A Few Shots Before Winter Returns!

I've enjoyed a couple of sunny days and got some interesting photos, but the forecast and the gossip agree we're in for more rain and possibly snow. As I roamed around some new areas today, I recalled Darwin's comment, "all observation must be for or against some view if it is to be of any service." I realized that I am almost always captivated by this point-of-view when I'm out wandering. I guess the view that is constantly being reinforced is that all life shares a common ancestry and I am as much kin to the filaree, butterfly and centipede above as I am to my fellow mammals. And I am reminded again of Montaigne's statement, "Miracles arise from our ignorance of nature, not from nature itself." So, I'm out there trying to reduce my ignorance.

"Shooting" on a Rainy Day

We had snow last night down to around 3,800', just a couple hundred feet above my house, on Claremont Mountain, then it rained all day today. Didn't expect to take any photos, but driving Old Highway, near Keddie, I couldn't resist. Two photos here of Henderson's Shooting Star, Dodecatheon hendersonii, a member of the primrose family, and the bottom photo is one I didn't see last year and am not familiar with it. My first guess is that it's a member of the mustard family, Brassicaceae, of the genus Cardamine. If someone out there knows better, please let me know. They were out in profusion on pine-needly banks above the road. I'll check on them on the next sunny day and confirm or correct my ID. They were very pretty, as were the shooting stars. In the same area there were lots of early leaves of violets which should be blooming in another week or so.

This Just In - Blooming in Quincy

This morning I walked around my place of work and saw nothing blooming, so I posted a few more scenes from Table Mountain. Then, in the afternoon, look what happened! Johnny Jump Ups (a domesticated violet - Viola sp.) was out in great numbers, as were dandelions and henbit deadnettle. The latter, a member of the mint family, has a number of different common names as well as a number of different spellings. To be precise, it's Lamium amplexicaule. As for dandelions, I keep posting them because I really like them. Always on the lookout for the most photogenic dandelion, or one being visited by a butterfly, or one that bloomed very low to the ground, below the blades of the lawnmower. Last, there were some tiny sorrel blooming in grass taller than themselves. The more noticeable wildflowers will be blooming at this elevation soon. Watch for them here! Also, on the Plumas Visitors Bureau's "Bloom Blog."

Rivers of Flowers on Table Mountain

Our host on last Saturday's Table Mountain hike kept referring to scenes like these as "rivers of flowers." Seemed like an appropriate metaphor to me. Hard to imagine this unless you visit. Maybe a week or two remaining before the area dries up rapidly. There will be interesting wildflower viewing for another few weeks after that along the creek beds, but the large expanses of "painted" flats will be brown until next spring.

Spring Moves Up the Mountain

This is my third day of posting photos from last Saturday's wonderful hike across Table Mountain. The first seven photos here are from that day. Now spring flowers and animals are emerging at higher elevations. I stop by the Greenville Y, elevation around 3,000', twice a week. Last week the only things blooming were dandelions and the tiny Whitlow grass. Today, there was an abundance of newly blooming rock cress, also in the mustard family. Also, the blue belly lizards were out in force which means there must be a food supply crawling around in the crevasses. I saw the leaves of many other kinds of wildflowers that will be blooming in the coming weeks. And it was WARM! Wonderful time of year.

A Shadow of His Former Self....

Various Table Mountain Critters

Besides these, we saw a rattlesnake, a gopher snake, lots of cows, and squirrels. When I saw the rattler, I froze with my finger on the shutter release. Only after it had gone down a hole did I realize I was more or less waiting for it to pose. My son came running over just in time to hear it still buzzing from deep in its hole at the base of a little cliff. The newts were busy cruising, sometimes in pairs, but we didn't manage to catch any mating. Did catch some for photography though. Some folks worry a lot about salmonella, but I've never got it. The young blue belly, Sceloperus, barely had any blue on its belly. A little later in the season some will have bright blue bellies along with yellow accents on the inner thighs. The various bugs we saw in cow poop brought back memories of when one of my high school students did a study of the ecology of cattle dung, specifically, the pre4dicatable sequence of bugs that invade as it dries out, some coming to parasitize the early arrivals. The big black beetle is known for poking its butt into the air and emitting a cyanide odor, but it was probably still a little too cold to bother. More Table Mountain photos tonight or tomorrow. Also, watch for the Plumas County Visitors Bureau's "Bloom Blog" which should start up for the season in a day or two.