Mystery Remains

I found this skull a few weeks ago when hiking, and have some ideas of what it may be, but am not sure.  Any thoughts?  I will be talking to some experts this weekend, and will post an update then.

Update:  It's a bobcat!  I met with Patty Sun, an educator/naturalist at the Debs Park Audubon Center, and she confirmed it.  I left it with them and hopefully it will be put to good educational use. 

Wild LA

I hike in Debs Park at least once a week.  It's a small slice of wild in LA, and provides me with the chance to observe nature and have quiet moments to myself.  That being said, it is often buzzing with families, dogs ranging from chihuahuas to deerhounds, and exercisers blasting their Beyonce from their phones. 

This week, news was released that a bobcat has been spotted in the park.  I know I will most likely never see it, but I will be keeping my eyes peeled for any trace of the beast.  

Here are some of my phone photos from my hikes.  The sunsets never disappoint!

Typical dreamy sunset.

The pond at sunset.

A momentary pause on the path reveals these treasures.

A tree turned altar?  Guadalupe was carved farther down the trunk.

Foggy winter morning walk.

More fog that lifted as the sun rose. 

Sunset on Christmas.

ABQ Thanksgiving

Traveled to see my family in Albuquerque this past week, and took a hike around the Three Sisters.  The textures of the rocks, grasses, and cacti combined with the open sky above set the scene for a glorious post-feast walk.

Church of Crickets

Tom Waits (on Robert Wilson): "Wilson, he's always playing with time. I heard a recording recently of crickets slowed way down. It sounds like a choir, it sounds like angel music. Something sparkling, celestial with full harmony and bass parts - you wouldn't believe it. It's like a sweeping chorus of heaven, and it's just slowed down, they didn't manipulate the tape at all. So I think when Wilson slows people down, it gives you a chance to watch them moving through space. And there's something to be said for slowing down the world."

Growing up in the south, the summer chorus of crickets and cicadas felt like a throbbing pulse, and it's one of the things I miss most about living in that verdant climate.  This recording brings that sound and the pace of the south to another level. 

Listen here.
 
Source: "Woyzeck to run at Freud Playhouse". Daily Bruin (USA), by Andrew Lee. December 3, 2002

The importance of natives

A friend of mine just shared this article with me, and it pretty well sums up why I care about plants:

Just Because It'll Grow in Your Yard Doesn't Mean You Should Plant It, by Lisa Novik. 


Photo from If Nature Could Talk

Hooded Oriole's Nest (RIP)

 

I came upon this sad scene yesterday in the yard.  I wasn't sure who it had belonged to, but after a quick look online, it was clear it was built by the industrious Hooded Oriole, who I have never actually seen in our yard. 

The ants were making quick work of the abandoned, tiny eggs, and I let them do their thing while I poked and prodded at the incredibly well built sock nest.  Upon peering in deeper, I could see more eggs inside. From what I've seen online, it looks like these nests usually hang vertically, but the placement of the eggs and the structure of the nest make me wonder if it rested horizontally.  

 While this abode and family is no longer, I hope the birds try again, perhaps in a tree less infested with squirrels prone to knocking things around.   

Murmuration

These videos of starlings have been blowing my mind all day.  I want to find some way to make hang them on my wall, so that when I need a break or to be momentarily mesmerized, I can gaze into the swell and swoop of their dance.

I suggest watching them without sound.

Found via Kottke.

Good signs

Someone in LA found a charming way to make us all look up from the sidewalk. 

Photo by Keith Johnson, found via Larchmont Buzz.

Trees

For Christmas, I received a copy of Bernd Heinrich's book, The Trees in my Forest, in which he describes the details of his forest ecosystem.  The detail employed requires observation skills far beyond my own, but his ability to sit atop a tree and sketch the surrounding treetops each season, noting all the subtle changes, exhibits a youthful curiosity we all have buried.  Perhaps that curiosity is tempered by the wise processing of what the observations actually mean, something I'm still working on grasping. 

Woodcut prints above by Bryan Nash Gill.

Tulum

This fall has had me traveling more than I normally like to, but looking back on it all now, it's been a wealth of experiences.  We vacationed in Miami, attended a wedding in north Mississippi, and just returned from another wedding in Cozumel.  Before joining the party, we decided to linger in Tulum for a couple of days.  Most of the time we read in the hammock, but I ventured out for a few walks along the wide white beaches, which were dense with life forms (and remnants of oceanic life).

Another hopper in the black sage (Salvia mellifera). 

Vaux Swifts

It's that time of year again, when the vaux swifts put on a show in downtown LA.  I took this video of them last year.   According the Audubon Center at Debs Park, this is the week to go -- they've been seeing large numbers of swifts over the LA River during the day.  For more info on when and where to see this stunning sight, please visit their site.

In Miami

One day in, and I've already met some very nice creatures.

P-22

Things are getting wild here in LA.  P-22, or Puma 22 has arrived.

The numerous rumors of a mountain lion living in Griffith Park have now been verified through a critter cam photo.  The 4210 acre park in the middle of the city has long been home to deer and coyotes,  and this most recent beast had to cross freeways and suburbs to arrive at its new home.  The fate of urban mountain lions makes my heart stop briefly, and despite my excitement, I fear for this one now.

"Griffith Park is so tiny, yet we have this young male mountain lion in there," Sikich (National Park Service) said. "We're really interested in how he got there, how long he will stay and, if and when he chooses to leave, how he will cross these freeways."

May I suggest another carmageddon to facilitate his migration?

Found via South Willard.

A new gardening assistant joined me as I turned on the hose earlier today.  She was quite curious about whatever was shaking her intricate web -- unfortunately for her, it wasn't a juicy morsel, but just a clumsy human hand.

I'm going to be extra careful when reaching for the faucet from now on.

Dispatch from the VT Woods

A damp and early spring came to Vermont this year.  The trilliums bloomed and gone, there was still winter debris left on the paths.  She came upon this eft newt slipping off a branch -- he was only trying to get a better view.  All was well as she scooped him up and perched him atop her head.  The walk allowed them both to clear their minds and with this new vantage, the adolescent newt could now grasp the extent of his habitat out of the pond.   

More info on the Eastern/red-spotted newt here.