widening rings… – Page 12 – nature photography and blog of Harsi S. Parker

Be Here Now

I’ve been struggling to finish up the next installment of my retrospective on our trip to Washington last month. (Not struggling because it is unenjoyable, but because I can’t seem to decide which images to share… I’m terrible like that when it comes to making up my mind.) Meanwhile, ever since we returned home, the lure to be outside for large portions of the day grows stronger and stronger. Spring is in full swing and the sight of deer peeking out of tall grasses and the sounds of birds singing their best courtship arias are hard things to resist. (Not to mention the bevy of awesome insects that have arrived and promise a new discovery nearly every day!!) I promised myself that I wouldn’t share any of my recent pics until I’d finished with the tales of our trip — BUT WHO AM I KIDDING??? Some things just need to be shared… especially with friends. I hope you enjoy and be sure to click on the images for embiggened viewing!

The Coast Range Newts (Taricha torosa torosa) are one of my favorite annual phenomena. Though they live in the area year-round, they are only easily observable at the end of Winter and through Spring when they leave their moist terrestrial hide-outs to congregate in the seasonal creek and breed. As they are extremely toxic, the adults have very few known predators, but CaliforniaHerps.com states: “Southern California populations have suffered population declines due to habitat loss and alteration caused by human activity, and from introduced predatory mosquitofish, crayfish, and bullfrogs, which eat the non-poisonous larvae and eggs. Breeding ponds have been destroyed for development, and stream pools used for breeding have been destroyed by sedimentation caused by wildfires.”
This has been a banner year for them thus far and their numbers seem very healthy… which makes me very happy!
Storksbill (Erodium), also known as filaree or heron’s bill, is a non-native that grows rather prolifically here in the canyon.
Its small flowers aren’t very showy, but as with anything in nature, a closer look reveals all kinds of intricate beauty.
I never tire of looking at (and photographing) clouds. The sky on this day was doing some crazy things and I was fascinated by the organic shapes being created…
Does anyone else see a face on the right?

Yup! It’s gotten warm enough for the rattlesnakes to be out basking again. This curled-up juvenile Southern Pacific Rattlesnake (Crotalus oreganus helleri) was about the diameter of an English muffin when I spotted it behind my house last week.
A few days earlier, I saw a curled-up full-grown adult — closer to a medium-sized pizza in that case. *grin*

The Mule Deer (Odocoileus hemionus) population this year seems to have grown. I have no good way of knowing exactly how many might live in this canyon, but I do keep track of how many I’ve seen together at the same time. Last month, I trumped my high count (by several!) when I saw a group of nineteen foraging together.
I really, really, really, want to know what this deer is saying… any guesses? *big grin*
As I mentioned, this is definitely a fantastic time of year to be out if you enjoy studying arthropods! The native Convergent Ladybeetles (Hippodamia convergens) were some of the first insects to start gathering in the lush grasses and new vegetation. [Whoops! I initially mistyped that these were a non-native species.]
As you can see, they are well on their way to creating the next generation.
Earlier this week, I stood watching the sky long after the sun had set. At first it was all dark blues and purples, but then something shifted and I looked up and saw this…
Can the sky really be that color, I thought? Yes, yes it can…
OK, yes, I know this is a picture of a blurry bird… but, I have a fondness for such things and I especially like this one.
*** Super extra-credit bonus points to the first person who can tell me which bird species this is! ***
For those of you for whom Spring has arrived, may you have the time to appreciate all the wonders it has to offer. And for those who are still patiently awaiting an end to cold and wet weather, may the anticipation make its arrival all the sweeter.

