The Springing of Spring

Spring has arrived here on the North Coast of California. Yesterday’s weather was lovely; today’s will start at least a week long deluge of much needed rain.

While walking the dog, of course, I armed myself with the nifty fifty lens and a 12mm extension tube.

I noticed a small green bug on a short daisy [Bellis perennis, I assume, a nonnative known as 'Lawn daisy'] and walked over to it. The clever thing scuttled to the backside of the flower, then dropping off into the shelter of grass and leaves when I pursued further.

These little green bugs are often called green ladybugs, but are the Spotted Cucumber Beetle [Diabrotica undecimpunctata], a vegetarian beetle who falls in the family of Skeletonizing Leaf Beetles. If you can guess by the name, these bugs aren’t the favorite of those who grow certain types of crops due to the tendency to chew holes.

I found another down the road and caught him in a photograph:

Although I didn’t get the focus just right [I have an eye appointment coming up!], this one made me chuckle. It looks like there are three-fingered hands on each side holding onto the soon-to-be flowers, reluctant to let go just yet.

Of course, the Flowering Currant [Ribes sanguineum] has been in bloom for a couple weeks at least.

Candy Flower [Claytonia sibirica] arrived just recently.

The leaves of this plant look very delicate and somehow manage to stand out in the forest. They manage to grow not only on the forest floor, but also on trees, usually in a bank of moss.

In the dog park, there were no dogs, but it was evident that a hawk had a meal.

I did some work in the garden almost two weeks ago. I was pulling out what I assumed was a ‘weed’ in my wildflower bed. Today I noticed that the flowers had opened on the weeds, so I crouched down and shot them. Turns out, they are a Speedwell, or Birdeye, but not any of the native types. Just good ol’ nonnative Veronica persica.

So Spring is awaking the masses, both native and nonnative masses alike. While putting this together, I was listening to a ScienceFriday podcast discussing the phenological signs of Spring’s early arrival in most of the country. Something to ponder…

 

Subtle Changes in the Seasons

When we moved here to north of Northern California, also known as the North Coast, we were told that there aren’t seasons here, just rain during the winter and fog during the summer. The temperature only fluctuates by about 20 or 30 degrees, so that seasonal indicator isn’t of much help, either.

While there aren’t traditional seasons right here on the coast, you can go 20 or 30 miles inland and find them, complete with snow or scorching temperatures! But, if you keep your eyes peeled and pay attention to nature, you’ll notice that the seasons are in fact here, even if the temperature is the same every day.

For example, the flowers here on the North Coast go through a seasonal succession. They progress, just like other places with more ‘typical’ weather, from the Spring beauties to the final blooms of Fall.

Animals, too, follow the  subtle seasonal rhythms.  The Roosevelt Elk are starting to bugle and compete with each other, marking the start of the rut that most elk herd ritualistically participate in during the month of September.

Birds have come and gone, and others have arrived. Varied and Swainsons thrushes have migrated elsewhere, leaving the Redwood forests nearly silent, but others, like the Band-tailed Pigeon have come crashing into the cascara and alder thickets.  Swallows, both Cliff and Barn,  as well as Marbled Murrelets, hit their peak mid-summer while raising their young, and most have now completed the task and are enjoying their time “off”.

During the Spring, it was hard to find a spider anywhere, but now, especially early in the morning, you find them everywhere.  You know you are the first one to walk a trail when you walk through webs every 4 feet!

So even though we don’t get feet of snow and hot weather, Nature is still marching on and changing to the “invisible” seasons that are controlled by the Earth’s tilt and rotation around the Sun.  The breezes carry only the smell of the Pacific Ocean and its kelp, but Autumn and its sunshine are seeping in through the fog!

The Butterfly Family in My Backyard

Still working on the Berlin post! So much ground to cover…it’s difficult picking out the highlights! I could certainly write a short novel on our trip!

I had spotted the butterflies on the lantana and laying eggs on the maypop. Once the caterpillar grew, it was hard to miss it! I finally found the eggs and later what might be the first instar! Below are the family portraits.

Gulf Fritillary Savoring a Lantana

An Insatiable Caterpillar

 

 Visible at the top right of the photo, an empty egg [dull yellow], just below, a red egg [they are usually bright yellow], and at the fork in the vine near center of the photo, a tiny, probably first instar caterpillar!

Scenic Sunday

For more beautiful photography from around the world, visit Scenic Sunday!

A Blue and Gold Field

The Blue-Eyed Grass in this picture is related to Blue Flag [wild iris, which hopefully I'll get a picture of soon!] and not actually related to grass…Read more on Blue-Eyed Grass

I’ve kind of fallen off the photography horse these past couple weeks [most noticibly in the Sepia Scenes realm], but I’m getting back on because I *finally* got my camera back!  Actually, it’s a whole new camera…even a different model, so I took it for a spin today…it was a short spin since I didn’t want to blow into the harbor!

I took my D60 in to get cleaned, and they cleaned it too well, as did they with my telephoto lens, too. So I sent them back to be repaired and it took a couple weeks for the parts to come in, but the camera and lens were beyond being fixable, I guess. The store wanted to be nit-picky about my longer lens not being covered, but they agreed to replace it as well…now only if I could get my filters back that were on the lenses… :P

Charleston’s Sepia’d History Scenes

Visit Mary the Teach at Sepia Scenes and join in!

Going to start off with flowers and end with ghosts! Any idea what these flowers are?

Here’s a beautiful Charleston doorway. Seems charming and innocent, right? And of course, it looks lovely in sepia, but…

…but to me, it looks haunting!!!

There is a Lowcountry myth entailing ghostly entities called ‘hags’ or ‘boo hags’ that torment people, especially the elderly, by stealing their skin and breath at night.  When they ‘ride’ you, you wake up in the morning tired and worn out. To keep these beings at bay, they say to place a broom by your bed because the hags get caught up in counting the bristles so much so they forget to ride you.  They also are offended by birds and shy away from the color blue. They enter your house threw windows, doors, and cracks, so line any opening with the color blue, as the doorway is above.  Which color of blue to use? Haint blue!

• More Reading:

NPR: Why So Blue? Color Graces Many a Porch Ceiling

Wikipedia – Boo Hag

What’s so spooky about this street, you ask.  I’ll tell you: I had no idea. I walked down it just fine, but I might have had haint blue on…Found a lovely blossoming tree in the middle of this alley, took some photos, and walked out the other end where we were greeted by a horse head! As a carriage passed and the driver said: “This is the most haunted street in Charleston, 186 people died in this street”.  Well, he was a little more eloquent with it, but apparently, if you had an argument with your neighbor and had a gun, you’d come down here to count ten paces, turn and shoot…and hopefully live. 

I’m glad I didn’t know all this while in that alley!

Philadephia Alley was made a street in 1811 after the city of Philadephia donated funds to rebuild that area of fire-ravaged Charleston.

As we walked towards some churches, we started to chuckle about the tour. We were a little surprised to be caught in the indirect spotlight. I was wishing we were dressed in goth clothing [ha, as if we could pull off that look] and my companion, who shall go unnamed [like you can't guess], talked about violating rule #5 of Ghost Tour Guide Etiquette 101. Rule #5 pertains to locals and their unfunny remarks.

Hope you enjoyed that! Thanks for visiting!