Amazing birds, those crows

Crow eating yogurt, San Francisco, 2011.

Crows are amazing. 

They eat leftover yogurt.

They snowboard on yogurt lids. 

Balance

This oxalis sprout is growing out of a stump, 4 feet off the ground, in the middle of a cypress stand in the Presidio. Out of death comes life; it's been said millions of ways, millions of times. It's a fantastic concept to fully understand and to think about regularly. Balance is in our lives always. Though it's not always easy, we have to appreciate balance, and admire its perfection.

Oxalis stump, Presidio, Jan 2012.

What makes me curious about this situation is this. This plant, assuming it's Oxalis pes-caprae, is not thought to spread via seed, bur rather only by underground features, as clones. Yet, this sprig surely came from seed. 

I took this picture while spending a morning pursuing a long-eared owl that was recently seen in the Presidio. I failed to find it. It was a great way to spend a morning off of work: slowly walking this place that I have grown to love with no regard to time, with senses firing and mind open.

Now I balance philosophy with biology; and plants with birds; photography with birding; failed expectations with pleasant surprises (I mean finding the stump but no owl); music playing with words being written; oncoming sleep with racing mind. Black with white.

Upside-down Palm, South Texas

This palm is one of many dead roadside palms in South Texas. There is one native palm species to South Texas, the frost-tolerant Sabal palm. But, many palms that grow there as ornamentals are Washingtonia, a species native to California. They don't tolerate frost, so deep freeze events, which are rare, create numerous dead standing palm skeletons. Locals refer to these as "woodpecker hotels." At least the crowd I hung out with, the staff of the Lower Rio Grande NWR, did. I took this in 1997 when I spent my first AmeriCorps term there.

This tree died and has a new seedling at its base, creating the illusion of an upside-down palm tree. I suspect the dead standing trunk is that of a young Washingtonia, but I can't identify the young one at its base -- the leaves just don't seem right for either. But I'm putting aside my frustration with plant ID and posting this anyway!

Upside-down palm, South Texas, 1997.