Harsi / April 2, 2011 / amphibians, arthropods, birds, flowers, mammals, plants, reptiles, skies / 6 Comments

From Los Angeles to Seattle (Day 1)

I had thought I would be telling the tales of our trip to Vashon as they happened, with regular updates from the road. But (happily) I found that there was simply too much to see and experience for me to want to stop and sit in front of the computer for very long. I was also surprised by just how exhausted I was when we returned home last weekend. I guess my body (and my brain) needed a bit of time to process everything. When I finally sat down to start writing and sorting images, I realized there’s just no way that I could share all my photos (1000+!!) nor describe every detail, but hopefully this retrospective will give you a taste of where I’ve been…

As you may recall, we decided to travel via the Coast Starlight train. After my mother-in-law kindly dropped us off at Union Station, we boarded the train and were shown to our sleeper car. For those of you who’ve never traveled in this manner on the train, let me say that the seating is pretty comfortable in the daytime, but the fold-down seats and upper berth which become bunk beds are (understandably) not the most desirable of sleeping surfaces. But… we were not taking the train in order to get a good night’s sleep. We were eager to travel in a way that would allow us to see new places as we made our way up north — we were not disappointed! The first really interesting locale we passed through was the Santa Susana Pass State Historic Park. Apparently, a historically notable spot for having once been a stagecoach route, as well as being the site of a movie ranch.

My photos do not do these stone outcroppings justice… The back of one of the large movie set facades as we sped past… Am I the only one who sees a large dinosaur poking its head over the top of that hill? (*grin*)
As we continued past Simi Valley and traveled through Moorpark, Camarillo and Oxnard we saw a lot of agriculture and farm animals. These two fields were right next to each other and reminded me of a classic “Before & After” shot.

Around Ventura, the train moved towards the coast where it mostly paralleled the Pacific Coast Highway for a while. We passed through Santa Barbara and Goleta, then somewhere around Gaviota State Beach, PCH diverges inland but the train continues to hug the coast for quite some ways. Much of this area is encompassed by Vandenberg Air Force Base and I wonder (outside of this train route) how easy it would be for the average person to see this stretch of coastline? I had so many beautiful images (despite the difficulties of shooting from a moving train!) that I had trouble narrowing down which ones to share. As you can see, the textures and layered colors of the passing landscapes were a photographer’s delight!

Be sure to click on the images to see a larger view!
Finally, around Grover Beach, the train headed inland once again. The sun set on our first day of adventuring as we we headed north of San Luis Obispo. I never did manage to take any great photos of the sleeper car, but this last photo shows the parlour car where we spent a fair bit of time looking out the windows, eating, and talking to other folks on the train. The social aspect of traveling via train is one that some might not like, but we really enjoyed meeting and chatting with people from other places (a few of whom were quite knowledgeable about the areas we were passing through and were able to give us some insight into the locales we were whizzing through). I must also mention that the train staff was almost universally friendly and very accommodating. They made our trip as comfortable as possible and kept us smiling.

Coast Starlight parlour car

Harsi / March 19, 2011 / not nature, travel / 6 Comments

Unknown Fancies

With the wings of the birds, my spirit joyfully flies over unknown fancies everywhere.

Paramahansa Yogananda

I’m headed to Washington today! We’re spending a week on Vashon Island — hoping to find some cool wildlife, eat some good food and explore lots of new places. We’ll be traveling via the Coast Starlight train and I’m looking forward to being able to watch the landscape shift and change as we make our way northward. If all goes well, I’ll try and share a few pics and stories from my travels while I’m away…

Meanwhile, I was inspired on my last couple of walks through the canyon to capture some images of birds flying away from their perch. (I’m such a sucker for metaphor!) Be sure to click on the images to see a close-up of the bird on the wing!

Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus)

Cassin’s Kingbirds (Tyrannus vociferans)
*Look closely at the clickable larger image —
Just in front of the bird, you can actually see the insect it’s about to nab. How awesome is that?!*

American Kestrel (Falco sparverius)

Acorn Woodpecker (Melanerpes formicivorus)
*Notice the acorn in its bill — they cache them in all the telephone poles around our place… and in the trees… and in pretty much any other place that looks like it will fit an acorn nicely. 🙂*

Harsi / February 27, 2011 / birds, quotations / 8 Comments

Canyon Art Walk

On my regular evening walk yesterday, I came upon these two wonderful scenes…

Mule Deer self-portrait?
Maybe it’s just me, but I think these hoof tracks really look like a deer face (well, either that, or a rabbit). Actually, the “ears” are where the two toes made an imprint, but it looks a bit different than the normal deer tracks I see. I gather that is because the cloven hoof is capable of spreading apart when it’s muddy (and it has been muddy!) or when the deer is running, in order to gain more traction. The “eyes” are actually dewclaw marks, which often don’t leave an imprint at all because they are located higher on the deer’s leg. But, again, because it’s been muddy they are showing up very clearly. For those who’ve never had the opportunity to view a Mule Deer dewclaw — be sure to click on the image above to see a close-up photo.

