I've found my people [Brown Recluse division]

That would be the Brown Recluse spider, ha very ha.

So many years...! So many years I've spent patiently explaining that your aunt in Pacoima or your grandfather in Carmel was actually not, I repeat, not bitten by a Brown Recluse spider, because the Brown Recluse doesn't live in California, and even where it does live, it isn't running around biting people. It's shy and, well, reclusive. And did I mention that most medical doctors are not arthropodologists? May I add that most medical doctors do not spend their days researching bacterial infections, Staph infections in particular? Here's someone who does. Oh, kids, how this makes me smile:

It's not a freaking spider bite

Via this:
MRSA, spider bites and denial

And here's more:
“Spider bite” lesions are usually diagnosed as skin and soft-tissue infections

And more:
Spider!

And more:
Male funnel-web spider [ at somethingscrawlinginmyhair.com — awesome-sauce, I'm telling you]

All with lovely linkage. Like this:

An approach to spider bites: Erroneous attribution of dermonecrotic lesions to brown recluse or hobo spider bites in California Canada [pdf]

California does have a Desert Recluse. [Spider!] It's shy, reclusive [quelle surprise] and reluctant to bite. Just for you, Californians:
Brown Recluse and Other Recluse Spiders

Photo credit: awesome shot of a spider at Kent Ridge Park in Singapore, by Tripod Ape, at Flickr.

Walla, trois de la fourrière [translation: it's a Costco dog bed!]

Yes, it's hard for the dogs to stay put, what with the fun-house floors and all. They keep me awake all night with their rolling from one end of the cabin to the other [sigh].

Walla, I'll have y'all know, is not just an Indian suffix indicating a person involved in some kind of activity, or half the name of a county seat in the northwest. No, readers, "walla" is a loan word, and this most excellent spelling was invented by a west coast rancher and sheepdogger. He was headed to Canada to judge a trial in 2002:

For me it started getting on the plane from San Francisco, California, USA. I knew it was going to be a challenge because my passport hadn't come in and the officials said I needed 2 federal picture I.D.'s. After all the hoopla and dance the official asked if I had a Costco Card with my picture on it and walla, I had it and on we go. [From Sheepdog-L.]

Can't see that happening in today's police state land o' the free, now, can we?

But anyhow. I can't think of Costco these days without 1) saying Walla! to myself, or 2) thinking of cheap dog-beds. Huge, cheap dog-beds. Bounce was sleeping on one of them this morning, and then Smoke curled up next to her, and then the landshark came diving in for some Smoke-wuv, and there I was trying to aim over my shoulder with the little point 'n' shoot. Good times, good times ;~)

[heart]

My best girl ever takes a snooze at the cabin. Labor Day weekend, 2010.

SB 250 is dead, yay [whew!]

According to a nice phone person in Assemblymember Monning's office as of 7:35 or so.

I sure hope this is the final stake through the heart of [state-wide] mandatory spay/neuter. From my lips to doG's ear...

UPDATE: Then again... see Save Our Dogs for the latest.

UPDATE II: It's 10:15 PM, and darned if this crappy bit of legislation isn't being voted on again. Sheesh.

Aaaaaaand UPDATE III: SB 250 not only merely dead, it's really most sincerely dead.

Huge props to Laura S of Save Our Dogs for all she's done and continues to do for dogs and the Californians who care about them.

And so to bed.

Home range

In the San Bernardino Mountains, looking north towards Big Bear Lake from the high country along Forest Road 2N10. Click photos to embiggen.

The San Bernardino Mountains of Southern California are a transverse range, which means they run east-west, unlike most mountain ranges in North America. If I remember correctly, California has the only transverse ranges in the nation. Geology is hella hecka interesting in these parts. Thank you, tectonic plates! The east end of Big Bear Valley is lower in elevation, hotter and drier — Mojave Desert to the east, Sonoran Desert to the south — but the west is green and high and wonderful.

