Spring Breakers Part 1

   
    Rather then tanning myself on some Mexican beach and then living out a Pitbull music video, I instead spent my lovely week free of school work preparing for my final Science Olympiad competition and, of course, doing some genuine naturalisting.    

4/4/15

    As the well-needed break started, my parents decided to go to take me to the Palo Alto Foothills, surprisingly our first trip there of the year. When we arrived at the lovely location, I first checked the Oak Glen Picnic Area for any migrants as last year that spot seemed to be a decent area for a number of species. However, my search yielded only the year-round birds so then we headed into Wildhorse Valley. 

Lovely pair of Sara Orangetips, with the flying male possessing bright orange (duh) tips and the perched female possessing tips with a somewhat more muted yellowish shade.

Another male coming in to squabble 

Leptarctia californiae, a lovely diurnal tiger moth. Day-flying moths in general are sort of the epitome of what I want to be: not going by the rules and on the attractive side.

Mixed Wildflowers with California Poppy, some species of Lupine, and Fiddleneck.

Male Acmon Blue

Chalcedon Checkerspot, an extremely variable species

     We then walked onto a trail into some wooded area. In a patch of Ocean Spray (Holodiscus discolor) and Poison Oak, I was greeted by some fascinating insect life.

 

Some Tachinid fly. Not sure the exact species but it appears to be Epalpus signifer.

 

I first spotted this insect in flight and had no idea what it was, seeing only a blur of antennae waving wildly in the air. It then landed on the backside of a leaf, continuing to only give me views of its antennae and leading me to think that it was some sort of long-horned beetle. Finally, it flew off and landed again, revealing its true identity as Adela septentrionella, a beautiful fairy longhorn moth. Like the tiger moth earlier, this species is day-flying.

One of the pair (?) of Red-tailed Hawks soaring over Wildhorse Valley.

Fields of blue

The lovely state grass of California: Purple Needle Grass (Nassella pulchra).

California Maidenhair Fern (Adiantum jordanii)

As we walked out of Wildhorse Valley back towards the picnic area parking lot, I noticed a white lepidopteran among the plentiful Common Ringlets that had a significantly different flight pattern. As it landed, I took this picture through the vegetation, revealing it to be a species of looper moth, Caenurgia togataria.

    Several years back when I was a young and foolish minor, I had stumbled across a sizeable colony of Striped Coralroot Orchids in a section of the trail. However, that day as we walked over to that area, the only orchid found was the non-native Epipactis helleborine. I really hope the colony of the nonphotosynthetic gems from my youthful days did not peter out over the last few years. 

Indian Paintbrush - Castilleja affinis. Earlier, I had seen decent stands of Woolly Indian Paintbrush (C. foliolosa) as we drove up to the park.

Sticky Monkeyflower (Mimulus aurantiacus)

Flawless water landing of a Double-crested Cormorant.

4/9/15

    5:00 am and my alarm rung. I woke up and quickly picked up my backpack and lunch I made the night before. Then, as I reached my bike, I realized that the back tire was completely flat... Too tired to make the repairs and also not too familiar with the procedure, I decided that I would just go back to sleep. While closing the garage door, some animal (probably a raccoon) gave a blood-piercing shriek that filled the cold, dark air.

4/10/15

     On the 10th, a few very intelligent friends of mine from the Science Olympiad team decided to go on a nature walk with me at the Foothills. We arrived a little past 9 am and essentially went the same path that I walked on the 4th.

Morning dew on the grasses.

Frosty lupines

At the Ocean Spray patch, in addition to seeing the Adela moths again, I spotted this interesting spider. Looks like some sort of Trashline Orbweaver

Blooming invasive Wild Oats (Avena fatua). 

Milk Maids - Cardamine californica. It's always nice to see a crucifer that's not an invasive mustard.

False Solomon's Seal - Maianthemum racemosa.

California Newt! The individual was clambering into the vegetation around 10 feet away from a small stream. Pity that this was the only native amphibian of the day.

The dainty Woodland Star (Trientalis latifolia).

Western Columbine (Aquilegia formosa) blossom dangling over a stream.

A patch of Common Trillium (Trillium chloropetalum)

My first opened California Buckeye (Aesculus californica) flower and probably last Western Houndstongue (Cynoglossum grande) flower seen for the year.

Pedilus inconspicuus - rather conspicuous little beetle if I do say so myself.

Botta's Pocket-gopher excavating its burrow and peeping its head out for a split second. The ones in Golden Gate Park are so much more cooperative.

