Day 19.203: Very dry in California ... Fields

After the extremely wet week we've had, we were surprised at just how desiccated the landscape was at California Fields Wildlife Area when Exile #2 and I visited this afternoon.

So dry

We saw quite a few monarchs on the Queen Anne's lace

There was quite a bit of common mullein - this was one of the more impressive flower stems

There were lots of Carolina grasshoppers flashing their dark banded wings as they flew and then almost disappearing when they landed

Even if I saw where they landed, they were hard to pick out

A little less dry once we were into the partial shade

This oak sapling had enormous leaves. Maybe black oak?

Morrow's honeysuckle

We heard more birds than we saw: indigo buntings most prominently. We did catch glimpses of eastern towhees and goldfinches and a sparrow (likely a song sparrow). Our best sightings were of cedar waxwings.

This one was having a good "hair" day 

Day 18.267: Weekend update (with insects)

No Sunday Column today: Exile #2 is in the UK visiting with family and - amazingly - Exile #3 and I are managing to eat and keep the place in working order without her (but we're very glad it's not for too long!)

Here are four more pictures from yesterday morning - the trail (with some of our group), a view over the river and a couple of interesting insects.

Saco Riverwalk

The Saco River

Autumn meadowhawk (dragonfly)

Familiar bluet (damselfly)

Day 18.248: Downeast nature (miscellany)

Birds dominated my nature photography (with honorable mention to mammals) but here are a few other natural things.

Northern pearly-eye

Quite beautiful in all their brownness

The most spectacular display of pitcher plants on the bog trail at West Quoddy Head

Many of them were in flower - the flowers tower over the rest of the plant...

...and have a remarkable structure

Fly agaric

Bluemink

Hickory tussock moth - it was suspended by an invisible thread at about head-height on the trail. I assume descending from its infant feeding grounds to find a place to transform. For a bit of fun, you can check out this video of a similar encounter from 15 years ago with a disco soundtrack)

American toad

There were so many of these wolf spiders in among the stones (there are two in this picture and maybe more hidden beneath the stones). We've seen them on other beaches too and just discovered they are called - appropriately enough - stone spiders.

Beard lichen

Wild sarsaparilla

Tawny grisette (what a lovely name - tawny little gray)

Blue-bead lily (very appropriate, the beads ranged from this dark blueberry color to bright blue)

Mourning cloak (I just discovered it's the same butterfly known as Camberwell beauty in the UK)

Viceroy (funny how easy it is to tell this isn't a monarch by the way it flies, but you could easily be fooled by a photo like this)

Dyer's polyphore

Day 18.209: What’s in a name?

This visitor our new deck door bug screen has the wonderful common name American carrion beetle:

But its Latin name is Necrophila americana which is much worse. 

Day 18.205: Kennebunk Plains insects

Here are some interesting insect sightings (try saying that three times fast) from our visit to Kennebunk Plains on Saturday. 

False bee killer (I'm not sure why they are called "false" as they actually do kill bees)

Eastern cicada-killer wasp - check out those front legs retracted (possibly in case something comes out of that hole?)

Carolina grasshopper - many of these were dry earth colored and nearly invisible when they landed...

...but some were a rich brown - almost an exact match for the odd dead leaf  that was also around

This small plant yielded this collection of aphids with some ants feeding on the honeydew...

...and this. The insect that made these trails has the wonderful and descriptive name:
aspen serpentine leafminer moth

Common wood nymph

Spongy oak apple gall wasp (I assume it's the oak apple gall that's spongy rather than the wasp)

Day 18.189: Parker River National Wildlife Refuge

With nice (not too hot) weather and an otherwise free day, Exile #2 and I decided to seize the day and head down to northern Massachusetts to revisit Parker River National Wildlife Refuge on Plum Island in the town of Newbury, MA.

We've been twice before. A family trip in the spring of 2019 and a return visit in 2023 with a major swallow encounter. This time, we spent longer there - exploring further down the island than in previous visits and walking some less-trodden trails.

I'll save bird sighting for a dedicated post. Here is some non-bird content:

The first part of our visit coincided with a major search operation after reports of a light aircraft apparently crashing in the marsh. In the end they decided that the observations must have been misinterpreted.

There were lots of warnings that it was greenhead fly season, but we were mostly unbothered by these biting insects. We did have some mosquito issues on one trail.

Roundleaf greenbrier. Round leaves and scary-looking thorns - well named and looking like something out of a storybook.

Bittersweet nightshade

Star-flowered lily-of-the-valley. Except with seed pods instead of star-flowers.

We walked a lot of trails we hadn't tried before - the pines trail and the Stage Island trail as well as a lot of short trails to blinds etc.

Scots pine on the dunes

This boardwalk led to a non-access beach view

Most of the beach is closed for plover nesting season

But the views were great

Tansies by the marsh

Hummingbird clearwing - a fairly small but spectacular looking moth. I only got a phone picture. 

Orange sulphur

Red-spotted admiral

Canadian tiger swallowtail

Small white. Its wings were bright white on the top, but when closed seemed to take on the color of whatever had landed on