Category: Butterflies

Mesa Peak Motorway

Photo of a Hedgerow Hairstreak butterfly. A light brown butterfly with subtle greenish blue coloring at inner wing margins and on body.
Hedgerow Hairstreak
Photo of a Cephalosmia, a subgenus of a the genus Osmia (Mason Bees)
Cephalosmia
Photo of a Ligated Furrow Bee
Ligated Furrow Bee
Photo of a Cephalosmia, an entirely black bee in the Osmia genus
Cephalosmia
Photo of the shrub Wooly Blue Curls. Felted green leaves and blue, long-necked flowers with long stamens protruding from each flower.
Wooly Blue Curls
A hummingbird that is primarily gray (in the photo) but around the neck a ruby red collar of feathers is visible.
Anna’s Hummingbird
A butterfly with a small "tails" at the outer margin of the A tawny brown color of the lower wings and a faded orange in the upper wings. Rows of white ribbon patterns at the outer margin of ventral wings and black dashes, dots on the same. Body is a light blue to white.
Tailed Copper
Photo of a Cephalosmia, an entirely black bee in the Osmia genus
Cephalosmia
A native California shrub with long, red tubular flowers and long stamens.
Heartleaf Keckiella
A medium-sized yellow flower that is composite in form with a center disc of florets and outer ray petals extending outward from the disc.
Slender Sunflower
An orange butterfly with white and black markings
American Lady
A black bee with grey eyes hairs bordering the thorax and a striped white/black abdomen
Pending ID
A black bumble bee with yellow hairs on its face and the front part of the thorax. The bee also has a stripe of yellow hair at its fifth abdominal segment
Yellow-faced Bumble Bee
A black bee with horizontal, wide white stripes across its abdomen. Eyes are black. Hairs on the sides of the abdomen and back legs are yellow due to pollen collection.
Wide-striped Sweat Bee
A large Wooly Blue Curls shrub. About five feet hight by five feet wide.
Wooly Blue Curls

Now that the rocket’s red glare is done, is our flag still there? Today’s journey in search of life included a long hike, my favorite playlist and lots of time searching for and focusing on the small ones. In the wilderness I feel free of the monsters. I turned off the music and waded among… Continue reading Mesa Peak Motorway

Small Habitat in Suburbia

The Marine Blue Leptotes marina, the Marine Blue, is a petite, gossamer-winged butterfly whose territory includes southern California. As with many butterfly species, L. marina’s random and unpredictable flight trajectory is an example of an evolved strategy intended to confound predators. A butterfly will encounter many mortal challenges during its lifespan. Most do not make… Continue reading Small Habitat in Suburbia

Tower 45 Terroir: Holocene Days

On Monday mountain bike rides up Albertson Fire Road, she sometimes stops at a high point along the way where the utility tower, so-called Tower 45, holds court on the flattened top of a ridge. Here she can take in a 360 degree view of the valleys below and of the mountains near and distant.… Continue reading Tower 45 Terroir: Holocene Days