As we walked out of Wildhorse Valley back towards the picnic area parking lot (isn't this familar?), I noticed this gigantic beetle clambering across the trail. The distinctive golden hairs on the undersides of the leg reveal this insect to be in the genus Coelocnemis, and of that genus, this individual represents the California Broad-necked Darkling Beetle (C. californica). Several times while we photographed this wondrous creature, it briefly went into what I believe was "defensive mode", sticking its head towards the ground and lifting its abdomen. Although the insect did not release anything, it probably would have done what some of its relatives do in secreting foul-smelling chemicals if we had gotten closer.

    I then decided to check the area mentioned earlier for orchids but alas, none were found. I did, however, get my first and only year-bird of the day.

Pacific-slope Flycatcher, first heard singing from within the willows.

Tomcat Clover - Trifolium willdenovii

Douglas' Iris - Iris douglasiana

Mountain-mahogany Moth (Ethmia discotrigella)

Farewell To Spring - Clarkia gracilis.

Tule Bluet

Syrphid Fly (Lapposyrphus lapponicus?) on Common Flax (Linum usitatissimum)

From left to right: photogenic youngest, content middle child, brooding teenager.

Skeletonizing Leaf Beetle (Trirhabda flavolimbata) on its preferred host of Coyotebush.

Northern Checkerspot

A quite worn Anise Swallowtail at Vista Hill. 

    After that really not physically exhausting morning, our physically exhausted group migrated to Tofu House and gorged ourselves on way too much Korean food. It was a great day. Until next time, enjoy life and love nature!

Memory Lane

    Southern California, a most interesting place for wildlife that I have not yet visited since I started birding. In late March my godparents, whom we last visited 11 years ago or something, invited us over and we stayed for a brief weekend filled with fascinating organisms from all over Eukaryota (sorry Bacteria and Archaea).

3/20/15

    On the journey south, my parents were nice enough to let me stop at Coyote Lake County Park to hopefully see some continuing avian rarities, namely a Red-necked Grebe and pair of Canyon Wrens. The stop ended up being more about wildflowers than anything else but was still really nice.

Yellow-billed Magpie - a year bird and in general, always a great species to see due to its extremely limited range (aren't all birds though?)

Invasive Vetch (Vicia villosa) errwhere.

Sun Cup - Taraxia ovata. Apparently, some areas around Coyote Lake have serpentine soils, usually deleterious to plant growth with their lack of Calcium and Nitrogen coupled with abundance of heavy metals. Unique flora have adapted to these conditions however, such as the Sun Cup, which is known to grow in these difficult soils. Not sure if this patch specifically is part of the rare habitat, though. I would imagine that the leguminous Vetch is damaging the serpentine soils by increasing nitrogen levels and encouraging the growth of other plants.

Gorgeous Checker Mallow (Sidalcea malviflora). Also known to grow in serpentine soils.

Fiesta of Fiestaflowers (Pholistoma auritum).

Toxomerus marginatus having a fiesta amidst the fiesta of Fiestaflowers.

As I walked down to the lake for better views of the grebes, I spotted this unfortunately already faded inflorescence of Shooting Stars (Dodecatheon hendersonii). This species is one of my favorite wildflowers in the area so even though the flowers were past their prime, it was still an exciting sighting for me (the seedpods are also quite pretty).

Some lupine species (probably L. bicolor). Lupines were one of the first flowers I knew about (due to this really memorable picture book I read in elementary school) and contributed greatly to my traipsing into the realm of flora.

Lovely Forget-me-not-like flowers of the Western Houndstongue (Cynoglossum grande).

Fading from lovely blue to lovely pink.

A gorgeous blue lupine (L. nanus?)

California Golden Violet (Viola pedunculata). This is actually the first native violet I've ever seen in the county. Hopefully if I return in the summer there will be fritillaries.

    Pressed for time, I gave up on looking for the Red-necked Grebe (like a nub) after about 10 minutes of searching and continued on to the Canyon Wren site at the rocky dam. Aaaaaand my luck didn't change. The previously mentioned "very confiding pair" were nowhere to be seen or heard throughout my thorough search. However, I did not have a lot of time at the dam and the birds may have just been resting. Oh well I hope I have better luck and a day to spend next time. Or I just hope I get a next time.

