Posts filed under 'Animals'
The crows aren’t the only ones coming out for fall in Los Angeles. Huge, beautiful (creepy?) orb spiders have come back. Every evening in a couple of choice locations around the yard, about 15 feet in the air, they start weaving. Before bed I can usually spot a couple not far from where they were the night before. These orb spiders have huge bulbous bodies and, unlike the many jumping spiders, cobweb spiders, house spiders and other crawly friends around here, these guys make big old classic webs. They shoot out long strands between the trees and the eves of our house and then make the circuit, around and around, filling them in for a couple hours. And it looks like they capture big old moths. I hope so, for all that work. Frequently they are still hanging there in the morning with their webs slightly broken, and they seem to hide out during the day.
Lots of good info and photos can be found at the Natural History Museum’s Spider Survey page. You can even participate by dunking your spiders into alcohol, filling out a form and sending them to the museum. (I prefer to leave them in my yard). And we love this book, Insects of the Los Angeles Basin
for all of our figuring-out-what-bug-this-is needs, also written by folks at the Natural History Museum.
September 5th, 2007
Well they’re back, whoopin’ it up at dusk in huge numbers in the local trees. I refuse to believe summer is over, but the flocks of crows that like to party around here have started their antics. Last month it was a very very loud mocking bird making some kind mating call through the warm summer nights. Now it looks like the crows are getting together for some nice fall roosting.
For a few years I had wondered about the raucous crow festivities here in LA, so in January I asked asked Kimball L. Garrett of the Natural History Museum a few questions about crows in Los Angeles. He has some insights into crow behavior and some perspective on why they seem to take over urban areas. Basically, we’ve replaced the native scrub habitat with crow-friendly trees. And we don’t shoot them like farmers do (it is against the law, so don’t try). Read the article to learn more.
And I’m sure we’ll hear more complaints about the flocking crows this year. I’m still betting that someone here in Santa Monica will come up with a bazillion dollar crow birth control program. So stay tuned for that….
August 26th, 2007
Solar landscape light
is such an amazing innovation. Easy to install, eco-friendly and, as of this season, it is finally quite affordable. At last an environmentallyi friendly product that sells itself not because it is green, but because we are all lazy and it is easier than wired products.
Well, now that solar landscape lights have hit the big time, thoughtful product developers are taking the technology and making sophisticated decorative items that all modern households should have. For instance, take the Golden Retriever Dog Solar Landscape Light Statue. So life-like you’d swear an actual minature golden retriever was holding a lantern in your yard. One of a kind and available now from the good people at Winning Gifts, care of Amazon. I would suggest you buy it as a gift, but, as usual when gifting, how can you help but get one for yourself too?
May 9th, 2007
In the first article of our Issues department, Carla Wise has a hard time caring that Polar Bears are becoming endangered. Not that she doesn’t care — she’s a conservation biologist who has devoted her life to endangered species — it’s just that climate change is now threatening all living species. Check out this incredible article on Polar Bears, climate change and the evolving environmental movement. Don’t despair, it includes a strong set of solutions to help save the Polar Bears, human beings and all living species.
You can leave any comments on the article here….
April 20th, 2007
Our Quixo Peru Animals, Plants & Natural History page has been updated! Say you want to know where to find a llama, alpaca, vicuña or guanaco…. Or maybe you want to find the best reference books for bird watching in Peru and South America. And by the way did you know that in the highlands of Peru you might find a member of the chinchilla family that looks like a cross between a rabbit and a squirrel? You guessed it, the vizacha.
Anyway, there’s a lot more, like info on dear, foxes, giant hummingbirds. And as always great book recommendations.
March 27th, 2007
We’ve just posted a new backyard science and fun with nature in los angeles guide! Catherine Criolla has submitted a fantastic write-up on backyard science activities, books, places to go and resources to find more information. I guess it is for kids, but there’s stuff for everyone. There’s stuff about all kinds of critters — bugs (insects, spiders and butterflies), birds, squirrels… You name it. Plus some tips on getting out and enjoying nature around Southern California and beyond. Leave a note here if you have any additions or suggestions.
March 12th, 2007
Just these week I posted a little article about the Crows here in Santa Monica. I had been curious about these amazing flocks of birds. Well, as I had suspected, some people are getting riled by them.
Santa Monica Mirror whining about crows
What do they want animal control to do, round up the crows in big nets? Poison them? Knowing Santa Monica liberals, by next week we’ll have a bird birth control program in place that costs enough to provide health insurance to all of the domestic help in Los Angeles. And the real reason this is happening? Our hedges are now so tall the crows are nesting in them.
Honestly, it is not that bad. Enjoy the fact that we have a little bit of nature here in the City. Or cut down your trees and replace them with native scrub.
January 26th, 2007
At least it seems like it! Every winter crows take over our Santa Monicaneighborhood, having wild partie like a bunch of insane winged bikers. They gather in the evenings and mornings and if they choose our part of the neighborhood, the racket can be loud and intimidating.
So I thought I’d get to the bottom of it. I had a little conversation with Kimball L. Garrett from the Los Angeles Natural History Museum. You can read the Los Angeles Crows article here. Particularly poignant are Mr. Garrett’s comments at the end about the poor job we are doing protecting upland habitat such as sage scrub, grasslands, while we focus so much on wetlands. Sounds like a we’ll need to do another article! And feel free to leave you crow and other experiences in the comments!
Oh, one PS to the article. Just after completing it, our local crows were making a particularly big ruckus. Next thing we knew, a swarm of them flew over our heads chasing a huge hawk who appeared to be clutching something (or someone, ooh hoo ha ha). We don’t get big old hawks in our neighborhood very often, so it was pretty impressive!
January 23rd, 2007
