After a night and a morning in hilly San Francisco, I’m off to a nature journal retreat at Point Reyes for the rest of the week. There may or may not be blog posts, depending on the location’s wifi.
san fran
Author: Hashi
soledad mission
I drove to San Francisco, and took a stretch-and-sketch break at Soledad Mission. Like every California mission I have visited, this one includes a statue of the Inquisitor Junípero Serra in the garden. He’s a controversial figure in these parts—many other Serra statues throughout California have been toppled or decapitated. His legacy is definitely complicated.
junior rangers
It was a busy day at the Park today! We started off with a Junior Ranger program on plants, with a whole lot of enthusiastic kids. Then I worked in the Visitor Center for the afternoon; nearly 200 people came through in four hours, over three-quarters of them in the first two hours. I heard so many great questions, it made my inquiring heart happy.
Sylvilagus bachmani
This is not the first time I’ve found a live baby rabbit out in the open, in full sun. Did the doe drag it out of the warren to die? Did a predator grab it then drop it? How did it get there? I know it won’t survive for long, despite my ministrations. We have no shortage of brush rabbits, but it’s still sad to see a little creature dying.
Eschscholzia californica
I like checking out the front gardens as I walk around my new neighbourhood. Many folks have swaths of self-seeded California poppies running riot—they look so gorgeous.
old shed
This dilapidated corrugated iron shed beside the bike trail in Ojai reminded me of Australia. It’s even in the shade of eucalyptus trees.
ranunculus
Taricha torosa
The highlight of my weekend was getting to hold a California newt, possibly the cutest amphibian I have ever seen. The skin glands of Taricha torosa secrete a powerful neurotoxin that is hundreds of times more lethal than cyanide. It is potent enough to kill most vertebrates, including humans. For this reason, I have never touched one; but our newt expert said it was fine unless we had a wound on our hands. He told a story about licking a newt once long ago; the moral of the story was that we should not try the same experiment. I held this little lady for a long time (then washed my hands). Such a thrill.
field ecology weekend
This was my fourth Field Ecology Weekend, and my third as an organizer. The weather was capricious this time, but we gamely carried on through cold nights and a very wet morning. Attendance was great, spirits were cheerful, the learnings were valuable … and I’m exhausted (but happy).
Tipuloidea
This morning there was a crane fly on the outside of the window, allowing me a view of its ventral side. Interestingly, it had another teensy insect on its leg — it was so small that I couldn’t tell if it was tangled or what. Was it a baby crane fly? How big are they when they metamorphose into adults?
In some places, crane flies are called mosquito hawks or “skeeter-eaters,” despite the fact that they don’t prey on adult mosquitoes or other insects. Adults have a lifespan of 10 to 15 days. The larvae of crane flies are commonly known as leatherjackets, and usually feed on decaying plant matter.
Crane flies first emerged in the Middle Triassic period, approximately 245 million years ago, making them one of the oldest known groups of flies. To date, scientists have described over 15,500 species across more than 500 genera.
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