By Constance Taylor

The number one rule of insect photography is… you’re going to get dirty.

After a solid afternoon of really going for stellar shots, you’ll be lucky if you only have some grass stains on your knees and elbows.

While we weren’t exactly spelunking for troglobites, we students at Eddie Dunbar’s insect photography walk certainly did our fair share of squatting, crouching, and flipping over rocks.

Eddie Dunbar! Photo by Lee Aurich

The April 20^th walk at Joaquin Miller park was in partnership with the Insect Sciences Museum of California (ISMC), founded by Dunbar.  Dunbar is currently training volunteers in insect identification and photography skills, since this year marks the beginning of ISMC’s ambitious plan to create a field guide to the insects of the whole Bay Area, to be completed in 2015.

Dunbar began the walk by going over his top seven tips for insect photography:

1. You’re going to get dirty!
1. Wear the right clothing- long sleeves, long pants, sturdy shoes
2. Get on your hands and knees for shots, get into the bushes, get close!
3. Wherever you go for photos, plan to stay there for a while.  Bring water, food, sunblock, and a hat.

2. Use close-up settings and techniques
1. Use a closed aperture and faster shutter speeds for better close-up pictures
2. Use a ring light instead of a flash, if possible.  The ring light fits around the camera lens and emits a steady light, illuminating and possibly even attracting the insect.  This is better than a standard flash, which is startling and will probably make the insect fly away.
3. Have a rock-steady stance when taking photos.  If possibly, put both your elbows and wrists on the ground to steady the camera.
3. Slow down!
1. Focus on your subject
2. Remember to be patient, patient, patient.
4. Take good field notes
1. Write down your goal for the day.  What are you looking for?  How do you plan to go about finding it?
2. Good notes include location, date, time, weather, plant prominence, colleague names, and mood.
5. Shoot like crazy!
1. Take numerous photos of the same subject.
2. Shoot from multiple angles.
3. Also shoot the location, features, ecology, and people around you.
6. Apply regular good photography skills.
1. Get the subject’s eye in focus
2. Fill the frame
3. Try to show action
7. If you’re really serious about photography, get a DSLR!
1. SLR lenses are better
2. You’ll have more control over the settings
3. Some include extra tools like GPS, WiFi, and Metadata

Short of a DSLR, however, a point-and-shoot will work just fine. And don’t forget about your phone camera- most of them can take pretty good pictures anymore.

Best of both worlds- cell phone camera and a DSLR camera. Photo by Eddie Dunbar

After the brief tutorial, we all wandered down into a meadow… and then the games began!

Wheeeee! Chasing after subjects. Photo by Eddie Dunbar

While we didn’t get great pictures of every single critter we saw that day, we managed to get a decent sampling of the diversity.

Snakefly (order Raphidioptera) Photo by May Chen

California banana slug (Ariolimax californicus). Photo by Lee Aurich

Short-horned Grasshopper (family Acrididae). Photo by Lee Aurich

Brush-footed butterfly (genus Speyeria, family Nymphalidae). Photo by Lee Aurich

West Coast Lady (Vanessa annabella). Photo by Lee Aurich

... aaaaand a pocket gopher! Thomomys species. Photo by Lee Aurich.

If you missed this walk but still want to be a part of creating the guide, the next ISMC event will be the Del Puerto Bio Blitz on May 4 to survey the insect ecology of the area.  It will go into the evening, and yes, black lighting will be involved!!  Check out the ISMC website for more information.

A big thanks to Eddie Dunbar from the Insect Sciences Museum of California for leading the walk and identifying the insects in the photos above, and to everyone who came out to our very first Wild Oakland event not around Lake Merritt.  World, here we come!

By Constance Taylor

So… why doesn’t this happen in Oakland anymore?

Downtown Oakland, 1962 flood

Yowza.

It’s because after the millions-of-dollars worth of damage that the 1962 flood did to downtown Oakland, the forward-thinking overlords of our fair city installed this in 1970…

Outside the 7th street flood control station

Inside the flood control station

The flood control station at Lake Merritt!

If you’re wondering why the outside of the station looks so much smaller compared to the inside, it’s because the main pump room floor (pictured above) is mostly below water level, beneath the 7^th Street bridge right by Laney College.

Gene Mazza, the Flood Control Station (FCS) Supervisor, was the leader for the walk.  And a fine leader he was, having 30 years of experience working with the East Bay flood control stations.

Mazza explains how the pump engines work

These massive pumps are capable of pumping up to 400,000 gallons per minute when all four are working at full tilt, something that only needs to happen in extreme weather events like 100-year storms or king tides.

“The winter 2012 king tides alone would have flooded Lake Merritt without the FCS, let alone any other rain we had on top of that,” explains Mazza.

“The last time the pumps were all going full-tilt was in 1997 during a 100-year storm.  Shifts were a full 17 hours- when the tides went out, we went home to sleep, and woke up to get back to the station before the tides came back in.”

