Speaking Of Large Birds....

When I posted the information for San Diego County Vector Control for reporting large dead birds, such as Crows, Jays, Hawks, Owls and Falcons, a couple of days ago, I wasn't expecting to see one of those large birds very much alive and sitting on our birdbath, waiting for breakfast.

It's probably a juvenile Cooper's Hawk, judging from the bands and white tip on the tail and the amount of white on its underside.  I ran inside and got the camera, trying to get a few pictures without scaring it away, although it seemed oblivious to our presence.

However, as I was taking these pictures, I saw a flash of orange feathers on the ground; a Spotted Towhee had hopped down out of the shrubbery and was pecking at seeds on the ground, apparently unaware that a large predator was very close by.

We know that, by putting out birdseed, we will attract not only songbirds, but also hawks and other critters that prey on them; it's all part of the cycle of life, but we prefer not to watch it happen if we can help it.  

So Cindy went out toward the feeder, the Towhee skipped back into the shrubbery and the Cooper's Hawk reluctantly took off to land in the neighbors' Eucalyptus tree, to the great disgust of the Crows in the area, who set up a cacophony of complaints about it.

More Dead Birds

Last year at about this time, we found several dead birds in our yard.  (See:  For The Birds).  Because we're concerned about the West Nile Virus, I posted the contact information for the San Diego County Vector Control Office.

Within the last few days we've found two dead sparrows and a dead House Finch, so it's time to post the reminder again.  Sparrows and House Finches are too small for Vector Control to deal with, but they will collect larger dead birds such as Crows, Ravens, Jays, Hawks, Owls and Falcons.

If you find one of these larger birds dead in San Diego County, the phone number to report it is (858) 694-2888 or report it on line at vector@sdcounty.ca.gov.

We hate to lose our birds, and we really don't want the West Nile virus to become any more prevalent in the county than it already is.

Rock Plants.... Seriously?

When we visited Janet's garden last month I saw some plants I don't recall ever having seen before.  Called Lithops, living stones or pebble plants, these are plants that have evolved to look like rocks.

Which Are The Rocks?

The appearance of these plants helps camouflage them from hungry animals in their native South Africa and Namibia environment.

We were fortunate to see that a couple of Janet's Lithops were coming into flower; they looked like the "rocks" had split open to reveal smaller rocks inside.  They should eventually produce a flower which will go to seed.

Split "Stone"

I think these are really interesting plants.

I Fought The Lawn...(Reprise)

When I lived in Northern California, I had a beautiful Fescue lawn that I watered, fertilized and mowed faithfully.  (See I Fought The Lawn).  It was beautiful, but it did suck up a lot of water.

Southern California is a different climate, one that has been experiencing a fairly severe drought for the past several years.  Native grasses in this area tend to spring to life in the fall and winter, go to seed rapidly and then die off or at least turn brown in the Spring when the rains stop.  Unfortunately, this cycle doesn't sit well with a lot of people who have been conditioned to the idea that every house MUST have a green lawn, an idea derived from the landscapers of 17th Century English estates and  fostered today by the companies that sell grass seed, sod, endless varieties of fertilizer and weed control products*.

San Diego is currently under fairly strict water restrictions governing how much, how often and when lawns can be watered.  So I did a little informal survey the other day to see how our neighborhood, where the streets are named after English counties and every house has space for a lawn, is coping with the drought.

Some people have gone to plastic grass, which looks pretty good most of the time.  The down side to plastic grass is that it's not permeable by water, so a hard rain like the one we had a couple of weeks ago just has to run off into the storm drainage system and can't get down to water tree roots underneath it.  It also tends to be hot and may end up baking those tree roots and ultimately may kill the trees.

Plastic.  Needs to Be Dusted

Other people have tried painting their lawns green.  I kid you not, paint.  Green paint.  The only problem with that is that the paint fades in the sun and has to be redone periodically.

Green Paint Over Bermuda Grass

Some people have gone with drought-tolerant ground covers, such as the silver-gray Dymondia, although that plant seems to work best where it won't get a lot of foot traffic.  It also takes a while to get established and spread out, and it does need at least some water.

Dymondia

Some have gone with rock or bark as ground covers.  I think this one is very attractive because it incorporates succulents and different sizes of rocks.

Rocks and Succulents

And then there are those who seem to be pretending that there are no water restrictions anyway.

It's Pretty Obvious Who's Still Watering

We live in a Mediterranean climate; we need to adapt to it.



___________________________________
*The ads I find particularly irksome are those featuring the phony Scotsman, conveniently named "Scot", who relentlessly pushes his company's products, shaming those whose lawns look less than perfect because of their lack of devotion to the ideal lawn.  Enough, already.

Cat's Cradle

Cindy put up a new trellis for the green beans a while ago.  It took both of us to get the thing untangled and assembled.  I had lots of experience when I was a kid of untangling kite string, but this one was a major mess.   I told Cindy it reminded me of the cat's cradle puzzle I was never able to work as a kid, but we finally got it assembled and put up.

Bean Trellis Up

Then the beans finally discovered it and climbed rapidly up the strings.

Beans Up!

And now it's fully covered with bean stalks and beans and sort of reminds me of the Jolly Green Giant.

Ho, Ho, Ho....

That's going to be a lot of green beans.

Georgia's Garden

During our recent trip to New Mexico, we visited the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, and then took a tour of her house and studio in Abiquiu.

We found the tour of the house, garden and studio interesting, but the rules prohibited us from taking any photographs until the tour was over and we were back outside.  However, we were able to take a few pictures by leaning over the wall or shooting through the fence.

Georgia's Garden Walk

One of the most interesting things about her garden was that the property includes water rights and the garden is still watered using the flooding method, with the water flowing through trenches or diverted to flood specific parts of the garden.  This low-tech method seems wasteful to us, with our heightened consciousness of drought, but it probably has been done that way for centuries in this part of the world.

Original Entrance To the House

I loved the gate, with the smaller gate set inside.