If you're feeling adventurous you can reach Big Bear Lake from the south via Forest Road 1N54: Clark's Grade. Back in the early 1900s this dirt track was the main road to the lake, and visitors generally traveled in the motorized stages operated by White's Mountain Auto Line. My mother's father drove a stage for the Mountain Auto Line every summer while he was a student at USC. I'm looking at his badges right now, along with a photo of Grandpa and his fellow drivers in front of the Freight & Passenger Station at Big Bear Lake. "Registered Chauffeur": 1916, 1917, 1918, 1919. It was in 1919 that my great-grandmother got the lot lease for the cabin.

Clark's Grade was [is] a series of dusty switchbacks, and it must have been an experience to drive up the Grade in an open stage. The descent from Clark's Summit [elevation 8000'] into Big Bear Valley is beautiful. Bluff Lake and Metcalf Meadows are as lovely today as they must have looked to visitors escaping the inland valley heat back in 1916. [Speaking of which: 99F down the hill today — 79F at the cabin.] The stages used to rumble down Mill Creek Road [below our cabin] and pass through the toll gate at Oak Knoll Lodge, and then they'd roll on a few more miles to the other lodges and hotels by the lake.

Nowadays the main roads to Big Bear are City Creek [Highway 330] and Highways 18 and 38. Clark's Grade, the toll gates and the old dirt roads are ancient history. Those roads belong to mountain bikers now, and to high-clearance vehicles like my trusty Ford pickup. On a recent drive to Bluff Lake [it's two/three miles from the cabin] and then east for seven miles to Moonridge via 2N10, we saw maybe a dozen mountain bikers, and just three or four motor vehicles.

A marshy meadow at the east end of Bluff Lake.

Ferns along the north shore. I was birding here in early June [a month before these photos were taken] and there were no ferns in sight — just pine needles and scattered banks of snow.

From the gallery of Unfortunate Family Photos: my sis holds a confab with Lily the Pug at one of the forest's countless boulder formations.

Bluff Lake, with mallards.

I know what you're thinking: this rock would look better with a pug.

And walla, as we say here in California. Much better.

Home, sweet home: old cabin on the north shore of Bluff Lake. From left: Grayling the border collie [who turned eleven in July], my beautiful sis, and the always photogenic Princess LilyPug.

Adventure is her middle name

Danger Pug takes care of navigation as we prowl the forest roads.

The cuteness: my favorite nuthatch

More from the cabin deck. Pygmy Nuthatch photographed by Dianna of L.A. Audubon.

A good dad: Purple Finch and fledgling

Purple Finch dads totally rock :~) More photos by Dianna of L.A. Audubon, with a curiously colored Purple Finch added for good measure.

What but fear winged the birds...?

Been summering, off and on, at the family cabin in the San Bernardino National Forest near Big Bear Lake. A most excellent group from L.A. Audubon spent some time on the cabin deck a few weeks ago, and photographer Dianna took this great shot [click to embiggen] of a Cooper's Hawk:

Pine Siskins, beware!

[Jeffers: The Bloody Sire.]

Smoke

He'll be two in September. Photos from the last few evenings here in God's country, the San Bernardino National Forest near Big Bear Lake.

I like her

Brenda Barnette, the new GM of Los Angeles Animal Services, meets the press with a big ol' love bug/lap dog of a pit bull.

H/T: L.A. Animal Watch.

Hate! Hysterics! Hyperbole!

And firebombs! Welcome to Los Angeles, Brenda Barnette, and have fun dealing with some of the most vindictive, sanctimonious, self-absorbed "animal lovers" in North America.

Brenda leaves the Seattle Humane Society with a remarkable record of success. Under her leadership, in 2009 the Seattle Humane Society had the best year in its 113-year history with the placement of 6,091 animals and a Live Save Rate of 91.4 percent. Much of this success was due to a robust Foster Care Program that allowed more than 4,300 animals to benefit from home care while they waited for homes of their own. [Source.]

What's not to like, right? But wait! News of Barnette's ties to the [oh noes!] American Kennel Club

caused a collective gasp by the small group of invitation-only spay/neuter advocates present, most of whom were longtime animal devotees who celebrated with Lakers-style cheers and tears in 2008 when Councilman Richard Alarcon spearheaded, and the City Council passed, what is termed the toughest spay/neuter ordinance in the country.

