Geo-171-2014 Homework #2
This week, I went on a walk in Northside Berkeley. It felt good to be out like an explorer. I came across some white flowers which I now know are called alyssum and were probably introduced anthropogenically to this area. They fall under the 'plant' iconic taxa. My second observation was of a foraging bird, the California towhee which falls under the 'bird' iconic taxa. It is a very small, agile bird. The last observation, which I did not expect to see at all was a mule deer, which falls under the 'mammal' iconic taxa. Unexpectedly, even though I've heard stories of people seeing them all the time around the Berkeley campus and near their houses, I saw a group of 3 deer, my first deer sighting in Berkeley, foraging in a very green and somewhat secluded space of the Northside hills. It was a very exciting first expedition as an inaturalist explorer. I felt, possibly, like Darwin felt with his discoveries.