Natural History Wanderings

Abbott’s Lagoon and Kehoe Beach

Wildflower bloom has been disappointing this year in many locations but that wasn’t the case at the coast areas of  Point Reyes.   Many species are in bloom at Abbott’s Lagoon and there are more to come, especially the Yellow Bush Lupine.  Kehoe Beach has very nice wildflower displays in bloom.

At Abbott’s Lagoon we hiked the trail from the parking lot to the bridge,  up to the headland south of the bridge, along the lagoon beach and part way into the dunes.  The best displays were Marsh Buttercups by the boardwalk, and Cow Parsnips along the trail. There were also many  California Poppies (yellow coastal form), Douglas Iris, Yellow Bush Lupine, in bloom along the trail. There were many  Blue-eyed Grass in bloom on top of the headland and you could also find Pussy-ears Star-tulip here. Dominant flowers on the beach and dune area were Yellow Sand Verbena and Dune Suncup. The sandy areas also had Fragrant Dune Lupine, Sea Rocket, Sea Thrift, Beach Pea, Beach Strawberry and others.  Red-winged Blackbirds were displaying of their Red wing bars and many White-crowned Sparrows were singing.  There were very few water and shore birds but we did get to see an American Bittern in the reeds across the lagoon near the bridge.  We were also told by other hikers that a Bittern had been spotted at the little pond near the beginning of the trail.

We also did a quick hike down the half mile trial to  Kehoe Beach.  It is best described as half a mile of alien plants with mustard dominant followed by a very flowery headland.  The headland just north of the trail right before the beach had  a large display of Tidytips, California Poppies, a lavender lupine, Yellow Bush Lupine and Goldfields.  There were also nice displays of flowers at the beginning of the wildlife protection area trail on the left of the main trail.

It was sunny so it wasn’t ideal for photography; I often used a diffuser for close-ups and I also included a few sunny polarized landscape photos just to show some of what was going on.  Photographers should also know that the grasses are coming in fast.  Beware of Poison Oak.

Here are today’s photos (photos are from Abbott’s Lagoon unless labeled Kehoe).

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Abbott’s Lagoon Plant List:

California Poppy

Yellow Bush Lupine

Cow Parsnip

Yarrow

Coast Fiddleneck

Annual Lupine

Fragrant Dune Lupine

Salmonberry

Checkermallow

Manroot

Hedge Nettle

Candy Stripe

California Blackberry

Big Marsh Buttercup

California Buttercup

Douglas Iris

Pearly Everlasting

Goldfields

Johnny Tuck

Blue-eyed Grass

Beach Suncup

Beach Strawberry

Beach Dandelion

Yellow Sand Verbena

Sea Rocket

Beach Morning Glory

Sea Thrift

Wallflower

Seaside Daisy

Gumplant

California Bee Plant

Rattlesnake Weed or Wild Carrot

Beach Sagebrush

Beach pea  (Lathyrus littoralis)

Cinquefoil

Tarweed

Beach Layia

Hog Fennel

Spring Snow

Starry Chickweed

Pussy-ears Star-tulip

Aliens also seen:

Mustard, Radish,

Scarlet Pimpernel

Thistle,

Abbott’s Lagoon Bird List:

Canada Goose

Mallard

American Bittern

Cliff Swallow

Turkey Vulture

Wrentit

Marsh Wren

Tern sp.

Red-winged Blackbirds

Turkey Vulture

American Crow

Raven

Brewer’s Blackbird

Song Sparrow

White-crowned Sparrow

Gull sp.

Cormorant sp.

American Goldfinch ?

Spotted Towhee

Also Mule Deer, Brush Rabbit, many blue damsel flies, and a few unidentified butterflies

Kehoe Beach Plant List:

California Bee Plant

California Blackberry

Rattlesnake Weed or Wild Carrot

Douglas Iris

Cow Parsnip

Yellow Bush Lupine

Yarrow

California Poppy

Blue-eyed Grass

Fern-leaf Phacelia

Seaside Daisy

Coast Fiddleneck

Tidytips

Goldfields

A lavender lupine

Baby Blue-eyes

Manroot

Salmonberry

Cinquefoil

Creek Dogwood

Beach Strawberry

Sea Rocket

California Buttercup

Yellow Sand Verbena

Lots of alien Mustard!! and alien wild radish,clover, thistle and plantain

Kehoe Beach Bird List:

Turkey Vulture

Osprey

California Quail

Marsh Wren

Song Sparrow

White-crowned Sparrow

Brewer’s Blackbird

American Goldfinch ?