California Naturalist Certification – San Diego Palomar College

Welcome to the UC California Naturalist Certification Course offered by Palomar College in San Marcos, CA

Click the link below for my final Capstone Project “Ecological Scavenger Hunt at Los Penasquitos Canyon Preserve” 

Capstone Project Common Native Plants and Pollinators of Los Penasquitos Canyon Preserve

Field trip to Anza Borrego, Salton Sea, and Sonny Bono Wildlife Refuge – October 2021

AnzaBorregoSaltonSeaTrip

Freshwater Inverts

 

Agave desertii
Desert Ironwood – Olneya tesota
Honey Mesquite – Prosopis glandulosa v. torreyana
Jojoba – Simmondsia chinensis
Our guest speaker Mark Jorgenson who wrote a book about bighorn sheep
Big horn sheep skull
Bighorn sheep will smash a barrel cactus with its horns, cracking it open, then eating the innards like a popsicle!
Artwork installation in the middle of the Anza Borrego desert depicting true beings that walked these lands a long time ago

 

the clay contracts as the water evaporates and makes this lovely pattern – Clark Dry Lake Bed
flowering creasote
nice campsite

Northwest portion of Salton sea – felt more barren and destitute compared to the Sonny Bono Wildlife Area in the southeast corner of the salton sea

My professor with her graduate advisor, who just so happened to be at the same bird wildlife refuge we were, after not seeing each other for over 4 years!

professional birder in action

Birds seen here in the Sonny Bono Wildlife Refuge: Snow Goose Ross’s Goose Cackling Goose Northern Shoveler American Wigeon Mallard Green–winged Teal Lesser Scaup Pied–billed Grebe Common Ground Dove Mourning Dove Anna’s Hummingbird Ridgway’s Rail Sora American Coot Sandhill Crane Black–necked Stilt American Avocet Black–bellied Plover Killdeer Least Sandpiper Western Sandpiper Long–billed Dowitcher Willet Double–crested Cormorant Great Blue Heron Great Egret Snowy Egret Black–crowned Night–Heron White–faced Ibis Northern Harrier Peregrine Falcon Common Raven Tree Swallow Marsh Wren Western Meadowlark Red–winged Blackbird

Field trip to Julian and Cuyamaca / Chaparral and Confier Forest ecosystems

 

4 Personal field trips to Los Penasquitos Canyon Preserve to write my capstone project