Mt. Tam Visit

 

Mountain Dandelion and Winecup Clarkia, Mt. Tamalpais

I haven't been getting up to Mt. Tam very much the last few months, ever since I took down my trail cameras. Today I decided to drive up with my full-frame camera and macro lens to see what I might find. I also brought the Lumix for more long-range shots, too lazy to bring a heavy telephoto for the Nikon.

There were some interesting beetles on the yellow mariposa lilies. I believe this one is red-stutured attalus (Attalus rufiventris).

Flower beetles feeding on yellow mariposa lily.

Yellow Mariposa Lily with Serpentine Rock in the Background

Mt. Tamalpais Bristly Jewelflower (Streptanthus glandulosus ssp. pulchellus) with Serpentine Background

Mt. Tamalpais Bristly Jewelflower (Streptanthus glandulosus ssp. pulchellus) with Serpentine Background

This is a similar set-up to the shot at the top of the post, but with dogtail grass added in.

Harvest Brodiaea

Harvest Brodiaea

Yellow Mariposa Lily Near Young Madrone
(You can just make out a small flower spider left of center.)

Acmon Blue Butterfly on Yellow Mariposa Lily

Mournful Duskywing Butterfly on Rosinweed

Mournful Duskywing Butterfly on Rosinweed

Sachem Skipper on Yellow Mariposa Lily

California Sister Butterfly Resting on Oak Sprout

Pale Swallowtail on Thistle

Pale Swallowtail on Cobwebby Thistle

I heard a bird that sounded a little like a robin (check out the Wil Hershberger recording), but it turned out to be this guy, a Cassin's vireo according to Merlin (amazing that it gave an ID based on this angle).

When I first spotted this fence lizard, the sun must have been hitting it at just the right angle to show off its green-spotted colors. Unfortunately, it moved into the shade before I could photograph it and the colors disappeared. When it finally came back out, the stunning green speckles were no longer sparkling.

Fog ran pretty high up the mountain even until late morning, but stayed well below Rock Spring. 

I pulled these seeds out of my socks when I got home.

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Insect Emergence

 

Anna's Hummingbird Stretching Her Wings in the Fuchsia Dell

The rear brake cable on my bike snapped yesterday and I can't get it into the shop until late Monday, so I took my time on today's walk, staying out for almost five hours. I hadn't expected to be out that long, but the time passed quickly, in part because of all the interesting insects I encountered (only some of which I was able to photograph). Also, I'm trying to fully appreciate every moment before having to set aside my San Francisco nature walks for the next several months.

This is probably the same red-tail I recently saw sunbathing at the Horseshoe Courts.

A lesser goldfinch was eating the seeds of miner's lettuce.

Some of the tiny black seeds were sticking to his beak.

I was interested to see a hummingbird nectaring on white ramping fumitory, a very common San Francisco weed.

It was also partaking of some nearby sage blossoms.

I'm pretty sure this is the same hummingbird taking a break.

Here she is a split-second before launching off the branch.

This is Acanthus mollis, or bear's breeches, one of the very first plants I learned the scientific name for when I moved to Santa Barbara back in the early '80s.

Great Blue Heron Above Lily Lake

Anise Swallowtail at Lily Lake

The chestnut-backed chickadee on the right is a fledgeling, begging for food from its parent in the San Francisco Botanical Garden.

I've been seeing cabbage white butterflies for a couple of weeks or so, but this was the first one that actually landed on something so I could photograph it.

Red Admiral on Wood Chips

Water Lilies

A small bee feeds on a purple aster

A few Ichneumonid wasps were flying close to the ground in a patch of hummingbird sage.

The one in the background stayed in that little leaf cave for quite a while. I left to go check out the pipevine swallowtail caterpillars, and it was still there a few minutes later when I came back the same way.

I was wondering where they eventually pupate, but I couldn't find any sign of a chrysalis nearby.

One of the two milkweed species in the California Garden (the other being narrowleaf milkweed). I've looked for monarch caterpillars in this patch for years without ever seeing one.

Pipevine Swallowtail Butterfly on Pozo Blue Sage

The first time I found a single scarlet pimpernel that was blue, I thought I'd made a big discovery, only to learn they are not that rare (although I have rarely seen one since). Today I found a whole bunch of blue ones.

The original pipevine patch west of the California Garden is now teeming with caterpillars.

West Coast Lady Butterfly on Blackberry Flowers

Bumblebee in Wild Rose

A scrub jay sips nectar from the Monkey's Hand Tree.

Robins were also getting in on the bounty.

Robin Happy Hour

Prickly Pear (Opuntia ficus-indica)

Who am I?

Aha. California tortoiseshell butterfly.

Hairy Woodpecker in a Willow Thicket

I was looking for any red-legged frog tadpoles with legs, but nothing yet.

Alder and Willow Leaves

A male fledgeling hairy woodpecker is fed a morsel by his mom.

A hummingbird seemed to be making alarm calls, so I tried to find the hummer and whatever was disturbing it. Given the backlight and dense pine needles I couldn't see the hummer, and I was about to give up when I noticed the hairy woodpecker clinging motionless to this tall dead stump.

It was so still that I almost thought it was an ornament. I thought it would fly away as soon as I raised my camera, but he couldn't have cared less. He even let me shoot some video.

There were a few squirrels chasing each other around the monkey's hand tree, but this one was busy eating fruit from a different tree nearby.

Pipevine Swallowtail Warming in the Sun in the Redwood Grove

One of the redwoods recently lost its top, whacking the nurse log, a metal interpretive sign, and much of the garden patch below it.

Pipevine Swallowtail Caterpillars and Hairy Woodpecker

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