Favoritos de cwbarrows

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.

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.

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.

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

I saw a horned lizard under a bush and was about to take a voucher shot when my daughter points and yells Leopard Lizard. The leopard lizard was stalking the horned lizard and we watched it run up and try to figure out how to eat it but the horned lizard kept turning and tipping body to look bigger. Eventually the leopard lizard gave up and they went separate ways as seen in first pic. Such a cool observation.

A tagged monarch was seen during a North American Butterfly Association fall butterfly count. The tag number AQ402 indicated the butterfly was tagged in southeast Arizona more than 450 miles from where it was observed in Joshua Tree National Park.