During this challenging time I couldn't be more grateful to share the world (aka my yard) with all of my BIOBLITZ buddies. Cheers to rabbits, mushrooms, sunflowers, and beer!
4-23 BIOBLITZ TOTAL: 128 Species
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ROBIN: I couldn't believe it when I first saw this Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes) captured on my security camera as s(he) snuck across the driveway. Maybe it's a coyote, I thought. Do we even have foxes in Los Angeles? We do! And I've spotted this one two more times in the last weeks.
The Red Fox was introduced decades ago for hunting and fur farming, and this young one is full of life and curiosity. S(he) is known to eat rodents, insects, fruits, worms, eggs, and birds. And, by the way, there are 3 other foxes in the Southern California coastal area.
4-23 BIOBLITZ TOTAL: 126 Species Everything starts at home. All politics are local. What goes around, comes around. All things are related. Especially in your yard... When Keith first moved into his Tucson home, almost every plant on the property was a Sonoran Desert native. He immediately started introducing exotics and food plants: South American pipevines (good for the butterflies), arugula (good for Keith), and a lime tree (good for margaritas!).
When Robin moved into her house in Redondo, every single plant on the property was an exotic or a food plant (avocados, apples, pears, oranges, limes). Welcome to Southern California! Recently, she has been introducing plants native to the endangered California Coastal Sage and Chaparral biome: Coyote Brush, California Sagebrush, Needle Grass. This weekend we launched the plant portion of our BIOBLITZ counting our natives. While these plants are certainly the most important for supporting local birds, insects, and animals, they aren’t the only players in the yard game! We both see our birds (and ourselves) benefiting from a variety of non-natives and food plants, which we will catalogue next... NATIVE PLANT TOTALS: Keith came up with 38 natives and Robin listed 9 -- which is probably about 9 more than most of her neighbors have. BIRD TOTALS: Since April 7, Robin has listed 13 for her yard (including the resident superstar Allen's Hummingbirds and a Townsend's Warbler that's been hanging around for the last few weeks). Keith has listed 19 (with Hooded Orioles visiting every day, which is a huge surprise). 4-16 BIOBLITZ TOTAL: 98 Species
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Robin & KeithThis year, April 7 to May 7, Robin and Keith are taking a crash course in learning to identify every living thing found in their home patches: Redondo Beach, CA, and Tucson, AZ. We will each be identifying and cataloguing every bug, bush, reptile, furry critter, and yes, of course, every bird! You can keep up with our efforts here at the Bird-in-Place BIOBLITZ blog (say that three times real fast). ArchivesCategories |