Dispatch from the Desert

Living cacti and dead palm trees in the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park and at the Salton Sea (palms only).  As with most things, I like to anthropomorphize these guys and imagine them as people.  Some are sad, some are talking, and some are glowing from within.

All pics by Sam.

Cacti Galore

We took a field trip to the California Cactus Center this weekend, the ultimate spot to buy museum worthy specimens.  I dare you to leave without a new potted friend.

Mystery Bug

Currently awaiting identification by the Bugman.  Photographed in Malibu.  Any ideas?

Update:  Mystery solved!  I haven't heard back from the Bugman yet, but I did a little more digging on the Bug Guide and found out this is a nymph of the Harlequin Bug.  Unfortunately it's not some lovely beneficial creature, but rather an invasive pest from Mexico/C. America.  More info here.

Vaux Swifts

(your screen is not dirty ... click on images to enlarge and see the tiny birds)

I cannot accurately describe how beautiful these birds were on Friday night.  I arrived downtown just as the clouds were starting to turn pink, and even from a couple of streets over, I could see the tiny specks in the sky I knew to be the swifts.  Once I got to the top of the parking garage, there was a crowd of people with necks craned, all watching the sky.  At first the birds looked like swarms of gnats, they were so tiny and high up.  As the light diminished and the clouds turned from butter to pink to gray, the swifts formed a more cohesive group.  Right before sunset they formed their finale and swirled into a funnel before dropping into the chimney for the night.  As I said, I cannot capture this with words.  I took some video but haven't figured out how to upload it yet.  But if you're in L.A., this event happens every night until they move south.  For more info, visit the Audubon Center's page.

Tonight!

Tonight I am going to see the Birds Over Broadway.    Each year the Vaux Swifts migrate through downtown Los Angeles, setting up home in this chimney, swimming and swirling through the air before funneling into their temporary house.  The best viewing point is apparently from the top of the adjacent parking garage.  I've never seen it before, but after seeing this video, I can't stop thinking about it. 

Photos above by Martha Benedict.

Heron

Elegant and alert visitor at the turtle pond today.  He had a koi for lunch, but couldn't figure out how to get one of those turtles down his throat.

Watery pools of light

Wearing this ring would be like wearing a snapshot of the perfect swimming hole.  Always there to gaze into as if you were sitting alone on a hot rock, being cooled just by the sight of it.  Whoever made this ring in 1820 must have known exactly what I'm talking about.

From Erie Basin, purveyor of dreams.

Sand Wasp

Isn't this a beautiful beast?  Finally got some good shots of the Sand Wasp in the old garden.  Click on image to get larger view of those eyes and perfect chevron-esque stripes.  More info on these native pollinators here: What's That Bug?

Longstem Buckwheat

My favorite California native, longstem buckwheat or Eriogonum elongatum, is blooming in the old garden.  I stopped by yesterday to do some maintenance, and am glad I brought my camera.  Large swaths of silvery gray stems draped over the other plants in the garden, which looked a little worse for wear after a very hot week.  It's the end of the summer, the hottest and driest time of the year, and this buckwheat was thriving while many of the other plants were dormant. Like most other buckwheats, this one has small white puff balls of flowers, with faint pink tinges.  As autumn gets closer and these dry out, they turn a lovely rust color. 

Not surprisingly, the buckwheats (this elongatum and also the grande rubescens) were the most popular with the bugs.  These guys were hopping with bees and moths of all sorts, creating a very healthy hum.

These are seasonally available from Theodore Payne.  More info from Calflora as well as from this charming video.

Biking Bag

Tote bags are great, but a tote bag that turns into a backpack is even better.  Especially when riding a bike.  The Trans//Porter is handmade in Brooklyn and available from Dargelos.

Found via Iva Jean.

Model

Sorry for the radio silence this week, but I am just emerging from the attic where I was building this scale model of a school for my landscape architecture class.   Now that I've gotten all of the crazy glue off of my fingers,  it's time to get back to living things!  A bug post is coming up later today.

Stormy flora

Went out tonight, and the weather caught us off guard.  The sky turned pink, then yellow, then dark.  We drove around looking for a high spot from which to view the oncoming storm, and I snapped some pics of the flora along the way.  It's hard to get black silhouettes without a cloudy backdrop behind, so tonight was perfect.  Too bad I couldn't catch some lightening in the shot too for the full effect of the evening.  No rain actually came, but I'm still crossing my fingers for an early autumn storm, a rarity in Los Angeles.

Stopped by fig central last night to gather some for a friend.  I made sure to leave enough for the other critters.  Looks like someone with a sharp beak or teeth was getting into this one.

Dispatch from the estate : evening

Just before we dashed off to dinner, the house was sparkling with light.

Visitors

Colonel Mustard on the back doorstep.

Modern Planters

Gorgeous new recycled planters by The Haskell Collection.  Sadly out of my price range, but lovely to look at online. 

Found via L.A.at Home.