For all the good that's done. [And just for the record, "the ASPCA is not aware of any credible evidence demonstrating a statistically significant enhancement in the reduction of shelter intake or euthanasia as a result of the implementation of a mandatory spay/neuter law."]

An anonymous commenter frets over Barnette and her ilk:

"Note what [a group in favor of No-Kill in Seattle] proposes [...] 'county should open up the county code and reevaluate the regulations related to licensing, pet limits, and special permits...so that the county can ensure that none of its existing regulations are inhibiting the development of a model, No Kill program.’

"Do you know what that means? Take AWAY animal control laws, like breeder licensing, pet limit laws (that prevent hoarding situations). Watch the puppy mill breeders, dog fighters, and hoarders escalate with NO LAWS to deal with them."

Because the state of Washington has no animal cruelty laws! And dogfighting is legal there, apparently. Los Angeles is doomed! I'm trying to imagine how much these critics must hate someone like Bill Bruce of Calgary Animal Sevices.

The last two blockquotes above are from this article. [By this familiar voice.]

I wish Barnette the best, and I'm glad she got the job. Most people in SoCal have the sense to know that hate and hysterics don't help shelter animals find homes. Why not try good leadership and smart policies for a change? The Bill Bruce model has done wonders in Calgary — let's see how a similar approach works at Los Angeles Animal Services.

Related [and rated R for language]: Can't post the title on this here PG-rated blog, but Judy Mancuso's husband biggest fan weighs in. Yeah, that helps animals.

Why are bear cubs so adorable?

Dunno. They just are. I wuv them.

Now that the snow is melting, wildlife is popping up all over the SoCal nightly news reports: bears, mountain lions [see links below] and what-do-you-mean-this-isn't-New-Mexico far-ranging birds. [Shout-out to fellow birder S-, who photographed a Greater Pewee — is that an oxymoron? — up at Arrastre Creek today in the San Bernardinos. Since 1900 only a dozen or so of these Central American flycatchers have been spotted in California, according to the latest eBird stats. Darn day job... I'll get you anyway, Pewee!]

Topic. Bear cub adorableness:





Local mountain lion link fest:
"Just feet from my front door"
This just in: Wild animals live here
Woman survives mountain lion scare
Staring down nature's nose

May Day at Big Morongo

That's snow-capped San Gorgonio at 11,503 feet in the background. Big Morongo is a desert oasis: "The Morongo Fault, running through the canyon, causes water from melting snow on the surrounding San Bernardino Mountains to form Big Morongo Creek. The creek intermittently rises to the surface for just three miles, between the Mojave and Sonoran Deserts, before it disappears underground again. The water percolates into the sandy soil as it crosses the Morongo Basin, but as it enters Big Morongo Canyon, it encounters "fault gouge" (pulverized rock), which forces it above ground, creating a unique desert wetland with a series of perennial springs. " [Source]

It's wonderful to visit a birding hot spot like Big Morongo — as they say, the worst day birding there is better than the best day working. I kid. Love my job, folks! Back when California schools had more money, I'd take students on field trips to Big Morongo and we'd hike all over. Mesquite Trail, Canyon Trail, Yucca Ridge Trail... You can imagine how quiet the bus was on the way home. Good times.

Saturday's field trip was short on students, but included some terrific birders and some monster camera lenses.

Then there was me. Red-tailed Hawk nest by your blogger:


And the same nest photographed a few days earlier, by a dude with much better gear and a good eye.

Summer Tanager, by yours truly:


Summer Tanager [misidentified] by the same fine photographer who snapped the Red-tail pre-fledglings. You get the idea.

The Vermilion Flycatcher is probably the best-known bird at Big Morongo, and I wouldn't dream of subjecting you to my Vermilion photos. Check these out instead. [Big Morongo birds in the third link.]


