wordless Wednesday

wordless Wednesday

wordless Wednesday

unidentified Satyrium hairstreak ~ 06/22/14 ~ Chews Ridge

unidentified male Satyrium hairstreak

posted 10/11/14 - This ID has had me stumped ever since June.  Both photo series are of the same individual as I turned around to capture different lighting angles.  It would have been great to get a photo of the topside (dorsal) wing color and abdomen to help ID, but that didn't happen.  As I was asking Chris his thoughts as to what it was, he forgot it was simply sitting on my finger and it promptly flew away into the sun when he made a sudden movement.  That's the handicap I've given myself this year by not collecting specimens.  Honestly, I didn't want to deal with lugging around a net and killing jar, pinning and spreading, and not to mention permit paperwork.  I think scrutinizing photos has been a good learning tool for me, but as evidenced here, it's not perfect.

I sent one of the lighter-colored pics around to my trusted butterfly posse (I hope they don't mind me calling them that), and I received a surprising variety of answers.  Their suggestions for ID are as follows (links open in new windows for photo comparisons):

gold-hunter's hairstreak (Satyrium auretorum) - BOA, BugGuide, Flickr

mountain mahogany hairstreak (Satyrium tetra) - BOA, BugGuide, Flickr

hedgerow hairstreak, aka sepia hairstreak (Satyrium saepium) - BOA, BugGuide, Flickr

I also trust Butterflies of America (BOA) more than self-reported ID sites like BugGuide and Flickr, which both have a few ID errors.  Even UC Irvine's Butterflies of Orange County has what I believe is a gold-hunter's in the middle of hedgerows.  These look-alike spp. are not well-illustrated in my field guides, so we're not alone in our uncertainty.  Can you ID?

ps - After initially insisting it was a mt. mahogany because of how dark it was, I'm now leaning towards a hedgerow hairstreak, mainly because of the tailend patterning.  There's a notable lack of any orange near the tails, which even if worn would have been an indication for gold-hunter's.  Besides, the tails are too long to be a male gold-hunter's, I think.  Oh, how do I know it's a male?  The relief of the teardrop-shaped scent gland (stigma) can be seen in the middle of the hindwing in the shadowier photos.

unidentified white slime mold ~ 03/03/14 ~ Purisima Creek

plasmodium of an unidentified white slime mold

Myxomycetes

Cool, eh?  Can you ID?  Much like Hermione in Goblet of Fire, I feel like the library, er, internet, has finally failed me.  Just as well, considering I never even knew moving (yes, moving!!!) amoeba-like slime molds (mold being a misnomer) existed until I posted a yellow-colored many-headed slime (Physarum polycephalum) over 3 years ago.  I haven't been able to tack down an ID on this small white beauty.  Oh, I found plenty of other slime molds, which all seem to be peculiarly named like tapioca slime (Brefeldia maxima), chocolate tube slime (Stemonitis splendens), pretzel slime (Hemitrichia serpula), and dog vomit slime (Fuligo septica).  Lovely.  It doesn't help with ID that slimes change quite a bit as they age, as Stevie Smith captured so well over the course of 60 hours.  I found his pictures through this Flickr Hive Mind that has some beautiful pictures (Is "hive mind" supposed to be like a shared BBC's Sherlock "mind palace"?).  Interesting to note, this slime completely avoided the redwood cones, and yet it seemed to like the needles.  Do the cones taste bad?  Or had they only recently fallen?  I wished I had remembered to go back and check how this one progressed after a couple hours.  How quickly do slime molds move in real time?

Annaphila depicta ~ 02/25/14 ~ Pinnacles

Annaphila day-flying moth nectaring on California milkmaids
Annaphila depicta nectaring on Cardamine californica
Brassicaceae

This is the same sp. moth I photographed on March 4, 2011, but these new macro shots are much clearer.  Three years ago, I had alerted Paul Johnson, Wildlife Biologist for Pinnacles, that it was on the wing.  A couple days later he was able to net a specimen for the Park's collections.  It was a new sp. for him, and he has since confirmed its ID.  Now, he's asked my permission to store my top photo in their wildlife observation files for interpretive/educational use.  Cool.  Not bad for my 10-year-old point-and-shoot.  Paul says his DSLR makes too much noise (slap of a mirror?), which scares off this beautiful moth in a blur.  Fancy-schmancy doesn't always get the goods.  Hehe.

