High Country Flowers

 Hiked two trails near Bucks Lake today, Mills Creek Trail and Bucks Creek Loop.  Lots of flowers, but not as many in previous years.  Seemed quite a bit drier.  These Monk's Hoods were a highlight.  Will post more from today's hike tomorrow morning.  Hard to believe these are in the Buttercup family.

The Partners of the Flowers

Catch of the Day

 Actually, not a catch.  It flew onto one of the outdoor dining tables at camp and some kids discovered it and came running to me excited.  It was probably nearing the end of life as it was quite listless and didn't resist getting picked up.  After posing for a few photos on my hand, it was released on a nearby daisy.  It's the Ten-lined June Beetle, AKA June Bug.  A Scarab, a member of a family of beetles sacred to many ancient Middle-eastern peoples.

Still there!

 I knew they would be there.  Or, at least I hoped they would.  You never know when the mowers will come again.  I had only a few minutes to spare on my way to work.  I was too excited to notice that my fuel gauge light went on.  I decided in advance that I would only look for aesthetic possibilities and not seek information per se.  I wanted my viewers to see what I saw, not a modified version.  Thus, I didn't alter color. 

 The beetle really is that red, and the sky really was that blue.  Colors in nature that a lot of people never get to see.  I know that growing up on the East Coast, I never saw skies that blue.  And, I dont remember ever seeing an insect that red. 

 I focused on what was close, and with the large aperture, that throws the background out of focus.  That's the way we see.  I've never cared for scenic photos with a huge depth of field as our eye cannot see the close-up flower and the distant cliff simultaneously focused.  In fact, it's a good eye exercise to get in front of such a scene and alternately focus on the near and the far. 

 The other thing I did was crop.  That's similar to what the eye sees merely by moving closer or further away.  The most radical difference between what you see here and what you would have seen if you were with me is the fact that our eyes do not see scenes with rectangular borders.  Our field of vision is closer to two overlapping circles, more sharply focused toward the centers.  And, with our stereoscopic vision we can voluntarily choose the point of greatest focus, near or far.

 Being a curious person with a science background, I couldn't help but start wondering about information.  Questions rattled around in my mind.  Answers to many of them might exist somewhere in libraries or in the world wide web.  But I won't look for answers that way, at least not for a long while.  It's too much fun to keep returning to the scene and watching more and more carefully, always remembering to take in the beauty and experience the wonder.

 But those ever-wandering antennae must be doing something.  Are they sampling the air for the essence of the flowers?  Are they choosing a spot on which to dine, or mate, or lay eggs?  Since I saw them mating last week, I figured that some might be choosing a place to lay their eggs.   How well do they see?  Maybe their world is mainly olfactory.  Dogs could relate to that!  I know they live their entire life cycle in and on milkweeds.  So far, I've only seen them on this particular species, the Showy Milkweed, Asclepias speciosa.  But they can be provoked to fly.  Is that what they do when their host plant dies of old age or gets mowed?  Do they ever fight for a mate?  When I find myself

straying too far from the aesthetic and too deeply into information gathering, I always take a deep sniff of the flowers before moving on.  Showy Milkweed is one of the most amazing fragrances out there.

An Interesting Saturday Hike

 The Wasp nest under construction that I posted here a few days ago was destroyed by Friday (above), then undergoing reconstruction again on Saturday morning (below).  They are building onto the same pedestal.  I'm curious about how far away they went and how they found the same spot again.

 I'm going to tell a little Mullein story tomorrow.  Too sleepy to continue tonight.

Monday evening: There is a great patch of Mullein along the railroad tracks above the Berry Creek undercrossing.  All growth stages are represented.  Mullein is a bienniel.  The photo below is what the plant looks like in its first year.  Just basal leaves.  Sometimes they flatten out a bit, and they can rise and fall a bit during each day, but they do not grow a tall stem.  They wilt and turn brown in the fall, but the root stays alive.

During the second season, the Mullein starts off looking the same way, but soon starts developing a tall stem.  It can reach 10 feet in height, and sometimes it branches as in the photo below, but sometimes it remains a single stem, and lots of yellow flowers grow from the top portion.  Click on the photo for a close-up.

St the end of the second season, the plant dies.  The flowers wilt, produce seeds, and fall off.  The whole stem turns brown and dies.  The dead stem may remain standing through several winters, depending on weather conditions.  The tall brown ones in the photo below might be 3, 4, 5, or more years old.

Eventually, even the hardiest stems will fall (below), and you have a Mullein graveyard.

In all stages, the Mullein provides good hiding places for lizards and bugs, and the flowers are insect and spider favorites.  Many birds like the seeds.

