Re-Wilding The Garden...

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Ten years ago this was a lawn...

... sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words

A Spotted Owl Family

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You are looking at a very special family of Spotted Owls (Strix occidentalis) in that there are actually 3 babies in this nest, a somewhat rare occurrence I'm told. The adult female, on the left, is actually feeding the third youngster who is hidden behind the other two, but it did pop its head up for a moment.

The male adult, in the upper right, was being a very good mate and father. As we gave him mice, he would take them up and pass them to the female, who would then feed them to her young. If you look closely, just to the left of his tail-feathers, you'll notice the long thin tail of a mouse that he's holding in his right talons, and is about to pass to his mate.

The male took four mice from us and gave each one to the female before they seemed to have had enough fun for the morning and lost interest. This photo was taken at 7:08 A.M. today.

And I apologize for the poor quality of the photo, but these birds live in deeply shaded canyons or groves of trees with very little light for photography. To get a shot like this I had to use ISO 400 (that's why the picture is so grainy), and still couldn't shoot any faster than 1/40th of a second wide open at f/3.5, and its pretty hard to hand-steady a camera at that slow shutter speed (I was lying on a slippery slope in deep oak mulch trying to stabilize the camera on a wobbly fallen branch when I took this one).

But the photo is legible and the owls are beautiful, and I wanted to share them with you.

This picture is for Mary Anne, the first person to take me owling, because I know it will make her homesick. :~)

Wildlife Tree Tag STOC 321

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One of our tasks this morning was to place this USFS Wildlife Tree Tag on the oak the above owls are nesting in.

As a consequence of the recent 7 year drought---the resultant bark-beetle infestation, and also because of nearly a century of fire suppression that has allowed our forests to grow far too dense, and become extreme fire hazards---there is now a much needed thinning going on throughout the forest, and the people cutting the trees need to know which ones are critically important habitat for wildlife.

So that's what the tagging is for, and along with monitoring population stability, it's just another of many reasons that these owl surveys are important.

A Waterfall, A Biologist, And A Dog...

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This photo was made on the way out of Spotted Owl territory this morning.

By now I'm familiar with this lovely waterfall and wanted to get a picture of it, while Dallas was more interested in getting a drink of water, and I think Doug was just humoring the both of us.

Doug Tempel is the biologist I assist on owl surveys, he's competent, committed, and conscientious in the performance of his job, and it's obvious that he loves this work.

What we found in common initially was that we shared a love of nature, but we've also become friends.

We share a very similar outlook on life, on politics and religion, we enjoy much of the same music, and we both love my dog, which, I think, is the only reason Doug let me take this photo, because Dallas would be in it too.

I can rarely keep up with Doug, he's a mountain goat (where I'm just an old goat) who's always several meters, if not miles, in front of me, but he appreciates my enthusiasm for the work, and at the same time, I do my best to catch up and be helpful.

The above three pictures show a few of the experiences we can share in a couple of hours, on any given night or morning, but I must say today was special.

In fact, we went out for breakfast in celebration of the owl triplets...

Rescued Western Toads...

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Our friend Bill brought us about 20 Western Toads (Bufo boreas) today that were found trapped in DWP water meter boxes and rescued by meter readers around the valley. This one seemed willing to pose for a picture so I grabbed the camera.

It rained all afternoon and we probably got well over an inch here in the garden (good toad weather).

Home Sweet Home Today...

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A view of Earth Home Garden photographed today at 11:A.M. as the sky darkens, and thunder rumbles all around, but no raindrops yet.

The tall plants on either side in the foreground are Humboldt Lilies, ready to bloom, with an Oregon Grape next to the one on the right. You can also make out the Giant Lupine by the rock and there are several Palmer's Penstemon way in the back.

Lots of Crimson Columbine, Indian Paintbrush, Blue Flax, Scarlet Penstemon are scattered throughout the picture but that dominant yellow/orange flower blooming here now is California Poppy.

Soon the deep red stalks of Eaton's Pentstemon will emerge above the fray while a profusion of lower growing electric-yellow Sulfur-Colored Buckwheat comes into its own, followed shortly by amazing purple clusters of Rose Sage flowers.

In the left backgound, behind the picket fence, is the chicken-house with the galvanized buckets hanging from it, and behind the picket fence in the right backgound is the vegetable garden.

