Visitors 95
Modified 3-Feb-21
Created 31-Mar-16
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Sarrah Reshamwala of Bio 105 has a project, to draw this oak and the life it harbors. This collection is for Sarrah -- and for anyone else who might appreciate a focus on one place through the seasons. Here are broad views of the oak in context, down to macros of the ants living below. Many birds of course. Even a buck, quickly departing after we startled each other.

The tree in question is the lone valley oak (Quercus lobata) next to the Visitors' Parking Lot, Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve.

The images are organized by season -- specifically, by month and day. All years are folded together. We cover eight years, 2009 - 2016, and all seasons, before and during the drought. After photos of the oak on a specific date, we zoom in to see the leaves, the birds, & the insects. Most of these images are from right there, at the oak. At the end, after the closeup of oak bark, are a few images of coyote and deer, a great blue heron and a squirrel, from nearby but not specifically beneath the oak.

Professor Rodolfo Dirzo has noted that mistletoe tends to be more common in lone valley oaks, or those at the edge of the forest. Here is a lone valley oak with no mistletoe at all. I did see a hawk here; maybe predators keep the mistletoe-dropping birds at bay??

Please leave a comment if you know an ID or have other info. We would all appreciate this!
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