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Link to Briza minor observation for comparison: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/161330450

Greater Quaking Grass (Briza maxima) A.k.a. Rattlesnake Grass due to “rattling” sound when you shake it when it's dry. Introduced/naturalized, common grass that is widespread in local grasslands. Large spikelets (12-22 mm) are arranged in drooping panicles.

Jepson eFlora https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=16135

Plants of Monterey County: an Illustrated Field Key, 2nd edition, Matthews and Mitchell, 2015, pp. 373, 375,

Flora of Fort Ord: Monterey County, California, David Styer, 2019, p. 232.

Monterey County Wildflowers: a Field Guide, Yeager and Mitchell, 2016, p. 444.

Five-finger Fern (Adiantum aleuticum) Native, delicate, moisture-loving fern that is found on shaded slopes and streamsides and has an affinity for serpentine soils. Fronds are arranged palmately, then pinnately divided into delicate pinnules, fringed on the lower margin. Despite the common name, there are often more than five “fingers.” Indigenous people used this fern medicinally and the smooth black stems have been used in Native American basketry.

Native American Ethnobotany: A database of plants used as drugs, foods, dyes, fibers, and more by native Peoples of North America. http://naeb.brit.org/ and http://naeb.brit.org/uses/search/?string=Adiantum+aleuticum

Jepson eFlora https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=11945

Monterey County Wildflowers: a Field Guide, Yeager and Mitchell, 2016, p. 423.

Monterey County Wildflowers https://montereywildflowers.com/ferns-polypody-brake/

What is Serpentine Soil? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serpentine_soil

I-Nat Project: Serpentine endemics and related plants

I-Nat Project: Serpentine Plants of the Western United States (jhorthos on I-Nat) and 60-page slideshow (with great photos) by James H. Thomas "Recognizing Serpentine Rocks and Plants"
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Ct7veutb0Gj-_nAQ8wRfhbKynVKXHtR5o4ouZC1q0gQ/edit#slide=id.p

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Fern structures have their own names:
A fern’s leaf is called a frond. It is divided into pinnae, which may be subdivided into pinnules. The underside of the pinnules contain sori, which in turn contain sporangia, which produce the spores. Sori may be covered by a membrane-like indusium. A false indusium is a covering formed by a reflexed margin of the pinna/ pinnule. Not all ferns have clearly defined sori.

https://basicbiology.net/plants/ferns-lycophytes/fronds

Monterey County Wildflowers, Trees & Ferns https://montereywildflowers.com/ferns-polypody-brake/

White pelican successfully finding and eating fish in the pond.

American White Pelican (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos) One of the largest North American birds, the American White Pelican is majestic in the air. The birds soar with incredible steadiness on broad, white-and-black wings. Their large heads and huge, heavy bills give them a prehistoric look. On the water they dip their pouched bills to scoop up fish, or tip-up like an oversized dabbling duck. Sometimes, groups of pelicans work together to herd fish into the shallows for easy feeding. Often soars in flocks, infrequently flapping during migration and when traveling between feeding sites.
Sound recordings below.

Audubon Guide to North American Birds https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/american-white-pelican

National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of Western North America, ed. Jon L. Dunn, 7th ed., 2017. pp. 256-257

Sharing wildlife sounds from around the world https://xeno-canto.org/explore?query=Pelecanus%20erythrorhynchos

E Bird https://ebird.org/explore and https://ebird.org/species/amwpel/

The Cornell Lab https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/ and https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/American_White_Pelican

Merlin Bird ID (great app available for Iphones) by The Cornell Lab (Bird ID help for 8,500+ species)

Found Feathers: https://www.fws.gov/lab/featheratlas/idtool.php

Monterey Birds, Don Roberson, 2nd ed. 2002, sponsored by Monterey Peninsula Audubon Society

As the Great blue heron landed, the Snowy egrets took off.

Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) Widespread in many habitats near water, it is the largest heron in North America. Juveniles have a dark cap and appear more blueish-brown. Adults have black shoulders. Breeding adults have rufous colored thighs. Habitat is marshes, swamps, shores, tidal flats. It forages in any kind of calm fresh waters, slow-moving rivers, and in shallow coastal bays. Roosts and nests in trees or shrubs near water. It is often seen standing silently along inland rivers or lakeshores, or flying high overhead with slow wingbeats, with head hunched back onto its shoulders. With a varied diet, it is able to spend the winter farther north than most herons, even in areas where most waters freeze.

E Bird https://ebird.org/explore and https://ebird.org/species/grbher3/

Audubon Guide to North American Birds https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/great-blue-heron

National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America, ed. Jon L. Dunn, 7th ed., 2017, pp. 258-259.

National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of Western North America, ed. Jon L. Dunn, 2008, pp. 90-91.

Monterey Birds, Don Roberson, 2nd ed. 2002, sponsored by Monterey Peninsula Audubon Society, p. 112.

Sharing wildlife sounds from around the world https://xeno-canto.org/explore?query=Ardea%20herodias

The Cornell Lab https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/ and https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Great_Blue_Heron

Merlin Bird ID (great app available for Iphones) by The Cornell Lab (Bird ID help for 8,500+ species)

Found Feathers: https://www.fws.gov/lab/featheratlas/idtool.php

Smoke Tree (Psorothamnus spinosus) A.k.a. Smokethorn, Smokethorn Dalea, and Corona de Cristo in Spanish. Native, perennial, thorny, glandular, desert legume tree that grows in Colorado Desert washes. Water and sand scouring is required for the seeds to germinate. Stems are gray-canescent and generally leafless. Flowers are indigo-blue. Peak bloom time: May-July.
Coachella Valley sits at the convergence of four vast ecological systems - the Colorado (or Sonoran) Desert, the Mojave Desert, and the coastal and peninsular mountain ranges.
https://www.blm.gov/visit/coachella-valley-preserve

Anza-Borrego Desert Wildflowers (and more) https://borregowildflowers.org/?type=search&searchtype=S&family=&name=Psorothamnus%20spinosus

Jepson eFlora https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=40166

Baja California Plant Field Guide, Jon P. Rebman, Norman C. Roberts, 3rd. ed, 2012, pp. 262.

California Desert Wildflowers, Philip A. Munz, 1975, p. 83.

Shrubs and Trees of the Southern California Deserts. Jim W. Dole and Betty B. Rose, Foot-loose Press, 1996, p. 75.

Plants of Southern California: Regional Floras http://tchester.org/plants/floras/#abdsp (a comprehensive website)

Native and Introduced Plants of Southern California by Tom Chester http://tchester.org/plants/index.html

Link to flowering Engelmann's Hedgehog Cactus nearby on 3-26-21: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/72137932

Engelmann's Hedgehog Cactus (Echinocereus engelmannii ssp. engelmannii) A.k.a. Calico Cactus, Strawberry Hedgehog Cactus. Native, perennial cactus that grows throughout the Sonoran and Mojave deserts, to over 7000 ft elevation in the San Bernadino Mountains. It grows in clump-forming or loose, open mounds, up to 3.3 ft across by 2 ft tall. Brilliant magenta flowers are large, showy, and short-funnel to bell-shaped. Flowers emerge directly from areoles, like most cacti. They are pollinated by leafcutter and other bees. Peak bloom time: May-June.

Cacti, Agaves, and Yuccas of California and Nevada. Text and photos by Stephen Ingram. Cachuma Press, 2008, pp. 78-79

Cacti of California, E. Yale Dawson, 1966, 3rd printing 1975, pp. 46-47

Anza-Borrego Desert Wildflowers https://borregowildflowers.org/?type=search&searchtype=S&family=&name=Echinocereus%20engelmannii%20engelmannii

Jepson eFlora https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=23751

Plants of Southern California: Regional Floras http://tchester.org/plants/floras/#abdsp (comprehensive website)

Native and Introduced Plants of Southern California by Tom Chester http://tchester.org/plants/index.html

12-14 Cedar Waxwings were roosting together in the tree canopy.

