Nineteen people perished, including American concert pianist William Kapell, one of the finest interpreters of contemporary music and Chopin of his generation. Mortality, music, and the materials of life itself put me in a philosophic frame of mind.

Critters and beings to watch for here include Varied Thrush in fall and winter, Northern Pygmy-Owl in the crepuscular hours (and other owls at night), Hermit Thrush breeding, introduced vegetation (especially at Gate 7 and along Star Hill Road), lichen diversity, mushrooms in winter and spring, and each individual Coast Redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) to document for the RedwoodWatch project (http://www.inaturalist.org/projects/redwoodwatch).

Have fun out there! - Jennifer

Posted on 06 de agosto de 2017, 04:35 PM by gyrrlfalcon gyrrlfalcon

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