Lab 9: Coastal dunes and marshes
BOT 165: Plant communities of California
San Jose State University
UCSC Enclosure Area A (Santa Cruz County)
Four-mile beach, Wilder Ranch State Park, Hwy 1 (Santa Cruz County)
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| cattail |
coast buckwheat |
silver beach-weed |
sea-rocket |
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| yellow sand-verbena |
sea-fig |
alkali-heath |
pickle-weed |
After the lab a few of us went over to Natural Bridges State Beach to see the Monarch butterflies in their wintering grounds there. They may not be there much longer, due to habitat fragmentation and loss, so it's a sight worth seeing when you're in Santa Cruz in the winter. The biggest clusters were further from the trail, and my camera doesn't have much zoom, but you can see some butterflies in this photo. It's really amazing in person, the air is filled with butterflies.
All photos ©2008 Ben Haller. Permission is granted to use and reproduce these photos for any non-commercial or non-profit use as long as this original copyright notice is retained. This website ©2008 Ben Haller, all rights reserved.
