I was browsing the Smithsonian open access web site and came across this invention of a clip-on earring from 1877. I had never thought of tethering my earrings to my hair for security! This thing looks pretty heavy, even without a dangle, so the “anchor” was probably necessary.
The widespread Schizophyllum genus contains six wood-rotting species. Schizophyllum mycelium only needs to generate one set of fruiting bodies per year. Unlike some mushroom species, split gill fungi have the ability to dry out and rehydrate, allowing them to open and close numerous times throughout a growing season. This is an excellent adaptation for climates with sporadic rainfall, and surely contributes to their success.
Did you hear about the fossil they just found in South America?
It’s like a Brazilian years old.
The Backbone adventure proceeds apace. Five sections down, eight to go. This section is particularly enjoyable, with spectacular rock formations and awesome views. And, at this time of year, lots of fungi!
The bird bath camera continues to bring us surprises. While it’s a little tedious scrolling through the many, many house finch captures, it’s worth it when we see a new arrival. The red-breasted nuthatch is another winter visitor to our region. Like other nuthatches, these move quickly over trunks and branches probing for food in crevices and under flakes of bark. They creep up, down, and sideways without regard for which way is up. Such fun to see this one at the bath.
Book group meetings are one of my monthly highlights, and I enjoy spending a few hours afterwards trying to distill our conversation into a page of sketch notes.
Not being in the habit of creating of preschooler-pleasing art, I turned to AI for design inspiration on this one. I think my prompt was “Cute juvenile unicorn sunshine flowers”. It did the trick; Miss Four loved it.
PSA: Niamh rhymes with leave.
Seen on the wildlife camera, a new-to-us visitor enjoying a drink and a splash. We are in the winter range of the Hermit Thrush, and very happy to welcome this one to our garden, as they rarely visit backyards. I haven’t heard its lovely, melancholy song, but I’m keeping my ears open.
Lovely meetup of the Santa Monica Mountains Nature Journal Club today at Temescal. The cherry on top was seeing my first Townsend’s warbler. I realise that it looks like the bird is the answer to the “Big chomps by whom?” question, but the two are unrelated.
What a beauty! In fact, the scientific name translates as “Beautiful foliage, beautiful leaf”. There are 80+ extant species in the Phylliidae family, ranging from as far east as the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean, throughout the Australasian region, to as far west as Fiji in the Southern Pacific. They are some of the most remarkably camouflaged mimics in the animal kingdom. A leaf insect doesn’t just look like its habitat; when it walks, it rocks back and forth, mimicking a real leaf being blown by the wind. And its eggs look like seeds. Amazing.
hashiworks 