micro_ecologist's Identifications

This coastal prickly pear is a species of the cactus and is native to Southern California. The cactus was in a clump with many other cactus surrounding each other. The cactus seemed to be a good size but seemed to be continuing to grow. It seemed like each cactus was about the size of the palm maybe little bigger at that exact moment but probably would continue to grow. The colors of the flowers were a pale color which is hard to see from the photo as the flowers were really small. The plant was all clumped together and alongside the trailhead I was on. The behavior of the plant was that is was all close to each other and the thorns looked really sharp. The habitat it was in. a area alongside a creek. The overall habitat this plant was in was along a hiking path and near a water area that is part of the hiking path.

The recommended species was Fireweed though I am unsure that this was is due to the lack of petals on the flower during summer. The image was captured on the hill of the Turtle Rock trail in Irvine. The plants grew fairly commonly along the trail alongside other species nearby

I found this butterfly flying around my backyard and I was lucky it stopped where it is shown in the picture because I was able to take this image. It was flying all over the place and eventually left to my neighbor's yard.

I had trouble with this one because this pictures gives the plant an orange/yellow glow but I think it was because I took this at golden hour.. It stood about a foot or two tall, with purple flowering extending at the top, leaves extending at the bottom and a space between with just the main stem. The whole plant was very spiky and prickly. It stood alone at the top of a dry grassy hill near turtle rock.

This lizard had a tan and brown overcoat of scales with a striped pattern along the dorsal and off white underbelly. Its body was very lithe. It was about roughly 3 inches in length not including the tail. It was found on a sidewalk path in a residential complex. There were large bushes, plants, and trees along both sides of the sidewalk path. The lizard was found sunbathing in the middle of the path and remained there waiting and watching until it inevitably had to move out of the way and into the underbrush.

This mated pair of birds most closely resembles the markings of the Egyptian goose. They looked rather like full size adults about 2 and a half feet in height. They were seen on an open grass courtyard next to a sidewalk path leading into a park from the San Diego Creek trail. The courtyard was bordered by residential housing on both sides. One goose of the pair which I presume to be the female was relaxing on the grass while the other which I presume to be the male took a standing position to watch any passerby walking along the sidewalk. Interestingly enough they were positioned rather close to the sidewalk instead of towards the back close to the fencing bordering the houses. Eventually they decided to leave the vicinity and for some reason entered the bike trail and continued for at least 300 meters on foot while many humans were traveling along the trail with the presumed female leading while the male would follow and occasionally vocalize to alert their presence. Though cautious, they did not seem intimidated by the close presence of the humans to the point where humans had to avoid getting to close while riding. Eventually they crossed the trail completely to get to the side closest to the water channel.