Bodie is a herding dog, not a hunting dog. So it was very surprising when she sniffed in the grass beside the trail, then suddenly lunged and caught a rodent of some kind. It was bigger than a mouse, but smaller than a gopher, and its tail was shorter than a rat’s but not gopher-like. She ignored my commands to drop it, and crunched for a minute before swallowing it. Ugh! Sorry, little critter!
I just read Fox and I, An Uncommon Friendship by Catherine Raven, and found it unusual, fascinating and beautiful. Recommend.
#1 question asked at the Visitor Center (usually preceded by “WHOA!”): “Is it real?”
#2 and #3 questions: “How do you get to the M*A*S*H site / Rock Pool?”
Occasionally I don’t know the answer to a question, which sends me off to do research. Right now I’m learning about trapdoor spiders because of a visitor query. More on that to come …
I was not one of those kids who could draw horses. Ilona Pochwyt in Grade 2, on the other hand, drew them obsessively. It was while watching her effortlessly sketch a ‘colt’ (I had never even heard the word before, they were all horsies to me) that I decided that drawing was a talent, and I definitely didn’t have it. I wonder if my life’s trajectory would have been different if, instead of shutting down the artist within at age 7, I’d asked Ilona to teach me how to draw a horse.
Fast forward several decades and I finally understood that drawing is a skill, not a talent. But I still, until today, had never drawn a horse. My thanks go to John Muir Laws for the equine anatomy lesson, and to Danny Gregory for the prompt. A hurdle has been leapt, a monster vanquished. I see many more sketched horses in my future.
This one’s for A, who loves tiny goats.
(Sketched from Creative Commons images by Greg Schechter and Israel_photo_gallery)
A couple of sea lions were relaxing on the river banks while the humans wandered amongst the stalls of Moruya Country Market on Saturday morning.
The mona monkey (Cercopithecus mona) is native to the lowland forests of eastern Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria and western Cameroon. Its natural forest habitat has been impacted by widespread clearing, and it suffers from being hunted for food. However, it’s an adaptable species and the population does not seem to be declining significantly. It is generally the commonest monkey near rivers in the region.
Following along with Danny Gregory on Draw With Me this morning: a moose (Alces alces) in honour of Canada Day. And, coincidentally, another creature with a particularly large body part.
One night four years ago, a young mountain lion paid us a visit. She and I locked eyes through the living room window, before she stalked off into the night. We contacted the wildlife people next day, who checked the tracking and let us know it was P-54, an 18 month old female. We felt extremely honoured by her visit.
Last Friday morning, P-54 was struck and killed near Malibu Creek State Park. She was the 29th mountain lion to be killed by a vehicle in the NPS study area since 2002.
I know there are a lot of tragic things happening in the world right now, but this one particularly hurts.
I can’t say I’m a fan of ground squirrels, given the harm they do to our hillside and garden. But this little fella reaching up to grab some slender oats was pretty darn cute.
hashiworks 