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What’s New on the Bernard Field Station Web Site!

2/27/09 - Two Plants Added to Plant List

Two new plants have been added to the BFS Plant List – one naughty, one nice! Milk Thistle, Silybum marianum, is a nasty invasive non-native weed. In contrast, Red Maids, Calandrinia ciliata, a petite native annual with fleshly leaves, can be used in ecological restoration and is reportedly a tasty addition to salad.

7/14/08 - BFS Reptiles & Amphibians List Updated

We have updated the BFS Reptiles & Amphibians list (http://bfs.claremont.edu/biota/herps.html). The major changes are:

  1. We now have CalPhotos links for the reptiles and amphibians. Since CalPhotos has added many more animal pictures over the last few years, it now makes sense to have CalPhotos links for the animals as well as the plants. Thanks to BFS Web Intern Kat Cerny-Chipman, Pomona ’10, for finding all the links!
  2. We have updated the list to reflect the latest taxonomy. The changes include:
    • The San Diego Coast Horned lizard, formerly listed as Phrynosoma coronatum blainvillei, has been elevated to a separate species, Phrynosoma blainvillei.
    • The Western (Skilton’s) Skink, formerly Eumeces skiltonianus skiltonianus, is now Plestiodon skiltonianus skiltonianus.
    • The California Striped Racer, formerly Masticophis lateralis lateralis, is now Coluber lateralis lateralis.
    • The San Diego Night Snake, formerly Hypsiglena ochrorhyncha klauberi, is now Hypsiglena ochrorhyncha klauberi.
    • The Western Pond Turtle, formerly Clemmys marmorata pallida, is now Actinemys marmorata. The subspecies pallida is no longer recognized.
    • The Southern California Toad, formerly Bufo boreas halophilus, is now Anaxyrus boreas halophilus.
    • The American Bullfrog, formerly Rana catesbeiana, is now Lithobates catesbeianus.

7/7/08 - BFS Bird List Updated

The online BFS Bird List (http://bfs.claremont.edu/biota/birds.html) and the printer-friendly BFS Bird Checklist (http://bfs.claremont.edu/biota/birds/birdchecklist.html) have been revised. The major changes are:

  1. The list has been revised to reflect the latest taxonomy — the listing order has been changed somewhat, and the following species have been reassigned to different families or genera:
    • The Double-crested Cormorant, Phalacrocorax auritus, has been moved from Pelecanidae (Pelicans) to a new family Phalacrocoracidae (Cormorants).
    • The Band-tailed Pigeon, Columba fasciata, has been placed in a new genus; it’s now Patagioenas fasciata.
    • The Western Screech-Owl, Otus kennicottii, has been placed in a new genus; it’s now Megascops kennicottii.
    • The Belted Kingfisher, Ceryle alcyon, has been placed in a new genus; it’s now Megaceryle alcyon.
    • The Cliff Swallow, Hirundo pyrrhonota, has been placed in a new genus; it’s now Petrochelidon pyrrhonota.
    • The Phainopepla, Phainopepla nitens, has been moved from Bombycillidae Waxwings & Silky Flycatchers) to a new family Ptilogonatidae (Silky Flycatchers).
    • The Mountain Chickadee, Parus gambeli, has been placed in a new genus; it’s now Poecile gambeli.
    • The Wrentit, Chamaea fasciata, has been moved from Turdidae (Thrushes) to a new family Timaliidae (Babblers).
  2. The abundance and seasonal data have been revised to reflect 3 more years of surveys since the last update.  Many thanks to Cathy McFadden, HMC Biology, for the data.  Cathy has been carrying out the monthly bird surveys since December 2000!
  3. Two more birds have recently been added to the list — Cassin’s Finch and Canada Goose.
  4. We have made a few changes to the season/abundance categories.  In the Status column, we now have designations for “Vagrant”, for birds outside of their normal range, and “Extirpated”, for birds birds that were seen at the BFS in past, but are no longer present.  In the Seasonal Abundance columns, we’ve added a designation “Accidental”, for birds that have been seen only once at the BFS.
  5. The printable Checklist has been reformatted, and it now includes a list of Accidental and Extirpated species.

