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?

habitat ~ 06/10/11 ~ Pinnacles National Monument - east

Pinnacles National Monument - east entrance
June 10, 2011

After the previous day's hot hike in the full sun, our hike to Bear Gulch Reservoir in the shade of rocks and trees was a welcomed change of pace. For all the times we've been to Pinnacles, this was the first time we've done this short loop. Unfortunately our timing never seems to coincide with when Bear Gulch Cave is open. As shown by the sign, the cave is often closed when the Townsend's big-eared bats are raising their young. Plus, this past March I know the Balconies Cave was closed due to high water, but I don't remember if Bear Gulch Cave was also closed.

While we prefer going to the west entrance in May for a day trip, this was our first time camping at Pinnacles. The last picture shows our campsite's "backyard" with a creek. It looks lovely, doesn't it? Come nightfall, marauding racoons used that creek to sneak into every campsite along the water. We could hear the series of shrieks and yells from the campers with only a minute or so between hits. We were sitting only feet away at the campfire when a couple very large raccoons hopped on our table and grabbed our just-opened bag of marshmallows. We got off easy. Our neighbors chased after a raccoon which disappeared with an entire knapsack. Overall, this Pinnacles trip was great and I'm looking forward to going back.

ps 12/15/11 - For pictures of this trail in mid-December, check out My Back 40 (Feet).

northern bluet ~ 06/10/11 ~ Pinnacles

northern bluet
Enallagma annexum (formerly E. cyathigerum)

So much for looking at wing position to distinguish bluets (Enallagma spp.) from dancers (Agria spp.). Supposedly bluets have wings held close to the body, whereas dancers hold their wings up and away from their abdomens. Here's the second time where my pictures show the exact opposite of this. I've used the advice given by Jim Johnson at Northwest Dragonflier and Odonata.Bogfoot.net from my previous vivid dancer post to look at the color of the last (i.e., 10th) abdominal segment, at least in western damselflies. If it's mostly black on top, it's a bluet, and if it's all blue, it's a dancer. Again, another one of those naming things that doesn't mesh with what I now know to look for.

There are 4 Enallagma spp. reportedly found at Pinnacles: E. annexum, E. civile (familiar bluet), E. carunculatum (tule bluet), and E. praevarum (arroyo bluet). I ruled out the tule and arroyo bluets, because their abdominal segments are mostly black. I then ruled out the familiar bluet, because it has smaller eyespots and a triangular "fin-shaped" appendage at the tip of the abdomen. Finally, there is the possibility this could be an almost identical boreal bluet (E. boreale), but the distinction is in the tiny cerci (compare b with e) and not anything I can tackle with my point-and-shoot. Now, as before, I could be totally wrong with this ID. Jim?

The second picture above is a cast exoskeleton (aka exuvia) from a damselfly naiad. I love how they hug the tule/bulrush, something I'm not going to try to ID. What would damselflies do if there wasn't any tule around to hug?

bluewitch ~ 06/10/11 ~ Pinnacles

bluewitch
Solanum umbelliferum

Solanaceae

Posted 07/16/11 - Popping out another post this evening and trying not to take myself too seriously. Sometimes my point-and-shoot simply refuses to cooperate or the subject moves, hence the crappy photos label. I always wondered what a bluewitch was. Now I know.