This has no digestive organs, and gets no food but from the fire, in which it constantly renews its scaly skin. The salamander, which renews its scaly skin in the fire,—for virtue —Leonardo da Vinci This is a common California salamander with a wide distribution that extends along the coast from Baja California through southern CA […]
Arboreal Salamander (Aneides lugubris) Read More »
Lewis’s river appeas to pass through these mots. near their N. Eastern extremity. these hills terminate in a high level plain between the Kooskooske and Lewis’s river. These plains are in many places well covered with the Longleafed pine, with some Larch and balsom fir. The soil is extreemly fertile no dose it appear
Western Larch (Larix occidentalis) Read More »
This is one big bird, with a maximum wingspan of 10 ft. 6 in., which is the largest of land birds and fourth in the world only behind two species of albatross and two species of pelican. The Andean condor inhabits the Andes of South America stretching from Venezuela and Colombia through Ecuador, Peru, Chile,
Andean Condor (Vultur gryphus) Read More »
…the most wonderful singer of all the birds is the water-ouzel that dives into foaming rapids and feeds at the bottom, holding on in a wonderful way, living a charmed life. —John Muir 1894 This is North America’s truly aquatic song bird. It is a chunky little bird that lives along fast moving streams and rivers
American Dipper (Cinclus mexicanus) Read More »
Once I spent a whole day there, a blade of grass in each hand to anchor me to the warm earth. I watched the sun rise, pass over my head and set. Ladybirds mated on my knuckle; a shrew nibbled a hole in my stocking while I tried not to laugh. Such a day was
Masked Shrew (Sorex cinereus) Read More »