There's also a fabulous fly in the second photo, but I'm ID'd out.  Can you ID?

ps 03/13/14 - I noticed the first set of Hodges 9866 photos in the Moth Photographer's Group by John Davis are misidentified.  I think BugGuide got it right, and they're A. macfarlandi and should be moved to Hodges 9867.  I don't know what happened to MPG, but they don't seem to be curating their collection as well as they used to.  It happens.

unknown willow ~ 12/05/13 ~ Rec Trail

 

willow 

Salix sp.

Salicaceae

This handsome willow has me stumped on what it could be. Of course, most willows stump me. Calflora lists 11 species of willows reported in the general area. I haven't found a visual match for the young, glabrous (hairless) red stems and wide leaves, and Jepson eFlora descriptions don't help me. I'm sure it's quite obvious as to what it is, but I simply don't know it. Can you ID?

ps 12/07/13 - I took another look at this willow area during my walk yesterday.  There's a much older willow tree with a white trunk nearby, and it has the same leaves.  So, I looked at the possibilities again, thanks to John Wall's suggestion.  If I were to make a guess, this could be the arroyo willow (Salix lasiolepis).  There's either an incredible amount of variation in the arroyo willow, or there are lots of people out there, just as confused as I am, who are posting pictures of mislabeled willows on the internet.  I think I'll pester Vern Yadon.  He'll know for sure.

pss 12/10/13 - Vern and I have been in contact.  He doesn't want me to quote him until he's sure.  He wants to take a look at the plants in person and maybe wait until the catkins come out.  To be continued...

moths ~ 09/28/13 ~ Rocky Creek

 

Here are all the moths from night 2 of white sheet lighting.  Again, I'll add the moth IDs at a later time.  I welcome anyone who wants to help me ID these coastal moths in the comments.

I'm surprised at how sentimental I became while sorting through these moth photos.  The feeling reminds me of "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost.  My only published papers were 6 checklists of moths with Sonja Teraguchi.  I googled to see if it's out there on the internet, since the pubication predates Y2K.  Hey, it's on eBay.  Cool.  I think?  It's also referenced in a paper by Roy Rings in The Great Lakes Entomologist.  Very cool.

moths ~ 09/27/13 ~ Rocky Creek

 

I'll add the moth IDs at a later time.  Thanks to Pete at Essig, I borrowed Moths of Western North America by Jerry Powell and Paul Opler.  It's a spendy tome at $100 a pop, so I wanted to take a good look before I purchased.  I haven't had the patience to sit down with the hefty book, yet.  If anyone would like to help get the ID ball rolling, please comment.

oak ~ 03/11/12 ~ Pogonip

unidentified oak
Quercus sp.
Fagaceae

I need help (heh, probably in more ways than one) for this ID. Unfortunately, since this is a city park in Santa Cruz and it's beyond the range of my usual double-check option of our local CNPS Montery Chapter plant lists, I resorted to Calflora's What Grows Here. There are three species recorded for this area: coast live oak (Quercus agrifolia), Santa Cruz island oak/Shreve oak (Quercus parvula), and interior live oak (Quercus wislizeni). We have a coast live oak tree at the end of our driveway, and I feel I'm now very familiar with this tree; it has new fresh green spring growth but nothing like the pretty pink flower-like sprouts as shown above. If anyone can help ID this oak tree for me, I'd be very appreciative.

habitat ~ 03/03/12 ~ Monterey City

garden flax
Linum grandiflorum
Linaceae
(ID thanks to Neil of microecos and Oryctology)

This is going to be an unusual post for Nature ID. The numerous photos and unidentified garden flowers are not what I prefer for my blog. However, I want to show why I love living here in Pacific Grove, an easily walkable 2 miles to downtown Monterey along the Monterey Bay Rec Trail. I thoroughly enjoy the beautiful historical Secret Gardens in Monterey. It was gloriously warm weather this first weekend of March (70-80°F/22-27°C) from downtown Monterey, to Jacks Peak, to Del Monte Forest (posts forthcoming). If you can help me ID some of the blooms, I'd greatly appreciate it!

grape hyacinth
Muscari sp.
Asparagaceae
(Darn crappy photos from the point-and-shoot!)

hyacinth
Hyacinthus sp.
Asparagaceae

(Sadly, it took me until 03/09/12 farmers' market to recall that this is a white version of the dark blue/purple version that looks like a solid column of flowers. The Greek mythology of Hyacinthus and Apollo is tragic.)

Larkin House gardens

This is the epitome of what I consider a secret garden, like that book by Frances Eliza Hodgson Burnett. There seems to be blooms here of some sort all year-round.

Japanese andromeda
Pieris japonica
Ericaceae
(ID thanks to Hugh of Rock Paper Lizard)

Can you ID?

