Pine White Butterflies have appeared. Karen Tracy recently photographed one near her home.
I took the next photo of one of these butterflies feeding on a blooming succulent in my garden.
And Drew Fagan photographed one feeding on lavender.
These butterflies lay their eggs in the bark crevices of Bishop Pine trees. when they hatch and flit around they are quite lovely to see.
Thanks to Karen and Drew for allowing me to share their photos with you here.
Gualala Point Regional Park is a great place to see wildlife. Harm Wilkinson recently photographed a handsome four-point Buck at the park.
I will be speaking at the park on Saturday, July 18th, noon at the visitors' center. I'll be talking about all the different sightings you can see there. The event is free though there is a day use/parking fee of $7.00 if you haven't purchased an annual pass. Where to purchase a pass? The Four-eyed Frog Bookstore, of course...and from park rangers.
Thanks to Harm for allowing me to share his photo with you here.
Huckleberries - wild blueberries - are ripening up, perhaps two weeks early this year. Many bushes on our land are full of berries, a welcome sight after two subpar years.
These berries are extremely high in antioxidants. Many creatures eat the berries, included two-footed ones like me! This year there appears to be enough berries for all.
Not all berries ripen at the same time, so the season of berries continues for several months. It's time to go foraging for one of the treats brought to us by Mother Nature.
A Doe can have one fawn, and often has two little ones. Triplets aren't unheard of but they are rarer. Tom Eckles photographed the threesome from his home in Gualala.
One of my favorite fawn photos was taken by David McFarland. This tiny, newborn fawn fell asleep on the side of a road in The Sea Ranch. The mother left it alone for a few minutes so she could feed herself. Security put cones up so the fawn would be safe. The fawn was gone thirty minutes later. This is why you should never try to "rescue" a newborn fawn or any other creature such as Harbor Seal pups. In almost every case the mother will return to take care of her newborn.
Thanks to Tom and David for allowing me to share their photos with you here. To see more of Tom's photography, here is his website: www.tomeckles.com
Peggy Berryhill and Susan Ruschmeyer attended the Gualala River event a few weeks ago. They saw thousands of tiny toads, which turned out to be Western Toads. There are four in the first photo - can you spot them?
In the second photo Susan has one of the little toads in her hand. They hatched early this year.
Thanks to Peggy for allowing me to share her photos with you here.