Autumn in Los Angeles

Yes, southern California has seasons! They are just different from the expected and therefore are typically discounted.

HD

Summer is a time of dormancy for our plants, not winter. Winter is our time of growth and renewal. With recent Fall rain, bulbs are appearing. 

It is also time to plant. Native plants are more likely to be successful if planted in the Autumn. This gives them all winter to establish themselves before the harsh realities of a dry hot summer. We're planting natives that we picked up at the CA Native Plant Society plant sale last weekend.

desert sunflower

Sages have been successful for us and they provide nectar for Valley carpenter bees and hummingbirds. We're trying a new Salvia leucophylla. This desert sunflower, Encelia farinosa, is a new species for us. Hopefully its flowers will provide nectar for bees and butterflies (Name this Butterfly). 

Some CA creatures are preparing for a long winter sleep. See more Earth Minutes with desert tortoises:
Tortoises in spring 
Sleepy Tortoise 
Tortoise and Lizard Buddies

Creating habitat is a year-round effort, but Autumn in Los Angeles is the time to start something new. Native plants attract wild creatures and bring Earth Minutes to you. More on native plants and native plant gardens.

Visit each week for a new Earth Minute

Up a Tree - Ants - After the Fire - Calabasas, CA Part 3

In the "V" of an oak tree, something is very busy.

In fact, thousands of somethings!
HD
These tiny but dedicated creatures are rapidly moving and harvesting oak leaf litter after the Calabasas Fire in June 2016.

 

Sit back and watch the ladies at work! 
For more on the Calabasas fire subscribe to us at: TheEarthMinute.com

After the Fire - Calabasas, CA   {part1}  

See the Oaks Calabasas Fire Part 2

For a video of ants from the other side of the globe:
Watch here on TheEarthMinute.com

Watch Green Tree Ants, Cape Tribulation, Queensland, Australia

And for you bee lovers!
Water for Hot Summer Bees (California)

See the Oaks Calabasas Fire Part 2

Sometimes fire creates opportunity.

The oaks in the Calabasas fire may be toasted, but not taken down.

 HD 
 Firefighters saved the park structures.

And the non native grasses and shrubs burned.

 But there is hope for new growth!

 

 

Pre-fire pre drought park view.

 For more on California
Visit us at TheEarthMinute.com
Malibu Creek - Feel the Cool in Malibu Creek State Park, CA
Malibu Creek State Park, CA - Wild Flowers
Walk Mulholland Hwy, Santa Monica Mts. (CA towhee, wildflowers)

After the Fire - Calabasas, CA

Fire.
We all dread it.
There's nothing like suddenly smelling smoke from a wildfire.
 Where is it? Is it close?

This one was just a few miles away. Car accident into a power pole.

HD
Brushfires burn hot and fast in the bone dry chaparral in Southern California. 

Our native oaks and black walnut trees have seen it before.
 They scorch, but still stand.

white ash covers the hill

the leaves may burn but the young walnuts survive

Using the highway as a firebreak, the firefighters stopped the 500+ acre blaze from burning homes and businesses.  

For more outdoor adventures, visit us at TheEarthMinute.com and subscribe today!

Watching Valley Carpenter Bees  (California)

Catch a View and Catch a Pike, Squanga Lake, Yukon, Canada 

and more!

Bladderpod Burbank and Bees! See Native plants in Burbank, CA

 Our friends in Burbank, CA have a really nice native garden in their backyard.

Watch bees come to the flowers!
 
 HD

A native shrub - the bladderpod  - Isomeris arborea.

 

Bees love it! A mini oasis in Burbank!

 For more surprises and videos in Southern California, 

 Visit us at TheEarthMinute.com

Discover the Headwaters of the Los Angeles River (least sandpipers, American crows) 

Hike Limekiln Canyon Park, CA (Pacific tree frog, western fence lizard)  

Visit Pierce College Botanical Garden

Close-up with a Red Jumping Spider

 

Visiting an Old Friend in Red Bluff, California - Listen to Wisdom

An Old Friend!

Sycamore Grove Campground, right off of the Sacramento River is a great place to camp and take a walk early in the morning or at sunset.

An ancient oak tree stand sentinel to the passage of time and cycles of drought.   HD

Listen to the voices of birds and others who visit this old friend.

Red Bluff Diversion Dam Recreation Area

Red Bluff, CA 96080

For more California Adventures with other oaks!

 Visit us and subscribe to:  TheEarthMinute.com 

Stroll Rocky Oaks Park

Under Young Oaks (coastal live oak, manroot) 

 

Signs of Spring in California

native California holly-leafed cherry

Spring is in full bloom. California's native plants have taken advantage of the late winter rain and are bursting with flowers. The bees are active and the California desert tortoises are grudgingly awake.

