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Exploring a dry creek bed, came upon an area rich in nectar-producing plants.
In view are deerweed, white sage, buckwheat. |
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| And where there's nectar, there's pollinator insects. |
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Native bees like this one, access nectar by boring into the base of
trumpet-shaped flowers like this Sticky Monkeyflower blossom. |
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| There are also predator insects that await the unwary. |
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| This damselfly is also predator. She's got a tiny fly in her mouth. |
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Beautiful example of a Bernardino Dotted Blue butterfly.
Note its size when compared to the tiny Buckwheat blossom.
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| Pair of Dotted Blue's getting acquainted. |
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| Whither she goest, he will follow. |
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| A female Great Copper busily nectar-sipping. |
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| But love was in the air for a male Common Buckeye. |
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| She fluttered her wings to drive him away. After all, she was having lunch. |
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| Eventually, he got the message and flew off to a "separate table". |
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| A Common Buckeye and a Great Copper are unsuitable for pairing. |
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| But this male Great Copper is a perfect match. |
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| Picking my way through this area. |
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| I startled a tiny white-footed mouse. |
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| It took off at high speed. |
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| Just as well as there was a 4-foot Kingsnake foraging in the same area. |
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| Lots of CA Buckwheat in various stages of bloom. |
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| Likewise for White Sage. |
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| Female Great Copper on White Sage. |
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Painted Lady spreads her wings to bask in the morning sun.
(Note the "beauty mark" next to her right eye spot.)
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| This Northern White Skipper was content basking on the ground. |
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| The extent of the day's wanderings. |
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| To some, "scrub" like this looks dull, uninteresting. |
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| To others, it has a beauty all its own. |
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| 3 May 2020 |
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| Dry creek bed east of Hwy 25. |
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| Good habitat for a variety of wildlife, including the Western Road Runner. |
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| Keen predators, their diet includes lizards, snakes, small rodents, fledgling birds. |
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| Extremely wary, they'll flee at the sight of humans. |
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| They have been clocked at 15-20 miles an hour. |
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Tobacco Tree saplings line the creek bed. Introduced from
South America in the 1700s, all parts of the tree are toxic. |
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| However, insects and hummingbirds draw nectar from its flowers with no ill effects. |
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| So out of place in such a harsh environment, our native Sticky Monkeyflower. |
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| Another valuable nectar provider for insects. |
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California Buckwheat provides essential nectar
for insects when other sources die back. |
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| Common to this area, a Bernardino Dotted Blue. |
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| Hmmm, is this sandstone rock concave? (Nope... It wasn't... Bummer!)
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However, during another visit, I found a stone pestle among creek bed rocks.
It's planed on two sides and fits a grip perfectly.
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| Heart-of-the-West |
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| Interesting pattern in a dry side channel. |
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| 13 June 2020 |
Revisiting Tres Pinos Creek |
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| How quickly seasons change. |
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| Lots of California Buckwheat still in bloom. |
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But White Sage and Deer Weed were no longer blooming.
Not a gossamer wing fluttered anywhere. |
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| Non-native Tree Tobacco were still in flower. |
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This single Cabbage White was the only butterfly I saw.
Its color pattern indicates it's a summer-marked female. |
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| Lots of small-game trails between seed-bearing plants. |
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| Quail, bush-rabbit, ground squirrel. |
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| Desiccated section of an old Willow tree trunk. |
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