Still there!

OK, I'm done.  Just had to share with you one more time, this critter I've been watching for over a week is still occupying the same flower.  The flower was showing evidence of fading today, so my friend will be gone soon.  Not sure if there's an Ambush Bug's Graveyard nearby, or what will happen.  But she did weather the storm we had last night.  Might not have noticed it.  We sure did at home. 
I sat on the ground and ate lunch a few yards away and saw several other interesting things.  Kept getting mayonnaise on my camera.  Will share those photos in the morning.

Geometry

Following Thoreau's suggestion, I found this artifact a short distance off the trail.  I think the wasps discovered geometry before the Greeks.

A Few Hours Later

This was one of those situations that tempts me to take up video, and time-lapse in particular.  In the photo of this scene in my previous post, the Ambush Bug is residing on the flower to the right.  It is clear that it is the older flower and is close to wilting.  A few hours later, as I returned to my car, I checked the scene again.  Not only had the flower on the left begun to release its pollen, but the Ambush Bug, apparently recognizing it as more attractive to flying insects, had moved over to occupy it.  It would have been fun to watch the bug negotiate that path and to see the pollen emerging.  For now, all I have to go on is imagination, and that's working pretty well.

Consolation Prize

 I began the new week with a walk up the paved path to the upper campus to check on the Goldenrod Crab Spider that has occupied the same Red Clover blossom for over a week.  It was gone!  I was very disappointed.  Evidence of weed eaters and leaf blowers all around.  On the way back to my car, as is my usual habit, I closely inspected the remaining weeds, looking for late summer blooms and the bugs they might be hosting.  I was happy to find an Ambush Bug, poised for action among the spines of a California Thistle.

A few other attractions included what I called a "Bonsai Salsify."  The main crop had grown tall and gone to seed, and were mostly flattened by foot traffic and the above-mentioned machinery.  But there are always a few trying to outlast the ravages of summer, and they have developed the abilty to bloom when only a few inches tall, much like the way dandelions and daisies respond to frequent mowings.  I always admire survivors.

 Here are the older ones, preparing to release thousands of seeds to ensure next summer's crop.

 The last plants to get my attention were the remaining Mullein.  Several by the parking lot have grown to over 7 feet tall.  Most of the blooming is done, and they are covered with pouches of seeds.  Each plant produces thousands of tiny seeds that mostly drop to the ground and grown more Mulleins nearby, or are carried by birds to other locations.  They have no projections that would allow them to be carried far by air.  I enjoy seeing a few fresh blooms at the top of each plant, even though the season, and thus the lifetime, of most of them is essentially over.  This straight-on photo shows the plant's relation to the Snapdragons.

Walking Among Weeds

 Friday afternoon I had a little time on my hands while waiting for someone at the Court House Annex.  Since I had my camera with me, I decided to take a walk in a "weedy" area just beyond the manicured lawns.  Weeds are much more interesting than lawns.  Here are my favorite images from the walk.

From top to bottom, two views of a non-native called Teasel. (There are several other spellings.) Five views of Wild Sweet Pea that comes in Pink, White, and variations.  Finally, a view of Goldenrod, one of the more prolific late-summer bloomers.  No more photos on the weekend. Still gearing up for fall classes I'll be teaching.  Starting tomorrow I'll be on campus every day, so I do plan to chronicle happenings in natural history on my many walks up and down and around the campus.

Last Group from Wednesday Hike

There's hope for catching up.  I've been quite busy preparing for my fall classes at FRC.  In fact, I've toted my camera only once since this hike taken last Wednesday.  So, these are the last imges I'll post from that hike.
I love finding the cones of White Fir on the ground, especially when it looks like they were placed by squirrels.  The stump shown above is obviously a popular dining spot.  It is surrounded by loose scales of already eaten cones (the seeds, that is), and punctuated by this newly deposited cone.  For all I know, the diner might have been watching from a nearby hiding place and waiting for us to move on.  When these cones reach a certain degree of dryness, but haven't yet been eaten or broken open, it is fun to throw them against a tree trunk.  They literally explode and sound like falling shards of glass.

A particularly satisfying experience for any naturalist who visits a place from year to year, is to seek out a specific plant or animal that it is not particularly common, but which you have reason to believe will be found in that place.  So, after not seeing Baneberry since last summer - wait, one exception was a small patch by a spring on Meadow Valley Road - I sought it out on one of the side trails going up Boyle Ravine, the place where I first discovered and identified the plant several years ago.  Almost gave up when I saw some glowing red spots about 20 feet off the trail amongst a dense patch of Lemmon's Wild Ginger.  Voila!  It was a single plant bearing ripe Baneberries.  I was stunned.  All I could remember at the moment was the word "bane" and I had Fleabane and Dogbane racing around in my mind.  Couldn't remember Baneberry until I looked it up at home.  The thing I did remember is that it's in the Buttercup family and I find that family incredibly fascinating because the the wide diversity of flower types in it.

Lichens never cease to amaze.  Here are a couple round white patches on the trunk of a Big-leaf Maple...

...and two more shots on different lichens on a rock at the trail side.

Finally, as usual when I get home there are surprises on the lawn.  This time a dead bird, undoubtedly a victim of a neighborhood cat, maybe even one of our own. 

More sightings from Wednesday afternoon

 Text later tonight. Well, I didn't make it that night.  It is now Sunday night.  I hope my memory works.

I always stop by the large patch of Tansy just East of the big green water tank in Boyle Ravine.  A week ago, the dominant insect visitors were Ambush Bugs.  On this particular day, I saw none of those but there were lots of Skippers.  The one pictured above clearly sows what a skipper i.  Click on the photo for a closer view and note the curved hooks at the ends of the antennae.  Also note the wing position.  There are also growing gatherings of these skippers on the Rabbittbrush just outside the main entrance of the FRC library building, AKA the LRC.

 

The next point of interest was a lone Blue Elderberry bush.  These seem particularly sensitive to local conditions, not just point in the season.  I have seen them in many stages around American Valley from freshly blooming flowers to green berries to ripe blue berries to berries shriveled and/or fallen or eaten.  This one, on a north-facing slope and in the shade seems to be a full month behind the ones in the sun out by Oakland Camp.

When we returned from our hike, a few bugs in my lawn caught my eye.  This grasshopper is buried in a weedy patch so you can't tell it's actually a lawn from this photo.  As you know, I like letting some weeds survive in my lawn because it promotes biological diversity, AKA naturalist entertainment.

On a Red Clover, also in my lawn, I got what may be my best yet photo of the Pacific Ambush Bug.  Note those big front legs.  Reminds me of Popeye.