If this is C. munzii this individual is outside the range of the species. Near homes of North shore, possibly established from humans.
Does anyone know what these are? I found 2 of these circles in the turkey flats area.
One very infested old shrub. Smaller ones nearby did not seem to have any. This year’s seem to be mostly still budding.
Hosted on bursera microphylla
Was prey of a spider wasp before the spiny lizard stole it.
From one of our camera traps. The badger walks out of the mesquite with what appears to be a squirrel?
Being followed around by 4 Ravens.
Box Canyon, Mecca Hills/Orocopia Mountains Conservation Area, Coachella Valley, Riverside County, California
Riverside County, California, US
Look at this old guy
Associated with observation:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/154879089
Cold (immobile) & stuck in broken sand / mud or got caught up in flood waters. *Moved close by to sunny, warm rock with areas for escape, retreat.
A very large moth that mostly comes in the evenings to feed on the nectar of native plants in the mojave desert. Can be quite easily confused with a hummingbird.
Apparent leucistic lavender morph Cal King Snake which is common in the pet trade but rarely reported in the wild. Several miles from a town and a mile from nearest building. Found while road cruising in the eastern Mojave. Same individual is here http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/6426996
This snake was found upside down on the road after being hit. I rescued it and nursed it back to life. This kingsnake now gives educational talks. :)
Comparative photos, both with a tripod. First photo with camera flash. Second photo, fluorescing under 365 nanometer ultraviolet light with ZWB2 bandpass filter centered on 365 nm.
Ant hill offset ~1 foot right-laterally from M7.1 Ridgecrest earthquake this weekend. My hubby took the photo.
I nearly fell over backwards when Don Rideout and I saw these E. nauseosa oreophila plants along the road here!
This species is unknown from San Diego County except at Descanso Junction, where it may have been introduced by Caltrans.
These plants may also be a road introduction. We only found something like six plants, four on one side of the road and two on the other side of the road.
The nearest natural plants known are along SR371 northeast of Anza, and along SR74 down to Pinyon Flat.
On the other hand, this species loves to live along disturbed roadsides, so this might be a natural population. These plants are not unreasonably far from the SR371 / SR74 population, and they are living in a similar habitat at a similar elevation. There are also many plants of this species just across the border in Baja California.
If this is a natural population, there ought to be more plants. Surveying farther east along Lost Valley Road might find more.
Update 23 October 2023: Carla Hoegen and Fred Melgert surveyed farther east on 7 October 2022, and indeed found a number of additional plants.
2 rattlesnakes possibly mating?
This determination is by no means 100%. I've never gone back in spring when there are fresh flowers to confirm the id.
It would be great if someone would visit this plant in May or early June, and photograph the ovaries to get the determination for sure. If the ovaries have hairs on them, it is S. scouleriana. If they have no hairs, it is S. lasiolepis.
S. scouleriana is by far the dominant Salix here. Keir Morse's friend Huang-chi asked about the determination of these trees, and I fortunately looked at these trees instead of just answering "S. scouleriana". (:-)
I was shocked when I saw the leaves looked much more like S. lasiolepis than S. scouleriana.
However, the leaves were very soft-silky underneath, which is typical of S. scouleriana (but still possible for S. lasiolepis), and S. scouleriana can have leaves that resemble S. lasiolepis in shape sometimes.
So I said we needed an infl to get the id for sure, and voila, Huang-chi produced some dead infl from these trees.
In the field, the fruit appeared glabrous, confirming S. lasiolepis. But with such old fruit, the hairs might have dropped off. I took a sample to study it further, voucher tchester1759.
observations:
twigs yellow-green, hairy
leaves look like typical S. lasiolepis leaves, elliptic and symmetric about middle (tip to bottom) to narrowly oblanceolate, some with a curve to them along their length. but the underneath sides of the leaves are very soft-hairy to the touch, like s. scouleriana.
petioles 5-7 mm. blades 61 x 13 mm; 62 x 11 mm; 58 x 12 mm. tips mostly acute, but some are obtuse. blade edges are somewhat turned down, but not as much as typical S. scouleriana. top surface shiny and green; bottom surface glaucous.
female catkins 30-40 x ~7 mm in fruit
fl bracts persistent, dark brown, densely hairy, body oblanceolate, rounded at tip, 1.9 x 0.8 mm, hairs extend 1.0 mm above body, hairs white, slightly wavy. the bracts look just like the jm2 illustration for S. lasiolepis.
ovary stalk 2.0-2.1 mm in fr, body 2.2-2.4 mm, style + stigma 0.8-0.9 mm. some styles are as short as 0.4 mm, but i don't know if they were broken off, since there are not stigmas attached.
body is glabrous, but the hairs can be deciduous in age, so it isn't 100% clear if this was their condition when fresh.
