Author: Hashi

Sitta carolinensis

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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

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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

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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.

Paropsis atomaria

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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.

mildred’s garden

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I visited the UCLA Mildred E. Mathias Botanic Garden today with the Channel Island Nature Journalers. More than half of the 7.5 acre garden is currently closed for construction, but there is still plenty to see, enjoy and, yes, nature journal!

Mildred Esther Mathias (1906 – 1995) was an American botanist, environmentalist, preservationist, and UCLA professor. She studied, classified, and led groups to discover plants all across the world, helping popularize “ecotourism”. in 1979, the UCLA botanical garden (started in 1929) was re-named the Mildred E. Mathias Botanical Garden in her honour. Thank you, Prof Mathias, for all you did!