Cedar Waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum) Length is 18 cm (7 inches). It is a plump, smooth-plumaged bird with distinctive thin, high-pitched call. Adults have a sleek crest, black mask, pale yellow wash on the belly, and yellow-tipped tail. The bright yellow tail tip is distinctive. Juveniles are drabber than adults, with coarse streaking on the breast and a reduced mask. Widespread and fairly common in open woodlands, orchards, and shrubby areas throughout most of North America. Winter range is variable and somewhat dependent on fruit crops; sometimes ventures as far south as Panama. Often gathers in large flocks, especially around fruiting trees.

Audubon Guide to North American Birds https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/cedar-waxwing

National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of Western North America, ed. Jon L. Dunn, 7th ed., 2017, pp. 424-425.

Sharing wildlife sounds from around the world https://xeno-canto.org/explore?query=Bombycilla%20cedrorum

E Bird https://ebird.org/explore and https://ebird.org/species/cedwax

Found Feathers: https://www.fws.gov/lab/featheratlas/idtool.php

A small flock of western bluebirds were taking a bath in the puddle after a light morning rain in the desert.

Western Bluebird (Sialia mexicana) Length is 18cm (7 inches). Male’s tail, upper parts and throat are deep purple-blue. Breast sides and flanks are chestnut colored, and belly and undertail coverts are gray. Female is duller, brownish gray above, breast and flanks tinged with chestnut, throat is pale gray. Nests in holes in trees and also in nest boxes. Year round residents in local (Monterey County) inland oak woodlands. Several nesting boxes can be seen in Toro Park.
Diet is mostly insects and berries. Often forages by perching fairly low and flying down to ground to capture insects, sometimes hovering briefly before pouncing. May catch insects in mid-air, or may seek them among foliage. Perches or flutters among branches to take berries.

Audubon Guide to North American Birds https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/western-bluebird

National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of Western North America, ed. Jon L. Dunn, 7th ed., 2017, pp. 408-409.

National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of Western North America, ed. Jon L. Dunn, 2008, p. 310-311.

Sharing wildlife sounds from around the world https://xeno-canto.org/explore?query=%20Sialia%20mexicana

E Bird https://ebird.org/explore and https://ebird.org/species/wesblu/

Merlin Bird ID (great app available for Iphones) by The Cornell Lab (Bird ID help for 8,500+ species)

Monterey Birds, Don Roberson, 2nd ed. 2002, sponsored by Monterey Peninsula Audubon Society, p. 368.

Found Feathers: https://www.fws.gov/lab/featheratlas/idtool.php

Mockingbird enjoying morning bath in the fountain. The water is pure without chemicals. Many species of birds love it.

Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos) A large, native passerine, up to 10 inches (25 cm) long. White outer tail feathers and white wing patches flash in flight. This bird's famous song, with its varied repetitions and artful imitations, is heard all day during nesting season (and often all night as well). Sample song recordings below.
Feeding behavior: Captures insects mostly while walking and running on ground. Also watches from low perch and flies down to capture items on ground below. Perches in shrubs and trees to eat berries.

Audubon Guide to North American Birds https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/northern-mockingbird

National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of Western North America, ed. Jon L. Dunn, 2008, pp. 416-417.

Found Feathers: https://www.fws.gov/lab/featheratlas/idtool.php

Bird Songs and Sounds I.D. worldwide https://xeno-canto.org/explore?query=Mimus%20polyglottos

Bird's Foot Cliffbrake (Pellaea mucronata) Native fern, a.k.a. Bird’s-foot Fern. Fronds are 20–40 cm long and triangular-oblong in shape. Similar looking to Coffee fern but the oblong pinnules are narrower with rolled under margins and the pinnules are “mucronate,” having a small point at the tip. Coffee fern pinnules sometimes have margins rolled under and appear narrow like Bird’s-foot fern, but lack the pointed tip.