On the right is deck our son Jimmy built for us 8 months before his accident. It runs the length of the house and then wraps around the front, effectively doubling the downstairs living space of our small cabin.

Another loud crash and the deluge begins. I hope it lasts awhile but I'd better get off the computer before the electrical storm fries everything.

I just now got a call from Doug, we'll be going out tonight for more Spotted Owl work.

Have a good day all...

Honey In The Making...

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A Honey Bee is so engrossed with this native thistle in the garden that it completely ignored me for 15 minutes of shooting even though the camera lens was nearly touching it at times. It took me so long because I was waiting for just the right angle of light to sharply define the eye while also trying to keep the entire bee in focus. This is the best shot out of eleven.

Photographed at 9:44 this morning under thinly clouded skies in Super-Macro mode with a shutter speed of 160th of a second at f/3.5 in the Manual setting .
I normally keep the ISO setting at 50 for the highest quality image but on this shot I switched to ISO 100 so I could use the relatively fast shutter speed needed for a constantly moving subject.

She'll Be Comin' 'Round The Mountain...

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Peggy and I both rode around the lake this morning and here she is, at 8:24, coming around the last bend before the dam.
There's nothing quite like the sight of a cute 54 year-old chick rolling down a mountain road on a bicycle with a big smile going and bugs in her teeth!
;~)

Coming Into Color

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A Giant Lupine (Lupinus polyphyllus) begins blooming against the backdrop of our gigantic granite boulder birdbath. The big beautiful rock was rescued from a housing development near here by our friend Bob Varga, who then placed it in our yard with an even more gigantic skiploader, almost 10 years ago. Bob now has a handmade Earth Home Garden pine-needle basket and we hope he treasures it as much as we do our boulder.
Thanks again Bob, the boulder is the centerpiece of the native garden and has added much-needed character to our flat rectangular lot. The birds love bathing in it and it gave me something to build the solar-powered waterfall up against.

Handelbar View - 8:33 This Morning

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Another bike ride around the lake today found me here on the north shore home stretch about 10 miles from Big Bear City at 8:30. The ride took under two hours today because I didn't stop as much. There's a slight chance of thunderstorms today and I could already feel the humidity in the air when I started the ride. We could use a little rain to wash away the layer of green dust on everything, it seems to be a banner year for pine pollen, which makes many people a bit itchy & sneezy, including me.
How do you like the width of the bike lanes we have up here?

Scenic Lease Cabin

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I stopped along my ride to take this photo from the scenic highway between Boulder Bay and the Big Bear Dam where we are overlooking the lake with a view of one of the old lease cabins. These cabins sit on land leased from the forest service back in the early years of the 20th Century, and while the leases expired some years ago, the tenants have been granted temporary extensions on them.
Note the Bumble-Bee Penstemon (Penstemon grinnellii) growing wild in the foreground along the roadside.
In just a few minutes I'll be over there on the opposite shore heading home.

Shadowplay

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The native Giant Lupine (Lupinus polyphyllus) growing next to the boulder birdbath is ready to burst into full color in the next few days and I really liked its shadow effect on the rock last evening.
I planted this from seed 3 years ago and today it is nearly 4 1/2 feet tall with at least 15 long flower stalks.
The stalks are still mostly green but I'll post a photo once they've turned purple.
I've also heard Lupinus polyphyllus referred to as Big Leaf Lupine, Stream Lupine and Bog Lupine.

Boulder Bay From A Bicycle

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I took off at 7:40 this morning for a bicycle ride around the lake, about a 20 mile trip. It's such a beautiful day that I stopped several times to take pictures, talk with some fisherman, and just enjoy the natural beauty of this place we call home.
This photo of the Boulder Bay Islands was taken at 8:39 after stopping for a cup of coffee, a bottle of water, and quick pit-stop to air up the tires a little.
I've posted a few more pictures from the ride, in sequence, below this one...

Big Bear Dam

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You can see here that the water is only a few inches from running over the top of the dam, and was actually right at the top a few weeks ago.
Big Bear Lake hasn't been this full in about 12 years and was close to 20 feet lower just 2 years ago.

Looking East From The Dam...

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A fisherman relaxes at 8:57 this clear warm morning on rocks near the dam at the west end of Big Bear Lake.

Grout Bay

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I stopped here at Grout Bay, near the north shore town of Fawnskin, for a water break.
At this point I'm something more than 1/2 way around the lake.

