on my hike (arroyo verde)
Tag: hiking
by sisar creek
This month, I’m focusing on hiking more of the local trails. Bodie and I explored Sisar Canyon, and wow, it’s beautiful! We rested at the second creek crossing before heading back to the car, but I definitely want to return and hike further up the trail.
swatching the view
chimney vs. sycamore tree
vaqueros
I thought Bodie would bark when these four horses passed us on the trail, but she was chill. Such a good girl.
wood rat den
Wildwood is lovely, but sometimes the creek is pretty smelly. Scenic, but odiferous. I wonder if the woodrats are bothered by that.
Feron kingi
Feron kingi, commonly known as the red cone gall wasp, is a member of the Cynipidae family.
The adult female lays her eggs within the leaves of several white oak species, including the valley oak (Quercus lobata). Once the egg hatches, the larva begins feeding on the leaf tissue, triggering the plant to form a hard, protective structure—a small red cone about 5 mm tall. This gall benefits the insect, providing it with additional plant tissue to consume. Inside the gall, the larva pupates and eventually matures into a parthenogenetic female adult before emerging from the tip of the cone. That’s right — there are no male gall wasps.
Calochortus plummerae
We found a late-blooming Plummer’s mariposa in a rocky part of Serrano Canyon, as well as running water! We’d crossed the dry creek bed several times on the way up there, so it was a real surprise to see Serrano Creek blurbling along at this point. It seemed a good place to stop for a while, then head back.
Murgantia histrionica
I had seen adult harlequin bugs* before, but never the nymph stage. Both life stages are a major pest of cabbage and related brassica crops, feeding on the stems and leaves with their piercing-sucking mouthparts. That didn’t seem to be happening on the bladderpods today, as far as I could see. But who knows that those sneaky little mouth-straws are doing!
*This is different from the insect known in Australia as a harlequin bug, Dindymus versicolor.
Epipactis gigantea
My docent buddies Rick and Tom showed me a secret (off-trail) trove of stream orchids in the mountains. The hike included bushwhacking through poison oak, and getting wet in the creek. Some blood was shed (by the guys, not me). But we were rewarded with the best stand of Epipactic gigantea I’ve ever seen. Thanks Rick and Tom, it was awesome.
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