Critters

Nature Walk

Today, we drove down to the Palos Verdes Peninsula to take a nature walk along a path preserved in a rustic canyon. I snapped this picture of a honey bee browsing for nectar in a field of daisies.

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Alligators in the Sewers – The Epilogue

For a couple of years, we have been posting about Reggie, the alligator. Now, it appears that he has been relocated to the Los Angeles Zoo. Before the capture, one of my colleagues took this shot of Reggie floating serenely on Lake Machado in the Harbor City District of Los Angeles.

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Photo credit & © Des Wong (used by permission)

Life was getting good for Reggie the alligator.

The scaly, 7-foot-long abandoned pet had basked in his own legend on the shores of Machado Lake for nearly two years.

Sightseers by the hundreds came to get a glimpse of the creature that had eluded professional gator wranglers over the months.

But about 3:30 p.m. Thursday, Reggie’s luck simply ran out.

Read the rest of the story about Reggie’s capture (South Bay Breeze):

Continue reading…

A California Brown Pelican

I took this shot last Saturday from the Point Vicente Interpretive Center. As we stood there on the cliffs watching the waves, this handsome pelican soared just overhead, as it rode the updrafts above the cliffs.

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The Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis californicus) is the smallest of the eight species of pelican, although it is a large bird in nearly every other regard. It is 42-54 in (106-137 cm) in length, weighs from 6-12 lbs (2.75 to 5.5 kg) and has a wingspan from 6 to 8.2 ft. (1.83 to 2.5 m).

Catch and Release Program

It’s springtime and the garden is sprouting – but there are those who would help themselves to our veggies-to-be. The answer to controlling pilferage isn’t always pesticides – especially when it comes to controlling cute little fuzzy squirrels. Our preferred method in this case is to catch and repatriate. A nearby park will provide shelter and a place for this particular squirrel to forage.

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In the picture above – squirrel’s eye view of a Havahart trap – later at the park, the release and scamper up a convenient pine tree.