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Exploring and Expanding the Urban Wilderness

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Tag Archives: Urban Wilderness

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

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

To Wonder View and Beyond!

June 20, 2018by concretechaparral 7 Comments

Besides city views and apex predators, there is also show biz!

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Birds, Habitat & Wildlife, Hikes/Walks, Insects, Landmarks, Mammals, Native Plants, Pets, Urban Parks
It's blue-purple flowers reveal blue-eyed grass to actually be of the iris family and not a grass.

Checking In with the Yard

May 19, 2018by concretechaparral 3 Comments

So far all the plants have survived with the exception of the island morning glory dug up by my co-gardener, Rocky the dog.  Even the native grasses he ate grew back fine.

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Birds, Garden, Habitat & Wildlife, Insects, Native Plants

Estes Park and the Battle for Spring

April 29, 2018by concretechaparral 3 Comments

The calendar said it was Spring, but Spring was still duking it out with Winter up in the Colorado Rockies.

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Habitat & Wildlife, Mammals

Ballona Freshwater Marsh

April 10, 2018by concretechaparral 7 Comments

Not far from the L.A. coastline, at the corner of Lincoln and Jefferson is a small marsh.

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Birds, Habitat & Wildlife, Hikes/Walks, Insects, Native Plants

Living with the Coyote

March 17, 2018by concretechaparral 3 Comments

Intelligent, resourceful, creative, coyotes have thrived under persecution where other animals were vanquished

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Habitat & Wildlife, Mammals

Look Ma! I’m Making a Wilderness!

February 10, 2018by concretechaparral 9 Comments

So plant a few natives in the yard and call it a day, eh?  I wish.

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Garden, Habitat & Wildlife, Native Plants, Urban Parks

Murphy Ranch: Nature, Graffiti, Intrigue

June 11, 2017by concretechaparral 1 Comment

Between the multi-million dollar houses of the Pacific Palisades and Will Rogers State Park sits Murphy Ranch where truth and myth blended together.

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Abandon Sites/Ruins, Articles/Links, Habitat & Wildlife, Hikes/Walks, Native Plants, Urban Parks

Succession

May 26, 2017by concretechaparral 3 Comments

“In a few months the wonderful flowery vegetation is in full bloom and by the end of May it is dead and dry and crisp, as if every plant had been roasted in an oven.” –John Muir

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Garden, Hikes/Walks, 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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