Pet a Tapir Today (Happy Tapir Day)
Tapirs, with their prehensile snouts, are by far my favorite ungulate. Who knew that today is World Tapir Day? I wish I was more prepared. Via BoingBoing
Adventure on My Doorstep, Small Adventures
In the quest for small adventure I asked myself what’s the smallest adventure a person could have? I think it starts with discovering what’s going on right outside your front door. I decided to take a peek at what’s taking place on my doorstep and was a little surprised to see that the concrete steps…
Coyote Cute Overload
When photographer and writer Shreve Stockton found herself the guardian of a two-week old coyote pup she began taking pictures every day and mailing them to her friends. This grew to a sizable mailing list to which you can subscribe, therby getting your own daily coyote. Aside from being too cute to be legal, these…
A Whale of a Weekend
It’s been a busy weekend. As some of you know, my daughter is getting married next Saturday. But you’re never too busy when you’ve got a dead blue whale in your backyard. In between trips to Smart and Final for Ginger Ale and phony champagne glasses I joined the human carnival that was keeping vigil…
Extreme Gardening
While other gardeners were uprooting early spring bulbs and planting their perennials, I joined the good folks at Habitat Works for a little tamarisk butt-kicking. The Cleanest Line has a nice little piece lining out what tamarisk did to Canyon de Chelly, explaining why someone might want to pack into a remote section of Piru…
Death Beach
I found this dead harbor seal pup at the foot of a makeshift cross at Surfer’s Knoll in Ventura yesterday. Dead seals are fairly common on these beaches, particularly this time of year when algae blooms produce high levels of domoic acid, a neurotoxin that can kill sea mammals. Several groups are working to locate…
Grove of the Titans
People sometimes say there are no more unexplored frontiers. Orion Magazine’s April/May issue puts that fable to rest with an amazing story of two botanists who, in 1998, stumbled upon an unmapped grove of redwoods…some of the largest redwoods alive today.The USGS topo map below shows what I assume is roughly the area where Sillet…