Woodland Clarkia, Clarkia unguiculata, is also called Elegant Clarkia. It's a beautiful native wildflower endemic to California.
I read that bees love these wildflowers - nice to know!
Thanks to Peter for allowing me to share his photo with you here.
We had heavy fog overnight - it sounded like it was raining! But the fog pulled back in the afternoon and, sure enough, there was an ocean out there.
Doug Le Du wrote, "I am hoping you can help me identify this flying creature captured on the evening of June 9 with a motion-sensitive camera with IR lighting about 9 pm. I have seen bats fly by this camera hundreds of times and at first dismissed this as just another bat fly-by. But then I paused the video and realized that not only is this NOT A BAT, but that I had no idea what this flying creature was.”
Naturalist Laura Baker took a detailed look. She wrote, “What a wonderful mystery! Here’s my guess – maybe a Praying Mantis? Males are known to fly around at night, come to lights and engage in bat avoidance maneuvers. Check. Mantids fly with their legs totally splayed out. General flight characteristics look like the Praying Mantises I’ve seen flying in the day.”
Here are the two short videos for you to see.
It's a fun mystery. I guessing a Forest Fairy! Let me know your guess.
Thanks to Doug for sharing his videos and photos with us here.
It's warm right along the bluffs, and downright hot further away from the ocean - a June heatwave. Lots of visitors have arrived, seeking relief from the inland heat and getting some necessary Vitamin Sea.
Suagarsticks are blooming now. The two small rain events we had last week seems to have coaxed a few new ones into appearing. I invited Craig Tooley over to see a group on a neighboring property and we found a new group had just appeared.
The big fat stalk on the right was nearly 10 inches tall! And there are five other sugarsticks poking up from the forest duff. Here is a close-up of this unusual plant.
These plants are quite jewel-like. They have a symbiotic relationship with fungi. And that fungi is Matsutake!
Thanks to Craig for allowing me to share his photos with you here. To see much more of Craig's nature photography, here is the link to his website: http://www.ruffimage.com
We are in for a patch of warm weather as a major heatwave settles over the west. It's beautiful today, with a nice gentle breeze. Thursday and Friday are forecast to be quite warm, but nothing like inland temps, which will be HOT! Head for the coast.
In the late spring, the non-native iceplant blooms on the bluffs at Black Point on The Sea Ranch, and Phil Lewenthal was there to photograph it. It is beautiful, there is no doubt!
Another look.
Thanks to Phil for allowing me to share his striking photos with you here.
The wind returned this afternoon. It's suppose to heat up beginning Thursday.
Every year the Bucks lose their antlers and begin the process of growing them back again, a little bigger each time if their nutrition is good. Jim Hennessy photographed this handsome buck with his antlers in velvet.
Velvet is the membrane that nourishes the growing bones underneath. If you could touch it, you'd find it hot! Or so I've read.
Thanks to Jim for allowing me to share his photo with you here.
It was cloudy, warm and quite humid this morning. Then the fog rolled in for a spell. And this afternoon has turned sunny. A wait-five-minutes kind of day! Update: storm clouds flowed into the area and it rained overnight. We received .30 inches, so from the two small storms this week we got .65 inches of the blessed wet stuff.