A little something I’m working on for school walks at the state park.
Andricus quercuscalifornicus
Tag: malibu creek state park
Phainopepla nitens
I’m not really a birder. I don’t have a life list. But I was pretty excited to see my first phainopepla.
Phainopeplas live in the southwestern U.S. and into central Mexico. They eat mostly berries, along with small insects. One of their cool traits is a special mechanism in their gizzard that separates berry skins from the rest of the fruit, sending the skins to a different part of the intestine to help with digestion. So far, they’re the only bird known to do this.
Their favorite food is the fruit of the desert mistletoe. These berries don’t have a lot of nutrients, so phainopeplas need to eat a lot of them—sometimes many hundreds in a single day. The berries move through their intestines in just about 12 minutes. They rarely drink water, getting almost all the moisture they need from the mistletoe berries.
Phainopeplas are also great mimics and can copy the calls of around a dozen other bird species.
Sialia mexicana
It was such a delight to watch this Western Bluebird swing back and forth on a hanging twig. Just sitting there, swinging in the breeze …
tshirt design
I’m happy to be in production with a shirt I designed. Also it’s fun to attend a press check again; it was my favourite part of my print producer job.
Otospermophilus beecheyi
We had a record number of attendees at yesterday’s Junior Ranger program, and everyone learned a lot about our ubiquitous ground squirrels.
Ammophila aberti
Last journaled here.
shinrin-yoku
Polypogon monspeliensis
What is this fluffy-flowered grass on the water’s edge, we wondered. Turns out that rabbitsfoot or beardgrass is native to Europe, Asia, and northern Africa, but is now found in other parts of Africa, as well as in Australia and both North and South America. In California, it is widely distributed but typically confined to moist habitats. The flowers sure are attractive, but the grass can form dense stands and outcompete native plant species.
Epipactis gigantea
My docent buddies Rick and Tom showed me a secret (off-trail) trove of stream orchids in the mountains. The hike included bushwhacking through poison oak, and getting wet in the creek. Some blood was shed (by the guys, not me). But we were rewarded with the best stand of Epipactic gigantea I’ve ever seen. Thanks Rick and Tom, it was awesome.
mystery nest
We found a lovely soft nest on the ground, mostly made of oak catkins and cobwebs, with decorations of feather and lichen. It actually looked like two conjoined nests, but I assume it had been teased out by an interested critter, before or after it fell. Who built it? I hope the eggs hatched safely.
hashiworks 