Flora and fauna musings from the Pacific Flyway and beyond
Dum spiro spero.
There’s much to observe in our environment. Learning about the ecosystems we inhabit is a lifelong curiosity.
As a new Californian, I am curious to know the names of the plants and animals which grow and live in this part of the world. Malibu’s marine layer climate provides a razor-thin margin of moisture which supports an array of life. This will capture some of my learnings. Feedback is always welcome.
Littoral Learning
At the foot of Temescal Canyon, within earshot of the roaring traffic on the Pacific Coast Highway, a littoral ecosystem emerges with the twice daily tides. In the intertidal zone, on a boulder-strewn jetty constructed perpendicular to the shore to slow the beach erosion, limpets are busy growing alongside two species of barnacles and mussels.…
Oddments
~ The American robins have found the seeps in Santa Ynez Canyon and are flocking to drink, en route north. Larger than their European counterparts which are house sparrow-sized, they are reliable visitors to birdbaths and often found around hackberry trees in winter. In spring and summer, they’re easily spotted with earthworms and insects in their…
Flying with Ed Ruscha
On a recent flight east, I saw this amazing earthly production. Leaving the Los Angeles basin around one p.m., housing quickly cedes to the desert. Mountains erupt, giving way to valleys, some fertile. Then Mother Nature pulls out all her geologic parlor tricks. Majestic escarpments, hued russet, pink, apricot, salmon and wheat, all undulating in…
- Birds (20)
- Raptors (3)
- Family (1)
- Fauna (2)
- Flora (4)
- Insects (3)
- Butterflies (1)
- Mammals (4)
- Marine Mammals (1)
- Mollusks (3)
- Ocean Life (4)
- Oceans (2)
- Sea Shore Species (4)
- Uncategorized (5)
- Word origins (2)
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