Bird: Scaly-breasted Munia.......

Scaly-breasted Munia (Lonchura), a sparrow-sized brown -colored bird.........
I had spotted it in Uppern Newport bay ...San Diego river preserve..
And now in the thickets of Jeffrey open space trail in Irvine...

Collecting grass strands to mend the nest, as South California rainy season is imminent..

Observation: Beehive boxes..

Saw these apiary boxes in the yard of a farmer on the way from Olympic National Park to Seattle...

In Washington, most people have apple trees in their yards..

It makes sense for the beekeeping practice..

Anyway I saw these boxes and could not stop thinking of million bees that succumbed to the Zika virus elimination-intended pesticide spray...

#I wish it makes general public as well as authorities aware of the risks of pesticides on human health and that of other organisms...

Plant: Stunning, massive trees.....

They are more than just a tree.........they define the beauty and identity of a place....

Some of my observations...

Sweetgum........

Sycamore........

Coral....

Coast live oak...

A stately olive tree....

Bottle brush...

A big-leaf maple..........moss draped..

Another one near Storm King visitor Center, Olympic National Park..

A magnificent silk floss tree gracing a front yard..

A cottonwood near Mono lake, California..

Fauna: Koala at San Diego zoo.....

Koala..
San Diego zoo has a large group of koala....separate areas for males and females.s.

These Australian natives are doing really well here.....
The only awake koala, nibbling on fresh eucalyptus twigs..

Unlike its sleeping peers, this koala was awake...

Two koalas playing ... hugging each other and munching eucalyptus leaves...

Thought: Human population must be contained...

I am going to anger people by this statement...but I mean it.

'I find those people irresponsible and selfish,  who have more than two kids in today's time'.

Hailing from world's second populous country might have been the reason for this aversion...we have grown, struggling for every damn thing...

When I came to the USA,  six years back...I thought I have escaped the vagaries..

No..the specter hounded here too....

As I am an Indian native, VISA norms are tight for my country...which quashed my post-doctorate dream...

People might say, how do multiple children of others affect me?

Yes the relation is straightforward..it affects us all.

Population causes pollution...pollution causes low quality of life and premature death... 

Each man and woman have been endowed with millions and thousands of sperms and eggs, respectively..

That means...potentially, anybody can breed dozens of kids...

But, do the world has the carrying capacity...that much resource?

Everybody wants to pass on their heard-earned wealth to their progenies..to have a secure old age...to die surrounded my blood relatives..to be buried or cremated by own children...

So, they have many children..

But, time has changed...low mortality, and increment in life span has made the world over-crowded..

Though its a personal choice, there are some duties that surmount those ..

Controlling population is the need of the time..

Be a good, responsible human being....have few children...raise them into nice human beings...

Give other species a chance to spread their population...we need them...more than ours..

Here is another analogy.......fictional one..but, realistic..

A man wants to be rich, so that he can leave wealth for his son..

He trades with exotic birds from the Amazon forest..

The bird population dwindles..

The bird used to feed on mosquitoes..yes, dengue, zika kind...

Now, without the predator bird, the killer mosquitoes multiplies alarmingly..

The greedy man's son died of dengue...

How does that feel? 

Same chilling bot true lessons applies to all..... 

People: Dogs are a girl's best friend...

Looks like not diamond, but dogs are a girl's best friend.......
Some pictures taken in and around California......

A lady using her big dog as pillow on a lazy Sunday....

Relaxing at a neighborhood park....

Both the pet and human lost in searching something on the rocky shore.......

A lady with the dog watching sunset from Sunset cliffs........

Dogs exploring the Eastern Sierra with their humans..........

Near lake Sabrina...

In the hood..

Time and outlook has changed for good........

Health: Why we should not tamper with body pH??...

As pollution is rising, ocean is becoming acidic....coral reefs are dying in masses..

Out of ignorance, I fed inorganic fertilizers to my acid-loving blueberry plant, and it almost died...

The inference is  that when pH changes, organisms can't cope and die.

Actually, something like this is happening to humans ... morbidity rates are rising...for fluctuation in body pH..

In the last few hundred years, our food habits have shifted towards acidogenic foods..

Our genome are optimized for the paleolithic, hunter-gatherer lifestyle and food habits..fruits, vegetables, greens, nuts, tubers, meats..

The not-so-old agriculture, animal domestication and industrialization trends have led to the dominance of grains, dairy products, and worse, chemical additives to the food platter..

Too much extracellular acidity is posing constant stress to cells and damaging neurons..result is diabetes, cancer, autoimmune diseases like SLE (kidney issues), multiple sclerosis (nerve damage), fibromyalgia (body pain), arthritis (bone loss due to the acidity leaching out calcium from them)...

Plant: Bladderpod..

Bladderpod is a native shrub of South California.........often seen with yellow flowers...and green inedible beans..

I often see harlequin bugs on them......

Fauna: Land snails...

Land snails...

Passion: Flower vases from the patio garden..........

Yeah, that's an orange shell...

Hibiscus, coreopsis, Arabian jasmine, mandevilla, kumquat twig..........

Kumquat, mum, ixora, mandevilla, arrowhead vine...

Well, I prefer flowers in the plant..........not in vases.......
but, the harsh sunlight would have burned them anyway, so picked them...
Some shriveled flowers from the garden........