[ Music ]
>> So we're going to go on a scavenger hunt.
And the goal of this hunt is to try and collect as much life
as we can in a very short amount of time.
You have about five minutes to go on this scavenger hunt.
And you're going to jet off in different directions.
But you're not going to go into the road, and you're not going to go way far away.
And you're going to collect as much as you can.
[ Music ]
So now you can see that we finished our scavenger hunt.
And I can't wait to see what these girls found.
Oh, my gosh.
They're really muddy already!
[ Laughter ]
Wow. I feel so clean now!
Oh, my gosh.
So we had some different groups find some different things.
And I think we're going to start over here with Katrina and Tierney
and Jamie's [assumed spellings] group.
And I'm guessing by the looks of you that you were the mud group.
>> Yeah, we were!
>> Yes!
[ Laughter ]
>> So can we start with the mud group.
And, Katrina, can you hold the mud up and hold it nice and still and in the sun.
And what can you tell us about the mud?
>> It's black.
[ Laughter ]
And it's very inky and it smells like not something very tasty.
[ Laughter ]
>> Like watery kind of.
>> It's really watery.
And it was in the creek.
>> Oh, okay.
>> And so I'm guessing -- yeah.
It was at the bottom of the creek probably.
>> Okay.
>> And it was in a deep area and it was damp.
>> How did you get it all the way down there?
>> Um, you know, I kind of just kneeled down and scooped it up.
[ Laughter ]
>> Okay. How deep was the creek?
>> I'd say maybe --
>> Like did they have to lower you by your feet to get you down there?
>> Oh, no.
Not that deep!
[ Laughter ]
But I had to, you know, reach in there.
And I did get muddy.
>> Okay.
>> That's fun.
>> And, Jamie, what did you find over there?
>> I found some, like, a lighter colored mud.
And it's more goopy and thicker than the black mud.
And --
>> Where did you find that mud?
>> Under the plants near the creek.
>> Oh. So, under the plants, the mud is a lighter color.
And, in the creek, it's much blacker.
>> Yeah.
>> Okay. That's pretty typical of marshes, that we have different colors of mud based
on whether there's oxygen or not oxygen or what minerals are in the mud.
All right.
Does it look like dirt you find in San Francisco?
>> Not really.
[ Laughter ]
>> It smells really bad.
>> It does?
What does it smell like?
>> Cow dung.
[ Laughter ]
>> Nice choice of words.
[ Laughter ]
So let's move on to the plants group.
And I told these girls this yesterday.
But I'm a wetland scientist, and I study plants.
So this is the part I'm most excited about.
So, Cathleen and Natalie [assumed spellings], can you tell us about the plants that you found?
>> Well, this plant right here is one plant.
And you can also see them right over there.
And I'm guessing this is something like cotton or something, but it's really soft.
And it doesn't --
[ Laughter ]
-- and I think --
>> Wait a second.
Can we go back to the one you were holding, this sort of cottony one?
>> This one?
>> Have you ever been seen a plant like that before?
>> Huh-uh.
>> What about, if you look behind you,
there are some that are less cottony and they're more brown.
>> Yeah. She has one of those.
>> These aren't those.
>> They're a little bit different.
>> Oh, never mind.
>> Those brown ones, I -- the reason why you couldn't tell is because there are some of both
of those behind you and I described them as brown.
But the one that looks like a hot dog,
I think a lot of people may have seen before, the hot dog marsh plants.
Does anyone know what that one's called?
>> Cattail?
>> Exactly.
Good job. Cattail.
And that's what its seeds look like once they start flying off into the wind
to spread around to other wetlands.
>> I found some of these weird shell-like things that look like pine cones.
And they're kind of prickly.
>> They're prickly?
>> A little bit.
>> What does that plant feel like when you spin it around in your hand?
>> It feels kind of like -- like, when it comes off, it feels really dusty.
>> Dusty. So those are its seeds from that sedge.
And you can tell it's a sedge because, if you spin it this way,
does it feel round or triangular?
>> It feels triangular.
>> Right. And sedges have edges is the old phrase, right?
Sedges have edges and rushes are round.
And before we were sitting in the rushes, and now you're -- that's a sedge.
Are those the only plants you found?
>> No. We found a few more.
And we also found some of these seeds on the ground with -- not on a stem.
Right here.
>> Oh, yeah.
Flying around.
And, look.
She's spreading them right now.
This is a native cattail, and it will spread in our marsh.
This little area has a little fresh water.
That's why we're finding that plant here.
>> And, then, over there a little bit --
>> Away.
>> -- we found some of these.
There's a lot of them.
>> Okay. Can you pass those around the circle?
>> Yeah.
>> They look like worms.
>> Everybody take a little piece of one of the things that looks like a worm.
>> It's segmented.
>> Can I have a little piece of yours?
Thanks. This plant, does anyone know what this plant is called?
This plant, like they said, is segmented.
And it's kind of succulent, like a cactus.
And if you're brave enough, I'd like you to take a little piece of yours off --
mine won't rip -- and stick it in your mouth.
And you can actually eat it and swallow it.
[ Laughter ]
>> What did it taste like?
It tasted like salt.
>> Like salt.
[ Laughter ]
>> I'll pass the offer.
>> All the plants that live in the salt marsh have to find a way to deal with the salt.
Because, if you put salt water on your house plants, they would die, right?
And so this plant deals with the salt, it survives in the salty environment
by making its own cells, its own body pretty salty
so that it doesn't absorb much salt from the water.
This plant is called salt grass.
And it actually has a way to excrete, to sort of sweat out the salt.
And so, if it hadn't been so foggy this morning, it might still work.
You can rub your finger up the blade and then taste your finger
and it's salty, even though it was so foggy.
That's how this plant gets rid of its salt.
So we only have a minute.
My gosh. And we still have to move to the water group.
So, water group, oh, my gosh.
What did you find?
>> The big fish, our sea monster.
>> Our little sea monster, yes.
I'm not exactly sure what it is.
We also found two crabs.
They're pretty small.
The fish --
>> Can you hold the fish nice and still and turn it like that.
Exactly.
>> Whoa.
>> What do you guys notice?
Ellie [assumed spelling], what do you guys notice about that fish?
>> It's big.
>> Yeah. It's bigger than you expected, huh?
>> A lot bigger than we expected.
>> And what color is it?
>> Brown.
>> Why do you think a fish that lives in the marsh would want
to be kind of brown and black like that?
>> So it blends in.
>> Yeah. It can camouflage with its surroundings, which is mud.
[ Laughter ]
>> That fish is called a staghorn sculpin, and he actually can live in really muddy areas.
So that is a pretty amazing find.
And those are really cool crabs that you found too.
You can actually see the crab filtering the water right now moving its little mouth around.
So, girls, we went on our scavenger hunt; and you were gone for a whole six minutes, right?
>> Woohoo!
>> And I don't see you with any big animals.
I expected you to come back with like a pelican or a heron or a whale.
Why didn't you get any big animals?
[ Background discussion ]
>> Well, because this is a national park.
And you shouldn't probably really take the animals from their habitat.
>> You saw the whale.
>> And it would be too big to take a whale here too.
It would take 500 people.
>> There are some big animals here, but we're kind of noisy.
And we might have scared them away.
[ Music ]
>> And the best place for us to let that live animal go is
in here where it's shady and watery.
Whoops. Right down there.
>> You just, like, put them in?
>> Yeah. If you just lower them in -- give the camera a second so it can see you --
and get down as far as you can to lower them in so that they don't drop.
It would be like they're jumping off the bridge or something.
Nice and slow.
Good bye!
>> Bye, fishy!
>> Great.
[ Music ]