This particular FCS is only one of 24 stations around the East Bay.  There are eleven in Hayward, five in San Leandro, four in Union City, and four in Oakland.  All can be controlled remotely except for the station at Lake Merritt “mostly because they ran out of money before they got to it,” laughs Mazza.

There are three water level sensors around the lake that keep record of tidal activity.  When the water gets to a certain point, the sensor sends a radio signal to a cell phone tower, which then shoots a message to the FCS staff’s cell phones to alert them to take action.

Water level being recorded from sensor information

The FCS uses Mean Sea Level as their elevation standard, and they try to keep the water level rise in the lake below three feet as a general rule.  Here’s why:

At a one-foot increase of water level, one pump comes on.  At a two-foot increase, the second pump comes on.  A 3-foot increase is the red-line mark- Oakland won’t be flooded at this point, but for peace of mind it’s best to keep it below that level.

A 4.8-foot increase is a bad thing, since a 5-foot or more increase means the streets of Oakland will flood.

Control panel inside the station (apologies from the author for the blurry shot)

80-90% of the year the floodgates are open, but between October and April a close eye needs to be kept on the lake level to make sure there aren’t weather events that will cause it to flood.

Every six months, divers are hired to do underwater maintenance.  They clean the trash grates of barnacles, mussels, and tubeworms, swim up into the huge blue pipes to check for rust and structural problems, and generally do a check of all the underwater FCS components that can’t normally be seen.

Trash grate on the lake side of the FCS

Divers literally swim into the blue pipes when they're doing their six-month maintenance checks!

There are two floodgates on either side of the pump station.  They’re 28 feet tall, 14 feet wide, weigh about 8.5 tons each, and open by pivoting 90 degrees.

An open flood gate at the FCS

Measure DD will be knocking out the second culvert at 14^th street, which will further increase tidal activity at the lake.  Channels will be built around the FCS to allow small crafts to float by, but floodgates will be built in to regulate tidal flow in case of extreme weather events.  The planned year for completion is 2015, which is coming up fast!

A big thanks to Gene Mazza for leading us into the FCS and giving us a tidal history lesson of Oakland and Lake Merritt.

Isn’t infrastructure great?!

By Kevin Hong

Kevin the intern here!

On Saturday, March 16th, we gathered next to the Lake Chalet restaurant to begin our walk led by Joel Peter, the Measure DD Program Manager for the City of Oakland. Our walk took us through areas that have gone through development, are being developed, and will be developed as the city progresses with the program.

So what is the Measure DD program?

Joel showing us geographical differences between Lake Merritt in 1857 and in 1998. (Photo by Damon Tighe)

It’s a $198.25 million bond measure that was passed by an 88% public vote in 2002,  aimed at improvements to Lake Merritt, the estuary, and watershed health.  Notable improvements include the renovation of Studio One, a new rec center in the city, creek restoration, and new sidewalk.

The program will close gaps in trails in the area, as well as introduce new measures to treat urban runoff before it reaches the lake – pretty important, since all the water that enters storm drains in the 4,650+ acres that make up our local watershed eventually flows into Lake Merritt.

We started in the parking lot at the Lake Chalet, where Joel told us how Measure DD affected the immediate area: around the lake, traffic was moved away from the edges of the lake, and the space left in between saw various improvements to help the lake deal with urban runoff.

Bioswale in front of the Lake Chalet (Photo by Dan Schwartz)

Bioswales, like this one in front of the Lake Chalet, collect urban runoff before it flows into the lake.  The water enters the swale through slots in the curb, then the sedges and other water-loving plants absorb much of the runoff.  As the water passes through the swale, pollutants are combed out by the vegetation before entering a percolated pipe and moving into the lake.

Green roof (Photo by Damon Tighe)

This green roof on the waste building of the Lake Chalet. Joel maintains it himself! Notable plants: sedge, taro, red fescue, and many weeds. Underneath the bed, there are perforated pipes that irrigate it from underneath on a regular basis.

Demonstrating how the permeable pavement works. (Photo by Damon Tighe)

Joel shows us the absorbing power of the permeable pavement used in the aisle near the Lake Chalet. Permeable pavement is like regular pavement, but without the sand mixed in. It collects water in the spaces where sand usually fills, serving as a reservoir of sorts. There are pipes around and underneath that transport water to the lake when the water levels run over the pavement’s capacity.

Storm water creek! (Photo by Dan Schwartz)

Joel shows us one idea they had: instead of simply elongating a pipe previously underground, they exposed the water that moved through it, creating a sort of storm water “creek”, vegetated with sedges, that absorbs and cleans the water that passes through. On the downstream end is a pipe that drains into the lake.

