I have photographed an insect, a plant, a fungus, a mammal, and a bird.
Iconic Taxa:
Moth- This demonstrates my lack of entomology skills, I know its a moth, but I have no idea what kind.
Plant- I think this is a bracken fern, but it could be a wood fern, I am not sure.
Fungus- I saw this mushroom under a dead log up in the east bay hills. I know its a basidiomycota because those are he only fungi that have "true mushrooms"
Mammal- I saw this fox squirrel in a tree- I wanted to see a California ground squirrel, but these introduced species are just so much more common.
Bird- I saw this towhee in a tree also.
I had limited time for hiking, but I hope to go out and get a lot more taxa this weekend. I will be going to Mt. Diablo, so hopefully I will have better luck there.
Leafed vs. Bare:
Bare: I found a deciduous quercus species, (I think it is a vally oak, but it could be a blue oak). It still has not leafed out, however you can see the parasitic mistletoe growing in the canopy.
Leafed: I found a manzanita. This is an evergreen shrub, so it nis not the best example because it always has leaves. I was going to take a picture of buckeye which had just begun to bud, but I will do that next time).
Flowering vs. Bare
Flowering: I found aCalifornia Bay laurel, which was flowering these tiny little yellow flowers.
Bare: Along the San Francisco coast I saw this lupine bush, I know they have really pretty flowers late in the spring, but it is not flowering yet. I am not sure of the species.