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Cerrito Creek
Cerrito Creek is one of the principal watercourses running out of the Berkeley Hills into San Francisco Bay in northern California. It is significant for its use as a boundary demarcation historically, as well as presently. In the early 19th century, it separated the vast Rancho San Antonio to the south from the Castro family's Rancho San Pablo to the north. Today, it marks part of the boundary between Alameda County and Contra Costa County. The main stem, running through a deep canyon that separates Berkeley from Kensington, is joined below San Pablo Avenue by a fan of tributaries, their lower reaches mostly in culverts. The largest of these is Middle or Blackberry Creek, a southern branch. The creek is named for Albany Hill, formerly called Cerrito de San Antonio, a prominent (elevation 294 ft.) isolated hill on the shoreline of San Francisco Bay in Albany (The hill is now some distance inland due to Bay fill). Cerrito Creek, joined by a fan of other small creeks, fo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ohlone Greenway
The Ohlone Greenway is a pedestrian and bicycle path in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. The path is named for the indigenous Ohlone, the first people who live in the area. Route The Greenway begins in Berkeley at the east end of Ohlone Park located at Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Hearst Avenue. From there, it runs westward to the west end of the park at Sacramento and Delaware. In the segment around the North Berkeley BART Station (one block west on Delaware to Acton, then one block north on Acton to Virginia), the bike path becomes a street-running bike lane. At Virginia, the path resumes its own dedicated course just northwest of the North Berkeley BART station and runs northwestward through the cities of Albany, and El Cerrito. It terminates at San Pablo Avenue at Baxter Creek Gateway Park in Richmond at the eastern end of the Richmond Greenway. History For most of its length, the Ohlone Greenway runs along what was formerly a railroad right of wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Culvert
A culvert is a structure that channels water past an obstacle or to a subterranean waterway. Typically embedded so as to be surrounded by soil, a culvert may be made from a pipe, reinforced concrete or other material. In the United Kingdom, the word can also be used for a longer artificially buried watercourse. Culverts are commonly used both as cross-drains to relieve drainage of ditches at the roadside, and to pass water under a road at natural drainage and stream crossings. When they are found beneath roads, they are frequently empty. A culvert may also be a bridge-like structure designed to allow vehicle or pedestrian traffic to cross over the waterway while allowing adequate passage for the water. Culverts come in many sizes and shapes including round, elliptical, flat-bottomed, open-bottomed, pear-shaped, and box-like constructions. The culvert type and shape selection is based on a number of factors including requirements for hydraulic performance, limitations on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kingfisher
Kingfishers are a family, the Alcedinidae, of small to medium-sized, brightly colored birds in the order Coraciiformes. They have a cosmopolitan distribution, with most species found in the tropical regions of Africa, Asia, and Oceania, but also can be seen in Europe. They can be found in deep forests near calm ponds and small rivers. The family contains 114 species and is divided into three subfamilies and 19 genera. All kingfishers have large heads, long, sharp, pointed bills, short legs, and stubby tails. Most species have bright plumage with only small differences between the sexes. Most species are tropical in distribution, and a slight majority are found only in forests. They consume a wide range of prey usually caught by swooping down from a perch. While kingfishers are usually thought to live near rivers and eat fish, many species live away from water and eat small invertebrates. Like other members of their order, they nest in cavities, usually tunnels dug into ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Egret
Egrets ( ) are herons, generally long-legged wading birds, that have white or buff plumage, developing fine plumes (usually milky white) during the breeding season. Egrets are not a biologically distinct group from herons and have the same build. Biology Many egrets are members of the genera '' Egretta'' or '' Ardea'', which also contain other species named as herons rather than egrets. The distinction between a heron and an egret is rather vague, and depends more on appearance than biology. The word "egret" comes from the French word ''aigrette'' that means both "silver heron" and "brush", referring to the long, filamentous feathers that seem to cascade down an egret's back during the breeding season (also called "egrets"). Several of the egrets have been reclassified from one genus to another in recent years; the great egret, for example, has been classified as a member of either ''Casmerodius'', ''Egretta'', or ''Ardea''. In the 19th and early part of the 20th centuries, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heron
The herons are long-legged, long-necked, freshwater and coastal birds in the family Ardeidae, with 72 recognised species, some of which are referred to as egrets or bitterns rather than herons. Members of the genera ''Botaurus'' and ''Ixobrychus'' are referred to as bitterns, and, together with the zigzag heron, or zigzag bittern, in the monotypic genus ''Zebrilus'', form a monophyletic group within the Ardeidae. Egrets do not form a biologically distinct group from herons, and tend to be named differently because they are mainly white or have decorative plumes in breeding plumage. Herons, by evolutionary adaptation, have long beaks. The classification of the individual heron/egret species is fraught with difficulty, and no clear consensus exists about the correct placement of many species into either of the two major genera, '' Ardea'' and '' Egretta''. Similarly, the relationships of the genera in the family are not completely resolved. However, one species formerly consid ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pacific Chorus Frog
