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The campgrounds at Refugio are closed this time of year. Gophers are as plentiful as ever, though. On the day before Christmas, this hawk moved in to partake of the feast. The swings in the deserted campground make a great perch to survey the meadow for hawk treats. I believe that this is a red-shouldered hawk.
The House of Representatives set an end to the hunting of elk on Santa Rosa Island, in a footnote to a half-trillion dollar spending bill. Appropriately, the Los Angeles Times printed the story on its obituary page.
The number of non-native elk will be reduced by 25% of the present population, each year for 4 years. This will put an end to the extremely profitable elk hunts there -- which were extremely popular among hunters wealthy enough to afford them. It will also reduce pressure on the small year-round pools of water on the island, and make life easier for the island plants and animals that have lived on Santa Rosa for tens of thousands -- instead of less than one hundred -- years. And, it will open more of the island to more visitors, more of the time.
This is part of a model of the M-1 rocket of ISAS, the Japanese space science institute (now part of JAXA, the Japanese space exploration agency). Rockets are expensive, and take a long time to build, even with the efforts of legions of people. Even so, they quite frequently explode on the launch pad. Compared with other modes of transportation, they are wasteful of energy; but there are only very few of them. And, we love the things we get from them: weather maps, for example.
This cormorant was one of a flock, sitting on power lines over a narrow creek. It looks much like California cormorants, although with a different facial color and a more industrial setting.
My guide book complains that every spot of natural beauty in Japan is surrounded by construction -- right to the edge. But, the Japanese tremendously enjoy the tiny bits of park that are left, between the buildings.
The margins of semi-wild land that we leave around our parks are narrow by standards of some cultures, or of earlier times in our own culture. Perhaps it's partly a question of how much space is avalilable over all.
Several Japanese remarked on the similarities of Japan and California. They have similar banana-like shapes, with wild-remote northern regions and metropolises in the middle and south. Both have extensive coastlines on the Pacific and iconic cultural images of the ocean. Both have booming high-tech economies, rooted in strong science and engineering. Japan has about 3 times the population, and is smaller. Japan is an ancient, and still extremely homogeneous, nation; California is new, and a true melting pot. They are to some degree mirror images.
I spotted this sign for a fish store in Machida, not far from Yokohama. I assumed that it advertises whale meat -- I can't read, and didn't ask. The Japanese were long vegetarian -- with the exception of seafood. Culturally, whales are classified as fish, rather than mammals; so eating them is acceptable. Or so I'm told, by my Japanese friend. Whale meat has some celebratory significance, perhaps like turkey and dressing in the US.
I've been reading "Listening to Whales: What the Orcas Have Taught Us" by Alexandra Morton. Only recently whales were hunted nearly to extinction in US and Canadian waters -- but for bone meal and dogfood, rather than for holiday dining. And, Morton says that recreational shooters and whale watchers continue to harass them. It must be tough, if you're born a whale.
