nancyasquith's Favorites

This bobcat was about 20 ft. in front of me on the trail. When it saw me, it climbed the fence into a horse enclosure (the horses couldn't care less). Two little birds were watching it fearlessly as it climbed the fence. I think the bobcat might've been after some turkeys who were making a fuss. It sauntered through the horse enclosure, not in a hurry at all. Then it climbed another fence and disappeared into the tall grass. So cool to see a bobcat this close!

Note: unfortunately, some of these pictures were taken through tall grass/weeds, so they didn't turn out as well as the ones with the vivid blue sky as background.

One of the weirdest mushrooms I've seen...stem is very woody, cap and under cap like a skin, inside is complete rust-color spores that erode easily. Persists a long time. Growing near ivy and Peruvian pepper tree.

On Engelmann oak in Santa Barbara botanic garden. Unlike a blister gall, there is a well defined, somewhat lumpy, mostly flat abaxial organism associated with each adaxial pimple. But unlike the plate gall that white oaks host, these don't seem detachable, plus with Andricus pattersonae there's no adaxial deformation (as there is here in this observation), just downstream damage. And this is well out of range. Last photo is probably of something completely different using the same space, but who knows?!

If I'm understanding what I'm seeing, the first photo is of an oak (Quercus kelloggii) stem, ruptured as wasp larvae
develop.

The second photo is of an individual wasp larval chamber. (These are still attached to the stem in the first photo).

Such amazing galls!

A male Pacific Spiketail preys on yellowjackets and is in turn attacked by female yellowjackets, which causes some annoyance but does not change the outcome.

I have found males of this species in chaparral, far from water; in our area it seems to prey exclusively on yellowjackets.