Favoritos de irashain

Found on beach by Dan Spach’s Wilderness Youth Project group. Turns out they were not the first to observe it, but at the time it seemed like it. So exciting for all the kids to experience first hand such a unique find!! WYP has said “we’re in the business of creating peak experiences.” This was certainly one of them!

I missed the local flock of feral Nanday Parakeets during the past weeks, but as the sun was setting, four gregarious Parakeets flew into the King Gillette area and made their presence known. They are so noisy!

With a web full of little flies. When I approached the Orbweaver, it made an energetic 180 degrees turn, and then swiftly jumped pack into its original position. It allowed me to walk around it, but eventually made a run for the tree it used as web anchor. It was a large spider, about an inch. AI suggested Spotted Orbweaver.

The beach itself, normally packed with Gulls and Terns, was empty but for a couple of Rock Pigeons and a single Western Gull. On the water, far out, were two more Gulls, who were joined by three Bottlenose Dolphins who must have found something to eat there.

Sea Lioness Nr. 6 was resting on the aft platform of one of the Hornblower excursion boats, and reacted to a dog on a neighboring dock who was intrigued by this fellow caniformia. After an extensive whiskers combing and neck and back scratching session, she pressed all four flippers close to her body for maximum warmth and raised her muzzle into the small ray of sunshine coming through between the docked boats, then rolled to her side to snooze in this position. But the peaceful moment didn't last for long. A mischievous young male jumped onto the platform and pushed her into the water, jumped in after her, then jumped back up to play with her from there.

This juvenile Hawk got itself into trouble when it ventured into territory dominated by 20 aggressive American Crows who chased it through the tree canopies. There was lots of caw-cawing and hissing, and the Hawk quickly escaped. The Hawk was petite, about the size of the Crows. Its size, heavy streaking and long tail make me think this could be a youngster Sharp-shinned Hawk. My first thought though was Cooper's.

I was on the beach when I spotted this Red-tailed Hawk flying two wide circles with its prey. The Hawk then perched in a bare tree top on the other side of PCH, looked around, then took off again and disappeared in the foliage of a lush Eucalyptus tree. As to its prey - I'm pretty certain it's an unfortunate Desert Cottontail, with its white tail and underside visible in a few of the pics.

Swimming in the shallow water of Haskell Creek. All had yellow eyes and big lips. The smaller fish were spotted, the slightly larger fish were noticeably more reddish. They were about finger size, 2-4 inches. AI suggests in third position Largemouth Bass.

The beach was packed today, many people were swimming and surfing. There were about 10 Dolphins in the water (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/15463844), along with Cormorants, Gulls and Pelicans. All the lifeguards were out, whistling and waving their boards because of the rip currents. And then there was this Harbor Seal, checking out the action...

A couple of days ago, I took pictures of Coastal Prickly Pear cacti, and as I looked at them on the computer discovered a bunch of these spiders. I went back to the cacti today. One of the spiders caught something that looks like a Gray Bird Grasshopper (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/10916535). Another spider caught something much smaller and had made a neat package. The third had nothing for breakfast...

I was following a group of Ash-throated Flycatchers and wondering whether they were the offspring of the breeding pair I observed a few weeks ago, when I suddenly saw this Bobcat staring at me from behind a shrub. And then, in the blink of an eye, it disappeared from my sight...

There once was a Western Whiptail Lizard making its home around my house. On early Monday mornings, trash days, I moved the blue bin very carefully to the curb because the lizard spent the nights under it. Sometimes it made its way into my garage. Yesterday it jumped out of an empty flower pot as I walked by. Each time I saw it I grabbed the camera hoping it would allow me to take a picture. No such luck. It was a very, very shy lizard. I was working away on the computer and heard unusual amounts of rustling in the dry leaves under the shrubs in front of my window. I jumped up and looked -- into the eyes of a Greater Roadrunner, holding the Western Whiptail Lizard in its beak. I was thinking, oh no, the poor Lizzie, but admittedly, also feeling a little excited, and happy for the Roadrunner to have found a meal. I'm sure you all know what I'm talking about, these mixed feelings and the heartbreak when nature isn't all cute kitten pix. The Roadrunner took its prey to the street and smashed it onto the asphalt, over and over again. This gave me a moment to find the camera and sneak outside and take a few hectic pictures... (Western Whiptail observation: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/14271438)

My luck: the Osprey was perching on a power pole at the bike path, long enough for me to stop and get the camera out of my backpack. Whatever it had spotted in the water made a quick escape and the Osprey turned back into the sky.