Joshua Tree National Park. Photo by Bruce Vincent
My residence is on a major wildlife corridor east of the city of Ojai. My actual yard is probably 200 feet square. My birding yard for eBird (http://ebird.org) and YardMap (http://yardmap.org), both are citizen science projects with Cornell Lab of Ornithology, is listed at 5 acres. If you click on Location you can use the Google map to see just how it’s situated. Be sure to use the satellite view for full affect. This corridor that I live on connects the North side of the valley, Los Padres National Forest, with the South side of the valley at Soule Park and Black Mountain. This corridor follows the riparian habitat of San Antonio Creek across the valley. This makes where I live a highway for animals. To the east is agriculture and to the west of me is the city. I actually live on the eastern edge of Ojai, however I am still in the city limits. This congestion of animals makes my yard a very wild place! It is also a Certified Wildlife Habitat with the National Wildlife Federation. We, my wife Alexi and I, have witnessed some amazing things over the years just sitting around our yard. Which is why I wanted to have a blog, in order to share these experiences with others. Most of my essays will be about things that happen right here in the yard, however, there are plenty of other tidbits, such as the ART of enjoying nature, that I’ll be posting about also. Many of these essays about the animals here span several years of relationships and are tied in to other essays that I have written, often about the same animals. Together they show the relationships that I have developed and enjoyed with all my little critters here. I hope you enjoy them!
Yours in Nature,
Backwoods Bruce