Picture of a picture of a storm drain filter (Photo by Damon Tighe)

Here, Joel tells us about two trash filters, (this one’s on the corner of 12th and Merritt) housed in underground vaults and incorporated into the pipes that drain into the lake. A marvel of modern engineering, the huge filters are designed so that the water entering swirls around inside.  This centrifugal movement passes through a steel grill that separates litter from the flow, casing the trash to float to the top where large vacuum trucks remove the debris and cart it off to a landfill.

Thanks to Oakland’s ban on Styrofoam containers and the Alameda County ban on plastic bags, there’s far less of this kind of trash in the lake.

As we walked southward toward the pump station, Joel told us about the history of the dam that used to exist over the south end of the Lake on 12th street. Lake Merritt is connected to the bay, so it experiences significant tidal flow. Samuel Merritt, when mayor of Oakland, proposed the building of the dam to keep water IN – partly because low tide stank, as people were dumping sewage into the lake. The dam used to be narrow, but the city kept widening it. Eventually, 12th street was built over the dam.

A picture of 12th street over the south end of the lake (photo by Damon Tighe)

In the 1950s, the miniway and dam were no longer structurally stable, and the construct was torn down. With federal spending, the city’s been able to construct a new overlook over the now-exposed channel, with a bridge spanning across. This 100 ft wide channel, along with coming improvements of Measure DD, will remove bottlenecks in the water and increase tidal flow.

Joel addressed aesthetic concerns over the exposed mudflats. They may appear ugly, but they’re full of life! They’re populated by clams and tube worms, algae and seaweed use them as bases for growth, and they’re feeding grounds for the wading birds.

Mudflats where tidal vegetation will be planted (photo by Damon Tighe)

After we tramped across the new overlook, which features several walkways and a small amphitheater-like area, our walk took us under and beyond the 12th street bridge. We got to see an area behind the bridge that’s being constructed into a new tidal marsh. It’s about two thirds of an acre in area, and will be planted with local marsh plants from Oakland and Berkeley nurseries.

Local stock of cordgrass, pickleweed, monkey flower, and willows will be among the fauna inhabitants- using plants that have localized genetics will help them thrive in these areas with minimal human maintenance. Hopefully, it will also help attract more natural inhabitants of the lake.

We crossed the street and walked past Laney College to the 7th street pump station. The station is equipped with gates, the main mechanisms for controlling tide and water level in Lake Merritt. Its pumps, though capable of moving thousands of gallons of water per minute, aren’t used often (as a matter of cost-efficiency) but are effective in stopping high tides formed by unexpected storms.

Fun fact: Bat rays are a common sight on the bay side of the pump station, gathering at the trash grate.  They can be found in the lake as well, presumably slipping in sideways through the trash bars or coming in as small juveniles.

Bat rays on the bay side of the 7th street flood control station (photo by Joel Peter)

As part of the Measure DD program, a small water channel and pedestrian walkway will be added to the side of the station. The last culvert will also be removed, thus allowing small crafts like canoes and kayaks access to the bay from Lake Merritt.

Thanks to Joel Peter for leading this walk, to Dan Schwartz and Damon Tighe for photos, and to everybody who attended!

See you soon!

By Constance Taylor

In addition to being the experienced amateur mycologist who lead Wild Oakland’s Mushroom walk last December, Damon is also well familiar with the natural history (and use) of the camera.  We began the afternoon in the Rotary Nature Center while Damon gave us a brief history of the evolution of cameras, how they operate, and some basic principles of nature photography.

Here’s a tragically truncated version of all the great stuff we learned on February 9, 2013!

Damon explaining photography basics. Photo by Eddie Dunbar

In the figurative primordial ooze of its development, dating back to the ancient Greek and Chinese, the “camera” was a room-sized box with a pinhole in one side.  Light would shine through the hole, projecting the outside image upside-down onto the back of the box.  Later, a mirror was added to turn the projected image right-side up onto a wall, which Renaissance-age artists would trace and paint in, making that one of the first kinds of “image capture”.

Fast forward to modern day technology, and camera lenses essentially compact the entire pinhole box, turning a large image reflector into something we can stick in our pocket.

So what are some things one should keep in mind when using newfangled image-capture machines to record nature?

Good pictures make your eye wander around the frame to pick up details that may not be the primary subject.  Remembering these three basic principles will help you take a shot that does just that:

Rule of Thirds. Sibley Volcanic Regional Preserve, Oakland. Photo: Damon Tighe

1) Rule of Thirds: Mostly used for landscape photos.  Never divide the land and sky 50/50- instead have one or the other take up a third of the space.  Having the divide in the center of the picture makes it less interesting- your eye goes straight to the middle of the photo anyway, and if the horizon is right in the center then you’re done looking at it almost as soon as you’ve started.  The Rule of Thirds forces the eye down or up from the center, thus making the eye wander.  Which is a good thing.

