‘Twas a lovely afternoon at the rock pools.
shore finds
Blog
Crotalus helleri
A Southern Pacific rattlesnake came calling, but we didn’t want what he was selling. So we popped him into a lidded bucket and took him for a short ride to a better location.
chrysalis vs cocoon
I am not sure how I got to be middle-aged before learning that butterfly caterpillars don’t spin cocoons. Moths do that. A butterfly’s chrysalis forms INSIDE its caterpillar-y skin. It sheds that skin and voila, it’s now a pupa. 🤯 Learn something new!!
Plecoptera
If you see stoneflies by a creek, you can be happy that the water’s clean and well-oxygenated.
wild food
These acorn cakes were good! Thanks to our instructor Rob Remedi, and to the Malibu Creek Docents for providing continuing education.
beta vulgaris
Chard is just a variety of beets that doesn’t have an edible root. Learn something new every day.
scutigera coleoptrata
House centipedes (Scutigera coleoptrata) sometimes fall in the sink and can’t get out without assistance. Knowing what they eat, I’m always happy to see (and help) them.
agaricus californicus
hammer man
I’ve always found Ed Benavente’s Big Red to be an odd choice for public art beside a children’s playground. Ominously towering over the swings and slides, the repressed violence in its stance seems out of place in swanky Malibu Country Mart. This month its legs are swathed in cornstalks … does this make it seem friendlier, or scarier?
Bubo virginianus
We’ve been hearing owls at night lately. I think they’re Great Horned Owls (Bubo virginianus), but I haven’t seen one to confirm. (Sketched from a reference photo on birdpixel.com.)
hashiworks 