Finally. A SoCal forest that’s been lying in ruins since the 1950s is getting proper attention and love. Not a trees-on-land forest; this SoCal oceanic giant kelp forest off the Palos Verdes Peninsula coastline represents seaweed at its finest and is a testament to the power of nature to rebound after devastating decimation. It’s estimated […]
“I have always been fascinated by these flying dinosaurs, but this film is really about relationships we humans have with wild animals,” says filmmaker Judy Irving about her new film, Pelican Dreams that comes to the Southland next week in limited release beginning November 7, 2014 Irving, Emmy-Award winning filmmaker of The Wild Parrots of […]
The recent news that one type of dangerous poison has been discontinued in Los Angeles parks and open spaces was welcomed by Alison Simard of Citizens For Los Angeles Wildlife (CLAW), an environmental group that would like to see all toxic rodenticides (aka rat poison) eliminated completely from city boundaries. But, she conceded, this news […]
Every fall between the end of September and the beginning of October, the Vaux’s swifts embark on a Southern migration, and along the way, these slim cigar-shaped birds with crescent wings, roost en masse in urban chimneys. For many years, as many as 14,000 Vauxies have been occupying a chimney near Spring Street and Broadway in […]
Rosi Dagit was pleased. The environmental scientist was at the banks of the Los Angeles River near North Atwater Park in Atwater Village waiting for anglers to bring over their catches in large orange buckets. “This is the best citizen scientist program,” she said adding that often she’s the one wading in rivers and streams […]
There’s a new chapter being written for two SoCal mountain lions that were found almost three years ago under a car in Burbank. Remember them? The two cubs (about three months old) were found under a parked car in early December 2011; residents were poking broomsticks to shoo them away before animal control rescued them. […]
You don’t have to be a biologist to assume that California’s epic drought is affecting water-loving critters. Frogs and amphibians lazing and splashing around mountain streams and pools are harder to find these days – especially for those endangered ones like the rare mountain yellow-legs frogs which are on both state and federal lists. A […]
Setting the record straight about the butterfly’s lesser respected cousin, National Moth Week (July 18-26) was created to raise awareness of the unique biodiversity of these winged wonders. Here in Los Angeles, moth-gawkers will be out this week to catch a glimpse of these ‘furry’ flyers. Here’s a short primer on five local lepidropteric luminaries: […]
When he was a kid in the 1970s, Ed Pert used to head down to San Juan Creek in San Diego County and meet old timers there who would talk about a creek so full of fish, ‘you could walk across it on their backs.’ Pert would fish back then with his buddies alongside those […]
The students were breathless. “Mr. Rumble! We saw something in the bush! Come quickly!” Bradley Rumble, principal at Leo Politi School near downtown Los Angeles was intrigued and followed the fourth graders out of the outdoor shady area into their once concrete-and-Bermuda-grass-plot-now-turned-native-plant-and-wildlife-habitat. After all, there *could* be a critter out there. It’s not unusual in […]
They may not be warm and fuzzy, but turtles and tortoises represent one of nature’s finest adaptions that has lasted these carapace-covered critters for millions of years. Sure birds evolved from dinosaurs, but these creatures are the real deal! Celebrating shelled reptiles from here to Timbuktu is the 14th Annual World Turtle Day (May 23, […]
(Editor’s note: This guest blog is by Katrina Stenson, an undergraduate ecology student at San Diego State University working on her thesis involving the California ground squirrel, a very common critter in SoCal. Here, she outlines her upcoming research and will keep us posted on what she discovers!) When you’re doing your weekly grocery shopping […]