Private Lives of Cooper's Hawk and Raven

Cooper's hawk in bird bath

Nature sometimes lets us in on the private lives of animals. Share a private moment with a Cooper's hawk (Accipiter cooperii) and a common raven (Corvus corax). 

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While we have song birds in and out of the bird bath all the time. Occasionally, birds of prey come down to the bath as well. This immature Cooper's hawk was most likely hatched in our neighborhood this spring.

female common raven

The raven pair have been neighbors for several years. The recent batch of youngsters are finally out of the nest and off on their own. The pair are back to romancing and renewing their pair bond. The female has this strange clucking/gurgling sound that she calls to the male. He was flying overhead between the trees.

Our bird neighbors frequently open up their personal lives, we just need to take a moment to observe.

More Earth Minutes with Ravens and Birds of Prey

Ravens with 2016 offspring
Identifying a Young Raven
Harrier Hawk with Prey on Frozen Big Bear Lake 
Red-tailed hawk on the L.A. River
Great Horned Owl Takes Shelter 
Osprey at Malibu Beach 
Bald Eagle in Alaska
White-bellied Sea Eagle - Australia 

More Earth Minutes with Birds and Wildlife

This Week's Earth Minute

Alligator Lizard Hunting the Yard

After a week of indoor work, an Earth Minute can seem elusive. But all it takes is a few moments outside and an Earth Minute finds you.

This adult southern alligator lizard (Elgaria multicarinata) is living under one of the native California lilac, or ceanothus, in the front yard. She is probably the mother of the juvenile we rescued from the garage.


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If you look closely you can see where she has lost her original tail and regrown the current tail. The coloring is less complex and doesn't quite match her body. Alligator lizards can let their tail break off in order to startle and redirect a predator. It is an amazing evolutionary adaptation. The breakage occurs through a vertebra; kind of like the perforations between saltine crackers. The musculature comes apart at these breakage sites as well. There is little blood loss and nerves in the tail will continue to make it twitch for several minutes. The continued movement of the tail tricks the predator into thinking it's caught the whole lizard. 

The tail grows back, but the bone is not replaced. The replacement tail can break again if needed. Science has yet to figure out exactly how this tail replication takes place. 

This alligator lizard is one of our yard's natural predators and the benefit of a yard that provides habitat.

What does a baby alligator lizard look like? Rescuing an Alligator

More Earth Minutes with Reptiles 

This week on The Earth Minute 

Rescuing An Alligator

A garage can be a dangerous place when you're a young reptile. What looks cool, quiet and safe, can be a food desert.

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This juvenile southern alligator lizard (Elgaria multicarinata) is an effective hunter of insects and other arthropods in the yard, but the garage was nearly its doom. It just took a moment to scoop it up and move it outside where it belonged.

A few weeks later we had a minute with an adult alligator lizard that is probably this little guy's mother.

Lizards are great backyard wildlife. They interact with each other:
Watching Lizards in Southern CA

And with other species in the yard:
Backyard Buddies ... Reptile Style

Though small right now, this alligator lizard will grow up to prey on the western fence lizards. (When an alligator lizard hunts its neighbors.) It's a jungle in our suburban yard.

More Earth Minutes with lizards:
Spotting a Lace Monitor in the Wild

There's always something new to discover at TheEarthMinute.com

Walk Among The Oaks on the Autumnal Equinox

To walk among valley oaks (Quercus lobata) and coast live oaks (Quercus agrifolia) is to travel back in time. 

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These trees are hundreds of years old. Some of them watched the first Spanish explorers and gave limbs for the construction of Mission San Fernando.

These oak trees are not just beautiful, their shade is a cool oasis on hot days. Resident acorn woodpeckers tap on their limbs. Squirrels frolic and butterflies soar. Migrating birds seek out this ancient oak woodland for food and rest. Wilson's warblers, lark sparrows, western wood-peewees, and a Pacific wren were all visiting among the trees. 

valley oak acorn

Orcutt Ranch Park preserves this slice of ancient California. Walk among the oaks, hold an acorn in your hand, and realize experience the community of life dependent upon these trees. 

For more on Orcutt Ranch Park - one of Los Angeles' Hidden Gardens

More Earth Minutes where you can discover oak trees.
Visit Conejo Valley Botanical Garden 
Hiking Los Virgenes Open Space, CA  
Stroll Rocky Oaks Park
Oaks Involved in Calabasas Fire 2016 
Ancient Oak in Red Bluff, CA 

Take a Seaplane from Vancouver to Victoria in British Columbia

Unusual winds and choppy seas cancelled our early morning boat ride from Vancouver to Victoria in British Columbia.

We quickly booked a seaplane for an airborne adventure!

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 The flight was great! And the view superb!

This is a quick shot of the cockpit warning bar.
For more adventures, visit us at TheEarthMinute.com

Train Crossing in Illinois - Listen to August 
Listen to the Rocky Surf - Glacier Bay, Southeast Alaska
Mongolia - Wind Across the Gobi (Mongolian lizards, snake, and human culture)
Catch a View and Catch a Pike, Squanga Lake, Yukon, Canada

Swim Up a Salmon Ladder! Coho at Capilano Salmon Hatchery, Vancouver, BC

Swim Up a Salmon Ladder!

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Coho salmon swim up the salmon ladder back to the gravel beds  where they hatched.

 

The Capilano River in North Vancouver, British Columbia was dammed in 1954.  

Cleveland Dam blocks Capilano Lake for hydro power and fresh drinking water. This blocked the spawning ground stream beds for the native salmon.

Below is the first small dam to divert the salmon to the ladder.

It's really cool to see the salmon as they make their way upstream!

See the {above} "ladder step" to the left?

Capilano River Salmon Hatchery, 4500 Capilano Road, North Vancouver, B.C. Canada V7R 4L3

 For more fish Stories:

 Visit us and Subscribe to TheEarthMinute.com

Longest Day of the Year - Glacier Bay, Southeast Alaska 

(small marine fish chased by predator)
Catch a View and Catch a Pike, Squanga Lake, Yukon, Canada 
Floating the Outlet Stream - Squanga Lake, Yukon, Canada (arctic grayling)
Australian Great Barrier Reef Swim

 (parrot fish, zebra fish, giant clams, coral

Crater Lake National Park Walk to Phantom Ship viewpoint

Crater Lake was formed in Oregon only 7,700 years ago by the  eruption and collapse of a volcano, Mount Mazama.

The cinder cone near the western edge of the lake is known as Wizard Island. It's in the center of the picture.

I took a walk to Sun Notch and the Phantom Ship viewpoint and found a few friends on the trail ! 

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Golden-mantled Ground Squirrels Callospermophilus lateralis are adorable! Visit them with me! 

The water in the lake is only from rain and snow melt. Climate change concerns are being felt, as less precipitation is falling in the Oregon Cascades mountain range.

Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the United States, but the water level has been steadily dropping in the last decade.
 
For more weekly hikes and nature, visit us at TheEarthMinute.com
Winter Walk at Lake Tahoe, CA (white-headed woodpecker) 
Winter Walk at Big Bear Lake, CA (pygmy nuthatch, Steller's jay)
Stroll Kew Gardens, London (European robin)
Hiking Los Virgenes Open Space, CA (coyote)
L.A. River Thru Atwater Village (black-necked stilt, Canada geese, coyote)
Walking to Ft. Tryon and the Cloisters, New York City (black morph fox squirrel)