Since I have begun volunteering with Friends of the Island Fox and visiting Santa Cruz Island I have become much more aware of stories about our own Channel Islands and all the history and magic they hold. This article adds a few more pieces of information to my understanding of the Islands and mainland California, too. — Douglas
It was a small, flat-bottomed, soapstone cup, the likes of which the team had never seen before, in part because Santa Barbara and its fellow Channel Islands have been subject to a century and a half of looting. The cup is one of hundreds of new objects Perry and her team found during their survey, which suggests Santa Barbara Island was much more important to ancient people than previously thought—and shows the people inhabiting the island might have figured out an innovative way of dealing with water scarcity, a problem that’s still at the top of Californians’ minds.
Want to learn more about the California Channel Islands? Check out these books as your local library and on Amazon!
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* A portion of each sale from Amazon.com directly supports our blogs ** Many of these books may be available from your local library. Check it out! † Available from the LA Public Library
Google Photos created this short animation from my photos taken at Descanso Gardens. This animation actually works much better than any of the individual photos alone.
1.5 minutes of footage of Black-necked Stilts (Himantopus mexicanus) in the Los Angeles River taken on December 20, 2015 in Burbank, California.
From Wikipedia…
The black-necked stilt (Himantopus mexicanus) is a locally abundant shorebird of American wetlands and coastlines. It is found from the coastal areas of California through much of the interior western United States and along the Gulf of Mexico as far east as Florida, then south through Central America and the Caribbean to northwest Brazil southwest Peru, east Ecuador and the Galápagos Islands. The northernmost populations, particularly those from inland, are migratory, wintering from the extreme south of the United States to southern Mexico, rarely as far south as Costa Rica; on the Baja California peninsula it is only found regularly in winter.[2]
It is often treated as a subspecies of the common or black-winged stilt, using the trinomial name Himantopus himantopus mexicanus.[3] However, the AOU has always considered it a species in its own right, and the scientific name Himantopus mexicanus is often seen. Matters are more complicated though; sometimes all five distinct lineages of the Common Stilt are treated as different species. But the White-necked Stilt from southern South America (H. h. melanurus when only one species is recognized), parapatric and intergrading to some extent with its northern relative where their ranges meet, would warrant inclusion with the Black-necked stilt when this is separated specifically, becoming Himantopus mexicanus melanurus. Similarly, the Hawaiian stilt, H. m. knudseni, is likely to belong to the American species when this is considered separate; while some treat it as another distinct species, the AOU, BirdLife International and the IUCN do not.[4] Thus, in their scheme the black-necked stilt is properly named Himantopus mexicanus mexicanus.[5]
Our friend, Keri from Animalbytes.net has started a project to walk and document the entire Los Angeles Rover, from its headwaters in Bell Canyon here in the San Fernando Valley to the sea in Long Beach. Today, we joined her for a short segment of the river from Winnetka Ave to Tampa Avenue. Here are a few photos and thoughts from our walk. we plan on joining Keri for additional sections of the river as time allows,including her walk through one of the wisest stretches of the river as it passes through the Sepulveda Basin.
This section of the river has an improved bike and walking path including solar lighting, benches, drinking fountains and botanical landscaping.
While Southern California plants are pretty much in dormancy this time of year, especially due to our long running drought, we found a few blooms along our walk.
We also spotted some wildlife along the river, including sandpipers, killdeer, hummingbirds, pigeons and these crows bathing in the small amount of water in the river at the moment.
Signage at the Tampa Avenue entrance to the river walkway.
Watch a slide show of the photos from Walking the Los Angeles River – Winnetka to Tampa – November 2, 2015
You can find all my past videos on my YouTube Channel. If you enjoy a video, please click the Like button or Subscribe to the YouTube Channel. Doing that directly effects how many other people see my videos.
You can find all my past videos on my YouTube Channel. If you enjoy a video, please click the Like button or Subscribe to the YouTube Channel. Doing that directly effects how many other people see my videos.
A view of Ventura Harbor as we head off to Santa Cruz Island, part of the Channel Islands National Park, to see the Island Fox and other island-specific wildlife, hike and take in the views. This is becoming a regular trip with us, traveling along as part of a group with the Friends of the Island Fox.
