Rincon Ridge chaparral
The highlight of my month so far is Rincon Ridge, a little visited chaparral area of Sonoma County. The plants are in the peak of their bloom with hundreds of Death camas, Narrowleaf mules ear, Bowltube iris, and several species of Ceanothus and Arctostaphylos, including some rare taxa. Insects and birds are also aplenty. Chaparral is one of the under-appreciated habitats of this region, being overshadowed by the beauty of oak woodlands, coastal prairie, and riparian adventure; however, i think nothing quite matches the almost desert-like allure of undisturbed chaparral of the North coast ranges. Here are some of my observations at Rincon Ridge this week: http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/c_michael_hogan?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=Rincon+Ridge&search_on=&quality_grade=any&geoprivacy=&place_id=&swlat=&swlng=&nelat=&nelng=&taxon_name=&taxon_id=&day=&month=&year=&order_by=observations.id&order=desc&rank=&hrank=&lrank=&site=&tdate=&d1=&d2=&filters_open=true&view=map
