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...

Placerita Nature Center volunteer Evelyne Vandersande receives a challenge coin from State Parks Director Anthony L. Jackson, USMC. Photo: Ron Kraus/PCNCA Some special volunteers got some special attention Wednesday when state Parks Director Anthony L. Jackson dropped by the Placerita Canyon Nature Center...

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...

Bats are getting bad press lately because seven (to date in 2013) have been found in the Santa Clarita Valley that tested positive for rabies. Rabies is around, independent of the bats, and we have more bats that you can imagine. But it’s a good reminder for you to have your pets vaccinated for rabies....

What if I told you there’s a good chance there is a creature in your house that is more dangerous than 15 rattlesnakes? The venom from the black widow is that potent. It’s 15 times stronger than rattlesnake venom. But don’t be too alarmed. Fatalities are rare. Those most at risk are...

When European settlers discovered our valley, they wrote that they found a “green paradise.” I can easily imagine them standing on our mountains after their long journey and viewing what must have looked like a lush, green valley. That was in the late 1700s. All of this green vegetation was mostly...

It seems we have always had an American kestrel at the Placerita Canyon Nature Center, because Wee Bit was with us for so many years. He had broken a wing and could not be released back into the wild, but his life was pleasant enough at Placerita. He did not have to hunt for his food, so that particular...