Images
Bladderpod
California Poppy
California Harvester Ant
California Poppy
Garland Daisy
I walked along a bike path today and could not believe how many puncture vine plants I saw.
I walked along a bike path today and could not believe how many puncture vine plants I saw. No wonder I've had to patch so many flat tires!
If it's possible for a plant to evolve into the natural enemy of the bicycle, this plant is it. It's literally in the caltrop family. I swear it's lining the bike path, waiting to ambush its prey.
House Sparrow
It looked like there were about a dozen sparrows sitting on this fence. Most of them flew off before I got the camera out. I suspect there might be a nest in the bushes next to the fence.
Western Gull
Willet (hillside plants)
Spotted near the coast, probably along the hillside above the beach, or possibly in the park at the top of the bluffs.
Umbrella Paper Wasp (on windshield)
Florida Softshell Turtle (Wilderness Park)
I don’t know if these turtles are actually wild or stocked. (I assume the fish are stocked, but the ducks are just visiting!) But this looks like a different type of turtle than the ones I saw on a visit a couple of years later.
Identified on iNaturalist as a Florida Softshell, most likely a released pet.
Tomato (Wilderness Park)
The “wilderness park” is popular with schools, so I wouldn’t be surprised if this grew from some kid’s dropped lunch.
Tree Squirrels (Wilderness Park)
Mallard (Wilderness Park)
Russian Thistles (small, in wood chips)
Grasses
Woodsorrels
This bee was crawling into one of these trumpet shaped flowers after another.
This bee was crawling into one of these trumpet shaped flowers after another. I finally decided to aim at the flower it had just climbed into, then wait for it to leave and see if I could catch it. Amazingly, it worked!
California Scrub-Jay (bike path)
I could hear an unfamiliar bird from halfway down the block and went looking for it, then finally found this in a tree. It stayed put longer than I expected, then flew off to the next tree over.