Concrete Chaparral

Exploring and Expanding the Urban Wilderness

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Author Archives: concretechaparral

Juglans and the Coastal Sage Scrub

March 3, 2021by concretechaparral 3 Comments

That is always the question when planting a native garden, isn’t it? How native is it going to be?

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Garden, Habitat & Wildlife, Native Plants, Pets

Winston and Waterman

October 22, 2020by concretechaparral Leave a comment

How do you mourn a landscape? In mid-July, my son and I took a drive up into the Angeles National Forest for a short hike to Winston Peak.   COVID […]

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Uncategorized

Winter Beach Walk

March 26, 2020by concretechaparral 7 Comments

A winter stroll provides a chance to get a sense of place where this vast wet wilderness meets the land.

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Birds, Habitat & Wildlife, Hikes/Walks, Ocean

Yosemite and the 12,000 Serenity Prayers

February 29, 2020by concretechaparral 2 Comments

Hetch Hetchy Valley was the little sister to the valley of Yosemite, a glacier carved gorge lined with vertical granite walls where multiple waterfalls roared.

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Habitat & Wildlife, Hikes/Walks, Landmarks, National Parks and Forests

A Few Stops in Ireland

September 15, 2019by concretechaparral 3 Comments

Exploring ruins give me a sense of connection to those before me, of being a part of the stream of humanity.  But I connect with ghosts.

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Abandon Sites/Ruins, Birds, Habitat & Wildlife, Landmarks, Native Plants

La Tuna Canyon – Hiking Up an Old Friend

May 13, 2019by concretechaparral 5 Comments

It was a cool day with light cloud cover, good weather for a hike, so I decided to head out and see an old friend.

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Habitat & Wildlife, Hikes/Walks, Native Plants

A Late Winter Walk in the Park

March 16, 2019by concretechaparral 13 Comments

Pick a walk through a natural habitat and hike it once a month for a year.  You’ll never have the same walk twice.

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Birds, Habitat & Wildlife, Hikes/Walks, Native Plants, Urban Parks

Squirrels!

February 18, 2019by concretechaparral 1 Comment

If you had to design a happy creature from scratch, chances are you’ll end up with something like a squirrel.  Adorable, energetic, bushy tail, bouncy run.

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Habitat & Wildlife, Mammals, Urban Parks

To the Coyote Brush that Didn’t Make It

October 28, 2018by concretechaparral 3 Comments

Coyote brush is a tough, scrappy survivor, often overlooked and under appreciated.

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Garden, Habitat & Wildlife, Insects, Native Plants
Concrete Chaparral

Abney Park

August 26, 2018by concretechaparral 4 Comments

Every forest is a graveyard.

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Abandon Sites/Ruins, Birds, Garden, Habitat & Wildlife, Hikes/Walks, Landmarks, Native Plants, Urban Parks

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A willet (Catoptrophorus semipalmatus) searches the tide pool for a tasty snack. Soon they will leave for their summer range in the north-central United States and south-central Canada, one of the shorter migration for our winter shorebirds.
On the rocky beaches of Pablo’s Verde a whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus) enjoys their last days of California sunshine. Whimbrels summer in the far north of Alaska and Canada.
New flower emerging on a California bush sunflower (Encelia californica).
Malva Rosa (Malva assurgentiflora) has one of the most stunning flower of California natives. Interestedly, its two to three inch flowers are obscured by its own foliage. These flowers I saw only because I was weeding around it. Evolutionary-wise, I wonder how that came to be. Colorful flowers can take a lot of a plant’s energy to create and are meant to attract pollinators, so why do malva rosa hide their flowers?
What!? No one told me yesterday was California Poppy Day! >sigh< Here are some California poppies (Eschscholzia californica) and a Concha ceanothus (Ceanothus ‘Concha’). If you planted ceanothus before, you would know it is a bee magnet. However, the poppies have a stronger pull - few bees are visiting the ceanothus while dozens go from poppy to poppy. Everyone loves the poppies!
An Anna’s Hummingbird (Calypte anna) grabbing a quick snack.
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