I think it was either a female or immature Allen’s hummingbird sitting still among the bougainvillea flowers. It was a fat, sturdy little thing with mostly grey colouring.
Selasphorus sasin
Author: Hashi
corvid comparison
vaccinium corymbosum
This variety of blueberry is meant to grow in our climate, but ours just … don’t, really.
Erythrina fusca
The coral tree (Erythrina fusca) is the official city tree of Los Angeles, and is widely planted in frost-free areas. We have large one at our place, and while it needs annual pruning, we never cut back as far as this specimen. I feel sad for street trees that get pruned to within an inch of their lives.
Toxostoma redivivum
I don’t often see a California thrasher around here, so I’m always happy when I do. One has been hanging about the bird bath and bushes close to the house the past few days. Sweet!
condolence card
Thank you, Virginia Woolf, for giving me the words when I couldn’t find the right ones myself.
lithobiidae
I asked Trisha if we could examine a centipede some time, and even though they are not insects, she kindly collected one in her yard and put it under the microscope for us to sketch.
There are about 1000 species and subspecies in the family Lithobiidae, mainly distributed in the northern hemisphere. (The house centipede I posted last week is in a different family.)
Fun fact: centipedes have one pair of legs per body segment. Millipedes have two.
Punica granatum
shore finds
‘Twas a lovely afternoon at the rock pools.
Crotalus helleri
A Southern Pacific rattlesnake came calling, but we didn’t want what he was selling. So we popped him into a lidded bucket and took him for a short ride to a better location.
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