Off-center the subject. Rock maze at Sibley, Oakland. Photo: Damon Tighe

2) Off-Center the photo subject: Like before, the eye initially goes to the center of the photo.  If the viewer has to look somewhere else for the subject, they will interface longer with the image.

S-curve. Climbing tree at Lake Merritt. Photo: Damon Tighe

3) S-Curve: This is probably the most powerful of the three principles.  If you can, integrate an s- shaped curve into your photo to take the viewer’s eye from one side of the picture to the other.  As the viewer’s eye wanders along the curve throughout the whole photo, they’ll pick up more of the story the picture is trying to convey.

As a nature photographer, your photo should tell a story.  To do this, composition is the most important thing you can focus on.  Look for one or two subjects to have in your picture, and try to focus in on them as closely as possible so the viewer isn’t distracted by other “stories”.

Damon advises to approach this part as “scene setting”.  What’s the macro vs. micro story, and what’s a novel way to tell it?

As he’s asking us these questions, we walk up to a large redwood.

Under the redwoods at Lake Merritt. Photo: Constance Taylor

“It helps to have an idea of what you’re shooting so you can tell it’s story- to highlight a piece and bring it out to your audience,” he explains.  “So what do we know about redwoods?  What makes them interesting, or different from other trees?”

Our group comes up with “tallest trees on earth” and “fire resistant because of their bark”, amongst other things.  The next step is to integrate what we know about their height and bark into a photo:

Photo of redwood, with a focus on it's bark and height. Photo: Constance Taylor

Next lesson: Wildlife photography!

The key to this is to sit still, be patient, and let things come to you.  Also, the closer you are to the ground the less intimidating you’ll be.  “Always have your camera in hand and ready to go when you’re shooting wildlife,” says Damon.

Waiting for a rare and elusive Canadian goose to wander in our direction. Photo: Eddie Dunbar

Tips include anticipating where the animal is moving in order to allow it space to walk into the frame, as well as where the light will be.  Will it walk under a tree, shading areas that you wanted to be bright?  Will you be waiting for hours, watching and photographing your animal as the shadows change?

Trying to shoot a squirrel running along a fence. Photo: Constance Taylor

It helps to get as close as possible to your subject, but with wildlife this can be hard (and possibly illegal, depending on the species).  Flowers, however, are much less skittish, and our friend the passion vine helped us out with the last exercise.

The passion vine was heavy with fruit and flowers, the perfect subject for our final shoot.

Get close! Photo: Eddie Dunbar

“In general, nature photography has very little to do with what kind of camera you have,” says Damon.  “You do need to learn how to best use it in different situations, but capturing a good image is more about slowing down and noticing things you’ve never seen before.  Move around and try to find the best angle, know your subject, and have an idea of the story you’re trying to tell.”

The most obviously photogenic aspects of the passion vine were the flowering bodies and subsequent fruit, which Damon gently manipulated so both were posed for a shot.  “I used to be a purist and have a very hands-off approach to my subject, but that didn’t get me very good pictures.  Now, if it doesn’t disturb or otherwise stress what I’m photographing, I’ll definitely move things around in order to best tell the story.”

Passion vine flower and fruit. Photo: Constance Taylor

Thanks to the multi-talented Damon Tighe for leading the walk, to Stephanie Benavidez and Alexa Fulper for letting us use the Rotary Nature Center as a classroom and staging spot, and to everyone who showed up and took lots of pictures!  See you next time!

By Constance Taylor

Pop Quiz:

 What process produces half the Earth’s oxygen?

 Tick tick tick… pencils down.

 Answer: Phytoplankton photosynthesis! (Nat Geo. 2006)

 Thank yoooooooou, phytoplankton!

I assume he’s actually zooplankton, but humor me.

Speaking of zooplankton, what’s the difference between it and phytoplankton?

Ah!  Glad I asked.  Phytoplankton is autotrophic, prokaryotic, or eukaryotic algae that live close to the surface of water where there’s enough sunlight for photosynthesis.  Zooplankton includes eggs and larvae of fish, insects, crustaceans, annelids, and small protozoans and metazoans. Essentially, “phyto-” = plants and “zoo-” = animals.

Bacterioplankton is a relatively new group that’s been added to the plankton family- they play an important role in remineralizing organic material down the water column.

“Plankton” is one word used for infinite organisms, seeing that new species are always being discovered.

Anthony discovering the secrets stuck to Lake Merritt urbanite, photo by Dianne Fristrom

Anthony DeCicco from the Golden Gate Audubon Society deftly guided us through all the new words and designations on Wild Oakland’s Plankton Walk.  He introduced us to the microscopic organisms that thrive in the waters of Lake Merritt with his arsenal of pipettes, field microscopes, plankton nets, and collection trays.

Who knew what secrets were in the waters of our beloved slough?