HD

mourning cloak chrysalis

An Earth Minute can give you the chance to make discoveries in your own backyard, like the mourning cloak butterflies that have already gone from caterpillar to chrysalis and the Bewick's wrens that are nesting in the lariat bird house.

The ceanothus's blue blooms and the white flowers of the Catalina cherry and holly-leaf cherry are filled with bees. The mallow and sage are bursts of color wooing the desert tortoises to wake up and explore. 

The dudleya is still working on its flower spike, while the various lavenders fill the air with an exotic spice. We've even seen the lesser goldfinches eat the lavender seeds.

This marks our second anniversary of Earth Minutes. Take a moment to discover your own Earth Minute, then come back and explore our 104 one-minute adventures.

Watch the Bewick's wrens build a nest 
Discover California's Dudleya Diversity
More Desert Tortoises - Sleepy Tortoise & Tortoise with a Friend
California Native Plants: under oaks, fighting drought, Pierce College Botanical Garden

See California
Explore Places Across the U.S. and Around the World
Watch Wildlife
Hear the Sounds of Places and Events
Discover Unique Human Culture

Find a new moment weekly on TheEarthMinute.com 

California's Liveforevers - Dudleya

California's dudleya, also known as liveforever, are native plants truly adapted for drought. These succulents store water in their fleshy leaves. The plant can dry out, almost completely, and revive when rain finally returns.

While the mainland species has flat gray leaves, numerous leaf shapes, flower color, and foliage color have evolved on California's Channel Islands. Island isolation has led to the evolution of numerous species in niche habitats.


HD

Flowers typically appear on stalks that rise up from the plant's stem or from between leaves. 

Dudleya diversity is inspiring. The shapes and charisma of these plants is the perfect example of survival adaptations and the unique character of California's native plant species.

Go Native. Plant California native plants and create habitat while you save water.

Earth Minutes with California Native Plants
Small Discoveries Under Young Oaks
How Tall Is A Redwood Tree
Leaves that Fight Drought
Yucca Blooms
Pierce College Botanical Garden
Discover Fern Canyon, Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park
Walk Mulholland Hwy, Santa Monica Mts, CA
 
More on the Channel Islands
Birds & Marine Mammals of CA Channel Islands
Meet the Channel Island Fox
Island of the Blue Dolphin - San Nicolas Island, CA
Discover Santa Cruz Island, CA

Animals Dependent on Native Plants
Watching Valley Carpenter Bees

Find Your Earth Minute at TheEarthMinute.com

  

Walk the Sand in Northern California - Gold Bluffs Beach, Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park

Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park is one of our favorite places on the Pacific coast.

Located about fifty miles north of Eureka, the beach is windswept yet full of life.
Walk the sand with us! HD

 

Driftwood provides shelter for shrubs and trees on the beach.

 Swimmers Beware - Nasty riptide! 

Gold Bluffs Beach and Elk Prairie Campgrounds are available for reservations at www.parks.ca.gov/prairiecreek or by phone at 1-800-444-7275. 

 For more videos about the park, visit us at TheEarthMinute.com

Discover Fern Canyon, Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, CA

Small Discoveries Under Young Oak Trees

The young coast live oaks (Quercus agrifolia) are still struggling with lower rainfall, but in their protection a variety of plants and animals thrive.
HD

One of the plants sending up shoots and flowering is the manroot or wild cucumber. This tender vine will produce baseball-sized fruit covered in spikes. (see the dried fruit in fall - A Walk on Mulholland Hwy)

With just a little rain new plants sprout, just off the beaten trail in under the young oaks. I followed this path trying to get a photo of a male Nuttall's woodpecker and I found a quiet and unexpected Earth Minute.

See more CA Native plants:
Hidden Gardens of LA
Do Trees Dream?
How Tall is a Redwood Tree?
Take a Stroll Under the Oaks - Rocky Oaks Park
Leaves on Native Plants Fight Drought
Yucca Blossoms

Visit The Earth Minute each week for a new Minute of Nature

A Winter's Walk at Lake Tahoe, California

Lake Tahoe sits astride the borders of California and Nevada well over a mile high in the Sierra Nevada mountains.

We went for an end of the year snowshoe and stroll in the brisk, quiet air.

Join us for a Winter's walk at Lake Tahoe, California!

Look for the white-headed woodpecker! 

We stayed on the California side in South Lake Tahoe. 

Breath deeply!   The Lake level is about 6,224 feet!

The lakeside has fascinating pebble and boulders - and miniature ice sculptures from the melting and re-freezing of the wet ground.

