Some more additions for our Park-specific field guide to use on school walks.
more plants of MCSP
Month: October 2023
at the tech store
After many months without a working cell phone — it wouldn’t hold a charge for even a minute — I finally got a new battery in it today. Voila! I can unplug and it stays charged! New life for the 8 year old phone! Certain friends are going to be very happy about this. You know who you are.
Mystery bug
Nature journaling very tiny things, with the help of a microscope. I was interrupted by the grosbeak strike, so got no further with this page.
Sitta carolinensis
White-breasted nuthatches (Sitta carolinensis) eat insects and large, meaty seeds. They get their common name from their habit of jamming nuts and acorns into tree bark, then whacking them with their sharp bill to “hatch” out the seed from the inside. They nest in holes in trees (either created naturally or excavated by woodpeckers) and are most commonly found in deciduous woodland. I was very happy to meet this one today.
Pheucticus melanocephalus
It’s been a long while since we had a bird collision. The shelf outside the kitchen window, complete with tall plants, was doing the trick. But yesterday a black-headed grosbeak flew into a gap in the foliage and crashed. The saddest part was that we had only just seen her at the bird bath a day or two before — grosbeaks are not common visitors here. So freaking sad.
Bubo virginianus
The great horned owl (Bubo virginianus), also known as the hoot owl, is a large raptor native to the Americas. We often hear them at night, and sometimes see them. They eat “almost any living creature that walks, crawls, flies, or swims, except the large mammals.”1 In fact over 500 species have been identified as great horned owl prey.
1Lee, Carol. “Powerful feet and talons help birds of prey make their living”. Lubbock Avalanche-Journal.
practice heads
While learning figure drawing basics with Pedro Loureiro, I’m using reference images from Sketch Daily to practice. Enjoying the process, and looking forward to seeing improvement.
kale wars
At least there’s no aphids.
wild hives in the city
It’s fun to come across living organisms in unexpected places.
Paropsis atomaria
I looked up this beetle when I got home from our nature journal meetup. Turns out, this is one of the most widely distributed eucalyptus leaf beetles in Australia, but it was only discovered in the US (here in Los Angeles) a year ago.
Paropsis atomaria is considered a pest in eucalyptus plantations in Australia and is reported to cause defoliation, decreased growth and wood quality, and sometimes tree death. Both larvae and adults feed on the foliage. Development from egg to adult takes approximately one month and there are up to four generations per year
So this cute little beetle is quite the eucalyptus scourge. I bet there are many California native plant supporters who are not unhappy that it has reached our shores — eucalyptus species themselves being invasive around here.
hashiworks 