Month: November 2024

Ecology

Smithsonian gives some love to the LA, Lewis MacAdams and the Least Bell’s Vireo

Thanks to friends Mark Yanni and John Loo for spotting this fascinating story from Smithsonian Magazine.

Least Bell’s Vireo (Courtesy U.S. Dept. of Fish and Wildlife)

“Along a gentle bend of the Los Angeles River, in a stretch of land called Taylor Yard, a sound like a high-pitched record scratch can just be heard above the cacophony of city life. This is the call of the least Bell’s vireo, an olive-gray songbird that is only five inches from tip to tail. The riparian species native to Southern California has lived an endangered existence for more than 40 years. Now, the small bird’s return here symbolizes a new future for one of the country’s most maligned waterways. “

READ THE STORY >>HERE.

Ecology

Mystery fish IDed as bass not steelhead (sigh)

Well … lots of you chimed in about what the heck are the blurry pics in the last post. Could they be what we were all hoping they were–steelhead? There were lots of votes for bass of some sort–I coined the name “torpedo bass,” hoping to be wrong. One noted biologist thought possibly striped mullet, while asking for some better snaps.

Those came from TU South Coast board member Terry Italia.

Based on these better shots, Camm Swift, one of the leading authorities on biology, management and conservation of fresh and brackish water fishes of coastal Southern California, wrote in an email:

“They are bass, probably largemouth, with the jpegs 3117 and 3118 the most distinct.  The two dorsal fins are a tip off and a subtle black stripe down the sides on some, often more prominent.  Very common and widespread in Southern California.  High flows wash them out of local ponds and reservoirs, and these are probably YOY (young-of-the-year) having been hatched in March or so upstream or even locally if the lagoon was large enough and stable.  Can prey extensively on natives.”

Great to know the score, but it hurts at least a bit to not see what we hoped for. Kinda like the election.

See you on the river, Jim Burns