Here's what American White Pelicans look like when they're riding thermals and assuming different shapes. [They made a Pointer!] They were very, very high. Our field trip leader shot them with his monster lens and enlarged the photo on his computer at home and counted them: 963. Props to Doug, who tore his eyes from the steep trail and saw them first:


We also checked out a Long-eared Owl nest in a big cottonwood just outside the Preserve. There were four impossibly huge, downy chicks perched in the branches near the nest, and one dead vole hanging from a twig. Mom was glaring down at us, so we tiptoed off, but I got a photo:


Here's my list for the day, around and inside the Preserve:

Gambel's Quail
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
Eurasian Collared-Dove
White-winged Dove
Long-eared Owl
Anna's Hummingbird
Dusky Flycatcher
Black Phoebe
Vermilion Flycatcher
Brown-crested Flycatcher
Western Bluebird
American Robin
Summer Tanager
Western Tanager
Hooded Oriole
Lesser Goldfinch
House Sparrow

American White Pelican
Black-chinned Hummingbird
Nuttall's Woodpecker
Bell's Vireo
Western Scrub-Jay
Common Raven
Oak Titmouse
Bushtit
Bewick's Wren
Phainopepla
Orange-crowned Warbler
Wilson's Warbler
California Towhee
Black-headed Grosbeak
House Finch

*************

Also: complete solidarity with my brothers and sisters who marched for immigration reform on May 1. As long as our nation keeps waving giant neon Help Wanted signs at our southern border, there will be poor, desperate people willing to risk everything to come here. All the ass-hattery in Arizona won't change that. What will help is the reform of antiquated laws that are "unwieldy, cumbersome, and excessively complex," "obtuse, and, at times, unintelligible." [Related: "What Part of Legal Immigration Don't You Understand?" from Reason.]

Pacific Flyway

These Ross's Geese winter in California, raise young in the Arctic. Thanks to groups like Ducks Unlimited, the species is thriving and extending its range. Photo by NDomer73 on Flickr: click for big.

Migration is so awesome. Arrivals, departures... I'm missing these handsome little souls, who wintered in the backyard brush pile, and these busy gents, who wintered here too and have also headed north. [As a wise woman said: "Remember that someone else is waiting for them, and will be happy to see them arrive."] Great photos by The Digiscoper, Mike McDowell. And look who just showed up! A heart bird:

Western Tanager, by Phae on Flickr. Click for bigger.

This coming weekend I'm planning to bird Big Morongo, which is Pacific Flyway Central at the moment. Migrants everywhere you look.

*************

An extraordinarily moving report on an 18,000 mile migration:

“I just did a talk yesterday for some colleagues at the U.S. Geological Survey,” Gill told me not long after E7 had been tracked to New Zealand. “And I showed these graphics of E7’s flight and said, ‘Okay, the flight is nonstop, no food, no water, no sleep as we know it, flying for eight days,’ and there was just this silence in the room, and I could see their minds trying to wrap around this—as does mine. I try to be objective as a scientist, but this just . . .” Gill’s sentence trailed off as he seemed unable to summon up the right word to describe his reaction.

More about this amazing flight here, from the USGS Alaska Science Center Shorebirds Research website.

The last leg of E7's journey is the most extraordinary, entailing a non-stop flight of more than eight days and a distance of 7,200 miles [...]

Since they are land birds, godwits like E7 can't stop to eat or drink while flying over open-ocean. The constant flight speeds at which E7 was tracked by satellite indicate that she did not stop on land.

Godwits do not become adults until their 3rd or 4th year and many live beyond 20 years of age. If 18,000 miles is an average annual flight distance, then an adult godwit would fly some 288,000 miles in a lifetime. [Source.]

E7's tribe: Bar-Tailed Godwits, by nkenji on Flickr. Click for big.

There have been a few more

More aftershocks. [Click for big.] This is a screengrab from a site bookmarked by just about everyone in the Golden State: Recent Earthquakes in California and Nevada. Real-time updating goodness, and all you need to know about the magic of plate tectonics.

According to the L.A. Times, the fault responsible for this quake was south of the San Andreas. One man died when his home near Mexicali collapsed, and "at least six homes were destroyed by fires caused by the quake."

