Ultraviolet light, flowers and pollinators
What a fascinating article and equally fantastic photos by Craig Burrows, of flowers and how they appear to pollinators. The pollen of...
Busy Bath Time
The hermit thrush, who is looking at me in the photo above, was happily bathing and soaking in the bird bath. A golden-crowned sparrow...
Dramatic Autumn Sunset
What dramatic sunsets we've been experiencing these past few days! And they aren't due to smoke particles in the air, because there...
Ah, bees
It's so good to still see many pollinators around, including bees and butterflies. Here is a Yellow-Face bumble bee Bombus vosnesenskii...
Nuttall Woodpecker female in the Redwood Tree
Yesterday morning while I was clearing English ivy from our fence I heard a gently tapping. This happened when I was putting the cut...
Northern Mockingbird and the Black Jack Fig
We have a Black Jack Fig tree growing in a large container on our patio, next to the Meyer lemon tree. This variety of fig tree is a...
Native buckwheat still blooming and lovely
The native buckwheat plants are simply the best to grow in our hardpan California clay soil. The very lovely red buckwheat Eriogonum...
Birds in the Bath
The birdbath certainly is THE place to be, both for drinking and bathing. Although the bath isn't very large, the Western Scrub jays...
Mamma Monarchs
Several monarch butterflies visit the garden every day, all day, as long as there is daylight. They flutter by, making stops on lavender,...
Yellow-faced Bumble Bee and the California Poppy
On a windy afternoon, a Yellow-faced bumble bee Bombus vosnesenskii, was determined to collect pollen from a California poppy. As the...