Using the Munz key, S. lutea and S. lemmonii are ruled out because their lvs are nearly glabrous underneath, and their lf blades are 1.5-4 cm wide and mostly 3-4 times longer. these leaves fit the Munz key perfectly for S. lasiolepis, of blades 1-2 cm wide and mostly ~5 x as long.
S. lemmonii and S. scouleriana are ruled out if the fruit lack of hairs can be trusted.
S. scouleriana also has leaf edges much more turned down than these leaves, and its flower bract has a different shape in the jm2 illustration.
Only S. lasiolepis fits the above, with just one problem - its styles are supposed to be 0.1-0.6 mm, whereas i definitely have some that are 0.8-0.9 mm. But that is a problem for the only other competing determination of S. scouleriana, too.
1 of 2 Verdin bringing fluff and twigs to their nest. This particular twig was too big, but the bird spend quite a while bonking it against the door trying to fit it through, eventually dropping it, then picking it up and trying again, then dropping it again and flying off in disgust.
San Diego County, California, US
Mound of Phainopepla scat
Misltoe filled feces from Phainopepla
Has Blue underbelly and yellow arms. This lizard is a stow-a-way with some beehives from California.
Survey of PCT from Cedar Spring Trail to Hwy 74.
We saw a lot of plants that we saw 4 days ago, but we also saw some new ones. This species was a major find by Tom Chester. It grows on limestone outcrops and so is highly restricted.
Only one location for this species was observed
Snowy thistle is a subspecies of Cobwebby Thistle. These look even brighter white on a sunny day.
Snowy Thistle (Cirsium occidentale var. candidissimum) Peak bloom time: April-September.
Jepson eflora https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=56556
A comparison of subspecies of Cirsium occidentale:
Plant densely white-tomentose; phyllaries persistently white-tomentose (except tip-spines); outer phyllaries generally very long, spreading or reflexed ..... var. candidissimus
Vs
Plant variably tomentose, occasionally ± glabrous in age; phyllaries glabrous to ± loosely tomentose, occasionally some loosely cobwebby hairs extending between adjacent phyllary tips; outer phyllaries short to long, erect to spreading or reflexed leading to ..... var. venustum
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Cobwebby Thistle (Cirsium occidentale). NATIVE thistle with densely cobwebby heads in the Asteraceae family that grows up to 30 dm (10 ft) tall. Stem is generally 1, erect, branched distally, and +- tomentose. Leaves are +- densely gray- or +- white-tomentose, especially abaxially (underside). Leaves are deeply lobed with undulating margins lined with prickles and spines. Globe-shaped flower heads are covered with and wrapped in dense, cobwebby hairs. Corolla is 18--35 mm, white to lavender, purple, or red in color. Peak bloom time: June-July. There are several subspecies.
Jepson eFlora https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=2209
Plants of Monterey County: an Illustrated Field Key, 2nd edition, Matthews and Mitchell, 2015, pp. 60-61.
Flora of Fort Ord: Monterey County, California, David Styer, 2019, p.37.
Monterey County Wildflowers: a Field Guide, Yeager and Mitchell, 2016, p. 27.
Monterey County Wildflowers https://montereywildflowers.com/asteraceae-thistle-cirsium/
Thistles (non-native) https://www.inaturalist.org/journal/cwarneke/61995-thistles-with-white-in-their-leaves
Riverside County, California, US
Mating? The larger brighter colored one emerged first, followed by the two slightly smaller drabber colored ones, who wrapped themselves around it when it stopped.
Didn’t get a good look at the adult when we accidentally flushed it, either common poorwill or lesser nighthawk. It flew low to the ground but that could be because it didn’t want to go far. Hopefully someone can ID through the chick!
On a small, low ledge in a canyon with a sandy wash at the bottom; in the Chuckwalla Mountains Wilderness
Along a closed road in the Chuckwalla Mountains Wilderness. A few individual plants with several buds in addition to the blooms. Really lovely.
In a rocky canyon/wash in the California desert (Sonoran). So cute!