These photos of the Leopard Lily were taken around the pool where Berry Creek emerges from under the railroad track.

From the Berry Creek pool, there is a short dirt road leading down to the paved entrance road to Oakland Camp.  It was along this dirt road that we saw the white Goldenrod Crab Spider resting in the same spot on the same plant as when we first discovered it a week ago.

Here's another shot of the Gopher Snake we saw Saturday on the way back from this hike to Berry Creek.

On California Thistles near the camp entrance there were lots of Leafhoppers.  Pretty well camouflaged, but we were determined to find some interesting bugs.

A Great Mimic!

 The non-venomous Gopher Snake puts on quite a show.  We spotted a four-footer right at the edge of the paved road leading into camp.  It was getting warm, and the snake might have warmed up by sitting on the tar.  At any rate, it was moving fairly fast for a Gopher Snake, but I interrupted its path with a stick.  It assumed a striking position, widened its jaws, and vibrated its tail in the dry leaves.  That would be a pretty convincing imitation of a rattlesnake to most people and other animals. 

When I picked it up, the constrictor behavior kicked in.  Besides throwing several coils around my wrist, it actually tied a knot.  When I set it back down, it immediately crawled for cover.  The second time I put a stick in its path it coiled again and hissed.  The hiss from the mouth and the rattling tail sounded remarkably similar.  I was close enough to tell the sound was coming from both ends.
Gopher snakes will strike if provoked, but are basically harmless.  If I had a little more time, and could have held it for a few more minutes, it would relax and crawl on me without biting.  At least that's what they usually do.  My son kept one in a terrarium for a couple of weeks and handled it every day.  It got tame enough to hang over his shoulders and wrap around his neck and arms without biting or attempting to squeeze hard. A nice pet, but illegal.  We returned it to the place where we found it and wished it a happy remaining life.  There were a few other highlights from this morning's hike that I'll post separately.  The most exciting to me was finding the same Goldenrod Crab Spider I posted here last Wednesday.  I assume it was the same spider as it was on the same plant in the same position - just waiting for food to fly into its grasp.

Is it science or art?

 I saw so many beautiful things today I could hardly stand it.  For now I'll let these photos speak for themselves.  It's late, and I'm still reflecting on a wonderful morning nature walk with some bright college students who still have a sense of wonder.  Our conversation ranged far and wide with our discoveries of natural phenomena launching our minds on sinuous journeys.  It was fitting that my day ended with an art opening, complete with wine and horz doovers and encountering a friend/colleague I hadn't seen for over 30 years.  I learned a new Spanish word from him: querencia.  The word captures the way I feel when I'm crouched by a Showy Milkweed watching the Red Milkweed Beetles play.  It means something grander than simply feeling at home in a place.  Unfortunately, it's also the name of a luxury golf course, a hotel, and who knows what else.  I'll add a little natural history to this piece tomorrow and perhaps disucss the question in my title.

Sunday: I've got around 5 "milkweed places" I visit regularly and it's interesting that two of them that each have only a few plants seem to have all the Milkweed Beetles.  The area with the most Showy Milkweed plants is about a half mile Northwest of Oakland Camp, and I never see the beetle there.  Also, in that area, the Monarch Butterfly is much more common on the Narrow-leaf Milkweed, even though the popular notion is that it preferes the Showy.  Admittedly, I'm looking at a very small sample on all of these issues.

If I were going to be a specialist, I could imagine choosing the Red Milkweed Beetle as my subject.  I'm curious about their means of communication, especially in relation to courtship.  My minimal observations indicate that their antennae are truly multipurpose organs.  They seem to be involved in balance, fighting, and courtship.

After visiting the Milkweeds on Chandler Road, I made a couple of other stops on the way into camp.  In one shady area I got a few photos of this fungus (above) that looks like a blog of tar on the branches of young Choke Cherry and Black Oak trees.

In most places the Crimson Columbine is beginning to go to seed, so I've been on the lookout for the most photogenic blossoms remaining.  On some rainy day I need to purge my archives.  I must have several hundred photos each of the Red Milkweed Beetle and the Crimson Columbine.

My photos of the Leopard Lily are starting to add up, too.  I especially like them in shady areas with back lighting.  They're still going strong in the Berry Creek and Gilson Creek areas.

t's been another good year for bugs on Yarrow.  Many different kinds like to land on Yarrow, and I've found many different kinds mating and/or eating. 

Salvia?  I found a few of these growing where Tollgate Creek crosses the trail a half mile above the railroad track.  Definitely in the mint family, but I haven't looked for the species yet.  Smells very nice. No bugs on it.