Technically these are not part of the State Park historical secret gardens, but they're part of Monterey City's Colton Hall historical landmark, which is just across the street from the Larkin House. The flowers in the garden are showy, but I don't know if they're native plantings or not.

Norfolk island pine
Araucaria heterophylla
Araucariaceae

euphorbia
Euphorbia martinii
Euphorbiaceae
(ID thanks to Megan of Far Out Flora)

Monterey Institute of International Studies
Our Green Thumb Project

I've somehow watched the progress of this abandoned lot that was filled with weeds several years ago to being turned into something very useful and valuable for the students. I love it. Andy particularly liked trying out their two swings in the back of the lot near the compost bins.

spring starflower
Ipheion uniflorumAmaryllidaceae
(ID thanks to Hugh of Rock Paper Lizard)

Casa Soberanes garden

am I doing the right thing with this blog?

best guess unknown goosefoot
best guess Chenopodium sp.
Amaranthaceae (formerly Chenopodiaceae)

posted 10/02/11 - I featured this plant 06/30/11 when it was just beginning to flower. While doing a search not too long ago for another plant, I found a similar looking plant to this one, and it was not an amaranth. Unfortunately, I failed to make a note of it and can't find it again. Can you ID?

I hope I'm reasonably clear when I am uncertain about an ID. I've added a new label * best guesses for those items which I'm really not sure of the ID. For some posts that I assume I already know, I don't do much research. For other posts, I spend way too much time searching and checking to make sure my ID is correct. It's a challenge to convey how much I do know and how much I'm making my best guess based on the information available to me. Now I always include embedded links to outside sources and better information in the IDs under the pictures.

Yes, my blog is titled Nature ID (and recently re-subtitled "from Monterey Bay and CA areas beyond" to better reflect the locations presented here). I've expressed concern the mere name may lead people to believe I know way more than I do. I seem to experience a constant IDentity crisis. I can't tell you how many e-mails I get from people wanting me to ID their pictures from places I have never been (please don't, btw). I do try to state clearly in my welcome! section in the sidebar that I am not an expert.

With that said, I believe I have a natural visual talent to distinguish shapes and details. I have refrained from talking too much about my education or work here, because I'm afraid readers will make assumptions and judgements about me and this hobby blog. However, for the record, I graduated summa cum laude from the Ohio State University with a Bachelor of Science in Entomology, only after also variously majoring and minoring in fine arts, dance, liberal arts, chemistry, and biology. Through fortune and misfortune, I was a professional entomologist and headed the Invertebrate Zoology Department (which included malacology) at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. I've had a handful of peer-reviewed research papers published, but I do not consider myself a scientist. I have also worked in the publishing industry as a science content editor at CTB/McGraw-Hill and as an intellectual property manager (rights, permissions, copyrights, and trademarks) for what became National Geographic School Publishing. What's that saying, "Jack of all trades, master of none, though often times better than master of one"? Once again I am wanting to do something different and meaningful in my life. Thanks to doing Nature ID, I'm considering going to graduate school to study salamanders. Still, I am not sure I would make a suitable graduate student or a respectable "real" scientist.

I prefer approaching nature without any preconceived notions and with a "what can I learn?" attitude. Since I don't attempt to ID until I get home and look at my pictures, I try to observe all that I can while out hiking. There are benefits and drawbacks to this practice. It's been fascinating to watch my own learning process. What may stump me one year is perfectly obvious the next year after I have looked up hundreds of other IDs. I do like details, and I try to be as accurate as possible. However, in nature and what we know about it, accuracy is often a relative term.

For over two years I've searched extensively online for local IDs of everything from plants to herps, and I feel I'm slightly more knowledgeable and thorough than some other blogs/sites which sometimes post completely inaccurate information. Considering it irks me how much misinformation is online, I sometimes try to gently correct them (e.g., John Game claims he will change his incorrect Wikipedia photo for Pipera yadonii, which has been reviewed on CalPhotos as likely P. elegans; and the most dangerous site is Plants of California, where they talk about how you can eat soap plant and then picture death camas as their example! Yet, I would not stake my life on the fidelity of the 850+ IDs I have made on Nature ID.

Sigh... the reason why I'm even bringing this topic up is due to the numerous correspondence I received this past week about my blog. Some were lovely e-mails that made me smile and grateful that I am an active blogger (you know who you are, and thank you!). I enjoy blogging and am proud of what I have created here on Nature ID.

