Taking a Closer Look at the World Around

 

My son Wyatt and I began our walk at about 11:00 am Saturday morning and the weather was pleasant. It was quite crowded and I was kind of skeptical if we would see any wildlife at all with all the human activity. Quickly after we began our hike we got hot and I started to think that perhaps we should have went earlier or later in the day to take advantage of cooler tempters. A little more than half way up on the trail that is on the back side of the mountain (the side facing away from the city), there was a park bench that over looked Jurupa Hills and the Santa Ana River. Here Wyatt and I sat and enjoyed our cool water. I also began explaining to him what it was we were doing here today and that first of all we should make a list of abiotic components of this ecosystem. I explained how abiotic things are things that aren't living and never where living. So with his help I created the following list; mountain, rocks, dirt, air, clouds, water (scant amounts in the riverbed below), power lines, sign, trash bin, and the sun that was blessing us with a warm day.

The second task was to create a list of all the biotic things. After I gave I gave Wyatt the appropriate explanation on how biotic components of an ecosystem are all the living things plant and animal. This was a little more difficult because in the first moments of observation the only animals that where apparent where humans and dogs. So our list at first was of the plant life; which was most made up of some sort of sage brush, wildflowers, weeds and cactus. There was also some species of pine trees and a cypress trees.

Then Wyatt noticed the bees and other insects that where enjoying the wild flowers. I also noticed in the distance there were a couple of hawks (I think), that were patrolling the field down near the river. After that Wyatt left the bench to explore some boulders nearby and he found this nice size lizard that was sunning himself on a rock. Shortly after that we encountered two other lizards that where in that act of .....well matting; however, I disturbed them when I was attempting to take a picture. The last thing we saw was birds eating out of a nearby trash can. This was a good example of how our human interactions are also a part of this ecosystem.

I have been here other times and have seen many jack rabbits and ground squirrels, but not on this day. Over all it was a pleasant hike(especially the part were we walk down the hill). I had hoped to observe more wildlife, but I needed to go some place more secluded.