The Single Helix

 

Red-shouldered Hawk Near Elk Glen Lake

I never know what I'll find to photograph when I set out on my morning walk, or even if I will find anything. Today's first photo was of a lesser goldfinch that was one of several that I spotted foraging along the Sunset Parkway. After that came the garden snail, Helix aspersa, a Latin name I still recollect from a biology class I took around 40 years ago at Santa Barbara City College. Naturally, the Latin name has changed (to Cornu aspersum), but the common name remains the same.

The thing that surprised me about the snail was that it was descending a blade of barley-like grass. How it got up there in the first place, I didn't see. Maybe it traversed from another nearby blade of grass. I looked around the area and couldn't see any other snails, which also surprised me. Why would such a lush jungle of grass be supporting only a single Helix?

Looking more closely at the grass I also spotted a few other critters -- a few flies and a plant bug. One of these days I'll have to go out with my full-frame camera and a macro lens to try to better capture some of those tiny fellas that skulk in the grass jungle.

Lesser Goldfinch Collecting Seeds

Descending Garden Snail

Snail-in-the-Grass

Greenbottle Fly

Life on a Dewy Blade

This robber fly was so tiny I wondered if it was a mosquito.

A Very Random-looking Stinkbug

The brown creeper is tiny, but it was a giant compared with the other critters I'd been finding until this guy dropped in to hunt insects in a nearby tree.

I couldn't tell if I was seeing more than one bird, but this one appeared to be gathering nest material.

I wondered if it could simultaneously carry the nest material and hunt for insects, but it soon flew off toward the Polo Fields with its prize of wood fibers.

Miner's Lettuce in Bloom

Pacific Forktail Damselfly, Mallard Lake

Giant Yellow Iris
(Many more of these are in bloom at Blue Heron Lake.)

I had to find a view through the foliage to keep from spooking the hermit thrush from its perch.

Anna's Hummingbird at Mallard Lake

Allen's Hummingbird at Mallard Lake

Creek Dancer #1

Creek Dancer #2

The Townsend's warbler had just been bathing in the creek, then leaped up to the branch, perhaps to make sure I wasn't a threat.

Deciding I was far enough away, it re-entered the creek to splash a bit more before ascending into the crown of the tree that shades the creek.

I've been calling these "banana-like" leaves, and it turns out the plant is called Red Abyssinian Banana (Ensete ventricosum).

As with the hermit thrush, I didn't dare go into the open to try to photograph the red-shouldered hawk, which was actively hunting.

The little Anna's hummingbird appears to be examining the nearby inflorescence, but I think its attention had actually been drawn by a red-winged blackbird that flew overhead.

Making Some Noise

Salvia Guardian

A Slightly Disheveled Golden-crowned Sparrow

I'd seen a coyote ambling along a dirt path near North Lake, but it spotted me and another person looking at it and ditched us. I went looking for it to no avail, but was surprised to find a small fruiting of shaggy mane mushroom (Coprinus comatus), which I'm not sure I've ever seen in the park before it had deliquesced into black goop.

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