3 - Animals of Lands End

Transcription of accompanying audio. 
Woman's Voice.

This is stop 3.

This is a panel titled: Animals of Lands End: Who Goes There? Wild in the City.

A large color photo shows a coyote, with tawny fur and a long tail, looking intently at something in tall grass.The caption reads: From its coastal bluffs and forests to its offshore waters and the sky overhead, Lands End is a haven for wildlife. The native vegetation and human-planted forests provide refuge and hunting grounds for birds and ground-dwelling animals, while just offshore, pods of marine mammals find shelter and food during their epic migrations along the west coast of North America.

The land mammals are mostly nocturnal. Raccoons are among the largest, weighing between 10 and 25 pounds. Occasionally, a gray fox or coyote can also be seen moving through the dense cypress groves and along cliffside trails.

The intertidal zone, located at the wave-swept base of the rocky shoreline, hosts a rich marine community that includes sea stars, limpets, barnacles, and mussels.

Resident and migratory birds make up a large part of Lands End's population. The bluffs are in the path of the Pacific Flyway, and during fall and spring migrations thousands of raptors, waterfowl, shorebirds, and others can be seen passing overhead.

Seabirds flock to the coastal shallows and cliffs of Lands End, fishing offshore and nesting on protected rocks. They even make use of the ruins of Sutro Baths, splashing in the brackish water to clean accumulated salt from their feathers.

An array of nine color photos below this text shows a flock of cormorants, a raccoon, a red-tailed hawk, a Pacific white-sided dolphin, a Townsend's warbler, a California sea lion, a flock of brown pelicans, a western gull, and a sea star.

Now we’ll find out about geology. Face the panel you just heard about and turn. You'll be facing the western windows. At about waist height, reach out and touch the slanted panel. Turn left again and walk along that panel and another just like it, to the farthest end of the second one.