Jepson eFlora https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=36790

Plants of Monterey County: an Illustrated Field Key, 2nd edition, Matthews and Mitchell, 2015, pp. 8-9.

Monterey County Wildflowers: a Field Guide, Yeager and Mitchell, 2016, p. 426.

Monterey Wildflowers https://montereywildflowers.com/ferns-polypody-brake/

Anza-Borrego Desert Wildflowers https://borregowildflowers.org/?type=search&searchtype=S&family=&name=Pellaea%20mucronata%20mucronata

Orange-crowned Warbler (Leiothlypis celata) Length approx. 5 inches (13cm). Olive above, paler below. Darker olive-gray cap. Yellowish undertail coverts. Blurry streaks on breast. Pale eye ring. Orange feathers on its head are almost never visible. Slender bill for eating insects.
Diet is mostly insects. Forages by flitting from perch to perch, taking insects from foliage and flowers, often fairly low. Will hover to take prey from underside of leaves, or sally out from perch for flying insects. Pierces bases of flowers with its bill to take nectar. This species is among the most hardy. In winter, when most warblers are deep in the tropics, Orange-crowns are common in the southern states. They are usually seen singly, sometimes loosely associated with flocks of other birds. At all seasons they tend to stay fairly low, in bushes or small trees, flicking their tails frequently as they search among the foliage for insects.
Sample song recordings below.

Audubon Guide to North American Birds https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/orange-crowned-warbler

National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of Western North America, ed. Jon L. Dunn, 2008, p. 458.

Bird Songs and Sounds I.D. worldwide https://xeno-canto.org/explore?query=Leiothlypis%20celata

E Bird https://ebird.org/explore and https://ebird.org/species/orcwar/

Merlin Bird ID (great app available for Iphones) by The Cornell Lab (Bird ID help for 8,500+ species) https://merlin.allaboutbirds.org/

Found Feathers (Worldwide): https://www.fws.gov/lab/featheratlas/idtool.php

Female Costa’s Hummingbird foraging on Jungle Geranium flowers outside my tinted window where I am adding observations to I-Naturalist.

Costa's Hummingbird (Calypte costae) Male has purple head and long extended dark purple gorget that looks often looks black. Female has a pale postocular stripe that connects to side of neck. This distinguishes it from female Black-chinned Hummingbird (Archilochus alexandri) that looks very similar. "Black-chinned leave the (desert) area in September and return in April, while Costa's are present year round." D. Rankin. Costa's avoid the hot summer by migrating to coastal California and Baja California.
Conservation Status: Vulnerable in California. A desert adapted hummingbird. Common but numbers have declined where desert is cleared for development. In some places it has adapted to nesting in suburbs. Natural desert habitat: washes, stream sides, sage scrub, mostly in dry and open places having a good variety of plant life.
Diet is mostly nectar and insects. Takes nectar from flowers, and will feed on tiny insects as well. Looks for nectar on desert native plants such as agave, chuparosa, desert honeysuckle, and fairy-dusterill and also feed on sugar-water mixtures in hummingbird feeders. 4:1 (or even 3:1) is a good ratio of water to sugar. Change the solution at least weekly before it gets cloudy or moldly and Never add red dye!
The thin, high-pitched whistle of the male Costa's is often heard over desert washes in early spring. Sound recordings below.

National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of Western North America, ed. Jon L. Dunn, 7th ed., 2017, pp. 96-97.

Audubon Guide to North American Birds https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/costas-hummingbird

Bird Songs and Sounds I.D. worldwide https://xeno-canto.org/explore?query=Calypte%20costae

Found Feathers: https://www.fws.gov/lab/featheratlas/idtool.php

A.k.a. Mexican Bird of Paradise, and others. It's great to see this species thriving in a tropical dry forest. It is a commonly seen ornamental plant in the Coachella Valley (Colorado Desert) in California. Peak bloom time in the desert is June-Sept, when summer temperatures are often 100F-120F.

