Adventures of a Second Semester Senior

    Following the end of my life's final Science Olympiad competition, I refocused my goals on investigating the uncountable life forms around me. On April 25th before going on a botanical / bird trip to the Foothills, I decided to "get to know" the organisms in my tiny backyard. A quick search turned up a myriad of fascinating invertebrates, many still in the process of identification and many that probably will not ever get identified to species. Stupid lack of different external features and only differing genitalia.

Slightly unexpected Golden Dung Fly (Scathophaga stercoraria) 

Unidentified species of ichneumon wasp that I'll try to tack a name onto later. There were a ton of these guys out and about on this one palm leaf. 

Oinophila v-flavum - The Yellow V Moth. 

As I flipped a piece of rotting wood, I found a colony of Western Subterranean Termites (Reticulitermes hesperus). First termites of the year!! Oh wait probably should not be this excited...

Lovely syrphid Toxomerus occidentalis.

Another syrphid Allograpta obliqua. As shown by the last two specimens, when viewed closely, hover fly patternings are strikingly beautiful.

    My dad then drove me to the Foothills, where he was nice enough to join me on a nice walk, traveling at a speed equivalent to whatever your slowest speed is but halved. And thus, the long string of consciousness begins.

Coyote Mint - Monardella villosa. This plant is quite the butterfly magnet. If only its attractiveness worked on coyotes.

Some delicately beautiful California Sagebrush (Artemisia californica).

California Slender Salamander found under a log.

Pendant flowers of Drops of Gold (Prosartes hookeri)

Any arachnophiliacs? Found this lovely while examining the undersides of the Drops of Gold. I believe it is a Theridion sp. but haven't been able to get to species.

Seedpods of Checker Lily (Fritillaria affinis). These are quite the bomb.com but really wish I came earlier to see the flowers.

One of the many Adela septentrionella present. 

Wait so why is this called a Gold Fern? I mean the edges are like yellow-ish but overall it's like - 

- never mind I get it. Seriously, although hard to see in this picture, the spores on the undersides of these fronds are NEON. Really an awesome plant and underappreciated forest gem.

Fluffy fluffy fluffy fruiting bodies of Chaparral Clematis

Flowers of California Groundsel (Senecio aronicoides).

In situ shot

A clump of Indian Warriors (Pedicularis densiflora) with inflorescences well past their prime. If I came a month or so earlier they would probably have been a gorgeous bright magenta.

Indian Paintbrush patch by the trail. 

Skullcap (Scutellaria tuberosa) seen as we entered a more open chaparral habitat.

Naked Buckwheat (Eriogonum nudum), named after its "naked" flower stems which apparently can get quite large. Several Acmon Blues were flying around, probably hosting on this plant.

Bombylius albicapillus, a lovely bee fly species.

A pretty tachinid fly that I will probably not get down to species level but appears to be Peleteria sp.

Golden Yarrow (Eriophyllum confertiflorum). Not a yarrow but rather a close relative of the Lizard Tail, a fairly abundant seaside plant in California.

The appropriately named White Fairy Lantern (Calochortus albus).

Lotsa Chamise (Adenostoma fasciculatum) in bloom, a major plant species of the Californian chaparral biome.

Merriam's Chipmunk peeping out of said Chamise.

A rather interesting fern that first tricked me into thinking it was some legume. Behold, the Coffee Fern (Pellaea andromedifolia).

Pitcher Sage (Lepechinia calycina).

Small Tarweed (Madia exigua).

    As we finally exited the trail after a little over 2 hours (I believe the sign in the front said it would take 30 minutes), I decided to bird at the picnic area, with the prior "hike" yielding nothing really special except for my first *seen* Wrentit for 2015. Lots of Bushtits were noisily foraging in the tall oaks, an Orange-crowned Warbler here, another one there, ooh my first Wilson's Warbler for the year and then...

Finally #300!!!

Gotta love Hermit Warblers. I saw not one but two gorgeous males quite high up (hence the quite subpar pictures). 

And to add just a bit of cake under the icing, my first Warbling Vireo seen for the year! Overall a great day!

    Two days later, I decided to do my second attempt in biking up to Ed Levin, following my bike tire failure and laziness during Spring Break. I woke up at 5:30 am and got to see a nice sunrise at Salt Pond A2E plus many birds. The low tide brought in tons of shorebirds, fairly unusual for that location, and I got great views of various peeps in alternate plumage. Additionally, many of the peeps were foraging on the trail itself, a strange but not too unexpected sight.

Lovely alternate plumage Dunlin.

3 Lesser Scaups to the right and 2 Ruddy Ducks to the left to the left.

Audubon's Cottontail

Lovely male Bufflehead.

As I traveled through A3W, I had a very cooperative Clark's Grebe that gave me great opportunities for photography in the early morning's glassy still water.

Only Golden-crowned Sparrow and Zonotrichia in general for the day seen at the Sunnyvale WPCP.

Canada Geese in both cute and annoying modes.

Trust me, these are Whimbrel lol. 

Stunning male Hooded Oriole. Sigh... Again my shaky hands lead to the downfall of a potentially epic photograph.

Lovey Eurasian Collared-dovey courtship

Long-billed Dowitchers are so pretty as they enter breeding plumage with their delicate shades of brown and black tinged with white.

A large cloud of Cliff Swallows by Saratoga Creek. Nature is awesome.

    By Alviso, I saw my first Northern Rough-winged Swallows and White-throated Swifts of the day nesting beneath Highway 237. It was then time for me to leave the pleasant Bay Trail and start biking through quite unpleasant areas next to a lot of cars. Unlike my attempt 5/30 of last year, however, I managed to not get lost. All seemed to be going well until...

FUCK. THIS. SHIT.

To be continued....