According to Birdnet, it was a little flock of Golden-crowned Sparrows I was hearing. I didn’t see them, so I can’t be sure.
Photo refs: Vivek Khanzodé
Zonotrichia atricapilla
Tag: nature
Cardamine californica
It was so nice to see the first milkmaids this morning!
Milkmaids (Cardamine californica) are some of the first wildflowers to appear in the Santa Monica Mountains each year, showing up in winter and early spring. This member of the Brassicaceae (Mustard) family likes shady, moist hillsides or stream banks in riparian areas. Each flower is about 12mm in diameter with four white to pink petals. The flower closes its petals in late afternoon as the sun goes down and nods its pedicel before a rain, protecting the pollen. It is perennial—after flowering and setting seed, it dies back to its roots where it goes dormant until next year’s rains awaken it.
I hiked this trail once before, in summer 2016, and had a bit of a heat exhaustion incident. I was alone at the time. I remember feeling very dizzy and nauseated, and crawling into the scant shade of a tree to rest and cool down. Luckily today was perfect hiking weather. No hyperthermia involved.
Encelia californica
Encelia californica is native to southern California and Baja California, where it’s a member of the coastal sage plant community. It’s a bushy, sprawling shrub reaching between one half and 1.5 meters in height. The solitary flower heads are daisy-like, and it blooms from February to June, attracting butterflies, bees, and other insects.
It’s often planted to start a native garden, and then replaced with longer-lived shrubs over time. It can help jumpstart an area to change the soil ecology to help mazanitas and ceanothus plants.
Our block is covered with bush sunflowers, and they’ve just begun to bloom. Yay! 🌻
Melanerpes lewis
Lupinus bicolor
Week four in the Perpetual Journal. As wildflower season slowly begins, I’m loving recording the first flowers I see.
oak broke
Several of the coast live oaks along High Road in Malibu Creek State Park broke and toppled in the recent storms. I hung out with one of them for a while this afternoon, enjoying its glowing heart.
Leucadendron
Leucadendron (commonly called cone-bush) is a genus endemic to South Africa. The flowers are produced in dense inflorescences at the branch tips; plants are dioecious, with separate male and female plants. The seed heads of Leucadendron are woody cone-like structures, giving rise to their common name.
Piuma Ridge Trail
I returned to my favourite MCSP trail for the first time in about six months. I wanted to see how it was handling all the rain, and the answer is .. beautifully! The many tributaries are gushing, the mosses are glowing neon, and the manzanitas are blanketing the woodland floor in white blossoms.
buddha in the grass
There used to be three buddhas out on the trails, placed by locals who respectfully use this undeveloped private land to exercise themselves and their dogs. The statues attract offerings of pretty rocks, flowers, and other treasures. Two of the statues were removed by the land-owner, but the smallest one remains.
Falco sparverius
The American kestrel (Falco sparverius), also called the sparrow hawk, is the smallest and most common falcon in North America. They usually hunt by perching and scanning the ground for prey to ambush – that’s what I saw this one doing –though they also hunt from the air. Diet typically consists of grasshoppers and other insects, lizards, mice, and small birds (e.g. sparrows). American kestrels occupy habitats ranging from deserts and grasslands to alpine meadows.
Happy to have spotted my first one today!
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