Lazuli Bunting, Yosemite water craze & obligatory Monty Python reference

 Hey, there peeps!

"I'm not dead! Think I'll go for a walk!" 'nuf said? =D

Lazuli Lifer

Lazuli Bunting appeared on the feeder (Sunday) &

I freaked out SO HARD my hands were shaking.

I'd NEVER seen one EVER & had to look up among the SHOWY birds 

I've never seen to even figure out what it was. WOW!!! =D

Then it took off & I jumped up and down

& DH & I high-fived. 

The Iris Time

A furled purple iris. I love how moody they look.

Polka dots! =D

Those tiny specks make me CRAZY happy.

Just sitting there, looking (& smelling) glorious...

The carpenter bee has returned to its annual haunt of the iris bed outside our window:

Love this giant, territorial creature: it flies laps & dispels other bees

and I'm grateful it's been cutting me slack, so far, as I walk past... =D

I will always adore these flowers & am so glad they like our Mediterranean climate. =D

Yosemite Flow

Have been going to the park (Yosemite) more than usual this spring,

partly for work (poor, poor me) and partly 'cause there was SO much rain this winter.

The waterfalls are CRANKING like MAD and the Merced River

is WAY up so marvelous reflections abound. Fabulous! =D
Yosemite Falls

North Dome & wetlands & a TINY piece

of Clouds Rest & Half Dome. =D

This was just inches south of Southside Drive,

just west of the chapel. Water!!! =D

Speaking of, I tweeted & Instagram-ed videos of Yosemite Falls
that I took with my iPad  &
it got picked up by SFgate & GrindTV ,
the latter in an article called,
"7 incredible videos of the historic Sierra snowpack melt at Yosemite Falls."
Turns out TWO of those 7 are MINE?!? Crazy.
And I only know 'cause the Tweeple alerted me to it.

Hooray, you guys!! =D

Anyhow, that was bizarre & fun. It's totally DH's fault:
he alerted me re: when the river would peak (high flow)
so recommended I drive up, so I did & it was HEAVENLY.


Etc.

Got a few new hummingbird feeders, including this orange one

which just ADDS to the Anna's hummingbird's amazing pink shimmer. Phew!

Color not enhanced AT all. =D

This is DH photographing a small bear we startled on the Valley Loop Trail in Yosemite:

As you can tell, I'm respecting the bear's privacy,

NOT totally being a bear-scaredy-cat. =D

The bear had been ear-tagged but was doing good wild bear stuff,

shredding a downed log for delicious grubs.

With all this winter rain, the grass at our place is OUT OF CONTROL!!

There's ENTIRE DEER there...

And here's the view from my back porch, looking across the grass sea... *sigh*

Some of the grass is nearly as tall as I am (6'). I THINK there's a few

planted plants in the garden amid the crashing waves of weeds... 😁

So, I will be in the valley MOAR this summer since due to my 1st gig this spring,

and the kind woman who hired me, I get ANOTHER gig in early summer! =D

Which means numerous required visits to the park to plan where we'll

meet & stop & walk & what I'll blab about.

Which ALSO means I get lots of steps hiking for research.

In Yosemite Valley.

Which means I get happy.

Again.

HOORAY!! =D

xoxoxobb

SaveSave
SaveSave

I love spring

On the road

My commute home from work site--skirting the storm.

 It's so great to see the hills all green after years of drought.

Check out how the rainbow is doubling itself (at the bottom).

One of the cutest things I've EVER seen: baby killdeer

with its siblings and very busy parents at Merced National Wildlife Refuge.

Check out that TINY wing! =)

Snow goose, also at the Merced NWR.
That beak makes me think of a sock puppet, for some reason... =)

This native phlox was SO frothy & pink (on highway 166) we HAD to pull over

during our drive to Carrizo Plain NM.

The Carrizo Plain NM: a fascinating place.

Heaven for a minimalist, and I was anxious to visit, since

the last time we saw it, it was 4 years into a drought.

 Soda Lake stirred by wind.

Carrizo Plain had greened up nicely, thanks to El Niño.

Desert candle (Caulanthus inflatus), a species I'd never seen before, at Carrizo Plain NM.

Another thing we saw from the car & stopped to investigate. =)

We drove up elevation from Carrizo & found purple puddles of Phacelia. So great!

Closer shot of Phacelia--love those flamboyant anthers. =)

More wildflower puddles, north and uphill of the Carrizo Plain.

Back home

Band-tailed pigeons appeared under our bird feeder—that was a first!

They are SO much bigger than mourning doves (upper left corner).

Love their bright beaks & feet.

Ladybird beetle upon lilac. Ah, spring! =)

 The new climbing rose we just bought is making me swoon.

 I have a thing for anthers...

Wavyleaf soap plant (Chlorogalum pomeridianum) beading water beautifully. =)

Lovely variegated miner's lettuce (Claytonia spp.) on our property that caught my eye.

So stylish! =)

Last, a wild hyacinth (Dichelostemma capitatum) on our property.

What an elegant beauty.

I hope you all are having a marvelous spring (or fall).