One More Water Stop...

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I stopped along the Alpine Pedal Path about 5 miles from home for one last water break in the shade and to take in the nice view here to the southwest across the lake.

Bee Heaven...

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Grinnell's Beardtongue (Penstemon grinnellii) is known locally as Bumble-Bee Penstemon but in actuality I see many more Honey Bees visiting the flowers. The flower opening seems to be a bit snug for Bumble-Bees but occaisonally I do spot a smallish individual way inside one of these.

On this plant, our first Bumble-Bee Penstemon to bloom this year, one particular flower faces north, with the morning sun backlighting the interior, allowing me to capture a well lit and detailed close-up.

Pentsemon grinnellii's maroon stripes are somewhat like airport runway lights in that they guide pollinators directly to the pollen.

Bumble-Bee Penstemon

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Another view of Penstemon grinnellii showing an entire flower. Bumble-Bee Penstemon grows in Southern California from about 3,000 to 9,000 feet in elevation and is extremely drought tolerant.This penstemon requires good drainage, will not tolerate much water, and blooms profusely beginning in June. It's especially showy when mixed with other altitude and drought adapted penstemons such as Penstemon spectabilis and Penstemon palmeri.

By the way, from this angle it occurs to me that Grinnell's Beardtongue (or some similar flower) could've possibly been an inspiration for the artist who created the Rolling Stones big-lips & tongue logo. YIKES!
;~)

Orchid Black, Plant Lady Extraordinaire...

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Saturday's 4th Annual Big Bear Xeriscape Garden Tour was well attended again this year and our efforts at Earth Home Garden were especially rewarding due largely to the fact that our dear friend Orchid Black lent her considerable native plant knowledge and salesperson skills to our second annual native plant sale. Orchid sold nearly $800 worth of plants from the front porch for our local Hunter’s Nursery, thus furthering the cause of native plant gardening and helping to make it economically feasible for Hunter’s to be involved.

The native plants are grown out from seed collected locally under permit from the Forest Service by another friend, Bill LaHaye, the water conservation specialist for the City Of Big Bear Lake Department Of Water & Power (and sometimes I even get to assist in the collecting), who ships them off to the Las Pilitas Native Plant Nursery for propagation under a program sponsored by the DWP in conjunction with Hunter’s Nursery. Once the plants have grown to marketable size they are picked up by the DWP and sold to Hunter’s for resale to local gardeners and landscapers.

Orchid, who has been honing her native plant skills for some years now through working with the Theodore Payne Foundation, and a continuing education in the sustainable practice of Permaculture, has started her own native plant landscaping business, Pitcher Sage Design. It was Orchid who suggested last year, when she came to help us with the Xeriscape Tour, that we could probably sell a lot of plants on our deck, during the tour, to those actually interested in drought tolerant native gardening. Lucy at Hunter’s has known us for years and trusted us to bring home dozens of plants for that experimental first sale which was quite successful, just under $400 if I remember correctly.

It’s a sweet reward for Peggy, Orchid, and I to be instrumental in spreading the joy of native gardening through the community, and to think that native species may be benefiting a little bit from our efforts. We enjoyed a full day of sharing, with old friends and new, our garden experiences as several hundred people wandered through the yard admiring the results of nearly a decade of native species gardening.

Thanks Orchid for all your hard work and your lovely spirit...

And thanks also to Brad Henderson and Bill LaHaye for the inspiration.

The Big Bear Xeriscape Garden Tour is presented yearly by the Sierra Club Big Bear Group.

Rolling Right Along...

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Peggy rolls out of Earth Home Garden at 7:40 A.M. today.
The Big Bear Xeriscape Garden Tour is this coming Saturday and the weeds are still winning so you know where I'll be for the next few days anyway.
;~)

Mill Creek Crossing

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This photo was taken while crossing Mill Creek last Thursday evening at 7:41 P.M. on our way to a Spotted Owl territory.

Mill Creek is a tributary of the Santa Ana River and is part of the Mount San Gorgonio watershed. At 11,502 feet above sea level Mount San Gorgonio (Ol' Greyback) is the highest peak in Southern California.

The picture was taken to the east just outside of the tiny mountain enclave of Forest Falls, about 35 miles from our house (by road), in these same San Bernardino Mountains.