California Everlasting (Pseudognaphalium californicum) growing amidst the rocks at the dam, not to be confused with the similar Pearly Everlasting (Anaphalis margaritaceae) which has similar flowers but narrower, hairier leaves. According to wikipedia, the plant can be smoked in substitute of more potent materials hence the alternative (not PC?) name Ladies' Tobacco. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudognaphalium_californicum

As we went past the boat launch area on the way back, my bird luck finally changed a little and I got to glimpse my county lifer Greater Roadrunner! 

Look at those lovely cuckoo tail feathers. The bird did not allow very good views before it flew (yes flew) into a very dense pine tree. It still continued to taunt me by calling.

Gobble gobble

Some Mule's Ears species (Wyethia sp.)

Some Syrphid fly about to land on a Checker Mallow.

Another Syrphid fly, this one feeding on a blossom of Western Blue-eyed Grass (Sisyrinchium bellum).

    Continuing as we left the dam area, I spotted a large patch of Shooting Stars growing by the road! I hurriedly ran out of the car and took a bunch of pictures of the few remaining open flowers.

Easy to see how this species got its name <3

Pretty pretty pretty

It's pretty interesting how the pedicels curl upwards as the flower fades, leaving the seedpods on straight stems.

    As we entered Los Angeles County, a quick stop was made by Pyramid Lake. The 15 minutes of leg stretching turned out to be a nice little botanical adventure with plants of drier scrubland.

Oak Mistletoe parasitizing (or should I say hemiparasitizing hehe) Turbinella Oak

Black Sage - Salvia mellifera

Invasive Bagrada Bug inside a blossom of Bladderpod (Isomeris arborea).

Santa Barbara Milkvetch (Astragalus trichopodus). Wonder if this species has the famed toxicity of some of its relatives known as the locoweeds.

Whispering Bells - Emmenanthe pendulifera

     My first life bird of the trip was the Red-crowned Parrot, with several flocks flying overhead as we continued towards Arcadia. At my godparents' house, I was allowed to explore the really nice backyard for a bit, giving me my first moth of the trip.

Southern Purple Mint Moth - Pyrausta laticlavia on one of its non-mint host plants the rosemary.

    After dinner, I mothed a little more around the porchlights. Still fairly early in the season for really large amounts of moths, or perhaps suburban Arcadia was not too suitable for moth life, but I was pretty satisfied with what I saw.

First photographed plume moth of the year! These guys are so cool with their almost mosquito-like appearance. Wild guess: Anstenoptilia marmarodactyla but not sure as I have essentially no prior experience with this family. 

As I finished up and went back inside, found this baby right above the door lol. The beautiful White-lined Sphinx!

Stare into those eyes.

3/21/15

 
    I awoke at 9 the next day and continued to explore the backyard. The area was quite birdy, and I got 2 yearbirds in addition to experiencing some really nice fengshui.

Allen's Hummingbird and Red-whiskered Bulbul sharing a perch.

American Goldfinches at the feeder.

As I birded in the yard, I heard some chattering from above and looked up to see my first of year Hooded Oriole - a lovely male in the palm tree. Unfortunately it flew off before I could get any better pictures.

Allen's taking a dip.

Always nice to stalk bathing birds.

         Later in the early afternoon, my parents dropped me off at Gilman Park in Fullerton as they went to see friends. Continuing on the theme of "throwback" omnipresent throughout this trip, I went birding with the person who essentially started me off on my adventuring, showing me the site ebird, helping me with identifications, and giving me helpful tips: Samuel Bressler. We decided to meet at Gilman Park, a short walk from his house, to see a vagrant Dusky-capped Flycatcher. Unfortunately, due to a combination of me being on my phone and my parents not fully sure of directions, I arrived almost an hour later than planned. As they dropped me off, Samuel greeted me and I had a most satisfyingly easy walk up to a great lifer.

Really cooperative little bird

My third Myiarchus flycatcher on my lifelist and second life bird of the trip.

    Following the Dusky-capped, we then walked across the street to Samuel's most frequently birded spot: Craig Regional Park. Along the way, it was interesting watching Northern Rough-winged Swallows nesting underneath Highway 57.

    True to Samuel's plentiful musings about the area, Craig Park was quite an interesting place for birding, with a diverse mix of habitat ranging from dry meadow to pine grove to lake.

A really cooperative American Wigeon drake.

Egyptian Goose with its progeny. Hopefully this species does not achieve invasive status here as it has done so in the UK.

As we walked closer for better looks, a lady told us to be very careful as the geese were extremely aggressive and not afraid to attack.

California lifer Chipping Sparrow! Seriously though, that took a while... Oh well it was quite satisfying looking at this gorgeous bird.

