...and that in your own back yard!
Check out this stunning book: Laws Field Guide to Sierra Nevada
Wow! This is a fun book to browse, easily taking the lead in presenting an overview of just about anything you might see or wonder about in the Sierra! Flora and fauna, it's represented here with excellent watercolor illustrations and helpful tips to help define similar species. It's a book you will want in your daypack. Check it out on Amazon where it's only about $16. Such a deal.
A Mystery Caterpillar
While wrongly supposing that I would be seeing caterpillars at every turn now that I want to concentrate on butterflies, I have been surpised that I haven't noticed more than a very few! I was, however, taken by surpise when I was searching and area that is heavyly populated with blues and coppers, but just an occassional sighting of some others flitting through the area. I suddenly saw this guy sitting happily on a leaf of nettle leaf giant hyssop (Agastache urticifolia), a plant in the mint family.
I haven't been able to find an identity for it. Any ideas? Drop me a note.
A Surprising Frog Find...
I
found this guy sitting in a big (dry) field of Balsamroot. It looked kind of big when I shot the photo, but it turns out to be a Pacific Treefrog, (Pseudacris (=Hyla) regilla). Identified by Gary of CaliforniaHerps.com. Thanks, Gary.
This is the Year for Butterflies
I 
will continue to take photos of whatever wants to sit still for a minute, and by using the photos I can learn to identify the species; this is good. Nicely bridging the gap between static flowers and highly mobile birds, fluttery butterflies seem content to flit in circles before finally landing for their portrait. If you watch for birds, you know that there is a law that the bird will move to the opposite side of the tree as soon as you raise your field glasses. I'm happy to report that butterflies will also follow a similar law by zooming off just as the shutter is released. Still, I persist. This little effort is displayed on a page about butterflies. Go see...
Now, Consider the Birds...
It's pretty hard to catch decent photos of the birds in the forest, but while I keep trying, I can more easily report on the wild birds (and sometimes, a squirrel) that visit my feeder; check Birding in an Industrial Park. Meanwhile, there are a few reports of birds from the woods, and more will be added as soon as I can write them up. Do you have any good bird photos and info that you'd like to contribute for sharing here? Send them to me: Steve (at) Floralore dot com.
The bird in the upper left corner is a Cedar Waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum). These are really attractive birds that have been appearing in late winter to attack the berry supply in an ornamental landscape tree at the edge of the parking lot. Read more...
You Missed the Kokanee!
What's a kokanee? A land-locked salmon. If you haven't heard of them, you needed to head for Lake Tahoe to see them in October. These sockeye salmon return to Taylor Creek to spawn, and the Visitor Center is a really terrific place to observe them. The surrounding grounds include a nice walking path (suitable for kids or strollers) and crisp autumn air and Lake Tahoe views, what's not to like? So go see a fish. Read more...