Diario de arelt3

I was up on the Mima Meadows just off of Empire Grade, UCSC campus, from about 1-3 pm. Sky was almost entirely cloudy at the start of my time there, but quickly became clear and sunny. The two flowers I observed and identified are both flowers of the pea or bean family (Fabaceae), to which I learnt its distinctive characteristics from Alex Jones, who I was with during this hike (wasn't actually a hike as we were surveying Ohlone Tiger Beetles for my internship) and actually helped me identify some other insects. The two pea flowers here bloom through spring and summer. Flowers of pea plants are characterised by a petal that points upward and two "wings" which covers the pistil and a keel, pointing outward perpendicular to the petal. Plus, Alex Jones identified the yellow and pink one with it's common name "Witches' teeth" which helped me find the scientific name on Google and identify it on iNat. Also the Lupine flower, although I'm not sure exactly which species this one is.

The Scyphophorus beetle I actually came across last week but this time 4 of them were scavenging on a soaproot bulb that was somehow uprooted. So that identification was quite straightforward. I identified the Chrysolina beetle with the help of iNat's AI image recognition.