Jackson Pollock in progress?
OK, some of you may be put off by this image. Sorry. I see the beauty in everything — even poop. This colorful spattering is the work of one (or possibly both) of the Great Horned Owl pair that reside near our home. The large Eucalyptus branch that arches overhead must be a favorite perching spot of theirs at night. It’s difficult to see in this photo, but there were actually several recently regurgitated pellets in the mix as well. Be sure to click on the image for a bonus photo of one of the potential artists! *grin*

Harsi / February 23, 2011 / birds, mammals, tracks / 6 Comments

Musing on Marah

When I first looked up at this tall, dark pine and saw the vivid green vine of Wild Cucumber (Marah macrocarpus) reaching and spiraling upwards, it seemed like something truly magical. A verdant staircase of sorts that I wished I could somehow climb. The above image was the result of a bit of tinkering in Photoshop, but I think it’s a fair representation of how my mind first interpreted this beautiful scene. I must have spent a good 20 or 30 minutes circling the tree and appreciating the colors, trying to capture the details I loved most. Here are a few of my favorites…

If you live in this area, be sure to keep an eye out for this beautiful native which is currently blooming everywhere right now! Look for the attractive vine and leaves shown here… with the added bonus of sweet little clusters of white blossoms, which I will undoubtedly feature in future posts. (For more information, check out this Calflora page. An excellent resource for all things growing within the state of California!)

Harsi / February 21, 2011 / artwork, plants / 2 Comments

Tales from February

The thing about southern California weather is that it’s… well… VARIABLE. “Unpredictable” would be another good word that comes to mind. Yesterday, here in the canyon, it was foggy, cold, windy and the heavy, dark gray clouds unleashed some much needed rain. But, today, the sun is shining, hardly a breeze is stirring, insects and birds are winging their way through blue skies filled with puffy white clouds.

One of my favorite occasional pastimes is to go back into my photo archives and see what was happening in my world on that same day in previous years. As I’ve been a bit busy lately and not able to find much time for wandering around with my camera, I thought I might share a few stories with you from a past February…

February 13, 2009: Dusting of snow on the foothills above our home.

Snow!!! OK, OK, I know many of you who live in cold-weather states are laughing at my excitement over this admittedly light dusting of the white stuff. But, these foothills just above our home are only about 2000 ft. in elevation and it rarely gets cold enough at that altitude for snow of any kind. In the seven years that I’ve lived here, I could count on one hand the days that I’ve seen snow in the hills. As I recall, there was deep fog and clouds blanketing the canyon for most of the day, obscuring much of anything from view. Near sunset (as is often the case), the light finally broke through the cloud layer and the fog rolled away revealing this beautiful backdrop. Needless to say, I immediately put on my shoes and set out for a nice long walk up the fire road behind our house. I took many photos and tried to absorb as much of this unique February afternoon as I could. As I headed home for the evening, the snow was already disappearing fast…

February 25, 2009: Juvenile Southern Pacific Rattlesnake (Crotalus oreganus helleri) *Be sure to click on the image to see a close-up of this beautiful snake!*

Snake!!! Yup. For those of you who thought that late February was not “rattlesnake weather” — think again! It was a mere two weeks after the aforementioned snowy day and the sun was shining brightly, but temps were still quite cool (a high of 60° according to the weather archives I looked at). In any event, I certainly was not thinking about the possibility of basking snakes. In fact, I wasn’t watching the ground at all as I walked down the small path that leads behind our cabin. But, via some sort of sixth sense, I suddenly felt compelled to look down. With one foot still hovering in mid-air, I froze in that position, trying to process the realization that there was a rattlesnake head directly below the impending trajectory of my shoe. The juvenile snake had been stretched across part of the pathway, its tail end obscured in the grass. (So, it was not quite as glaringly obvious as the position shown in the photo, which was taken several minutes after the initial ordeal.) I literally hopped backwards a few times — balancing on one foot! — and then slowly made my way around the still motionless snake, giving it a very wide berth.

