Reviewing Some Snake Lore

 Here are a couple of photos of a Rattlesnake that visited the FRC campus last summer and a few of the Gopher Snake with which it is often confused, much to the chagrin of many Gopher Snakes.  More natural history of these and other snake will be added when I get my energy back.  Sat in a very hot aluminum stands in the afternoon sun watching FRC men win a football game 41 - 6.  Spirits are high.

A Refreshing Sight

Growing up in New England, I never saw a vineyard.  I never saw grapes grown commercially on a large scale, but greatly enjoyed picking Concord grapes in friends' yards, along roadsides, and sometimes in the woods.  Sometimes in the woods, we'd find the grape vines climbing all over Baldwin apple trees.  Possibly a sign of this part of the forest having someone's homestead many years ago.  I didn't really think about that back then, but I loved the grapes and sometimes brought quite a few bunches home with me.  So these big bunches, hiding beneath the leaves in front of a local eatery made me feel very nostalgic.  I picked just one grape to quench my thirst.  After that, the memories were enough.

One Last Time for Treehoppers

 I was just beginning to pass this off as a bad year for treehoppers, and, therefore, treehopper photography when I saw this!  I spotted a few earlier in the season than usual.  Then there were very few additional ones over a period of several weeks. I was having trouble getting clear photos of those few with my cell phone.  Then, a couple days ago, while I was toting my DSLR camera, I looked over some low-hanging branches of an Oak on my driveway, and spotted this cluster.  More treehoppers were on this branch than were on all my previous photos combined.  And there was this white spot in the middle that I couldn't make out wth my weary eyes.  Click on either photos and you'll see that i've caught one treehopper in the act of its last molt.  Note the wings.

Then I had one last thought.  This was a low branch of a fairly tall California Black Oak.  Some of them here and on the FRTC campus are very tall, approaching 100 feet.  I've never used a ladder or a helicopter in my photography, but now I'm wondering if these Oak Treehoppers occupy the branches higher up on the trees.  There may be millions on a tree that I just don't see.  Maybe deer and other critters are frequently knocking ones off the low branches and I'm only seeing the survivors.  If I seem a little obsessed with Oak Treehoppers, it's because I am.  I wonder if I could raise them over the winter in a terrarium.

Who benefits?

 I saw lots of California Sister butterflies during the month of August.  Now that I'm not seeing them any more, I'm having a flashback to one of the look-alikes.  I found some photos of Lorquin's Admiral in my photo archives.  Here are three such photos.  I remember they really loved to feed on the Spreading Dogbane, a member of the "milkweed" group which consists of the combined families of Asclepiadaceae (milkweeds) and Apocynaceae (dogbanses).  When I approached these specimens, they were so deeply engaged in feeding that I could appraoch with my Nikn to within a foot without scaring them away.

The California Sister, not pictured here, looks very similar.  The pattern of white spots on the wings is a bit different, but the easiest marker to recognize in flight is the Sister has a thin black border around the orange at each wing tip.  I'll dig up a photo of the California Sister and add it here later.

Help?

I can't find this one in any of my wildflower guides.  Certainly not rare; I'm finding new ones blooming every few days in the last of August.  A weed?  The blossom is only 1/4" in diameter.  The body of the plant has rather spread out stems and branches, very thin, and the blossoms at the tips of branches are widespread.  I'm thinking it's a member of the Mustard family, Brassicaceae.  I'd appreciate a tip from anyone who recognizes it. It was very hard to get a clear photo with my camera.  Seems like it's always blowing in the wind when I come around.

Last chance...

 Just posted about Sunflowers growing larger heads (= more seeds) toward the end of the season, probably to ensure a good crop next year.  Here's a very stressed young birch tree by my driveway that seems to be doing the same thing.

 Very dense clusters of catkins.  In fact far more than are on the more mature birches in my yard. This young tree is bent over, maybe due to soil problem or maybe even bent low from last winter's snow.  I'm guessing the larger number of reproductive parts is a response to stress.

Don't lose your head, or...

 Late season Sunflowers ofen grow more massive heads of flowers, as if to make a last ditch attempt to insure seeds for next year.  Sometimes their heads are just too big, and ...

 they fall off.  Then, they might get weaker and lean into the traffic lane.

Click on these t get larger views.  They're even more impressive in real life.   Lots of great Sunflower displays around town these days, and the colder weather is welcome - to humans, if not Sunflowers.