Native Wildlife
“An understanding of the natural world and what’s in it is a source of not only a great curiosity but great fulfilment.”
– David Attenborough
While we raise animals, plant gardens, and maintain the landscape, we are ever mindful that we share this land with a myriad of native wildlife species, from tiny insect pollinators, to full grown adult Mountain Lions. The farm is situated within a fully functioning wild ecosystem, but human encroachment into wildland areas is fracturing habitat, and making it ever more challenging for some species, especially apex predators, to thrive.
As responsible livestock owners, we have built numerous lion-proof enclosures over the years, not just to keep our goats and poultry safe, but to protect the wildlife that lives here. With a little effort, we can coexist, share resources, and avoid any need to remove the wildlife that calls Curbstone Valley home.
An Absence of Deer
I’ve written a number of posts over the years of about our frustrations with trying to grow fruit trees, and vegetables, under tremendous deer pressure. I never expected to write a post about a paucity of deer on the farm. Usually we’re posting about deer that have...
California Giant Salamander
This morning was perhaps as near to perfect ‘salamander weather’ as one could hope to find mid-summer here along the coast. The coastal marine layer was so thick early this morning, there was actually some measurable precipitation. Not really enough to call it rain,...
Bilateral Anophthalmia in a Coast Range Newt
It’s no secret that California is now rushing headlong into its third year of drought. Hills and fields that should be emerald green at this time of year are still end-of-summer brown. Headlines are filled with stories about water districts implementing mandatory...
The Writing Spiders Return
I realize that I’ve posted about writing spiders before, so for more information about their feeding habits, and web construction, you can see the previous post here. However, this morning I encountered not one, but TWO species of Argiope spiders, suspended in their...
Allen’s Hummingbird (Selasphorus sasin)
Since we first moved to the farm, each year, around mid-late winter, I’d occasionally see a flash of copper and green whiz past me in the garden. Only catching a glimpse out of the corner of my eye, I assumed they were simply migrating Rufous Hummingbirds (Selasphorus...
Sierran Treefrog (Pseudacris sierra)
In all the time we’ve been here, I’ve only ever seen one frog. Just one. We hear them frequently, sometimes down by the creeks, other times up on the slopes above us, but they’re rather shy, and we have some very dense woodland here, so being able to find our...
The Writing Spider (Argiope aurantia)
The Writing Spider (Argiope aurantia) is a spider of many names. Known as the Yellow and Black Garden Spider, Golden Orb Weaver, Yellow Argiope, Corn Spider, Scribbler Spider, Golden Garden Spider, and Black and Yellow Argiope, just to name a few. Despite its many...
Long-Horn Bees
This may be remembered as the year of the bee at Curbstone Valley. It started when we installed a few hives of honey bees on the farm this spring, but we also greatly understand the importance of the native bees that frequent our crops and flowers. Research has...
Woodland Skipper
This year, as the gardens are starting to come together, it’s been tremendously rewarding to see more species of animal life showing up among the flowers. Some of the most notable additions to the gardens this year have been butterflies, including the Lorquin’s...
Pacific-slope Flycatcher – The Third Time’s a Charm!
For the last two years we’ve had a pair of Pacific-slope Flycatchers (Empidonax difficilis) that, for reasons known only to them, insist on building nests on the house that seem doomed to failure. Last spring, the pair nested on top of our porch light. The female...
Two is Always Better Than One
After this weekend’s rain, a rare 2.95 inches for June, I’ve been so busy outside this week that I’m getting a little behind on the blog. Hopefully our second annual view of spring through the office window will help make up for that though. After all, what’s not to...
The Goldfinches and Flycatchers Have Hatched!
This morning we were out feeding the bees, and suddenly heard a cacophony of birds in the orchard. Looking out toward the aprium tree, I could see two adult Lesser Goldfinches (Spinus psaltria) perched on the edge of the nest we found a couple of weeks ago. I...
For Every Bird a Nest
Last week I was out in the orchard, pulling weeds, and startled someone in our ‘Flavor Delight’ Aprium tree. Not thinking much of it, I went back to weeding. Throughout the afternoon though I noticed a rather drab bird darting in and out of the branches. Finches…...
Ensatina eschscholtzii xanthoptica
This week the rain finally stopped, so we’ve been out in the orchard trying to get on top of the weeds, and plant out some more fruit trees (more on that later). This should have been a post about planting, but much like a magpie, I’m easily distracted in the...
Arboreal Salamander
With a large, and persistent Pacific storm lashing the coast of California in recent days, there’s enough water running everywhere to make me think I’m going to sprout gills and webbed toes. It’s rained 17 of the first 20 days in December, although our rainy month...