 

For More trips in California, Visit us at TheEarthMinute.com

Meet a Roosevelt Elk (Cervus elaphus roosevelti)

Sequoia National Park - More Than Big Trees  

 

Walking the L.A. River - West San Fernando Valley

Bridge at Tampa, decorated with river related wildlife

Yes, there is a Los Angeles River.

I started walking the river from its Headwaters in Canoga Park and some friends became interested. 

Walk along with us from Winnetka to the bridge at Tampa and the end of the Bike Trail at the Vanalden footbridge.




HD

Each bridge and section has its own artistic style. Here there were decorative leaf patterns.

We saw 13 species of birds, including a pair of killdeer, American crows, white-crowned sparrows, lesser goldfinches and the group of least sandpipers that I saw further up the river.

We had a great walk. Native plants in the landscaping were blooming, including wild roses, desert morning glory, and more. For more photos of the flowers check out my friend Douglas Welch's blog.

We're almost to the area where the creeks from the Chatsworth area join the river. Hike Limekiln Canyon Park, CA (Pacific tree frog, western fence lizard)

Discover more places around Los Angeles 
to experience your own Earth Minute.

Visit TheEarthMinute.com weekly for a new 1-minute escape.

Santana Winds Come to Los Angeles October 29, 2015

The Santana Winds have come to Los Angeles.

 October 29, 2015

The term "Santana winds" is said to have originated in Spanish California when the hot, dry winds were called "devil winds."

Maybe you've heard of them as "SANTA ANA WINDS"? 

At the turn of the last century, an Associated Press correspondent mistakenly identified Santana winds as "Santa Ana" winds in a 1901 dispatch.

Raymond Chandler wrote a 1938 short story about them called 

 "Red Wind"

"There was a desert wind blowing that night. It was one of those hot dry Santa Anas that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch. On nights like that every booze party ends in a fight. Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands' necks.
Anything can happen. You can even get a full glass of beer at a cocktail lounge."

View a video from our yard as the winds parch the drought stressed plants early the  morning....

 And view more in Southern California : at TheEarthMinute.com

View more videos!

 Leaves on CA Native Plants Fight Drought

This Morning in a Habitat Yard 

 (CA towhee, band-tailed pigeons, ruby-crowned kinglet, Bewick's wren, CA desert tortoise) 

Visit Pierce College Botanical Garden 

Discover the Headwaters of the Los Angeles River

Do you know the L.A. River? Really?

Discover the River walkway from the Headwaters to DeSoto Ave.

HD

They say the river begins where Bell Creek and the Calabasas Arroyo combine. Since the 1940s that location has been fixed just north of the intersection of Owensmouth and Vanowen in Canoga Park. (Just a skip away from the Topanga Mall.)

yarrow

The sculpted 'V' of the waters coming together forms a jut of land that is topped with the Canoga Park High School sports field. From Owensmouth east, a foot path has been added along the River. Native plants provide habitat for butterflies and birds, while thin riffles of water flow over narrow sandbars on a cement stream bed. 

It's quite beautiful really: the lines of the bridges, sweeping fins of concrete, heron-themed gateways.  

During a walk from Owensmouth to DeSoto and back, I saw a variety of bird species, including yellow-rumped warblers, a pair of white-crowned sparrows, and a black phoebe. 

small group of migrating least sandpipers

 Least sandpipers (Calidris minutilla) were stopping to feed on watery insects. While, American crows (Corvus brachyrhynchos) played 'catch the stone' mid-air over the water.

There were views of the Santa Susana and Santa Monica Mountains, where the water originates.

Benches built along the pathway offer respite for a thoughtful moment. Trash cans and dog waste stations are plentiful. Walk the north side of the River and the path will take you under Canoga Ave.

I'm excited to embrace the L.A. River as a place to visit, but this ideal is fragile. Neglect and trash can quickly mar the opportunity. Let's take ownership of our river. Use the plentiful trash cans and dog stations. We have a chance to recreate something soulful and living. Let's not allow apathy and ignorance to destroy this chance for a Walk by the River.

Discover more walks with wildlife around Los Angeles
Hidden Gardens of L.A.

Other Rivers and Streams:
Hike Limekiln Canyon Park, CA (Pacific tree frog, western fence lizard) 
Malibu Creek - Feel the Cool in Malibu Creek State Park, CA 
Arroyo Seco - Angeles National Forest
Discover Fern Canyon, Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, CA  
The Voices of a River - (Lamoille Canyon, Ruby Mountains, Nevada)
Floating the Outlet Stream - Squanga Lake, Yukon, Canada (arctic grayling)
Take a Cruise on the Yellow Water, Kakadu, Australia (birds & saltwater crocodile)

Visit weekly for a New Earth Minute.