| Today was the turn of the Natural History Museum. This is housed
in a more modern building built in the 1930s. It is a very light and airy
place with galleries on either side. The upper floors seem to have been
given over to a wildlife art exhibition and offices. We didn't find much to
excite us in all of that but climbing the stairs keeps us fit. They don't
like you taking photographs of 'art', not that we found much we would have
given house room to, although Jan liked the bronze chess set where all the
pieces were wild animals. |  |
 | Some of the displays
of birds are good, particularly since many Californian birds are generally
so bright. This is a male (blue) and female (brown) bluebird. Why are humans
the opposite of the rest of the natural world? |
| This eagle and her chick are a little harder to make out since
you get reflections from the case. But they certainly seem to have set them
out well, although they are a little high for young children. |  |
 | I've tried
photographing humming birds in real life and it is almost impossible,
especially with a digital camera. These stuffed ones obligingly stayed still
long enough. I just had difficulty with the depth of focus. Again, it is the
male of the pair which has the brightest colours. |
| The big cats are a rarity now although there are supposed to be
some in the hills. But they are rarely seen. So it helps to have some idea
how big they are, just in case. |  |
 | I'm not exactly sure
what these are but they are fun. Probably members of the raccoon family. |
| Most of the creatures in this museum are dead, stuffed and
mounted. I'm not so sure about this one. It was the signs saying 'Do not tap
on the glass' which give you a clue. No part digested mice though. |  |
 | The collection of
scallop sea shells is really colourful. I guess they fish for these out of
San Diego or possible one of the smaller ports along the coast. The museum
has an IMAX cinema and showed an excellent film of the seas along Baja
California. Made us want to explore that coast more. Another time
perhaps.... |
| Fortunately this is only an animated model otherwise you would
not have seen me for dust. The museum also has an IMAX film called 'Bugs'
(narrated by Judi Dench) and this is a fun exhibition for kids in the
basement. |  |
 | They have a good
collection of beetles and butterflies mounted in cases as was very much the
fashion in the early 1900s. These looked more modern in condition. How does
an insect with all these appendages fly? |
| Beetles are not my
favourite creatures, especially not this size. The horns are at least six
inches across. |  |
 | Some, like this case of blue butterflies, are very striking. I
would love to know how they fix the colours because you would expect them to
fade with age. |
| Some of the displays are quite artistic showing the lifecycle of
the butterflies and the flowers with which they are most associated. |  |
 | They have big and old
trees in California. This slice is taken from a petrified sequoia which was
over 4500 years old (someone had counted the rings). It beat the socks off
the art work upstairs. Now I could have taken this home to put on the wall! |
| And outside is this magnificent Moreton Bay fig tree.
Surprisingly it is only about 90 years old since it was planted in a 5
gallon container for the 1915 exhibition, but these trees grow fast. It is
now 78ft high with a crown spread of 123ft. The girth of the trunk is 426in.
The tree at Santa Barbara is broader but not so high. They come from
Australia. It is fenced off because too many footprints were damaging the
surface root system. Bless the Americans and their love of statistics! |  |
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