Halloween was a lot of fun, and we are still munching on the leftover candies – but we are starting to check recipes for Thanksgiving, buy gifts for Christmas and think about what to do for New Year’s Eve. Our life is carefully regulated by those different holidays as well as the birthday celebrations...

Dave Stives is an “animal whisperer” at Placerita, a rare and incredible human being who knows how to handle and care for any wildlife, especially if it is injured and needs help. He has a special sense of the need that an animal has, even without seeing it directly. He seems to know in advance what...

Fall has started. I know it is hard to notice in Southern California, but even if the days are still warm, you might have to put a blanket on your bed because the nights are much colder. It’s time to get back in the habit of refilling your bird feeders with seeds. In the summertime, the food supply...

Volunteer training at the Placerita Canyon Nature Center will start Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2014. Classes meet Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9 a.m. to noon, for nine weeks.  Topics include native plants, ecology, insects, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals, geology, history and interpretative techniques. Instructors...

Sorry everybody, no story about plants or animals this week. I am trying something new for a few weeks to provide some variety – then I’ll go back and forth with the topics. I am always talking to you about Placerita Canyon like it is an enchanted land, with wonderful volunteers.  It is and they...

It is a beautiful day and you are on the trail. You see the shadow of a bird high overhead. You can tell it is a bird of prey, flying in large circles and looking for a meal. Now comes the big question: Red-tailed or red-shouldered hawk? Suddenly, the sun hits the fanning tail: It is rusty red and shining....

Red velvet ant: such a lovely name.  Reading this, I’m sure a multitude of bucolic images come to mind. The problem is that each word of the description is erroneous. Naming an animal is not an exact science. The koala bear is not a bear but a marsupia. Crayfish and jellyfish have one particular thing...

Why did we choose the great horned owl as our logo for the Placerita Canyon Nature Center? Owl Junior, who quickly became OJ, was our resident owl for 29 years. He was a beautiful bird that everybody admired, but he was cranky with people who fed the snakes in front of him and did not let them handle...

Last week I saw a roadrunner in my backyard. There was something wrong with this picture. Roadrunners are supposed to live in the desert, in the chaparral, in dry, open spaces with some shrubs here and there – not in a garden with lawns and a sprinkler battling the heat. What was going on? I asked...

Our Lord’s Candle, Spanish Bayonet … those are  colorful names for an interesting plant which, for me, is tightly associated with springtime in Southern California. The name, Our Lord’s Candle, comes from the huge, white flowering spike, while Spanish Bayonet is a good description of the needle-sharp...