Читать книгу Hiking & Backpacking Big Sur. Your complete guide to the trails of Big Sur, Ventana Wilderness, and Silver Peak Wilderness онлайн

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BIRDS California condor, red-tailed hawk, white-tailed kite, California quail, western scrub jay, wrentit, California thrasher, song sparrow, white-crowned sparrow, bushtits, rufous-sided and California towhees, Anna’s hummingbird, and western meadowlark.

REPTILES Western fence lizard, alligator lizard, western skink, gopher snake, California mountain king snake, western terrestrial garter snake, and western rattlesnake.

New growth of this native pine appears purple as new cones form the next generation of Monterey pines.

Chaparral

Comprising dense thickets of hardwood shrubs with stiff evergreen leaves, chaparral is unquestionably the dominant plant community in Big Sur, particularly in the Ventana and Silver Peak Wildernesses.

The predominant species of this fire-loving vegetation type is chamise, or greasewood (Adenostoma fasciculatum). This member of the rose family features a tough, woody stem, wiry branches, and bundles of needlelike evergreen leaves. It is named for its oily wood, which emits a pungent odor when brushed against. This brush species is a favorite perch for ticks, which wait to hitchhike on unsuspecting passersby.