End Pavement

In an effort to highlight California conservation organizations, I thought I’d begin a series of posts (with accompanying links in the sidebar) on various folks working hard to keep the outdoors strong and safe. Sort of like Stephen Colbert’s “Better Know a District” but publicizing cool people doing good things rather than making fun of politicians. ;)

First up, a group working to help the only mammal that truly flies — the awesome bat. From what I’ve read, there are over 900 species of bats, and California has 27 of them. There’s a reason Batman chose his awesome mascot. :)

The California Bat Conservation Fund is a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of bats. The Fund’s major activities include:

• dispelling widespread misconceptions about bats through informative presentations and live-bat displays at schools, libraries, museums, and community centers
• restoring injured and orphaned bats to health and returning them to the wild
• working alongside major conservation efforts to replenish shrinking bat populations

Have a suggestion for a California conservation group? Please get in touch.

A pair of cool introductory entries from the BirdNote podcast for the auditory birder, not to mention general outdoor folk wondering who’s screeching at them on the trail.

Bird Sound Types and Qualities Part I

What words do experienced birders use to describe the sounds of birds? There’s “whistle” to describe the Quick, three beers call of the Olive-sided Flycatcher. And the “rattle” of the Belted Kingfisher. The Dark-eyed Junco delivers an almost perfect “trill,” while the House Wren—like this one—lets go a “cascade.” Experts at birding-by-ear call the Downy Woodpecker’s song a “whinny.”

Bird Sound Types and Qualities Part II

Birding by ear is a great way to identify birds. Listen for qualities of the sound as well as the pattern. Western Meadowlarks have a song that is “liquid” and “clear.” Quite a contrast to the “dry” notes of this Chipping Sparrow often found in the same habitat. The Spotted Towhee has a “metallic” quality to its trill, while the Purple Finch uses a “sweet” and “slurred” cadence. The American Dipper belts out a “ringing” song.

From the first hike after the accident, in our oft-hiked Hulda Crooks Park. Click for larger pix.

Denyse and Pharaoh take a break.

Catching a whiff of something on the wind.

You can just glimpse Denyse in the distance as Pharaoh hurtles back and forth between us. It’s amazing how fast he can run, and he always winds up running three miles for every mile we hike. :)

I happened to catch an episode of “Dogs with Jobs” on the National Geographic Channel that was covering bloodhounds in England engaged in a traditional fox hunt — minus the fox and plus one human.

As this BBC News article describes it,

Drag hunting is the sport often cited by members of the anti-bloodsports lobby as the alternative to chasing foxes with hounds.

The activity involves hunting down a live human being, who has taken on the challenge of running the equivalent of half a marathon over open countryside - with a pack of hounds hot on their heels.

I imagine that would quite the workout. And of course, there’s many treats and much tail wagging at the end of the day, rather than blood and dead foxes. ;)

Fox hunting was banned in the UK in 2005.

When I was a kid, somebody got me an awesome subscription. You began with a set of cards (approx. 4-inch square) with dividers, and a cool red plastic tray to store them in upright — each card represented a different animal, with a great picture on the front and info on the back. Every month, if I remember correctly, you got another small set of cards to add to your collection. This was, for the type of kid I was (and am), obsession-producing.

I daren’t poke around eBay or other auction sites for fear of actually finding, and therefore being compulsed to buy, the full set.

The next best thing might be a website. Actually, a much better thing would be an online Encyclopedia of Life. And while there’s no relationship that I know of between EOL and those old-school cards, there sure is one in my brain.

And this isn’t the old non-interactive days, no sir.

Comprehensive, collaborative, ever-growing, and personalized, the Encyclopedia of Life is an ecosystem of websites that makes all key information about life on Earth accessible to anyone, anywhere in the world. Our goal is to create a constantly evolving encyclopedia that lives on the Internet, with contributions from scientists and amateurs alike. To transform the science of biology, and inspire a new generation of scientists, by aggregating all known data about every living species. And ultimately, to increase our collective understanding of life on Earth, and safeguard the richest possible spectrum of biodiversity.

Now, do you think I’ll be able to resist looking up information for or even contributing on Southern Californian specimens while I’m running around the great outdoors?

Yeah, me neither. ;)

Where most of our hikes take place, the worst we have to worry about are rattlesnakes, mountain lions, and maybe black bears.

For Johan Otter and his daughter Jenna, traveling from California to hike in Glacier National Park in northernmost Montana, a beautiful trip took a tragic turn for a much bigger reason. Their story is being told in the LA Times in two parts, the first installment of which is in today’s paper — “A hike into horror and an act of courage”.

Johan and Jenna had been on the trail little more than an hour. They had just followed a series of switchbacks above Grinnell Lake and were on a narrow ledge cut into a cliff. It was an easy ascent, rocky and just slightly muddy from yesterday’s rain.

Johan took some pictures. Jenna pushed ahead. It was one of the most spectacular hikes they’d taken on this trip, a father-daughter getaway to celebrate her graduation from high school. There were some steps, a small outcropping, a blind turn, and there it was, the worst possibility: a surprised bear with two yearling cubs.

Today’s powerful article covers the attack and rescue, and tomorrow’s will be focused on recovery. I had tears in my eyes reading it earlier, as it was all-to-easy to put myself in the shoes of Johan trying to protect his daughter.

Even if the threats are relatively minor compared to a protective grizzly bear mother, it’s still a sobering experience to think of being out on the local trails, with no idea of what’s around the next bend.

Will something happen to you on any given day? Almost certainly not. But it’s the “almost” that provides motivation for preparing for the worst as best you can.

Update: Part Two was published today: “Pain, gratitude and a long fight back”.

His daughter was safe and he was recovering, but months later, he knew the bear still had him.

His halo was a cage, and all Johan Otter could do was stare out through the carbon graphite rods that pinned his head in place.