Category: Pretty Critters

Exposition Park (Part III) – SKETCH Foundation Gallery

Besides the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and the California African American Museum the park is home to the California Science Center, part of which is the Sketch Foundation Gallery – Air and Space Exhibits.

Just to make sure that nobody who wants to visit the gallery gets lost, they decorated the outside of the building (architect: Frank Gehry) with a jet fighter plane.

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Another impressive outside exhibit is a Titanium A-12 Blackbird trainer, the one and only ever built.

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It is easy to detect that this is a “trainer plane” – two cockpits! Just like driving school – two sets of instruments for managing the vehicle, only at a speed of Mach 2.0.

Also on display outside is a DC 8:

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Although I am not quite sure whether this plane hasn’t been put up in conjunction with the Ornithological Society of Los Angeles – it is basically “Starling Central.” Yes, I kid you not, in every single opening of the hull starlings have built nests with loudly muttering offspring inside and parent birds frantically flying to and fro to feed the hungry brood. Here one can see the tail of a a starling slipping inside to tend to the kiddies:

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And it’s okay with me. Starling, A-12 or DC 8 – I love all things with wings.

Wee Little Critters

While Mom is out and about looking for food (or taking a break from parenting)

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the youngsters are staying close to home.

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After all, the first lesson every Californian ground squirrel learns is: “If it has feathers and comes at you from above – go underground. Double quick!”

Grey squirrels in parks

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have a different strategy: “If it has feathers and comes at you from above – climb a tree. Double quick!”

What Others Think About The Heat Wave

The hot Sunday was followed by a broiling hot Monday. Due to the winds coming in from the Mojave Desert, temperatures in Downtown Los Angeles rose to 100°F (37,7°C). The forecast for today is just a bit lower, back to 94°F.

It is a bit difficult to keep cool or at least comfortable, if one hates A/C. But it is possible.

This beautiful Husky however had every reason to look a bit downtrodden and less energetic than Huskies usually do.

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I looked at him, he looked at me, and I could read his mind: “Los Angeles in summer is not a good place to be. Heck, most of the time it’s too hot for me even in what you call winter!”

They Do Not Fool Around

It’s the time of the year again when mockingbirds and starlings are checking out the most desirable spaces to start nesting and raise the brood. Mockingbirds move into lushly green trees, starlings into more barren spaces underneath eaves and rain gutters. Both camps seem to be of the opinion that they have a wing up over the other. “Living in a tree – how can one?” “A hole in a wall – those guys just don’t have taste!”

Anyway, when mockingbirds and starlings prepare to decorate their nests in preparation for starting yet another family, crows get interested in the area too. The idea of a fresh egg for breakfast or – even better a while later – a juicy fledgling has a certain allure for the average crow.

Needless to say, mockingbirds and starlings do not quite share this view towards their offspring. As pesky as the young may be, they are definitely not breakfast. And so the fight is on again; any crow hanging out too long in the neighborhood is chased away by mockingbirds. It is not a rare sight to see one crow winging it, being chased by two or three mockingbirds in hot pursuit. Starlings do not take part in those “keep the neighborhood clean” flights – no crow can invade a nest under a rain gutter or some eaves. “That’s why we live in a hole in the wall, silly!”

This morning this female Purple Finch and I were treated again to some amazing flight scenes.

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Those mockingbirds do not fool around. David against Goliath comes to mind every time. And just like way back then – smaller is smarter, faster and better.

I am quite sure that the three mockingbirds afterwards congratulated  each other on a job well done.

I Want One! Or Several.

We all have them: dreams about where to retire. My favorite location would be somewhere desert-y, near a small liberal university with a good reputation, in an adobe house with a backyard where flocks of California quail come by regularly to take dust baths with their offspring. Nothing amuses me more than those quail with their little crests going bobbety-bob while they rush around. These birds are always so busy.

I’ve adjusted that plan a bit. In addition to the quail with the crests I also want some furry chickens.

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This is a Chinese Silkie. I saw several of them at a petting zoo, where they were being chased by toddlers (that’s the reason why this Silkie is sitting on the arm of a young lady in charge of the animals – otherwise no photo would have been possible). These birds are amazing. They are rather tiny, apparently they have the sweetest disposition and they look as if they are wearing shaggy, silky, very stylish fur coats.

I instantly fell in love with them. So much so that I can hardly wait to see them running around in that back yard in the desert near some small, liberal university town. Maybe they will even take dust baths together with the California quails.

At The Top

Mt. Hollywood (1,640 feet) is the highest point in Griffith Park. So why not start the New Year with a hike up there? Up the Aberdeen Trail, along the Hogback Trail, over the bridge, past Dante’s View, up to the peak, down again, over to the Observatory and back to the car by way of the East Observatory Trail. 3 1/2 hours. Done.

In clear weather the view from Mt. Hollywood is quite something, offering a 360-degree view over the city, the mountains, the San Fernando Valley and the ocean. Alas, even though the weather was perfect for hiking, sunny and warm, but not too hot, there was also a slight haze. So no spectacular view. Well, maybe next time.

Spectacular on a different scale is Dante’s View, a terraced garden on the way up to the peak. The garden was created in 1964 by an Italian immigrant and burned down in the fire of May 2007. There was nothing left, the flames had devoured every single plant, it was complete devastation, nothing but ashes and some blackened tree stumps. Clearing, landscaping and replanting at the site started almost immediately and the garden was restored to its former glory.

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With the surrounding mountain slopes still bare and brown after the fire, the garden is even more than ever like a small paradise, inviting to people and animals. The only difference is: People go there to rest and to drink in the beauty of their surroundings. Animals (bees and hummingbirds) go there to work and to drink nectar.

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