bernardino dotted blue ~ 06/09/11 ~ Pinnacles

bernardino dotted blue
Euphilotes bernardino
for more information click here and here

This little butterfly was mud-puddling with several others of its kind in a small area where water was seeping from the ground. As I was attempting to get pictures for a clear ID, I wiped my hand across my forehead to collect sweat and reached down for the butterfly to walk onto it. It stayed there for about 10 minutes with its proboscis probing around my finger as I clumsily tried to take pictures with my other hand. The result was a crappy photo of the butterfly and a lovely shot of a rock that looks like Jabba the Hutt.

California ground squirrel
Otospermophilus beecheyi

Aka Jabba the Hutt, aka Fatty. I thought this individual was disgustingly fat back in August. Little did I know then that it would obtain even wider proportions. It still stares at us through the office window for hours on end, every day, rain or shine. It's disturbing! I'm surprised the hawks haven't picked it up, yet. Surely, it can't move that fast - I can only assume since I haven't actually witnessed it move besides turning on occasion to look at the ocean. For a nice video description of more active CA ground squirrels, check out this Nature Bytes video.