October 7, 2025-
Hiked the Chaminade Trail system today, and found a huge alligator lizard under a log! One of our students guessed it was a Skink Lizard, which was an excellent guess. Skink's are a very unique type of lizard that are found in Santa Cruz county, with a bright blue tail sure to shock any hiker. More about Skilton's Skinks found in Santa Cruz: https://hilltromper.com/article/skiltons-skink . This is an awesome site with lots of fun info about Santa Cruz nature and current events.
*Check out this cool video from the same site showing wildlife crossing under the Highway 17 wildlife crossing tunnel https://hilltromper.com/article/highway-17-wildlife-crossings-huge-success-makes-good-show *
Also saw a millipede, in it's mode of primary defense, which is curling up in a tight coil, protecting its legs beneath its hard exoskeleton. Deriving from Latin, 'Milli' implying a thousand legs, is not quite accurate, while millipedes have usually around 40-400 legs. Millipede's are one of Earth's oldest land animals, and appeared roughly 23.5 million years ago! Some of the oldest members grew to over 2 m long! Yikes!!
Also identified Creeping Snow Berry, a native shrub.
Towards the end of our hike saw dozens of Acorn woodpeckers flying overhead near sunset time, identified by the underwing plumage and red heads.
Plants- Poison Oak, Creeping snowberry, English Ivy, Redwood Sorrel
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