First Echo Blue Butterfly Sighting
ever! I had never seen an Echo Blue butterfly before, but look who visited our garden yesterday afternoon and lingered for about half an...
Clouds and more clouds
It's been a very cloudy day, and very gray. Only at sunset, when the sun could be seen below the clouds, was it actually sunny. A few...
Lovely Painted Ladies
Painted ladies Vanessa cardui spend a lot of time in our native garden. This one is sipping nectar from Siskiyou Wooly Sunflowers...
House finches at the bird bath
Here is another one of those lucky shots of birds in action in the back yard. The female house finch, on the right, was drinking water...
Bird Action in the Backyard
Sometimes you can get lucky and capture and an interesting image just by chance. I was photographing the bird on the left, which I...
Monarch chrysalides after the rain
As you may remember from posts last month, fourteen monarch caterpillars grew big and plump after devouring leaves on our narrow milkweed...
After the rains
Plants look refreshed after the steady rains that lasted for a day and a half. The reflections in the raindrops caught in the plants are...
Backyard Observations
A tree fern's frond slowly unfurling its leaves Meanwhile, nearby, a monarch caterpillar decided to weave its silk pad to attach itself...
Anna's Hummingbird bathing in raindrops
We've had quite a lot of unseasonable rain for the past two days, and when the showers are light the Anna's hummingbirds don't seem to...
Blooming natives
For some reason many people think that California native plants are dull and without lovely blossoms. Here are several natives blooming...