The Pacific tree frog (''Pseudacris regilla''), also known as the Pacific chorus frog, has a range spanning the Pacific Northwest, from Northern California, Oregon, and Washington to British Columbia in Canada and extreme southern Alaska. They live from sea level to more than 10,000 feet in many types of habitats, reproducing in aquatic settings. They occur in shades of greens or browns and can change colors over periods of hours and weeks. Taxonomy The taxonomy of this frog has a very confusing history. First, the frog was moved from the genus ''Hyla'' to the genus ''Pseudacris'' in 1986, and ''Hyliola'' in 2016 (an elevation of the subgenus which has not been widely accepted). In 2006, Recuero ''et al.'' split the frog into three species based on DNA evidence. Recuero ''et al.'' used incorrect names for two of the three populations, but subsequent authors established that the correct name (i.e., the oldest available name) for the northern component is ''Pseudacris regilla'', ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stickleback
The sticklebacks are a family of ray-finned fishes, the Gasterosteidae which have a Holarctic distribution in fresh, brackish and marine waters. They were thought to be related to the pipefish and seahorses but are now thought to be more closely related to the eelpouts and sculpins. Taxonomy The stickleback family, Gasterosteidae, was first proposed as a family by the French zoologist Charles Lucien Bonaparte in 1831. It was long though that the sticklebacks and their relatives made up a suborder, the Gasterosteoidei, of the order Gasterostiformes with the sea horses and pipefishes making up the suborder Syngnathoidei. More recent phylogenetic work has shown that the Gaterosteoidei is more closely related to the Zoarcoidei and the Cottoidei, which means that this taxon would belong in the order Scorpaeniformes. but in other phylogenetic classifications it is treated as the infraorder Gasterosteales within the suborder Cottoidei or as a sister clade to the Zoarcales in the orde ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Urban Green Space
In land-use planning, urban green space is open-space areas reserved for parks and other "green spaces", including plant life, water features -also referred to as blue spaces- and other kinds of natural environment. Most urban open spaces are green spaces, but occasionally include other kinds of open areas. The landscape of urban open spaces can range from playing fields to highly maintained environments to relatively natural landscapes. Generally considered open to the public, urban green spaces are sometimes privately owned, such as higher education campuses, neighborhood/community parks/gardens, and institutional or corporate grounds. Areas outside city boundaries, such as state and national parks as well as open space in the countryside, are not considered urban open space. Streets, piazzas, plazas and urban squares are not always defined as urban open space in land use planning. Urban green spaces have wide reaching positive impacts on the health of individuals and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rubus Ulmifolius
''Rubus ulmifolius'' is a species of wild blackberry known by the English common name elmleaf blackberry or thornless blackberry and the Spanish common name ''zarzamora''. It is native to Europe and North Africa, and has also become naturalized in parts of the United States (especially California), Australia, and southern South America. in French with photos Description ''Rubus ulmifolius'' is a brambly sometimes as much as 5 meters (almost 17 feet) tall, sometimes with spines but not always. Leaves are palmately compound with 3 or 5 leaflets, the leaflets green on the upper surface but white on the underside because of a dense layer of woolly hairs. Flowers are usually pink, sometimes white. The f ...[...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Morning Glory
Morning glory (also written as morning-glory) is the common name for over 1,000 species of flowering plants in the family Convolvulaceae, whose current taxonomy and systematics are in flux. Morning glory species belong to many genera, some of which are: * '' Argyreia'' * ''Astripomoea'' * ''Calystegia'' * '' Convolvulus'' * ''Ipomoea'' (the largest genus) * '' Lepistemon'' * ''Merremia'' * '' Operculina'' * '' Rivea'' * ''Stictocardia'' As the name suggests, most ''morning'' glory flowers unfurl into full bloom in the early morning. The flowers usually start to fade a few hours before the corolla begins to display visible curling. They prefer full solar exposure throughout the day, and mesic soils. Some morning glories, such as '' Ipomoea muricata'', '' Ipomoea alba'', and '' Ipomoea macrorhiza'', are night-blooming flowers. History '' Ipomoea nil'', a species of morning glory, was first known in China for its medicinal uses, due to the laxative properties of its seeds. A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cape Ivy
Cape ivy or German ivy or parlor ivy or Italian ivy is probably: *''Delairea odorata'' also known as ''Senecio mikanioides'' but might also be: *'' Senecio macroglossus'' also known as Natal ivy or waxvine *''Senecio angulatus ''Senecio angulatus'', also known as creeping groundsel and Cape ivy, is a succulent flowering plant in the family Asteraceae that is native to South Africa. Cape ivy is a scrambling and a twining herb that can become an aggressive weed once e ...'' (in Australia) References {{Plant common name ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anadromous
Fish migration is mass relocation by fish from one area or body of water to another. Many types of fish migrate on a regular basis, on time scales ranging from daily to annually or longer, and over distances ranging from a few metres to thousands of kilometres. Such migrations are usually done for better feeding or to reproduce, but in other cases the reasons are unclear. Fish migrations involve movements of schools of fish on a scale and duration larger than those arising during normal daily activities. Some particular types of migration are ''anadromous'', in which adult fish live in the sea and migrate into fresh water to spawn; and ''catadromous'', in which adult fish live in fresh water and migrate into salt water to spawn. Marine forage fish often make large migrations between their spawning, feeding and nursery grounds. Movements are associated with ocean currents and with the availability of food in different areas at different times of year. The migratory movements ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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