6/10/08 - BFS Plant List Updated

We have updated the BFS Plant list to reflect the most recent taxonomy, fix broken links, and add links to new additions to CalPhotos and the online Jepson Manual. Former names and families are listed in the Notes, so you can search for them on the page. Many thanks to BFS Web Intern Kat Cerny-Chipman, Pomona ’10, for researching the updates! Here is a summary of the changes:

5/22/08 - Projects pages updated

Completed Spring 2008 course, research, and other projects and activities have been moved from the Current Projects page to archived projects pages - Spring 2008 Research Projects, Spring 2008 Course Uses & Projects, and Spring 2008 Other Uses & Activities. The Current Projects page now contains only projects for Summer 2008.

5/5/08 - Nicotiana acuminata added to Plant List

We have discovered a population of Nicotiana acuminata var. multiflora (Manyflower Tobacco) at the BFS. This tobacco from Chile is widely naturalized throughout the Western U.S.

5/3/08 - BFS Plant List Celebrates 100! (Plant pages, that is)

We now have 100 pages showing plants photographed at the BFS! Eventually we hope to have photographic documentation of all the plants on the BFS, and with our first hundred, we can celebrate that we’re beginning to make a dent in that daunting list. Plant pages we’ve added this spring include:

In addition, we have added more photos to:

We have even more photographs we’ll be adding over the summer. Many thanks not only to Tad Beckman — our plant photographer par excellence, but also to Susan Schenk and Jonathan Wright and for their photographic contributions.

3/25/08 - Woodrats on the web!

Check out the new pictures of the Dusky-footed Woodrat (Neotoma fuscipes) and the San Diego Desert Woodrat (Neotoma lepida), a California Species of Special Concern. Thanks to Nina Karnovsky for the photos. You can find more information about the woodrats at the Karnovsky Lab’s Woodrat Nation website.

1/19/08 - New Legless Lizard Pictures

Thanks to Jonathan Wright for the new pictures of the California Legless Lizard (Anniella pulchra).

1/2/08 - Projects pages updated

Completed Fall 2007 course, research, and other projects and activities have been moved from the Current Projects page to archived projects pages - Fall 2007 Research Projects, Fall 2007 Course Uses & Projects, and Fall 2007 Other Uses & Activities. The Current Projects page now contains only projects for Spring 2008.

9/22/07 - Projects pages updated

Completed Spring and Summer 2007 course, research, and other projects and activities have been moved from the Current Projects page to archived projects pages - Summer 2007 Research Projects, Spring 2007 Research Projects, Spring 2007 Course Uses & Projects, Summer 2007 Other Uses & Activities, and Spring 2007 Other Uses & Activities. The Current Projects page now contains only projects for Fall 2007.

12/28/06 - Projects pages updated

Completed Fall 2006 course, research, and other projects and activities have been moved from the Current Projects page to archived projects pages - Fall 2006 Research Projects, Fall 2006 Course Uses & Projects, Fall 2006 Other Uses & Activities. The Current Projects page now contains only projects for Spring 2006.

11/15/06 - More Lichen updates

A few more changes and updates have been made to the BFS Lichen List:

10/1/06 - Savannah Sparrow added to bird list

The Savannah Sparrow (Passerculus sandwichensis) has been added to the BFS bird list. Although these birds are fairly common grassland sparrows, they had not been previously recorded in the regular BFS bird surveys.

8/24/06 - Loggerhead Shrike added to bird list

The Loggerhead Shrike (Lanius ludovicianus) has been added to the BFS bird list. Although the Loggerhead Shrike has been seen in the area and could reasonably be expected to occur on the BFS, it had not been previously sighted. This bird is a California Species of Special Concern, and any sightings of Loggerhead Shrikes should be reported to Kimball Garrett at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (kgarrett@nhm.org).

8/24/06 - Use Request forms revised

Several changes have been made to the BFS Use Request forms:

8/17/06 - Projects pages updated

Completed Summer 2006 research projects and other activities have been moved from the Current Projects page to archived projects pages - Summer 2006 Research Projects and Summer 2006 Other Uses & Activities. The Current Projects page now contains only projects for the Fall 2006 semester.