It's a pretty amazing thing.

xoxoxobb

Snapshots of spring

 This hymenopteran (tiny bee? wasp?) was DOA, discovered while I was weeding.

It is SO TINY I had to carry it on a saucer

with a glass over it to keep it from blowing away. 

The irises are blooming, now. Not all of 'em, but this one is going at it. =)

See the TEENY tiny thrip?

An extremely small insect

living in an impossibly beautiful place.

Western fence lizard watching me photograph irises.

I'm not sure that's an approving gaze... 

The "beard" in bearded irises reminds me SO strongly of nudibranchs.

I'm JUST in love with irises. And the ones I have smell amazing, too. That's a requirement. =)

A local native, golden brodiaea. Beautiful buttery yellow faces beaming up at you.

Even with the drought, they're making a good showing.

They're just shorter than usual, if I remember correctly.

Yay, natives! 

An extremely tiny spider (crab spider) atop a pale owl's clover flower.

For a sense of how tiny thrips are, look at the pale part of the bloom,

center left edge. 

Zooming WAY in, there's a few thrips.

Can you find this tiny section in the previous photo?

One last moody gaze from a still-unfurling iris, this year's very first.

A great thing about irises, since I am clearly deeply in love with them,

is that they love OUR climate.

They don't need summer water.

They just sit there, high and dry, through the drought,

waiting for the rainy season to return.

Lovely, since my standards for the drought tolerance

of plants I'll allow in our garden is rising every year.

I hope your spring (or fall) is progressing beautifully.

xoxobb

Stunning stilt striding, and other natural delights--it's been a good week

With weather like this, and longer days, I've been outside more.

Which means more photo phun.

Black-necked stilt at the Merced National Wildlife Refuge. 

Western kingbird, same place. Always beautiful. That stunning yellow underbelly knocks me out. 

 White-faced ibis (Merced NWR).

Not always the most helpful name, but what a ridiculously regal bird.

 Husband spotted this creature & knew I'd want to see it.

Holy. Wow.

I love that face.

Learned from Twitter friends (@ta_wheeler) and bugguide.net

that though it looks like a crane fly, it's not a fly at all

(flies have 2 wings, this creature has 4).

It's a hanging fly (Bittacus chlorostigma),

and the only representative of its genus among the Pacific states.

I am so glad I got to meet it.

Last, but not least, the first confirmed painted lady I've seen here this year.

I took this photo because twitter-folks (@ErikRunquist @eButterfly_org)

are interested in tracking their migration.

And I'm so very glad I was therefore motivated to encounter this charming animal.

I hope spring is springing forth merrily (northern hemisphere),

or fall is falling elegantly (southern hemisphere),

wherever you are.

=)

xoxobb

Flinging photos: Sierra Nevada lower-montane life in early March

 This appeared at our window last night & I almost had a heart attack:

It's a ceanothus silkmoth (ID thanks to @CrawliesWithCri), 3.5-5 inch wingspan. AMAZING.

Just look at that gorgeous abdomen! So stylish, jeepers.

After taking some photos w/my confused camera (why shooting at night??)

I went back inside & turned off our lights so it would stop being confused by us,

and continue on toward finding a mate, or whatever it would normally do. =)

So, walking in the dark house, smiling quietly,

my husband said, "Welcome to Samantha National Park."

I'm glad he understands. =)

Baby Blue Eyes and Friends

Photographed first baby blue eyes (Nemophila menziesii) on our property this year, March 3rd.

When I uploaded the photo, saw I captured one of

the so tiny (presumed) globular springtails in focus. So cute!

If you scroll back up to the flower photo, can you find the tiny bug?

For amazing shots of all kinds of these cuties,

much clearer, and much closer up,

check out Ed Phillip's photos on Flickr.

Truly, his work is superb,

and there's such diverse colors & patterns in these species.

He finds them in leaf piles on the ground. So, so cool.

Love and Death

Just this morning, saw evidence of a spidery romance on our window...

I think it's a female up top, and a male down below.

"So, Bob. How'd the date go last night?"

(no response)

"Bob?"

Presumed female looks as innocent as possible...

batting her perty eyelashes.

Dating in the spider world is risky business.

Other Visitors

Teddybears of the insect world, a bee fly appeared recently.

Super hard species to get good photos of--they're very speedy and restless. 

For much better photos:

The subfamily Bombyliinae has lots of the fuzzy types.

Check out this shot--WOW. SO CUTE!

We flung out some birdseed & got lovely visitors, including this spotted towhee (Pipilo maculatus).

The redberry (Rhamnus ilicifolia) is blooming--it's an extremely subtle event.

At least to us. Lots of tiny bugs are floating around it, so for them it's shouting.

Those teensy green blooms are barely discernible to my eyes.

Squinting hard I can pick out the white stigma to know which are open.

Miner's lettuce (Claytonia spp.) is also blooming happily.

 Another fan of the birdseed: a brave western gray squirrel.

 And last, early for Easter, a black-tailed jackrabbit (Lepus californicus) plays peek-a-boo.

Happy spring!

xoxobb