An Academic Resource of the Claremont Colleges
Posted in News, Sightings, Web Updates on Nov 5th, 2012
A new plant invader has been spotted at the BFS – Melia azedarach. This tree is commonly known as Chinaberry, but also has many other common names, including Texas Umbrella Tree, Persian Lilac, White Cedar, Bead-Tree, Cape lilac, Ceylon Cedar, and Pride of India. Several sprouting clumps of M. azedarach growing in the Foothill Blvd […]
This past Saturday, a group of hardy volunteers turned out on a cool, misty day to complete the cattail clearing at pHake Lake. Our main target for the day was “south beach”, a supposedly open area on the south shore of the lake used by many classes. So everyone was in the water or in […]
Posted in News, Sightings, Web Updates on Oct 9th, 2012
We’ve recently added six new insect taxa to our BFS Invertebrate List – two bee flies, a shore fly, a butterfly, a cuckoo bee, and a wasp. Thanks to the folks who helped observe, photograph, and identify these insects, including Jonathan Wright, Hartmut Wisch, John Ascher, Joel Kits, Martin, Wayne Mathis, and the folks at […]
Posted in News, Sightings, Web Updates on Aug 25th, 2012
Since our last update we’ve added fifteen new taxa to the BFS invertebrate list, including 1 katydid, 2 bugs, 2 beetles, 3 flies, 1 butterfly, 5 bees, and 1 wasp. As always, many thanks to everyone who’s helped observe, photograph, collect, and identify these inverts, including Ben Stapp, Jonathan Wright, Hartmut Wisch, John Ascher, David […]
Posted in News, Sightings, Web Updates on Jul 4th, 2012
The BFS Mammal List has been recently updated. In the last year, in addition to confirming that we still have the Western Harvest Mouse, we’ve added five new species to at the list – all bats: Tadarida brasiliensis (Mexican Free-tailed Bat) Eptesicus fuscus (Big Brown Bat) Lasionycteris noctivagans (Silver-haired Bat) Lasiurus cinereus (Hoary Bat) Myotis […]
Although the BFS volunteers collected fistfuls of thistles last week, they didn’t quite get all the ones by the toad pond and southeast corner of the wake, so they went back this past Saturday for a few thistles more. We also collected some Italian Thistles that were in the vicinity. When we thought we had […]
Posted in News, Sightings, Web Updates on Jun 7th, 2012
We’ve recently updated the BFS invertebrate list, and I’m afraid that our blog posts have not kept pace with our new invert finds. Altogether since our last invert blog update, we’ve added an additional 57 taxa, including 3 spiders, 1 silverfish, 1 dragonfly, 2 grasshoppers, 6 bugs, 10 beetles, 10 flies, 5 moths, 3 butterflies, […]
Posted in Sightings on May 24th, 2012
Recently at the BFS I spotted a female Side-blotched Lizard (Uta stansburiana elegans) with a bright orange throat. “What’s up with that?” I asked, and the answer revealed a fascinating story of color polymorphisms and evolution of reproductive strategies in the Side-blotched Lizard. The bright orange on this lizard is a “nuptial color”, that is, […]
Posted in News, Sightings, Web Updates on May 1st, 2012
We have just finished a major update to the BFS Plant List. Nomenclature has been updated to conform to The Jepson Manual, 2nd ed., CalPhotos links will now bring up photos of both the old and new names, links to herbarium specimen data have been updated, and BFS photo links now point to the BFS […]
“The destroyer of weeds, thistles, and thorns is a benefactor whether he soweth grain or not. —Robert Green Ingersoll Nine BFS volunteer benefactors devoted part of a beautiful April day to destroying weeds, thistle, and thorns at the BFS this past Saturday. Once again our primary targets were Italian Thistles (Carduus pycnocephalus). Plants that were […]