8/6/06 - Lichens updated

A few changes and updates have been made to the BFS Lichen List:

6/6/06 - Amphibians added & Reptiles updated

Several changes and updates have been made to the BFS Reptile List:

5/17/06 - Projects pages updated

Completed Spring 2006 course, research, and other projects and activities have been moved from the Current Projects page to archived projects pages - Spring 2006 Research Projects, Spring 2006 Course Uses & Projects, Spring 2006 Other Uses & Activities. The Current Projects page now contains only projects for Summer 2006.

1/1/06 - Projects pages updated

Completed Fall 2005 course, research, and other projects and activities have been moved from the Current Projects page to archived projects pages - Fall 2005 Research Projects, Fall 2005 Course Uses & Projects, Fall 2005 Other Uses & Activities. The Current Projects page now contains only projects for the Spring 2006 semester.

12/31/05 - Bird list update

A new species has been added to the BFS bird list — the White-throated Sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis). Also, the species name of the Olive-sided Flycatcher (formerly listed as Contopus borealis) was updated to Contopus cooperi to agree with accepted current usage, and the Red List 'Near Threatened' status for C. cooperi was added to the 'Conservation Status' listing.

10/18/05 - The BFS Faculty Advisory Committee

The BFS Faculty Advisory Committee for 2005-2006 has now been appointed. View the membership and members' contact information on our Management Page.

10/18/05 - Brush-clearing goats

An article and photos about the brush-clearing goats was posted on the Manager's News Page.

8/24/05 - Links to photos and descriptions added to the plants page

For each plant taxon we now have links that will return all photographs of that taxon in the CalPhotos, Digital Library Project database, as well as links to its Jepson treatment and bioregional distribution from the Jepson Interchange online version of the Jepson Manual. In addition, we have links to photographs taken at the BFS for 76 plant taxa.

8/24/05 - Projects pages updated

Completed Summer 2005 research projects have been moved from the Current Projects page to an archived Summer 2005 Research Projects page. The Current Projects page now contains only projects for the Fall 2005 semester.

8/13/05 - Two birds added to BFS bird list

There are two new additions to the BFS bird list - Lewis's Woodpecker (Melanerpes lewis) and Thick-billed Kingbird (Tyrannus crassirostris).

8/12/05 - Bird checklist & bird photo links

New on the bird section of the BFS website:

8/10/05 - Four plants added to BFS plant list

Over the summer, four plants have been added to the BFS plant list - Agave americana (Century Plant), Cirsium vulgare (Bull Thistle), Lamium amplexicaule (Common Henbit, Giraffe's Head, or Dead Nettle) and Fraxinus anomala (Singleleaf Ash).

5/20/05 - Projects pages updated

Completed Spring 2005 projects moved from the Current Projects page to an archived Spring 2005 Course Use, Spring 2005 Research Projects, and Spring 2005 Other Use pages. The Current Projects page now contains only projects for the Summer 2005.

2/27/05 - New Manager's Page

We implemented a new page news from the BFS Manager.

2/14/05 - Problem with request posting fixed

We believe we have fixed a problem that resulted in posting of blank use request forms on the Current Projects page. The fix should be invisible to users of the forms, but please e-mail the webmaster if you encounter any problems submitting forms.

2/13/05 - New lichen page

We now have a list of BFS lichens! The list includes 26 recorded taxa and two additional genera that could not be identified to species. Photos of many of the species are linked to the list. Many thanks to Kerry Knudsen, Curator of Lichens for the UCR Herbarium, for conducting the lichen survey, and to Tad Beckman, HMC, for photographing the lichens.

1/18/05 - Two plants added to plant list

There are two new additions to the BFS plant list - Heliotropium curassavicum, commonly known as Salt Heliotrope, Seaside Heliotrope, or Wild Heliotrope, and Paeonia californica, Wild Peony.

1/5/05 - Projects pages updated

Completed Fall 2004 projects moved from the Current Projects page to an archived Fall 2004 Course Use, Fall 2004 Research Projects, and Fall 2004 Other Use pages. The Current Projects page now contains only projects for the Spring 2005.

10/3/04 - Use Request forms revised

The use request forms have been revised to improve data collection and error reporting. Please note that there are now separate college forms for class use, research use, and other use, as well as a special form for use by community groups. Please e-mail the webmaster if you encounter any problems with the new forms.

© 2001-2009 Bernard Field Station Faculty Advisory Committee
Page last updated 9 March 2009 by Nancy Hamlett.