migrations
lucky to have these cute visitors last weekend <3 AND they came with a soundtrack.
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This morning, I arrived at the skate park at 7am and had two hours there to myself; listening to the birds (the mourning doves and who knows who else), enjoying the warmth and slight breeze. It’s been harder to get exercise lately with the heat. Then I retreated inside, facetiming Ishita in India, drinking jasmine tea. It feels weird to be inside an air conditioned home, a bit chilly, pretending all is cozy. The blinds are closed so it’s dark in here, too. It’s nice, but very incongruous with the 116 degree weather outside.
I read about the seasonal migrations of the Kumeyaay people (https://www.ivpressonline.com/open/land-of-extremes-shells-and-the-first-people/article_4b47db84-d7b5-11ec-8a24-83c3dffae5a2.html ; https://www.kumeyaay.com/ ) to San Diego during these hotter months, and back here, to the Imperial Valley, for the winter. Hiking over the coastal mountains to make it to the ocean in what used to be a much more tropical climate. Many birds, who travel south in the winter and north in the summer, pass through here in spring or fall (https://www.audubon.org/important-bird-areas/imperial-valley). I learned about the Gulf of California, to the south of here, where desert meets ocean due to a rare set of climatic and geologic factors - where the Baja California peninsula is moving away from mainland Mexico at a rate of about 1 inch per year (https://www.desertmuseum.org/members/sonorensis/sonorensis2002.pdf). Learned, also, that this valley was part of that Gulf about 10 million years ago.
I did not, however, find out why these tiny little shells littering the desert are still completely in tact.
There's a lot of them, too! 10 million years seems like a long time. Might have something to do with the Salton sea or other bodies of water that are currenly, or more recently, harboring aquatic life. If anyone has any info, I am all ears.
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I wish I had more cohesive thoughts to share, but my brain is feeling foggy this weekend. We are gearing up for collecting from tall trees, which I imagine will be the moment when I peak. Of course I want to whack beans off a tree with a 10 foot pole in 100 degree heat. Of course! If I was born for another purpose, I have yet to find it. So…. I’ll let y’all know how that goes.
As of now, we’ve been doing some more scouting, trying to prepare as best we can before it’s time to collect from everyone. I am still loving the feeling of going back to populations we’ve been monitoring all season, my understanding of what they are up to growing each time. I cherish random botany lessons with Beatrice in the field. This past week, I learned about trichomes, lenticels, how all flower structures evolved from leaves (yes! And DUH, and yes!!!), among other things. I would recommend googling all of the above.
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Here are some fun finds:
we've been putting rubber bands on milkweed pods to keep the seeds in, so we can come scoop 'em. I also saw a coiled rattlesnake at this location Monday morning. Startling! But beatiful. Gotta keep keepin an eye out.
Tarantula hawk!
Barrel Cactus! With funky fruits inside.
That's all for today. Forgive my scattered brain? Let's get outside this week!
<3 maya