Looking at water samples

The birds do, at least- diving ducks like Ruddys, Goldeneyes, Canvasbacks, and Buffleheads love to eat the plants and algae as well as invertebrates like aquatic insects, mollusks, crustaceans, and shrimp.  So all these invertebrates in their juvenile stages are what now?  Imagine me cupping my hand to my ear while you shout… Zooplankton!  Heyo!  High five.

Tintinninds (zooplankton) photo by Revital Katznelson

There are two main groups of zooplankton- Holoplankton and Meroplankton.  Holoplankton remain microscopic their entire life cycle and are the most abundant protein source in the world, while meroplankton graduate within their life cycle to become larger organisms.

Plankton can generally be divided into two categories- Nektonic and Planktonic.  Nektonic plankton can swim against currents, while planktonic plankton drift where the currents take them.

So you can have nektonic meroplankton, planktonic holoplankton, planktonic phytoplankton, and maybe even nektonic bacterioplankton…I think there’s a joke in there somewhere.  First person to come up with a punchline gets to go on a Wild Oakland walk for free!

Towing plankton nets at the Lake Merritt docks

Other special guests of the day included Katie Noonan and some of her students from the Oakland High Environmental Science Program.  Not only did she bring a digital microscope for us to look at samples, but her students also showed us how to tow the plankton nets along the dock and take samples of the water.  Katie told us that 90-95% of plankton species in the Bay are not native… wow.  They come from all over the world- Japan, Australia, the Mediterranean- in bait containers, ballast water, on the hulls of commercial shipping vessels, etc.

Looking through the digital microscope in the Lake Merritt Boathouse classroom

Katie Noonan has been taking her science students to Lake Merritt to study plankton for the past ten years, so she’s got a very good idea of what kinds of microorganisms are in the water.  To see pictures of the plankton her class has found you can go to: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ohsesa/sets/72157622858615399/

Thanks to Anthony DeCicco, Katie Noonan, and her students for making this walk a success.  Thanks also go to Stephanie Benavidez and Alexa Fulper from Oakland Parks and Recreation for allowing us to collect samples from the slough- it’s a protected wildlife refuge and collecting is by permit only, so we appreciate their permission for our walk.

And of course, thank you to everyone who came and participated!  Wild Oakland doesn’t happen without you.

See you in February!

Former zooplankton... shrimp at Lake Merritt

By May Chen

In September of 2012, Wild Oakland received an e-mail from Tracy Sarita, who coordinates an after school Outdoor Club at an Oakland public middle school, Urban Promise Academy.  Tracy had inquired whether Wild Oakland did any education outreach that her students might tap into.  Since no such program existed at the time, Tracy’s e-mail was quickly circulated among WO’s members, seeking some kind of resolution.  Might anyone like to respond to this need?

Since I have some experience with nature education for children, I contacted Tracy with some ideas for her students.  After some initial mishaps, rescheduling and difficulties with transportation, Tracy and six of her Outdoor Club students finally made it to the Martin Luther King Jr. Regional Shoreline at 2 pm on Nov. 14.

I recruited the help of my friends Liz Sterns and Pattie Litton- we’re all docents at Audubon Canyon Ranch and Oakland residents.  Liz brought her spotting scope to share, and we all brought field guides and spare binoculars.  It turned out there was sufficient equipment for Tracy’s small group of eager troopers.  We started at the observation tower getting to know each other and taking in a panoramic view of Arrowhead Marsh.  I presented a brief history of the marsh, highlighting the efforts of various conservation groups and volunteers to restore what used to be the dumping ground for the Port of Oakland into the beautiful functioning marsh it is today.  We talked about the importance of salt marshes, including why California has only 10% of its original salt marshes left.  We passed around pictures of the Clapper Rail, the poster child for wetlands conservation, and a bird that has made Arrowhead Marsh a mecca for birders.

When Tracy and I agreed on Nov.14 for the field trip I had quickly checked the tide tables for the day.  With a new moon the day before, the highest tide for Nov. 14 was forecast at 11 am, followed by an extreme low tide at 6 pm.  I figured we’d do just fine in the afternoon, being there during receding tide.  I did not have high hopes for Clapper Rail sightings, as those are reputed to be best during extreme high tides when the birds are flushed from their hiding places in the marsh.  But I figured the kids would at least get to see some ducks and shore birds…

We walked gingerly onto the boardwalk over the marsh.  We thought we heard some distant clapper rail calls.  As we approached the end of the boardwalk, three Northern Shovellers were swimming and dabbling in the shallow water.  The children delighted in watching the ducks tip their rear ends up in the air while their heads went underwater in search of food.

