A few weeks ago I was at the Placerita Nature Center when a docent, all excited, asked me if I had seen the walking stick. Well, we have a nice collection of fancy walking sticks in the gift shop. They sell slowly, and although they are really pretty, many of our visitors come prepared with their own....

What is a Tataviam home called? That was a topic of much discussion at the Placerita Canyon Nature Center for about 20 years. As the local Tataviam Indians did not have a written language and did not leave us with a specific word for their “home sweet home,” we have worked our way through many...

Maybe you have noticed those great big birds soaring high in the sky and you would like to know more about them? This test contains interesting details, but some of them are pretty gory – so you might not want to read this while eating dinner. * Do turkey vultures have a good sense of smell? Yes,...

A few years ago, I was walking on the Canyon Trail in Placerita Canyon headed toward the Walker Ranch when an excited young couple walking briskly from the other direction stopped me. “Be careful,” they said. “We just saw a mountain lion.” A mountain lion – in full, broad daylight, on the...

A few weeks ago, my friend and I were standing on my driveway under the oak tree. The wind picked up, and a cloud of yellow pollen floated over our heads. My friend started sneezing non-stop and said, “That is funny, I usually sneeze because flowers are blooming, but there is nothing in bloom around...

It all started with the tadpoles. For the third year in a row, most of the stream at Placerita is dry. There is some water in the waterfall, but it comes down as a fast trickle that disappears quickly in the stream bed. Tadpoles have a few requirements to be able to grow into a frog: They need warm and...

What if there were a popularity contest for a native plant? If such a thing existed, I am pretty sure the wild cucumber would win first place handily. This plant seems innocent enough and always takes visitors on the trails by surprise. The schoolchildren coming to Placerita have many comments each time...

What makes you decide to pick yourself up, migrate far from home, and then come back in the spring? If you are a snowbird from the human species, usually cold weather in the fall and even worse, the first frost, is a definite sign that it’s time to get the trailer ready and to go south in search of...

I’m sure we can all agree a volunteer is somebody who does a job without being paid. But what’s the difference between a volunteer and a docent? Docents also do a job without being paid, but they undergo an intensive training process to serve as guides and educators. The English word “docent”...

Toyon is a well-known chaparral bush that gets special attention around the holidays because it has beautiful red and orange berries. It is also known under different names such as “Christmas berry” or “California holly” and “Hollywood.” The story goes that because this species is so abundant...