Category: Uncategorized

  • THE SQUIRREL DEBRIS FIELD

    Squirrels have got to be one of nature’s messiest animals. Today I parked my car near a long debris field under several Japanese Black Pines (Pinus thunbergii). The squirrels just throw the scales down after retrieving the seeds, making this huge mess on the ground below. The squirrels that inhabit this parking lot are Eastern…

  • Molting with the American Crow

    From a parking lot today, I noticed several feathers on the ground. I have been watching the crows (Corvus brachyrhynchos) from this certain parking lot for several months now as I walk by. They have just finished their mating season and there are juvenile crows and crow feathers all over the area. The youngsters have…

  • INTRODUCTION

    There is so much to see and learn right where we park our cars. My first real lesson in the value of being a parking lot naturalist happened not too long ago on an excursion to hunt geodes in the California desert. We spent several hours in the 100-degree heat hunting geodes in what amounted to…