I also received a permissions request from a journalist at Pour la Science to use photos of my CA horn snails (I've added a postscript to that post with more information). I was very excited. I've received permissions requests before but never from such a big publication. She found my pictures through an online image search and liked mine. However, when I made clear to her that I am not a professional malacologist, she seemed under deadline stress and declined use of my pictures since she didn't have the time to have my ID checked. Big bummer. I took it to heart.

This virtual experience makes me wonder once again if my blog is adding to the same online misinformation that I so detest, because I do make mistakes! Since I include both common names and scientific names in all my ID posts, my blog is often found through internet searches. For those not familiar with my blog format or translating from another language, it can be difficult to know what information can be trusted. I guess that's true with any site found online. I have considered stopping this blog and not having it available for public consumption. Nature ID really is my personal learning tool, and, at times, I don't think I'm adding much quality to the blogosphere. After all, I don't particularly like taking photos, and I struggle with writing. And, there are much better nature blogs out there, although very few local ones. For the time being, I will continue as I have... learning something new every day.

Here are relevant links:
The Skeptical Moth has a series of media mistakes titled "Genius of the Press".
Deep-Sea News has a field guide to distinguish between scientists and journalists.
Deep-Sea News has a recent blog post about the gap between scientists and journalists.
The Biology Refugia has an excellent discussion about mass media and science.
Culturing Science talks about young or inexperienced science bloggers (with great links).
Nature of a Man does a much better job explaining his IDs and providing references.

ps - As with any post that naval-gazes this much, I will likely continue to edit it for a few days.

pss 10/04/11 - I edited this post a couple times now and made an ID correction. I originally posted this as best guess Amaranthus sp. Thanks to Cindy's comment of the flower buds looking like an Atriplex sp. but with different leaves, I went on a wild goose chase... er, goosefoot hunt. The leaves look like spinach, and after this picture was taken the seeds are starting to look exactly like quinoa. I've corrected my best guess above to a possible Chenopodium sp. Also, I'd like to tell everyone that the journalist I mentioned above sent me a very nice e-mail about how she truly enjoys my blog and nature, and she was simply making a journalistic choice to not publish one of my pictures due to lack of time to check them. I appreciated hearing back from her again.

unknown pink amaranth ~ 06/30/11 ~ at home

best guess unknown goosefoot

best guess Chenopodium sp.
Amaranthaceae (formerly Chenopodiaceae)

I found a small, creeping volunteer sprout in my dead bougainvillea container. After I transferred it to its own container and propped it up, it quickly grew to about 18" tall with small pink flower clusters. I love how the new leaves also have a pink tinge. Does anyone know what this could be?

ps 07/11/12 - I believe Cindy is correct in that this is a type of amaranth. Considering it hitchhiked with another plant from who knows where (the bougainvillea was a gift), it could be any number of garden cultivars.

pss 10/04/11 - Thanks to a second post of this same plant 3 months later as it's setting seed, I have again revised my ID guess above from Amaranthus sp.

grunion greeting, 2011 #2

grunion greeting
full moon, 10:23-11:30, clear skies

No grunion. Surprise, surprise. Yet, we're still going out to the beach past our bedtime to check. Interesting to note, the beach has changed its horizontal shape from years past; it's much flatter now and the high tide easily reaches the rental building. I was sure the June full moon would bring those little "romantic" fish up to the beach. I even convinced a couple friends to join us. While she's never seen a grunion before, he's very familiar with grunion runs from being a beach kid in SoCal. So, this was a bit of a disappointment. We had a good time anyways, catching up, enjoying the beach by the light of the full moon, and finding all kinds of things... including the skull above. At first I thought it might be a sea otter skull. After checking online, I think it might be a house cat skull based on the postorbital bar and the teeth. I posted 2 additional pictures on Flickr, here and here. What do you think?

dwarf checkerbloom ~ 06/02/11 ~ Fort Ord

dwarf checkerbloom
Sidalcea malviflora ssp. malviflora
Malvaceae

I'm basing this ID mostly on the CNPS plant list for Fort Ord. Many of the Sidalcea found in CA look very similar to me, especially the fringed checkerbloom (S. diploscypha).

And, yes, there are several beetles on the blooms in the second picture, but I'm not in the beetle IDing frame of mind right now. Can you ID the beetles?

coastal tarweed ~ 08/04/10 ~ Fort Ord

coastal tarweed
Deinandra corymbosa ssp. corymbosa (formerly Hemizonia corymbosa)
Asteraceae

posted 08/14/11 - Sometimes these yellow asters drive me nuts trying to identify. There's a bee and a beetle on the flowers shown above. Maybe I'll swing back around and try to identify them at some point. Do you know what they are?