In this KTLA news video, Caltech's most excellent Dr. Lucy Jones answers everyone's seismic, if not seismically sophisticated, questions. [As TJ Sullivan tweets, "Hearing Dr. Lucy after an earthquake is like hearing Vin Scully call a Dodger game. She's the real deal." Another classic from TJ: "What did we learn from today's quake? That hundreds of people in SoCal are constantly shooting video of their pool water."]

Whenever there's a quake over 5 or so, for days afterwards I always put a little flashlight in my jeans pocket and keep it close pretty much 24/7. Because earthquakes in total darkness are not cool.

Note to self: train dogs to duck, cover and hold.

Mashable has rounded up some earthquake photos from Twitter. This has to be high on everyone's "there but for the grace of God" list:

Evacuating Disneyland, by ms_kristin.

Related:
Protect Yourself During an Earthquake... Drop, Cover, and Hold On! [and forget that "Triangle of Life" BS].

We felt that one, all right

Eep. I usually don't do much of anything when I feel a smallish earthquake [the series of three point this and four point that we had recently, for example], but I stood up for this one. It felt like the house was on a boat. Gentle rolling, then slightly stronger shaking, then it subsided. Birds at the feeder did nuthin' — kept eating. [You wild things are supposed to warn us by freaking out! Did you not get that memo?] The landshark was worried. Bounce slept through the whole thing.

Ten miles south of Mexicali/Calexico. Damn. Looks like it was right on the San Andreas... Hope folks are safe down there. If it shook the way it did here, 170 miles from the epicenter, I can only imagine what the shaking was like for the people in Guadalupe Victoria. My thoughts are with them.

Pattern developing...? Boy, it's a kick living on the San Andreas. [runs off to complete the "Did you feel it?" form]

Birds of Pleasantville

Bird of Paradise [plant] on right, and Hooded Oriole [bird] on the left at a friend's feeder, April 3, 2010. Click to embiggen.

This coming Friday will be the last day to count birds for the 2009-2010 season of Project FeederWatch, and I'm hoping for an oriole. I know they're in town. This most excellent Hooded Oriole was at a friend's home a few miles south of my place. Must rethink feeder placement...

Hello, tiny naked hatchlings! These little guys were in a nest hidden in a box in my friend's garage. Mom [a Bewick's Wren] was raging, so I left in a hurry.



Saturday was the Inland Orange Conservancy's Celebration of Citrus. [Yay, Old Grove Orange!]



House across the street, all pretty and spring-like:



And when I got home, there was a Black-headed Grosbeak in the feeder tray. I could only photograph him through the screen and into the sun [weeps], but still — first one this year for me. A good way to end a good afternoon. Fly north, orioles...!



Related:

Feeder Friday; Attracting Orioles

My spring-fu is strong

No more winter browns. American Goldfinches are going through the closets, doing some spring cleaning, getting rid of the old stuff. [My local Goldfinches are a tad further along than this.] Photo by Doug Greenberg on Flickr.

What the well-dressed male Goldfinch will be wearing in a few weeks. Photo by Eric Bégin on Flickr.

Western Bluebird [and House Finches] by jek in the box on Flickr.

And they say we don't have seasons!

It went from wet and cold and dark to warm and sunny overnight. Birdsong everywhere, bazillions of birds, everything insanely green and sunny and beautiful. Hawks are nesting, turkey vultures are soaring, owl chicks are growing [owlets will be banded tomorrow [March 20] at 3:00 PM Pacific Time, webcam fans], and life is good.

I can't believe the Project FeederWatch season is almost over.

I looked out the kitchen window this afternoon and saw a big crowd bellying up to the birdbath: a flock of maybe 30 Cedar Waxwings, half a dozen Western Bluebirds, a Robin, some American Goldfinches, a warbler or two, all at the same time, everyone banking and landing, or drinking, or diving in and splashing. It was beautiful. All photos from Flickr/Creative Commons, because I don't digiscope. Yet.

Cedar Waxwing by ru 24 real on Flickr.

Cedar Waxwings by drewweber on Flickr.

American Robin. Beautiful photo by cruadinx on Flickr.