“Oh, my god, there’s a clapper rail!” someone exclaimed in a loud whisper.  All heads immediately scanned around for the rare, endangered species.  Sure enough, a chicken-sized brownish bird with a long, bright orange bill was swimming from one island to another right in front of us.  The children naturally knew that they needed to be quiet, and instinctively reached for their binoculars.  In no time, Liz had her scope trained on the bird, and the children lined up for their view of a life time.  The children laughed at how the bird was straining to swim, its head jerking back and forth like a pidgeon’s.  Pattie commented that it’s a wonder that the clapper could swim at all, having unwebbed, chicken-like feet.  While I was congratulating ourselves for how lucky we were, another Clapper Rail was spotted foraging along the shore of an island across from us. The bird’s plumage glowed in the golden autumn light.  It’s reputation as an elusive, secretive bird not withstanding, our clapper took its time checking out all the nooks and crannies along the waters edge in our full view, occasionally downing a morsel of food picked up from the mud.  We all fell into an awed silence.

California Clapper Rail

Another clapper rail showed up foraging along the shore of another island.  Then, much to everybody’s surprise, yet another showed up within five feet of us, next to the boardwalk.  Surely it could see and hear us, but it made no attempt to hide.  It walked slowly towards us, pecking at the mud, and occasionally looking up, giving us ample opportunity to photograph it.  Even with my humble point-and-shoot camera, I managed to get a decent picture.  I was delighted that the children were so focused on watching the clapper’s every move.  They finally relented when I suggested we moved on to another spot to look for other birds.  As we returned along the boardwalk, a startling clatter of clapper calls suddenly erupted from beneath us, followed by returning calls from the other nearby islands.  The Clapper Rails are certainly doing well at Arrowhead Marsh!

I made a point to draw attention to the cordgrass growing abundantly in the lowest level of the marsh.  Because of its highly efficient photosynthesis, this humble plant is the major contributor to the productivity of the salt marsh, serving as the base of its food web.  The plant is remarkably well-adapted for this salty habitat.  There are salt glands on its leaves that help expel the excess salt and its stems are hollow, allowing oxygen to reach the submerged roots.  Small flags were visible in the marshy islands where volunteers have planted native vegetation in the ongoing restoration effort.  Pattie went to the waters edge to pick a bit of Pickleweed to show the children. We learned about the hardiness of this strange-looking, succulent plant and how it is adapted to this inhospitable habitat.  As we walked pass an interpretive panel I pointed out a picture of the Salt Marsh Harvest Mouse, another denizen of the marsh that can actually feed on the salty Pickleweed.  The diminutive mammal is so rare that even I have yet to see one.

Another interpretive panel showed a map of the Pacific Flyway – an excellent stop to talk about bird migration.  Unlike the resident birds such as the Marsh Wrens and the Clapper Rails, many of the birds we saw today were migratory birds on their way south, following the sun and seeking food.  Places along the California coast like Arrowhead Marsh are important refueling stations, where these long distance flyers may rest and feed.

We headed towards the bridge over San Leandro Creek and the fast-receding tide water was gushing into the bay from the creek creating strong eddies.  In deeper waters by the fishing dock, some grebes could be seen. There was an elegant Clark’s Grebe with bright yellow bill, and a smaller, brown Pied-billed Grebe. We observed yet another feeding behavior in the water birds – diving and chasing after fish!

As we stood watching birds on the shore across from us, one of the students exclaimed, “Look, that bird looks like a bat!”  Puzzled, I looked around, and suddenly realized what he was referring to.  There was a cormorant perched on a rock with its large wings outstretched in the afternoon sun. I explained that unlike other birds, the cormorant does not have an oil gland with which it can waterproof its feathers.  The bird dives and swims underwater to catch fish.  After a bout of such foraging, the cormorant needs to dry out its feathers.   Some ground squirrels had come to the shoreline to look for food, providing us with much mirth and entertainment.

By then it was close to 4 pm and Tracy reminded us that they had to head back to school.  Returning to the parking lot area, we wrapped up our excursion in a circle, each child naming his/her favorite thing on the field trip.  Needless to say, watching the Clapper Rails was the highlight for most of the children!  We reflected on how fortunate we were that the Arrowhead Marsh had been saved, as it is home to so much wonderful and unique wildlife.

On the dock at Arrowhead Marsh

The Oakland Museum of California is looking for Natural History docents! This is a great opportunity to get some intensive training about the ecology of the Bay.

By Constance Taylor

Show of hands… who knows that Lake Merritt is home to a wide variety of fungi?

One person who does is Damon Tighe, walk leader for our December 15 Mushrooms of Lake Merritt walk.  Damon is an amateur mycologist of five years and a former research scientist at the Joint Genome Institute, where many fungal genomes have been sequenced for biofuel applications.

A stalwart group of fungophiles showed up despite cloudy skies and insistent drizzle to learn about the mycology around our fair urban slough.

