The Shasta Group of Sierra Club, Mt. Shasta Area Audubon, and Shasta Chapter CNPS led a fun field trip to beautiful Cedar Basin in the Trinity Divide of the Shasta-Trinity National Forest, west of the town of Mt. Shasta. The field trip was co-led by Laura Bradley and David Ledger; Laura primarily identified birds and butterflies, and David identified plants. We were also privileged to have Rebeca Ladron de Guevara, President of the Shasta Birding Society, with us.
We did a very slow walk to Cedar Lake, having fun identifying plants, butterflies, moths, and birds. There are at least 12 conifers in Cedar Basin and we found 10 of them. This area is covered with huckleberry oak (Quercus vaccinifolia), which is a shrub that rarely grows taller than four feet. We also found some Port Orford cedar (Chamaecyparis lawsoniana) growing right next to incense-cedar (Calocedrus decurrens), which made it easy to note the differences. Cedar Basin is supposed to be the highest elevation at which Port Orford cedar grows.
Laura noted that they saw 18 bird species on the field trip, but the ones that we got the best look at were the Mallard with ducklings, the Wood Peewees, a Great Blue Heron, and a Yellow-Rumped Warbler. Laura not only identified birds on the field trip, but she had a net and captured a few butterflies to identify and show us up close, then let them escape to pollinate the next flower.
After a short lunch, we walked up to beautiful Cliff Lake. We had 11 people on this field trip, which is a good-sized group. All were fun to be with and eager to learn as well as share their knowledge. We hope to have future field trips with these great groups. ~David Ledger
Photo courtesy of Mt. Shasta Area Audubon.