The prickly pear’s in fruit.
opuntia
Tag: nature
heteromeles arbutifolia
The toyon berries are putting on a good show right now. This is the shrub for which Hollywood is named, though it’s not a type of holly at all. Toyon (Heteromeles arbutifolia) is a prominent component of the coastal sage scrub plant community, and a part of drought-adapted chaparral and mixed oak woodland habitats. It is the sole species in the genus Heteromeles.
Butterflies, bees and hummingbirds love the summer flowers, and the autumn berries are devoured by a large variety of birds, including cedar waxwings, quail, towhees, Western bluebirds, robins, and mockingbirds.
Selasphorus sasin
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.
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.
wild food
These acorn cakes were good! Thanks to our instructor Rob Remedi, and to the Malibu Creek Docents for providing continuing education.
Bubo virginianus
We’ve been hearing owls at night lately. I think they’re Great Horned Owls (Bubo virginianus), but I haven’t seen one to confirm. (Sketched from a reference photo on birdpixel.com.)
pseudomethoca simillima
Justin Orvel Schmidt is an American entomologist, author of The Sting of the Wild, and creator of the Schmidt sting pain index. According to him, the sting of a velvet ant is a 3 out of 4, equivalent to having boiling oil poured all over your hand.
Just another fun fact shared by the irrepressible Trisha Nicols on Insectopia.
gynaikothrips uzeli
The closer you look, the more you see.
malibu lagoon
Different angle on a favourite view. Lots of people walked by as I was sketching, and many commented kindly. My favourite was a woman who said to her young son, “Look! An artist!” then to me, “He wants to be an artist when he grows up.”
“Well,” he corrected, “a kind of artist. I want to be a photographer. I have a real camera, not a phone. I can take pictures underwater!”
“Sounds like you’re already an artist,” I smiled.
hashiworks 