Damon started by going over some mycological basics and interesting facts-

• The majority of a fungi’s life span is spent as a single cell mat with occasional fruiting bodies (mushrooms).  The largest mat recorded to-date is 15 km, or 7.5 miles, across!
• There are generally two types of mushrooms: michorrhizal, which is often associated with their symbiotic relationship to roots in helping fix nitrogen, and saprotrophic, the type of fungus that feeds off decaying matter.
• Fungal genomes are much larger than those of humans
• Fungi are the predominant vehicle in our world to help cycle carbon and nitrogen in the environment.
• You can find mushrooms by reading the landscape for them- for example, mushrooms often grow at the bottom of sloping land.  Any available water will run downhill, which helps keep mycelium mats moist year-round.
• Oyster mushrooms are one of the fungi that have an industrial use.  After an oil spill, oyster mushroom spores are sprayed onto the slick- as they grow, they absorb the toxins which are then dispersed by the animals that eat the mushrooms.  The animals don’t eat enough of the toxins to be harmed, and the pollutants are diluted from the area of the spill.
• Any mushroom is safe to handle, including the epically named Death Cap and Destroying Angel, the two deadliest mushrooms in California.  This is because the toxins are confined inside the cell walls, and the cell walls of mushrooms are made of chitin, the same stuff that insect exoskeletons are made of.  It’s very tough and won’t break apart just by handling- theoretically you can even chew a poisonous mushroom and spit it out without getting sick because the cell walls only break down once they’re exposed to your stomach acid. But we don’t recommend trying it- there are better ways to impress your friends!
• When you’re picking mushrooms it’s best to cut them at the base with a knife versus plucking them out of the ground.  Cutting prevents the mycelium mat underneath from being damaged.
• There are three general things to look for when identifying mushrooms:
• Morphology: What is the shape, structure, and color?
• Color of Spores (Sporeprint): Take a white piece of paper and gently press the cap onto it gill side down.  The spores will make a starburst pattern with a color that varies from species to species
• Scent: Take a whiff.  Does it smell lake maple syrup?  Cabbage farts?  Add that bit of information to your species detection clues.

And now may we present… (drumroll)… the mushrooms of Lake Merritt!

Click on the images to make them larger

Honey mushroom

Honey mushroom (Armillaria mellea): You can usually find large clusters growing on rotting wood.  The honey mushroom is also the largest living thing on earth!  It’s the 15 km michorrhizal mat mentioned above.

The different morphologies of a Death Cap

Death Cap (Amanita pholloides): The immature death cap looks very similar to the edible puffball.  To tell the difference, cut the mushroom in half- the death cap will have the beginnings of a cap and gills on the inside, wheras the puffball will not.  Death caps, a michorrhizal mushroom, tend to grow near oak trees where they help the roots fix nitrogen.

Immature Death Cap cut open- you can see the gill structures starting to form

Meadow Mushroom (Agaricus campestris): These edible mushrooms tend to get eaten by slugs as soon as they pop up.  The skin stains pink when bruised.  One way to tell an edible mushroom from a poisonous one is that bugs will have eaten the edible ones, and the toxic ones will be pristine.

A fairy ring of Yellow Stainers

Yellow Stainer (Agaricux xanthodermis): Very similar looking to the meadow mushroom, but toxic.  These mushrooms stain yellow when bruised.

Jack O' Lantern mushroom

Jack’o'Lantern mushroom (Omphalotus olearius): A bioluminescent mushroom!  Insects are attracted to the glow, which is how it spreads its spores.  The light isn’t bright enough to see with the naked eye, but put a time-lapse camera on it at night and you’ll see it glow.  It’s often mistaken for a chanterelle, as they’re both the same color and have very similar structures.  You can find this mushroom in large patches usually growing on decaying plant matter.

Pleated Inky Cap

Pleated Inky Cap (Coprinus plicatillis): These mushrooms pop up the day after a rain and break down very quickly after.  They’re edible but they inhibit your ability to break down alcohol, so if you drink some booze with your Pleated Inky Cap dinner be prepared for vomiting and an uncomfortably fast heartbeat.

Blewits

Blewit (Clitocybe nuda): An edible mushroom that grows in leafy matter and is bright blue when it first comes up.  Some people like to colonize their compost bins with these mushrooms for the dinner table.

Bearded Milk Cap (Lactarius pubescens): Leaks a milky latex when the gills are sliced.

Shaggy Parasol with yellow oxidation on stem after being cut

Shaggy Parasol (Lepiota rachodes): A saprotrophic mushroom that’s often found growing on piles of forgotten wood chips.  The stem starts oxidizing to a bright yellow immediately after it’s cut.  It’s edible, but some people have violent stomach reactions.

Stropharia riparia: Can be used as a garden pest preventer because it contains a crystal structure that slices into worms and maggots.  Not good to eat!

Cabbage Parachute (Gymnopus brassicolens)

Cabbage Parachute

Mature Lattice Stinkhorn

Latticed Stinkhorn (Clathrus ruber): Definitely the oddest-looking of them all.  This stinky mushroom has an open lattice structure to allow flies in.  As they’re crawling around inside, the black spore-containing goop sticks to them, which is how this mushroom spreads.

