Yadon's piperia ~ 08/27/10 ~ Skyline Forest Drive

Yadon's rein orchid
Piperia yadonii
CNPS 8th Edition Inventory
Orchidaceae

Okay, okay, I've already said I've had enough of these orchid pics. It's our "thing" this summer to look for orchids, whereas last year we were really into grunion greeting. Just wanted to log and post pictorial proof of the end of the Yadon's blooms at the same time and location of the elegant piperia shown on this same date.

elegant piperia ~ 08/27/10 ~ Skyline Forest Drive

elegant rein orchid
Piperia elegans
Orchidaceae

We've been periodically following the bloom of this individual orchid since July 25 when we went on our Yadon's piperia hunt. This location is literally on the side of the road, which makes it easy to stop on the way home (unlike hour-long runs up 1000 ft. of elevation to see Michael's piperia). To follow a pictorial tour of this bloom progression click elegant piperia. I consulted with our orchid friend on Flickr. He was kind enough to explain about length of spurs and and upper petals curving towards dorsal sepals. But, it's Greek to me. We did agree that the timing of the bloom a whole month after Yadon's only a couple yards away makes it likely this is elegant or a hybrid.

CA ground squirrel ~ 08/24/10 ~ at home

California ground squirrel
Otospermophilus beecheyi

Sigh, I've had this post in my drafts for a couple days now, because I've been debating about its ID. I've seen squirrels both in the trees and running into holes in the ground around home. My previous squirrel posts were grossly misidentified - yep, I'm still searching and learning. I don't think this is the same individual, nor the same species as last year's staring squirrel post from home. The other possibility for ID is the California ground squirrel (Otospermophilus beecheyi). Interestingly enough, there's not much information online about local squirrels to the species level; most sites simply mention "squirrel" and leave it at that. I welcome any link suggestions from my blog readers.

I decided on the eastern fox squirrel (Sciurus niger) (and yes, it's introduced into western CA), because of its big size... of course, this individual could be feeding on all those peanuts my friendly scrub jays try to hide in the trees rather than eating them... or it could be pregnant? Like last year's, this one loves sunning on this rock and stares at us through the windows for hours, which unnerves me. Where's my fatty red-shouldered hawk when I want a "hit" done?

ps 09/24/10 - Hahaha! I'm now deciding the subject of the fuzzy pic above is a CA ground squirrel, not an eastern fox squirrel. Although, I do believe I've seen fox squirrels chasing each other in the Douglas-fir next to our balcony. For the past month I've been watching this particular squirrel and looking for identifying features such as the white eye ring characteristic of CA ground squirrels. I'm correcting the label below the pic, but I'm choosing to keep my original post unedited to show how I have difficulty identifying even the most common animals. We also have a new raptor in the vicinity. It's smaller than the red-shouldered hawk and its breast is mostly white with brown flecks. Don't know what it is, yet, and will keep trying to take its pic to post on Nature ID.

habitat ~ 08/21/10 ~ Fort Ord - BLM Creekside

Fort Ord - Creekside entrance

August 21, 2010

During this hike, it felt like I physically moved from spring, to summer, to fall at Fort Ord in one day.

The first photo above has a great egret (Ardea alba), which is more closely related to the great blue heron (Ardea herodias) than it is to the snowy egret (Egretta thula). I still get the common names mixed up, since there's also a white form of the great blue heron, called the great white heron. Mainly what I want to show in the first pic is how much water is left in one of the vernal pools this late in the year after the winter and spring rains. It's been so drippy wet foggy here on the coast the past month that I'm not surprised there's still standing water. We've been wondering at what point does the heavy fog officially become precipitation.

The second pic is classic CA summer grassland, dry and yellow almost as far as the eye can see. The heat and dryness are the main reasons why I don't hike out there much this time of year.

The last pic is of CA buckeyes loosing their leaves for the year. This is about as 'fall' as it gets around here. There's still "Spanish moss" on the oaks, a local term that is not the real Spanish moss. Really, what we have is not moss at all, but a lichen called Ramalina menziesii. Interestingly enough, within 10 feet of this picture, there was one lone lupine shoot making a bloom. I'm sorry to not have taken its photo to show.

ps 02/16/11 - For a great post on our local lichen, check out Curbstone Valley Farm. And, recently while we were watching a PBS show on snub-nosed monkeys, I found it interesting that they eat lichen. Their big lips and snowy habitat reminded me of cartoon depictions of the abominable snowman, aka yeti.