When I park the ATV at the top of a hill and the drone of the engine cuts out, a hush settles over the foothills. Removing my thick helmet, I can finally hear the fluting of distant meadowlarks. To my west rises a long, wide ridge of granite cliffs. I’ve been scanning this ridge on…
Category: California Natives
Throwback Creature Feature: Fire Salamander
Check out this post from 2019! We’ve seen psychedelic reptiles on this blog before. Surely, you may be thinking, the pool of psychedelic species is relatively limited. Not so fast! Poisons are incredibly important for amphibian defense, so there tend to be lots of poisonous amphibians around. And, for whatever reason, humans like to ingest…
Field Frame Friday: A fantabulous fox
While this fox is both gray and red, it is neither a Gray Fox nor a Red Fox! Like them, it can be found in California, but only on six islands off the coast of Santa Barbara, and nowhere else in the world. This is the Island Fox (Urocyon littoralis), a species of fox endemic…
Field Notes: You Are What You Study
A gray day darkens as the hands of the clock march along. The intermittent drizzles are becoming steady and ever louder. I pace back and forth between frequent stops to look out the window, and my anticipation grows in parallel with the strength of the downpour. It’s nearly time to go. When the last light…
Field Frame Friday: Imp of Darkness
It’s easy to see how the Santa Cruz Black Salamander (Aneides niger) got its name. Have you ever seen a creature with such abyssal coloration? These pieces of living obsidian are endemic to the Santa Cruz Mountains along the coast of central California. Despite the high amount of human development in this small mountain range,…
Field Frame Friday: A (rock) boring life
The purple sea urchin (Strongylocentrotus purpuratus) is a conspicuous native of rocky intertidal habitats along the western coast of North America. These spiky animals live in rock pits, which are safe havens from the pounding surf and scorching sun. Unlike their hermit crab neighbors, purple sea urchins build their homes themselves by boring holes into…
Field Frame Friday: Great Horned Owl
Great Horned Owls (Bubo virginianus) are large, widespread raptors which largely hunt at night. They can begin nesting as early as the winter season, and they often make use of old nests made by other large birds when they do. Photo and caption by Cassidy Cooper Edited by Jessica Schaefer
Field Frame Friday: Salmon Alevins
These tiny fish, only a few days old, are newly hatched salmon. They still have their yolk sacs (bright orange in this photo) and are called “alevins.”
Creature Feature: Coyote
Coyotes (Canis latrans) are one of North America’s most iconic tricksters. Their species name, which means “barking dog” in Latin, might come from their nighttime vocalizing. They’ve had a powerful influence on Native American folklore and mythology, even earning the title of “God’s dog” [1]. Native American tales highlight the morals of coyote tricksters, imparting…
Field Frame Friday: Mosquito
Did you know that different species of mosquito have different tastes in blood? The species pictured above, Culex tarsalis, is native to California and prefers to bite birds, though it will also bite humans and can potentially spread West Nile Virus. In contrast, the invasive species Aedes aegypti is considered an urban mosquito and prefers…
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