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!

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Stroll Rocky Oaks Park

Under Young Oaks (coastal live oak, manroot) 

 

See Common Dolphins and Brown Pelicans Fishing!

Crossing back to Ventura Harbor from visiting Santa Cruz Island, we came upon a wide feeding group of brown pelicans Pelecanus occidentalis and common dolphins.

 

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See the common dolphins and the Brown Pelicans diving for fish in their own way!

 

For more videos of Santa Cruz Island..

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Visit Santa Cruz Island, Channel Islands National Park, CA
Summer Visit to Santa Cruz Island, Channel Islands National Park, CA (island fox, common long-beaked dolphins)
 

Plunge Into a California Tide Pool

Take minute to cool off and unwind with the creatures of a California tide pool. 

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California's kelp forests and tide pools are filled with biodiversity, color and patterns. Look for the bat star, ochre sea star, the sea star's tube-shaped relative the sea cucumber, California's state saltwater fish–the garibaldi (it's the same color as our state flower the golden poppy), a small swell shark and more.

These creatures represent the vibrant community of life found in California's tide pools and kelp forests. See them up close at the Channel Island National Park Visitor Center.

some fish hide in plain site

For more Earth Minutes on sea life:

Visit a Kelp Forest at CA Science Center
Birds and Marine Mammals of CA Channel Islands
Swim Australia's Great Barrier Reef
Sea birds of the Great Barrier Reef
Meet the Dugong

Float back each week for a new Earth Minute.

Anise Swallowtail Butterfly

Butterflies are part of a yard with biodiversity. An anise swallowtail butterfly (Papilo zelicaon) is one of the larger butterflies that we see in Southern California.

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The solid black shoulders identify this as an anise rather than a tiger swallowtail. While the 'desert' black swallowtail looks very similar, it is typically not found in the Los Angeles area. 

This female anise swallowtail is laying eggs on lemon tree leaves. While anise swallowtails can be citrus pests, the large population of birds in our yard makes it a challenge for a caterpillar to reach butterfly-hood. California towhee parents. The Bewick's wrens are constantly hunting caterpillars this time of year.

Mourning cloaks, skippers, tiger swallowtails, painted ladies, even monarchs frequent an oasis in the city. 

For ideas on creating your own butterfly garden see the Hidden Gardens of Pierce College's Botanical Garden and Orcutt Ranch Park.

More butterflies - Mourning Cloak & Butterflies of Illinois

Tiny creatures are always creating Earth Minutes 

California Towhee Guarding a Chick

The California towhee (Melozone crissalis) may not be a colorful bird, but it's full of personality. 

A large member of the sparrow family, CA towhees are found throughout western California, a small area of Oregon, and down into Baja Mexico. They are truly residents of the California floristic zone. 

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A pair of CA towhees lives in our yard and raises their chicks here every year. This monogamous species doesn't waste a lot of energy on fancy feathering. Their relationship is based on displayful dancing and successful co-parenting.

The CA towhee's call sounds like the piercing "beep" of a smoke-detector alarm when it needs a battery replaced. The towhee uses that call to keep in contact with a distant mate or, in this case, to communicate to a chick: "Stay hidden!" The closer I got to the chick, the closer together the alarm calls.

CA towhees nest in chaparral and they urge their chicks out of the nest as soon as possible. Frequently, chicks are just barely feathered. The youngster will stay hidden or sit motionless on a small branch until a parent comes to feed it or move it. A fledgling bird may not have fallen out of a nest, its parent may have moved it out for its own safety. A nest can attract predators. 

This chick was so well hidden we didn't see it, but the action of the parents told us it was there. Take a moment to watch the birds around you. If you pay attention their behavior may surprise you. They are intelligent creatures with purposeful actions.

More Earth Minutes with birds:

Ruffled Feathers - What's That Bird
Bewick's Wrens Build a Nest 
LA River through Atwater
Walk the Beach at Malibu, CA
Birding Descanso Gardens
Bird on a Frozen Big Bear Lake 
Birds and Marine Mammals of CA Channel Islands 
Mamukala Wetland, Kakadu National Park Northern Australia
Sulphur-crested Cockatoos on the Defense 

Earth Minutes with Birds and other Wildlife 

Visit Each Week for a New Earth Minute 

An Ice-Aged Earth Day

On this Earth Day - Go Outside! 

See the planet of today and time-travel into its past. The La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles spotlight our scientific present and humble us with a view into the past of 40,000 years ago.

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The Pleistocene Garden is green with plants eaten by camels and horses once native to California and the Columbian mammoths that lived here for thousands of years. Can you imagine these large creatures grazing on the open hillsides of the Las Virgenes Open Space?

The Tar Pits still ooze and bubble. They still take captives, while slowly revealing their treasured information from a long-ago past. Saber-toothed cats and packs of dire wolves once claimed territory along the Los Angeles River. 

Take a minute to make your own outdoor discovery 

• butterflies
• salamanders
• lizards & snakes
• orchids, dudleya, & epiphylums

Then contemplate the future you'd like to live in.

Experience Mamukala Wetland at Dusk - Kakadu, Australia

A healthy wetland teams with life. Australia's Northern Territory is the home of Kakadu National Park and Mamukala Wetland.

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As twilight falls, thousands of birds flock into the wetland for the night.  Life surrounds you in every direction.

Magpie geese are an iconic species of Australia's northern monsoonal wetlands.  Their black and white plumage is hard to miss, but on this day they were all smeared reddish-brown from feeding in the mud. 

An ancient species they diverged from the evolutionary branch containing all other modern water fowl in the late Cretaceous. They have a prehistoric look and as the only existing member of their primitive family, they are a living fossil. At the water's edge two pied herons hunt for small invertebrates and fish.

At the edges of the wetland wallabies forage. The droppings from thousands of birds nourish a rich green tapestry of plant life.

Kakadu is a treasure of wildlife diversity and human spirituality. 

Take a cruise on the Yellow Water 

and discover 

more Earth Minutes in Australia

Visit TheEarthMinute weekly for an minute outside.