Some of you might be thinking, “What?! It didn’t strike at you?” or “What?! Didn’t you hear it rattling first?” After many years now of regular encounters with rattlesnakes, I have formed two distinct impressions… First, they are shy and not easily stirred to aggression. I do not believe that one would strike unless they felt they had no other choice. (Frankly, in this case, I think the snake had every right to try and bite me, considering that my foot was on a collision course with its head — but for whatever reason, it didn’t. Too cold for such a quick response, maybe?) Second, despite their reputation for rattling, I have rarely heard them actually do this, even when approached very closely. There have only been two times that I’ve heard them rattle. Once, when one was being cornered and then lifted with a snake handling tool to be relocated, and then another time when I encountered one half-way out of an abandoned mammal hole. (Ground squirrel? skunk? gopher?) It quickly retreated into the hole and then continued to rattle at me for a really long time… I’m still uncertain as to why. My guess is that it was feeling especially vulnerable. (Perhaps it was mid-way through digesting a big meal? In the process of shedding its skin?) Whatever its reasons were, I was especially wary and careful around that area for several days following, as I had no desire to startle that particularly sensitive rattlesnake again.

Southern California is sometimes an overwhelmingly hot and uncomfortable place to live, and, yes, we do have annual high winds, many devastating wildfires and the occasional earthquake. But, there is simply no denying the truly marvelous moments that I have had living here… especially the unexpected ones such as these.

(If you would like to know more about the local species of rattlesnake, please check out this great page of photos, videos, sound clips and fascinating info from the brilliant website, California Herps. I cannot speak highly enough about this wonderful regional resource for learning more about amphibians and reptiles!)

Harsi / February 17, 2011 / hillsides, reptiles, weather / 6 Comments

A Love Poem

nature loves you

~ just as you are and how you is ~

nature makes space for you

when the world feels narrow and tight

nature embraces you

with strong and timeless arms

nature inspires the heart

your spirit unfurls like a leaf

nature loves you

~ just as you are and how you is ~

[Valentine’s Day hearts are compliments of the pretty little non-native, Henbit (Lamium amplexicaule). This photo is from a few years ago… I’m eagerly watching for them to bloom any day now!]

Harsi / February 14, 2011 / flowers, plants, poetry / 2 Comments

There Will Be Bugs*

For those of you who don’t know already, I’m pretty fascinated by arthropods. Several years ago, I only really knew how to identify butterflies and maybe a few spiders and beetles. But, I like to photographically document all the creatures that I come across and once I have photos of them… well, then I really want to know what to call them. And as per so many things in nature, once I learned a little bit, I just kept on wanting to learn more.

After I had exhausted the few field guides that I owned, one of the first online resources for arthropod identification that I found was BugGuide — and I fell in love! This astounding site offers several resources: 1) A clickable field guide that offers high-quality photos, information, and distribution data for an ever-growing number of species within the continental U.S. & Canada. 2) Several forums for posting arthropod-related questions. 3) An ID Request page where you can upload your own images and contributors will help you ascertain the correct identification. This site is 100 percent volunteer-driven and it is truly a melting pot of different people within the scientific community. Contributors range from well-respected entomology experts and students to dedicated naturalists and photographers. It is an excellent place for beginners to learn and participate in an extremely supportive and encouraging environment. About a year and half ago, I was very pleased to be allowed to contribute my time and energy by becoming a contributing editor on the site. I cannot say enough wonderful things about the website itself and all the incredible people involved, many of whom have become good friends.

So, getting back to the title of this post… “There Will Be Bugs”. Though this blog will most assuredly showcase plenty of beautiful flowers, scenic skies, cute mammals and magnificent birds — there will also most definitely be insects and spiders (and snakes!). I know some people find these creatures “creepy” or “icky”. It is my sincere hope that I can change a few minds in this regard, but if not, you can always just skip past these posts.