Then Samuel pointed out a Black-and-White Warbler in the pines! Awesome find and a great second lifer for the day! If only my pictures could have been a little better...

Singing Chipping Sparrow

    Following the exciting warbler encounter, we walked back towards the lake. A small flock of Pine Siskins noisily chattered from a tall willow and then 2 unfamiliar birds flew into a nearby sycamore.

And my third life bird: the established non-native Scaly-breasted Munia. This bird was #299 on my life list, allowing me to narrowly escape a similar situation to this: http://10000birds.com/hitlers-700th-bird.htm

Snowy Egret with a peculiar tongue angle. Panting?

Duckskin

My first Bullock's Oriole of the spring.

Western Bluebird hopefully having a successful brood.

American Kestrel

    Soon it was time to leave and after having lunch with Samuel, we went our separate ways. If you get to reading this, thanks so much for showing me around! And of course, thanks again for encouraging me to start birding I should say!

Mitred Parakeets flying overhead as the sun set

3/22/15

    Sunday morning I woke up at 6, hoping to get more pictures of the lovely selection of backyard birds. However, with the fog, lighting was terrible and most of my photos did not turn out well. An interesting non-bird sight was a White-lined Sphinx flying around. In case it was difficult to infer from my above picture of this moth species, these guys are huge and in flight, resemble hummingbirds but without the buzz.

Finally! Actual pictures of the Red-crowned Parrots.

My, what lovely tail patterning you have.

It exists!!! The elusive orange crown on an Orange-crowned Warbler.

Lovely Red-whiskered Bulbul. 

Audubon's Yellow-rumped Warbler molting into gorgeous mating attire. 

    Soon, it was time to leave my godparents' house and after packing, we all set off for Huntington Gardens to continue the walk down memory lane. My parents wanted to take a picture of me, now with adult status, in the same location where they did so of me something like 15 years ago while I was more interested in poking around for birds / butterflies. Both "parties" were satisfied, the party of my parents being more so.

Marine Blue. Interestingly, the genus name of this butterfly, Leptotes, is identical to one of orchids.

The humble Fiery Skipper.

Mallard drake and his eyelid

And the quite attractive hen with her eyelid

Red-whiskered Bulbul (finally) in decent light.

Either a Mournful or Funereal Duskywing (Erynnis tristis / funeralis), more likely Mournful due to the abundance of its host Coast Live Oaks in the area. Duskywings are a very tricky genus to identify but I can safely narrow this individual down to these 2 species as they are the only Californian ones with the conspicuous white hindwing fringe.

Oh Red-whiskered Bulbuls are so lovable. Pecking at Loquat.

Umber Skipper courtship

Tamest Canada Goose ever and its eyelid

The most ubiquitous of the Scrub-hairstreaks: the Gray Hairstreak. 

A very confiding House Wren

Introduced Fox Squirrel chowing down on an idk

My what big balls you have.

I wish the birds scavenging under the tables in the Bay Area were also Chipping Sparrows...

Lovely Gulf Fritillary, one of my favorite butterflies.

The only Cloudless Sulphur I found nectaring. In flight, they're pretty hard to confuse with any other species in the area due to their powerful wingbeats and huge size.

    We then bid my godparents goodbye and got on our way back to the Bay Area. I was allowed one stop for an attempt to find #300 in Orcas Park, which contained decent habitat and had several recent reports of a coveted Southern desert specialty: the Cactus Wren.

Western Tiger Swallowtail in a nearby residential front yard.

More Black Sage

Female Vivid Dancer with focuses on thorax and abdomen

Palmer's Suncup - Tetrapteron palmeri

Tansy-leaved / Distant Phacelia - Phacelia tanacetifolia / distans. Both species seem to grow in the area and it looks like there's no way to reliable separate them without dissection. http://www.calflora.net/specialpages/specialpages16.html

California Bluebell (Phacelia campanularia). That fab intense blue color is to die for.

Cylindropuntia sp.

Coastal Whiptail (Aspidoscelis tigris stejnegeri), the subspecies of the Tiger Whiptail present in the LA area.

Oh great a Cactus Wren nest.... Still no luck with finding the birds though.

    And that concludes my Los Angeles trip of 2015. Hopefully I can visit again soon, perhaps for a longer period of time. So much more to see in the area in terms of well, everything. Also, sorry for being really late with posts. I promise that I will really start to get on track soon. Until next time, enjoy life and love nature!