Immature Lattice Stinkhorn cut in half

Other mushrooms spotted during the day were the Wine colored agaricus (Agaricus subrutilescens), Stropharia ambigua, Russula basifurcata, Wavy cap (Psilocybe cyanescens), and the Red Lead Round Head Mushroom (Leratiomyces ceres)

For more information you can check out Damon’s photos of Oakland mushrooms at the link below.  If you type “mushroom oakland” into the tags you’ll get a visual list of all that goes on fungally in Oakland. http://www.flickriver.com/photos/damon_tighe/popular-interesting/

The other BIG resource for budding mycologists is the “Simple Key” from Mykowebs California page: http://www.mykoweb.com/CAF/index.html

A big thanks to Damon for leading an excellent walk!  Be sure to catch him again for his February 9 “Nature Photography Basics” walk.

See you there!

By Kevin Hong, Wild Oakland Intern

Kevin the intern here!

At 2 PM on Saturday, December 8th, we met at the Rotary Nature Center for a bird identification walk led by Ron Felzer, an instructor at Merritt College. He started off by talking briefly about the lake, which has been a wildlife refuge for over a hundred years (being the first wildlife refuge in the US) and so cherished by the people of Oakland that they voted to raise taxes – during the Great Depression – for its maintenance. By 2:10 there was a pretty large turnout, so we went straight to the birds!

That's Ron Felzer on the right

We saw mostly the same birds as in the last identification walk: mallards and gulls, cormorants, night herons, cormorants, coots, scaups, many kinds of grebes, canvasbacks, goldeneyes, buffleheads, and ruddy ducks. We also caught glimpses of a great egret and a pair of white pelicans. Ron said that a tufted duck (rare ‘round these parts) has been visiting Lake Merritt every year for winter for a while (though it hasn’t been banded so we can’t actually tell if it’s the same duck); but we didn’t see it this time.

Ron, who has birded on every continent except Antarctica, had a lot of knowledge to share about practically all of these birds! He classified them into two kinds: diving birds and dabbling birds. Diving birds (like scaups, cormorants, coots, goldeneyes, buffleheads, and grebes) dive for food, while dabbling birds (like mallards) sort of just dip headfirst into the water to feed near the surface. Diving birds typically have legs located closer to the posterior than do dabbling birds, whose legs are closer to the centers of their bodies. This makes it harder for diving birds to walk on land, so they spend more time away from it.

Ron also explained sexual dimorphism in birds to us. Sexual dimorphism is the name for males and females taking different appearances in the same species. Mallards are a common species that exhibit this. Males attract the more drab females with their colorful plumage. The adaptive value of this can be found in the roles the different genders play in reproduction. Females must be more selective of the males they mate with, as they invest more energy and time into the matter of bearing and raising young. As a result, the males must compete for females’ attention. In addition, the females’ colors make her less conspicuous to predators as she gathers material for her nest.

Male and female mallards, photo by Mickey Dunstan

Some bird profiles Ron shared with us:

Coots! They look pretty different from other waterfowl.  They’re part of the rail family so they don’t have webbed feet, and they’re good at walking on land AND diving! Consequentially, they can be called wetland birds, and we see them more than other birds occupying the mudflats exposed by the leaving tide. They’re vegetarians.

American Coot

Scaups! There’s barely a difference between the greater and lesser scaup. The head of the greater is slightly rounded, and has a green tint; whereas the head of the lesser is higher and has a purple tint. They’re pretty recognizable by their gray-white bodies tipped with a black tail and black anterior (and their mohawks). They go closer inland to rest, and they feed on mussels and other mollusks.

Greater Scaup

Cormorants! You’ll see mostly the Double-crested species around the Lake.  Because they lack preen oil, they dive faster and swim better than other birds; however, this means they lack waterproof coating. They can be seen on the booms around the lake, sunning and drying out their wings. Fun fact: cormorants live in colonies, usually all confined to one or two trees. The host trees eventually die of nitrogen excess poisoning because all the cormorants poop on the trees.

Double-crested Cormorant, photo by Dianne Fristrom

We finished off near the pergola on the northeast side of the lake, looking out on bunches of floating grebes. Ron recommended we join him for his field class he’ll be teaching about the natural history and ecology of Owyhee River- check out our blog post from Dec 16, 2012 for more information.

Thanks for coming, and we’ll see you soon!

Ron Felzer of Merritt College is offering another of his fantastic field classes!!  The classes aren’t at all expensive, you just have to register at Merritt College then sign up- you can do it all online.

E-mail him at rfelzer@peralta.edu for more information or to sign up for his mailing list, where you’ll be invited to attend his local (and not so local) hikes.

Ron is a wonderful teacher and he’s been teaching ecology for decades. We can’t recommend his classes highly enough!