The lovely red-and-black insect in the above image is the Large Milkweed Bug (Oncopeltus fasciatus), a common and conspicuous find in this area of southern California. As the name would imply, they are often found feeding on the plant tissues of various species of milkweed (Asclepias). However, around my place, there is a very large and active population that resides rather exclusively in the non-native Oleander (Nerium oleander) bushes.

The following photo shows the same species of bug, but this one has just finished shedding its exoskeleton. This is necessary in order for it to continue growing to its full size. Shortly after this process, the new exoskeleton has not hardened or darkened completely and during this period the freshly molted insect is referred to as teneral. Typically when I see these pale individuals they are clinging to the underside of leaves, presumably as a means of hiding from potential predators while their bodies are still soft and vulnerable. (For a fantasic series of images documenting the emergence of a teneral individual, click here.)

* While it wasn’t one of my favorite movies, for those who are familiar with the somewhat bizarre 2007 film “There Will Be Blood” — I hope you got my little joke! My husband rolled his eyes at my bad pun, but I sure thought it was funny. *big grin*

Harsi / February 12, 2011 / arthropods / 2 Comments

Bubo in Black-and-White

There is a resident breeding pair of Great Horned Owls (Bubo virginianus) living right near our cabin. Over the years, this has afforded me wonderful opportunities to observe them up close and the unsurpassed thrill of watching them raise their chicks. Their hooting calls are often the last thing I hear as I drift off to sleep… “gratitude” doesn’t seem like a big enough word to express how I feel in those moments.

I wanted to share these special birds, so I selected some of my favorite photos and created this series by applying the Stamp filter in Photoshop. The finished product is simplistic, but hopefully effective in conveying their endearing personalities.

Roosting on a eucalyptus branch.
(Many of the trees in the area were burned by wildfire which gives them a bare, but interesting artistic quality.)

This is one of the newly fledged juveniles — notice the almost non-existent ear tufts! (Their coloration and general shape at this age reminds me of toasted marshmallows. *grin*)

Perched on a burned cypress…
(I loved this tree, and so did the owls. Even though it had long ceased to be a living tree and was leaning at a rakish angle, it provided a good look-out spot for many birds and squirrels. I was sad when some high winds finally toppled it.)

Harsi / February 11, 2011 / artwork, birds / 6 Comments

What Will I Become? (Part I)

This is the time of year when green stuff is pushing up out of the ground all over the hillsides in southern California. Up until several years ago, I was really only familiar with the local wildflowers once they had bloomed. Before that show of beauty and color arrived, they mostly seemed to blend in with the grasses and other small plants. But as my interest in the native flora has developed, I can now recognize even the very first young leaves. I like to take note of where the small clusters are growing and then visit them on my daily walks. Occasionally, I talk to them and compliment them on their progress. *grin*

So, I thought it might be fun to share a few images of just leaves… with a BONUS surprise! If you click on the plant image, you will see a photo of the flower it will eventually produce. For those of you who want to try guessing what the plants are, I’ve put all the photo captions at the bottom so I won’t spoil it for you. Enjoy!

Plant 1: Lupine (Lupinus). Identifying this one to genus would be pretty simple for anyone at all familiar with the group — the characteristic and endearing leaf shape is a dead giveaway. But, there are so many kinds (100+ !!!) in California, many of which look very similar, that I wouldn’t even want to venture a guess as to species.

Plant 2: California Poppy (Eschscholzia). Again, there are several species of poppy that are possible in this area, but I believe this is likely Eschscholzia californica. (I adore the subtle pink edges on these frilly leaves!)

Plant 3: Blue-eyed Grass (Sisyrinchium). I’m almost 100 percent certain this is Sisyrinchium bellum — someone please correct me if I got that wrong! Unlike the previous two, this plant’s leaves are not very showy, yet the beautiful little flowers it eventually produces are perhaps my favorite.

Harsi / February 9, 2011 / flowers, plants / 3 Comments