Back from Baja

Now for my long-promised post on Baja California. I went down there with other Smithsonian researchers to look for mangroves at the northern edge of their range. We are studying mangroves at their northern limit in Florida, but they reach their northern limit on the Pacific coast in Mexico. We drove from San Diego, in 2 large SUVs that we were a little worried would be targets for hijacking. Apparently dark SUVs are quite desirable among some unsavory types partaking in illegal activities. We didn't get attacked and nothing was stolen, so we were all happy about that. Plus, Baja is so chill that once we were on the road we felt very comfortable.

A day's drive from San Diego puts you in the little desert town of San Quintin. There is a really nice little hotel called Los Jardines. It's set back from the main drag about a mile down a dirt road, but it is an oasis in the middle of the desert:

There is a big bay there with some salt marsh, which is potentially also mangrove habitat. We looked around the bay, but found no mangroves. It was still too far north. But it was pretty!

We drove south and east across the Baja peninsula to the Gulf of California (aka the Sea of Cortez), where we were pretty sure we would find mangroves. The spots we were going to weren't easy to access--one was on an island, another was off a long and rocky dirt road, and the third was so far away from a road we couldn't go--but we did find mangroves. It was pretty weird because they were surrounded by desert, including cacti, which is not at all the landscape in Florida.

We surveyed these mangroves and got a good idea of the plants and animals there. When we got back in the boat, the pelicans seemed to think we were going to feed them. Unfortunately for the pelicans, we had not done any fishing. 

Then we got back into the car and drove southwest to the Pacific Coast, where we found the northernmost stand of mangroves on the Pacific. We were so busy working that I didn't snap a lot of photos, but here's a nice Pacific sunset for you. We stayed in a little fishing town called La Bocana, which is apparently one of the best places to fish in Baja. We had fresh fish and lobster while we were there, so I'm going to have to agree!

In the end, we made some observations about the mangroves at their northern range limit and found some interesting differences between the mangroves in Baja and those in Florida. The two northernmost species in Baja are not the same as in Florida, even though all three common mangrove species occur in both Florida and the Pacific coast of Mexico. We are hoping to get the opportunity to set up some longer term studies there, but for now we don't have the funding to do that. 

Seen any snowy owls lately?

Last year I saw a big white bird in a tree out of the corner of my eye while I was driving. I didn't stop to look at it (I was on the highway, after all) but I thought it may have been a snowy owl. Snowy owls are on the move in the US this year! They have been spotted all over the northern/eastern part of the country. Here's a link to an article with a map. Keep your eyes out for snowies!

http://ebird.org/content/ebird/news/gotsnowies2013/

Mangroves in Baja California

I went to Mexico to look for mangroves recently. I'll post more pictures soon but here's a write-up from the Smithsonian blog:
http://sercblog.si.edu/?p=4510#more-4510