Species List 2022

Here is my running species list for 2022. I’m including those I’ve taken photos of, heard, saw without getting a photo of, or found tracks/scat that I could identify. You can see last year’s species list HERE.

Total Species Identified in 2022:  42

JANFEBMARAPRMAYJUN
42
JULYAUGSEPTOCTNOVDEC
Number of individual species observed/recorded per month (no duplicates)

Arachnids:

Birds:

  1. Acorn Woodpecker, Melanerpes formicivorus
  2. Belted Kingfisher, Megaceryle alcyon
  3. Bufflehead Duck, Bucephala albeola
  4. California Quail, Callipepla californica
  5. California Scrub Jay, Aphelocoma californica
  6. Canada Goose, Branta canadensis
  7. Common Goldeneye, Bucephala clangula
  8. Crow, American Crow, Corvus brachyrhynchos
  9. European Starling, Sturnus vulgaris
  10. Northern Flicker, Colaptes auratus
  11. Nuttall’s Woodpecker, Picoides nuttallii
  12. Oak Titmouse, Baeolophus inornatus
  13. Ruby-Crowned Kinglet, Regulus calendula
  14. White-Breasted Nuthatch, Sitta carolinensis

Crustaceans:

Fish:

Fungi and Molds:

  1. Barometer Earthstar, Hygroscopic Earthstar, Astraeus hygrometricus
  2. Blewit Mushroom, Purple Core, Lepista nuda
  3. Cavalier, Bald Knight Mushroom, Melanoleuca melaleuca [dark cap, white gills]
  4. Giraffe Spots Crust Fungus, Peniophora albobadia
  5. False Turkey-Tail, Stereum hirsutum [thin, flattish, brown underside]
  6. Jelly Fungus, Brown Jelly Fungus, Leafy Brain, Phaeotremella foliacea
  7. Jelly Fungus, Warlocks’s Butter, Exidia nigricans [like black Witch’s Butter]
  8. Pinkedge Bonnet Mushroom, Mycena capillaripes [pale tan, wide gills, very hairy stipe at the ends]
  9. Pleated Marasmius, Red Thread, Marasmius plicatulus
  10. Rosy Navel Mushroom, Contumyces rosellus
  11. Rufous Milkcap Mushroom, Lactarius rufus [reddish cap, paler gills, weeps a milky latex substance]
  12. Slime Mold, Insect-Egg Slime Mold, Leocarpus fragilis
  13. Smoked Oysterling, Resupinatus applicatus [smokey black]
  14. White Stubble Rosegill, Volvopluteus gloiocephalusi [white or gray mushroom, slick cap with colored center, pale pink to gills, papery volva]
  15. Wrinkled Crust Fungus, Phlebia radiata

Galls:

  1. Spring Generation,
  2. Summer Generation,

Insects, Arthropods, Hexapods:

Invertebrates, Other (Worms, Mollusks, Crabs, etc.):

Lichen on Trees:

  1. California Camouflage Lichen, Melanelixia californica [dark green with brown apothecia, on trees]
  2. Candleflame Lichen, Candelaria concolor [bright yellow-orange]  
  3. Gold Dust Lichen, Chrysothrix candelaris
  4. Green Shield Lichen, Flavoparmelia caperata
  5. Hoary Rosette Lichen, Physcia aipolia [hoary, brown apothecia]
  6. Hooded Rosette Lichen, Physcia adscendens [hairs/eyelashes on the tips of the lobes]
  7. Pin-Cushion Sunburst Lichen, Polycauliona polycarpa [bright orange, apothecia, close, piled]
  8. Powder-Edged Speckled Greenshield, Flavopunctelia soredica [pale green, lots of soredia]
  9. Speckled Greenshield Lichen, Flavopunctelia flaventior
  10. Strap Lichen, Western Strap Lichen, Ramalina leptocarpha [without soredia]
  11. Tuberous Polypore, Polyporus tuberaster [similar to Dryad’s Saddle]
  12. Whitewash Lichen, Phlyctis argena

Lichen on Rocks/Metal:

Mammals:

Pathogens/Bacteria:

Plants, Flowers, Trees:

  1. Miner’s Lettuce, Claytonia perfoliata

Reptiles and Amphibians:

Other Vocabulary:

  • Apothecia: [a-poth-EH-cee-ah] concave cup formations on lichen that bear the spores; asocarp
  • Bilateral Gynandromorph: an organism that contains both male and female characteristics that can be distinguished through sexual dimorphism. Usually seen in moths, butterflies, other insects and birds.
  • Cilia: outgrowths on the thallus of lichen that look like eyelashes or tentacles
  • Crown Shyness: gaps in the canopy between trees in the forest that allow for sunlight to get through, and help the trees “social distance” to help neighboring trees to avoid infections and infestations.
  • Fasciation: also known as cresting, a relatively rare condition of abnormal growth in vascular plants in which the growing tip which normally is concentrated around a single point and produces approximately cylindrical tissue, instead becomes elongated perpendicularly to the direction of growth, thus producing flattened, ribbon-like, crested (or “cristate”), or elaborately contorted, tissue.
  • Inquiline: an animal exploiting the living space of another, e.g. an insect that lays its eggs in a gall produced by another (not the same as parasite because they don’t necessarily adversely affect the host.)
  • Intergrade: There are two types of intergradation: Primary intergradation: Occurs in cases were two subspecies are connected via one or more intermediate populations, each of which are in turn intermediate to their adjacent populations and exhibit more or less the same amount of variability as any other population within the species. Adjacent populations and subspecies are subject to cline intergradation, and in these situations it is usually taken for granted that the clines are causally related to environmental gradients. Secondary intergradation: When contact between a geographically isolated subspecies is reestablished with the main body of the species or with another isolate subspecies, interbreeding takes place as long as the isolate has not yet evolved an effective set of isolating mechanisms. Consequently, a relatively distinct zone or belt of hybridization will develop depending on the degree of genetic and phenotypic difference that was achieved by the previously isolated subspecies.
  • Isidia: [EYE-sid-ee-ah] ; small outgrowths of the thallus, from about 50 micrometres to a millimetre or so in length. They contain both fungal hyphae and photobiont cells and vary in shape, depending on species, from bulbous to cylindrical or branched, sometimes even coralloid .
  • Osmeteria: the “horns” on the head of swallowtail caterpillars. “…The everted organ resembles a fleshy forked tongue (not unlike a snake tongue)… [and emits] a foul, disagreeable odor which serves to repel ants, small spiders, and mantids…”
  • Soredia: [SORE-dee-ah] powdery grainy-looking balls composed of fungal hyphae wrapped around cyanobacteria or green algae on lichen; asexual reproduction
  • Teneral: of, relating to, or constituting a state of the imago of an insect immediately after molting during which it is soft and immature in coloring.
  • Thanatosis: “death drop” insect use to evade capture. Feigning death is a technique used by lots of different critters, including the opossum.
  • Thigmotropism: the turning or bending of a plant or other organism in response to a touch stimulus (what causes a vine to wrap around a tree, for example)
This is a Rose-Breasted Grosbeak with bilateral gynandromorphism. It’s male on the right and female on the left. [I did not take this photo. It’s from the Powdermill Nature Reserve.]

Travels of a Certified California Naturalist