Tag: nature journaling

Rena humilis

Published on by HashiLeave a comment

During the rains we had a surprise visitor, a blind snake! It’s our first time seeing this earthworm-looking reptile. Rena humilis is found in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. It lives underground, sometimes as deep as 20 metres (66 ft). Having no need for vision, its eyes are vestigial, just two light-detecting black spots. The skull is thick to permit burrowing.

Its diet is made up mostly of insects and their larvae and eggs. It is found in deserts and scrub where the soil is loose enough to work, so I’m not sure what it was doing in our living room! I moved it outside, and noticed that my hands smelled like mushrooms afterwards. Very earthy.

phantom trail

Published on by Hashi1 Comment

We hiked a new-to-us trail in Malibu Creek State Park, steep and almost overgrown in parts. It’s unclear why it’s called Phantom, except perhaps that hardly anyone goes there? We didn’t encounter any ghosts, but we did see some out-of-season wildflowers in the wetter areas to the north of the ridge.

Actias luna

Published on by HashiLeave a comment

This honking big moth is found in eastern North America, from Florida to Maine in the U.S., and from Saskatchewan eastward through central Quebec to Nova Scotia in Canada. It is also found across Mexico; it is considered threatened there, due to habitat loss.

The moth has lime-green wings and a white body. Its typical wingspan is roughly 114 mm (4.5″), but wingspans can exceed 178 mm (7″), ranking the species as one of the larger moths in North America. I’d love to see one in the wild!

Charadrius vociferus

Published on by HashiLeave a comment

Killdeer get their name from one of their most common calls, a shrill, wailing “kill-deer”. They are shorebirds that nest away from water. Like most (all?) plovers, they lay their eggs in a shallow scrape in somewhat exposed areas, even on gravel rooftops. They will deploy a broken-wing display to lead predators away from their nests. However, this doesn’t stop horses or cows from stepping on their eggs. To deter these large hoofed animals, a killdeer will try an “ungulate display”, fluffing itself up, splaying its tail over its head, and running at the beast to attempt to make it change its path. Sadly, this tactic is often fatal for the bird.