Monday
Big Morongo Canyon
Juvenile male Hooded Oriole
Male Hooded Oriole
Female Hooded Oriole
House Finch
Subadult male Black-chinned Hummingbird
White-winged Dove
Black-throated Sparrow
California Towhee
California Thrasher
Male Black-chinned Hummingbird
Female Hooded Oriole
The oasis at Big Morongo Canyon
Screwbean Mesquite
A lizard
Mule Deer
Vermillion Flycatcher
Sunset (near Amboy)
My Cereus monstrose (actually a crested form of another species) bore these two flowers open when I took the dogs out at 6 this morning.
Yesterday the haul was also two open flowers.
The day before tgat it opened its first flowers of the season
It is also the season for naked ladies around here (AKA Amaryllis Belladonna). One of the first this year to bloom.
A related African bulb is this one getting ready to bloom for the first time for me, six years from fresh seed given to me by my friend Ken. We think it might be Brunsvigia littoralis though he gave me two kinds so will wait to see for sure.
Tuesday
Northwestern Arizona
Crissal Thrasher
Hills just northeast of Las Vegas
What Mesas look like from above
A warm front
Some kind of Bolete. I’m not sure. Never seen it before but it was really beautiful and unless it’s a bicolor , and maybe it is, it’s not edible. It won’t kill your, but typically the blue test in boletes means toxic enough you’ll be sick.
Indigo milk cap. One of the few true blue mushrooms and really pretty even when all beat up. In perfect condition these edible mushrooms are extremely pretty. The milky blue substance will dye you a little bit though.
This species of bolete has some of the coolest angular pores I’ve seen. Often the undersides of mushrooms are overlooked but they and the stalks can often be really pretty.
Another golden silk orb weaver spider. You can tell that they were raising their arms trying to appear bigger and scarier. But to me it just looks like hugs xd.
Really colorful undersides of these “crawling flowers” as well. This one caught a dragonfly, possibly the blue dasher, and like what you’ll typically notice spiders quickly decapitate their prey. The head just happen to fall down and land on its wings which they usually tear off as well.
Earth star puffball mushroom. Not edible.
This reminds me of something… what was it, now? Oh yes, I remember:
Found this really pretty “American Groundnut” growing today.
Also this bee on it. I think it’s a bee anyways. Not familiar with it. Was really getting in those flowers.
A tiny jumping spider on a winged sumac. You can see the “wings” along the branches.
You can make “sumac lemonade” with the berries but they have to be ripe and it can’t be after a rainfall. You don’t eat the berries, it they are a bit sour with this substance they produce and cost themselves with. So you essentially wash the berries off and add sugar to the water and then pour it through a cheesecloth and add ice and drink.
The liatris is coming in nice. Some are already over 6 feet tall.
Not sure why lately it keeps rearranging the pics from their original position.
I get that on various platforms too. Here I just post one at a time and have no problem I wonder what flower that one was, same as the first?
The first four pics is the pea flower.
The next few pics is liatris.
The last pic is berries of the winged sumac.
Thanks for all your gorgeous nature pictures!
A new moth for me. First time I’ve seen it. Black and white mostly. Some yellow dots hidden on its side. Pretty large. Bigger than the imperial moth.
My cat and hand xd. Watching horror. Looking forward to the next few months. Terrifer 2 is coming out. It’s really showcasing good vs evil through symbolism. Art the Clown ( villain) hunting down Sienna Shaw on Halloween night whose dressed as a angel. The first one is on tubi which is free.
Then there is the new Hellraiser film. Though missing Doug ( original pinhead actor ) this one will have Clive Barker ( the author of Hellbound Heart and Scarlet Gospels which the movies are based off of) hands on.
Then the “ My Best Friend’s Exorcism “ which is a southern gothic horror film.
There are also others that should be coming out that y’all probably never heard of. My friend ( online acquaintance really ) made the found footage film “ be my cat “ is close to releasing “ we put the world to sleep”. Adrian Țofei first film is also the first found footage horror movie released from Romania.
Also Chucky season 2 is coming out.
I know know about 9 horror movie titles! Up from about 0.
Nice moth!
Some pretty coastal pics.
Been a long week. Worked Sunday through today. 10 hours everyday and 14 hours today. But no break. Working 8 hours tomorrow and then back to Monday through Saturday at 10-12 hours. I have a feeling this is going to be another year of working 40+ days straight at 8+ hours a day then then take a day off and do another 40+ days straight.
My verbascum is not pretty. But it sure is tall, taller than me. I’m guessing 6 feet.
This in the wild part of our property that we leave to itself.
Looks like the same one I’m growing. Do they die for good in the winter or just die back. Mine could go either way but I like them to remove the old and move new volunteers to the desired locations each year because the foliage looks so much better that way. I also cut the flowering heads off when they finish so they can push up new ones.
Oh, mine are uncultivated weeds. I don’t know if they die all the way or just to the ground. It’s surprising what is winter hardy here sometimes, although lots of plants look completely dead. I can mark that plant with a stake and keep track to see what happens.
I have had moss roses in pots that freeze solid for months, and they come back from the roots every year. My chives, too.
I’ll see what happens with the verbascum.
This one is in a spot I will be able to monitor in the spring.
I bettrr not do a crit theory book group again next summer, or it’ll all look dead again. Utter neglect. Like some grad student is running this house.
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