I finally saw a Fairy Shrimp with my own eyes! Gaylene, the Biologist from the Wildlife Heritage Foundation, who checks the Fairy Shrimp levels in the vernal pool periodically, was here at our drying pool to check levels again. I watched from the library window as she slogged through the mud and puddles of the drying slush of the pool. When she got back to the edge by the parking lot, I was there to see what she had gathered…..
“First you try to tell me that field of grass is a vernal pool. I don’t see any water. Then you tell me it has Fairy Shrimp in it! You are telling me a fairy tale!” It’s dry right now, after the fire season, I tried to explain to my skeptic friend. Then the fall and winter rains come, and the field begins to fill with water, going from a few puddles to a pond, and eventually a small lake……
Before the fog rolled in I saw the pair of Mallards in the vernal pool. It has reached the stage of a few puddles, thanks to recent rains. Five Turkey Vultures were taking turns on some road kill next to the freeway on the north side of the “pool” (really still just a field of grass). Starlings were gathering on a telephone line. The Mockingbird popped up to greet me from his bush in the parking lot. But he just…..
Who loves putting a puzzle together? Life is like a box of puzzle pieces that each tries to sort and arrange for himself. Everyone is given a different box in this puzzle entitled “Life.” Some of the pieces are the same in each box, some are different. No picture comes with this box, though many claim they have figured out or know what it is going to be. When the theology of two godly people is different it begins a…..
As I sit here waiting for birds that don’t want to be seen (I’ve heard a few of them, but they stay around the corner or in the bush), I might as well plan my life and what I need to do today to reach distant goals. But I’d much rather watch the birds. And the trees. This morning is colder than yesterday, so I spread a blanket on my lap as I make myself comfortable in view of my…..
Who would have thought that in August the temperature would be so pleasant and the air so clear here in Redding, CA that one could actually sit outside (in the shade, of course) enjoying it? Last year at this time the fire season was in full swing. Anyone going outside needed to wear a smoke mask. Smoke from fires both near and far filled the air. With a fire that jumped the Sacramento River and I-5, as well as the…..
When the vernal pool is a field of grass, no water in sight (but maybe somewhere), things are different. I have set up a little bird feeding station where I watch birds that come for the “morning rush hour.” Refer to earlier post: What is a Vernal Pool? Have I told you about this critter who has been eating my bird seed? I’ve seen him, standing like a groundhog just come out of his hole, sniffing the air around…..
As you read the Bible, whether you’ve read it a hundred times or never before, you’ll find that just like when watching birds, questions begin to mount. Here you were expecting it to answer all your questions! Read just a little bit a day. Eventually you’ll want more. But not all at once. Not at first. As with watching birds, the questions start coming as you read (or watch). Why does this bird fly this way and that bird fly…..
Vernal pools are wetlands covered by shallow water from winter to spring, but completely dry for most of summer and fall. The pools are characteristic of Mediterranean climates and distributed throughout California as well as some northeastern and Midwestern states. They provide habitat for distinctive plants and animals. Vernal pools vary in size from small puddles to shallow lakes found in a sloping plain of grassland. All pools dry up periodically. In the wet season, water birds thrive at this…..
Back on December 28 the wet season was in full swing at the vernal pool. I’d spent enough time in the cold wind beside the vernal pool to be satisfied I’d seen all I was going to see that morning. Eleven species in an hour. Also confirmed my identification of the Gadwall. From the shed beside the pool I was close enough to clearly see the Gadwalls, even the dark eye line on the dark head. And the Mallards! I…..
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