Natural History Journal

Earlier in April, during our visit to Carrizo Plain,  I was interested in more than just the beautiful wildflowers; I had my eye on a few bird species as well.  In addition to more flashy Horned Larks and Lark Sparrows, little Bell's Sparrows ( Artemisiospiza belli ) also caught my attention (and offered some good photo opportunities!) Prior to 2013, the Bell's Sparrow and similar Sagebrush Sparrow ( Artemisiospiza nevadensis ) were considered a single species, the Sage Sparrow.  The two species are best distinguished by their range. Sage Sparrows have a larger range, which covers much of intermountain west; they can be found year round in the sagebrush lands of the Great Basin.  The range of the Bell's Sparrow overlaps with that of the Sagebrush Sparrow in eastern California, especially during the winter, and the two species can be very difficult to tell apart.  During the breeding season, Bell's Sparrows can safely be identified...

It's "go time" for wildflower enthusiasts across the southern half of California - and it would seem no wildflower trip would be complete this year without a stop at Carrizo Plain National Monument.  Eric and I spent last weekend camping at Carrizo Plain, just as the wildflower blooms were beginning to peak.  According to the Theodore Payne Wildflower Hotline, peak bloom at Carrizo Plain should continue for another couple of weeks.  (So you still have a chance to see it for yourself!) To prepare you for this season of wildflower abundance, whether you get out to see the blooms for yourself or are content to admire photos from the comfort of home, I've put together a collection of the most commonly encountered wildflowers at Carrizo Plain. Common Hillside Daisy ( Monolopia lanceolata ) One of the brightest and most ubiquitous flowers you will see is Common Monolopia, or Common Hillside Daisy ( Monolopia lanceolata ), pic...

"When California was wild, it was one sweet bee-garden throughout its entire length, north and south, and all the way across from the snowy Sierra to the ocean."   John Muir in The Mountains of California (1894) .  In his 1912 book, The Yosemite , John Muir described the view from Pacheco Pass, his first impression of the Great Central Valley as he gazed across toward the Sierra Nevada: "At my feet lay the Great Central Valley of California, level and flowery, like a lake of pure sunshine."   John Muir's "lake of pure sunshine," reimagined here at Carrizo Plain. Those bee-gardens, those lakes of sunshine, are almost all gone now, reduced to a few remaining patches of grassland that have been inundated with alien species and exotic annual grasses.  To see a fragment of what John Muir and others before him experienced upon gazing across the Great Central Valley, we paid a visit to Carrizo Plain National Monument.  ...

Quiet and mysterious, perfectly camouflaged and absolutely beautiful, owls are my favorite group of birds.  There's something so powerful and engaging in the way they look at you, like they know exactly what you're up to.  Owls meet your gaze like other birds do not, making any encounter with an owl a special one.  On a recent trip to Carrizo Plain National Monument, Eric and I had a memorable encounter with a pair of beautiful Long-eared Owls ( Asio otus ). Long-eared Owls spend their days roosting in dense stands of trees, preferring locations at the edge of grasslands, which is exactly the kind of place where we found this pair of owls.  They often perch close to the trunks of trees, where their cryptic coloring allows them to blend into the bark, melting into the dappled shade of dense foliage.  Long-eared Owls are residents throughout much of California, though they seem to be rare i...

Medicine Lake Highland is a massive shield-like volcano in Northern California, east of Mount Shasta in a region that combines features of the Cascades with those of the Modoc Plateau and Basin and Range provinces.  The volcano has a volume of 130 cubic miles, making it California's largest volcano.  And most people have never even heard of it!  The volcano rises nearly 4,000 feet above the Modoc Plateau, from a starting elevation of roughly 4,000 feet to nearly 8,000 feet at its summit.  The Medicine Lake Highlands span about 30 miles north-south, and 20 miles east-west.  Looking southwest, across Lava Beds National Monument, toward the massive shield edifice of Medicine Lake Highland. On my recent geology field studies trip, offered through Modesto Junior College (taking extra classes purely for the joy of learning seems to be a sort of hobby of mine), I had the privilege of traveling to Lava Beds National Monument to see the products ...