Peacock Flower (Caesalpinia pulcherrima) Introduced shrub that grows up to 3 m (10ft) tall. Stems have prickly spines. Leaves are bipinnate, 20–40 cm long, with 3-10 pairs of pinnae, each with 6- 10 pairs of leaflets 15–25 mm long and 10–15 mm broad. The flowers are borne in racemes up to 20 cm long, each flower with five yellow, orange, or red petals. The fruit is a flattened pod 6–12 cm long. Caesalpinia pulcherrima is the national flower of the Caribbean island of Barbados.

https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/569711-Caesalpinia-pulcherrima-flava

This Coast Live Oak tree has been almost completely defoliated by the California Oak Moths this year.
Link to moth (caterpillar) observation: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/138666759

Link to same oak tree observation one year ago when it was full of leaves and acorns: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/91810838

Coast Live Oak (Quercus agrifolia) Native, long-lived tree, up to 125 to 250 years. Quercus agrifolia is by far the most common Oak tree on the Monterey Peninsula. Leaves are dark evergreen, oval, cupped or spoon-shaped, and convex. Underside of leaf has small tufts of hair in the vein axils, called “hairy armpits.” Margins of mature leaves have sharp spines that are very noticeable when you sit in the leaf litter.

Oaks of California, B. Pavlik, P. Muick, S. Johnson, M. Popper, 1991, pp. 25-27

UC Berkeley Oaks website for Oak Tree Species I.D. and Ecology: https://oaks.cnr.berkeley.edu/oak-tree-species-id-ecology/

Plants of Monterey County: an Illustrated Field Key, 2nd edition, Matthews and Mitchell, 2015, pp. 180-181.

Flora of Fort Ord: Monterey County, California, David Styer, 2019, p. 128.

Monterey County Wildflowers https://montereywildflowers.com/tree-fagaceae-quercus/

Monterey County Herald article "Slowing Down Oak Moth Caterpillars" Sunday, October 9, 2022, pp. 1,3. Fred Watson and Bruce Delgado were interviewed by Luis Melecio-Zambrano for this front page story.

Coffee Fern (Pellaea andromedifolia) Native fern with a low spreading growth habit that grows in rocky or dry areas. Fronds are elongate to triangular. Pinnules are very small, round to oval, with margins that roll under. Oval shaped pinnules are pale green when young and darker blue-green when mature. Coffee Fern resembles Bird’s-foot Fern (Pellaea mucronata), but the pinnules of Coffee Fern lack the small, pointed bristle tip found on Bird’s-foot Fern.

Comparison photo (per Cedric Lee). Note the lack of bristle tipped leaf in P. andromedifolia on LEFT side: http://www.inaturalist.org/photos/2168173?size=medium

Fern structures have their own names: A fern’s leaf is called a frond. It is divided into pinnae, which may be subdivided into pinnules. The underside of the pinnules contain sori, which in turn contain sporangia, which produce the spores. Sori may be covered by a membrane-like indusium. A false indusium is a covering formed by a reflexed margin of the pinna / pinnule. Not all ferns have clearly defined sori.

Anza-Borrego Desert Wildflowers https://borregowildflowers.org/?type=search&searchtype=S&family=&name=Pellaea%20andromedifolia

Jepson eFlora https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=36775

Plants of Monterey County: an Illustrated Field Key, 2nd edition, Matthews and Mitchell, 2015, pp. 8-9.

Monterey County Wildflowers https://montereywildflowers.com/ferns-polypody-brake/

Monterey County Wildflowers: a Field Guide, Yeager and Mitchell, 2016, p. 425.

Flora of Fort Ord: Monterey County, California, David Styer, 2019, p. 7.

Oregon Flora https://oregonflora.org/taxa/index.php?taxon=7041