Chabot regional parks, and in the City of Oakland’s Joaquin Miller Park. Tall redwoods, with their extensive system of needle-covered branches, shade out most other species. Often western sword ferns are the only plants able to grow beneath these towering giants. Near streams in a redwood forest, where some light penetrates from above, look for evergreen huckleberry, thimbleberry, and hazelnut.
Chaparral
This community is made up of hardy plants that thrive in poor soils under hot, dry conditions. Chaparral is very susceptible to fire, but some of its members, such as various species of manzanita, survive devastating blazes by sprouting new growth from ground-level burls. Although chaparral foliage is mostly drab, the flowers of many species are beautiful, with some blooming as early as December. The word chaparral comes from a Spanish term for dwarf or scrub oak, but in the East Bay it is chamise, various manzanitas, and various species of ceanothus that dominate the community. Other chaparral plants include mountain mahogany, bush poppy, toyon, and chaparral pea.
Main Marsh, in Coyote Hills Regional Park, offers opportunities for photography and nature study.
Grasslands
Where we see green, rolling hills in East Bay parklands, the botanist sees “disturbed” areas of nonnative plants and weeds which show the effects of civilization—farming, grazing, road building, and burning. Before humans intervened to alter the landscape, the grassland community in the East Bay contained mostly native bunchgrasses and a wide variety of wildflowers, and supported large grazing animals such as tule elk and pronghorn. Today those grazers are gone, replaced by cattle, and most of the grasses we see here, including wild oats, Italian rye, and fescue, are aliens from Europe and the Middle East. Also noticeable are invasive nonnative thistles that often border the trail or dominate an entire hillside. In spring the East Bay’s grasslands are beautifully decorated with bright wildflowers, some of the most common being California buttercup, California poppy, red maids, and shooting stars.
Coastal Scrub
Among the plants that make up coastal scrub, also called soft chaparral, are coyote brush and poison oak, found almost everywhere, along with California sagebrush, coffee berry, bush monkeyflower, black sage, and yerba santa.
Salt Marshes
Around the edge of San Francisco Bay you will find salt marshes—wetlands exposed to tidal flooding but protected from the high winds and waves found along ocean beaches. Three of the most characteristic salt marsh plants are cord grass, which grows in the lowest marsh zone and gets a twice-daily soaking from the tide; pickleweed, a middle zone plant which can tolerate some salt water; and salt grass, an upper zone resident, out of reach of all but the year’s highest tides.
When the first Europeans arrived here in 1769, San Francisco Bay contained more than 300 square miles of marsh; today only about 20% of the original marshland remains, the rest having been diked, drained, or filled for salt production, agriculture, housing, or industrial development. Efforts are underway by governmental and conservation organizations to protect the Bay’s marshlands by controlling industrial and residential development in sensitive areas. Some former marshlands along the East Bay shoreline previously lost to diking have been restored by breaching dikes and allowing Bay waters to flow unhindered once more.
Animals
Mammals
Other than squirrels, rabbits, and the occasional deer, you probably will not see many mammals on your hikes in the East Bay. Most of the mammals here, such as skunk, raccoon, gray fox, bobcat, coyote, and mountain lion, are shy and active mostly at night, after the parks close. Cottontail rabbits are present in the grasslands, where they sit tight to avoid the notice of predators, bounding away at the last minute. California ground squirrels live in large colonies, and you will often see them standing by their burrows or running furtively through the grass. Black-tailed deer inhabit chaparral, as do gray fox, coyote, and bobcat. If mountain lions are present, deer are their prey of choice. Oak woodlands support deer, rabbits, and western gray squirrels, along with foxes, bobcats, and mountain lions.
Birds
More than 350 species have been recorded in the East Bay, making it one of the best places in California to look for birds. The region is doubly blessed: first, it lies on the Pacific Flyway, a major migratory route; and second, it contains a wide variety of habitats. In a single day, traveling west to east, a dedicated birder could scan a salt marsh for shorebirds in the morning, search a redwood forest for songbirds at lunch time, and spend the afternoon looking for hummingbirds and hawks on the oak-and-pine covered flanks of a mountain. (Bird names in this book follow the American Ornithologists’ Union’s (AOU) checklist:www.aou.org/checklist/index.php3.
Your success in finding birds depends on looking in the right place at the right time. Some birds are present year-round, while others are seasonal visitors. Avid birders often revisit the same spot throughout the year, turning up an impressive list of species. Summer brings dense vegetation that offers birds plenty of places to hide from predators and from you; instead, try your luck in late winter or early spring, when many of the tree and shrub limbs are still bare. Time of day is important—many birds sit tight during the hotter part of the day. The tide determines when shorebirds will be active and within viewing range: rising or falling is best.
Reptiles and Amphibians
Lizards and snakes are the most common reptiles in the East Bay parklands, and it is sometimes starling to have your hiking reverie interrupted by a scurrying sound from right beside the trail. The only harmful snake in our area is the western rattlesnake, and it is rarely encountered. The warning sound of a rattlesnake shaking its rattles is instantly recognizable, even if you have never heard it before. A harmless snake that resembles a rattlesnake is the gopher snake, California’s largest snake. Whereas a rattlesnake has a triangular head, thick body, and rattles at the end of its tail, a gopher snake has a slender head, a slender, shiny body, and a pointed tail. Other common snakes in the East Bay include California kingsnake, yellow-bellied racer, and garter snake. One species, Alameda whipsnake, is federally listed as a threatened species.
Common lizards of the East Bay parks include western fence lizard, alligator lizard, and western skink. Lizards often sit motionless on a tree trunk or rock, then dart quickly away as you approach. An animal resembling a lizard but that is actually an amphibian is the California newt, which spends the summer buried under the forest floor, then emerges with the first rains and migrates to breed in ponds and streams. Briones Regional Park is the site of one of the largest of these migrations, and in Tilden Regional Park, South Park Dr. is actually closed during migration to protect the newts. Other amphibians you might see or hear include western toad and Pacific tree frog.
The western fence lizard is the East Bay’s most commonly seen reptile.
Human History
The East Bay today is an exciting and vibrant place, where many cultures and communities contribute their history and heritage, where industry and commerce thrive, and where open space has been preserved and protected for all to enjoy. Agriculture still dominates land use in the East Bay, as it did 100 years ago, but land for crops and cattle grazing is steadily being lost to residential and industrial development, much of it densely packed along freeway and highway corridors. The area is an important transportation hub, with major air, rail, and port facilities. It is a world-renowned mecca for learning and research, a lively center of culture and
