Redwood Creek & Frank Valley

October 18, 2023

 

Redwood Creek (37.5249° N, 122.2011° W) elevation = ~sea level

https://ebird.org/checklist/S152921895

 

Frank Valley (37.8820346° N,-122.5750637° W) elevation = ~sea level

https://ebird.org/checklist/S153015368

 

Site Description:

Redwood Creek’s ecosystem is diverse, with a wide range of trees (pine trees), bushes, coastal scrubs, and wetland vegetation. Northern Flickers, Band-tailed Pigeons, Chestnut-backed Chickadees, Brown Creepers, and Pine Siskins are among the key bird species that you can find here.

Frank Valley is a valley in Marin County, California. It’s a mostly flat and is bordered by mild hills and mountains. The valley contains a variety of habitats such as oak woodland, grassland, riparian woodland, and so on. Acorn woodpeckers, California woodpeckers, Western scrub-jay, Oak titmouse, Brown creeper, Yellow Warbler, and other important bird species can be found in Frank Valley.

Both sites were beautiful and calming!

 

Species account:

Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus)

Northern Flickers are medium-sized woodpeckers that are 11-14 inches in length. Their upper parts  are brown with black bars and their underparts are white with black dots. Males have a mustache stripe that is either red or yellow. They are typically active during the day, spending the most of their time foraging on the ground. They have strong bills that assist them in digging for ants, beetles, and other insects. They’re also famous for their drumming, which they use to communicate and protect their territory. They can be found in a variety of settings, including woods, woodlands, meadows, and even cities. They are found all over North America. These woodpeckers form pairs throughout the breeding season and are monogamous. They build their nests in tree cavities and lay their eggs there. It was cool that we were able to see not just one but two of them on the same tree for a bit.

 

Narrative:

On the day of this field trip we were lucky to have nice clear skies and calm weather. In the morning it was pretty cold, but later on in our trip the sun came out and it got really hot. We spent a lot of time looking around and trying to find birds, and we were lucky enough to be able to see a few. We saw a lot of Turkey Vultures and Pine Siskin’s at Redwood Creek, which was pretty cool. We kept speculating as to why we kept seeing multiple large groups of them fly by, such as maybe there was a lot of good food here or if they saw a predator. Frank Valley was another site we went to, which was pretty cool itself. There was a lot of cool trees, and a lot of nice paths. It felt peaceful walking through. The little creek we had to cross was funny as I almost slipped! Watching my classmates cross was even funnier. We all had our close calls but we made it! At Frank Valley my favorite bird that I saw was the Brown Creeper. It was so tiny and it was interesting watching it creep on the tree. Had I not been in this class I probably would have never seen one or know that it exists!

 

Works Cited:

Frank Valley Road (muir woods road) near Muir Woods National Monument. Marin County Public Works. (2023, August 25). https://publicworks.marincounty.org/frank-valley-road-near-muir-woods-nationalmonument/#:~:text=Muir%20Woods%20Road%2FFrank%20Valley,to%20as%20Muir%20Woods%20Road.

Northern Flicker – eBird. (n.d.). https://ebird.org/species/norfli

Redwood Creek at Muir Beach. Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy. (2020, April 2). https://www.parksconservancy.org/projects/redwood-creek-muir-beach