March 13

Under sunny skies and morning temperatures in the upper 50’s. we begin our hike in Harter Park on the Palos Verdes Peninsula. For thousands of years, the marine rock layers of this peninsula have naturally eroded, creating small canyons and steep ravines. Thanks to local residents, some of these landforms have been preserved as accessible wildlife refuges, like Harter Park. Following an earthen trail above the ravine, I notice colorful blossoms of Lupine and Wild Radish. Used as a food, all parts of Wild Radish are edible, hot and peppery. Leaves should be eaten when young before they become bitter. Flowers can be added to salads while seedpods should be eaten when immature. Next to the trail, an outcrop of Diatomaceous Shale catches my eye. This rock is fairly soft and light-weight, being composed of fine-grained sediments and diatoms, plankton that forms a siliceous exoskeleton (stock photo). Looking around, I spot yellow blossoms of Wild Mustard and Sow Thistle. Up ahead, my ears tune in to a flock of American Robins singing from the lush vegetation. Not surprisingly, I spot one of many perched in a tree and one of many foraging on the ground. These large flocks are common in winter in areas like this where abundant edible fruit occurs, including the berries of surrounding Pepper trees. Locally, robins are the number one carrier of West Nile disease. West Nile virus is the most common and serious vector-borne disease in California. There have been more than 7,000 human cases and over 300 deaths reported in the state since 2003. While the virus is almost always lethal to crows and jays, robins are able to carry the disease with fewer ill effects. A mosquito species spreads the disease to birds and humans. This mosquito takes blood meals from roosting robins who serve as an amplification mechanism enabling more mosquitos to acquire the virus and eventually infect people. Glancing down to the bottom of the ravine, I notice a blossoming patch of Trefoil and a blossoming Blackwood Acacia tree. Crossing over to the other side of the ravine, I start heading back when I pause to watch a Honeybee feeding on a blossom of Wood-sorrel. Continuing along, I see and enjoy the fragrance of small white blossoms on a Wild Cucumber vine that also displays a golf-ball size, prickly green fruit. Although this plant is related to the familiar, domestic vegetable, the prickly “cucumbers” are not edible.

Winter wanes

Here in the west

Communing with nature

Remains my quest

Snow-capped summits

Rocky beaches

Pelican dives

Whale breaches

Ospreys soar

Higher than most

Pounding surf

Carves the coast

 

D. DeGraaf