CWilbur

CWilbur, 2 days ago to random

Okay, so today’s #butterfly search took me back to Calavera, and today was a good day. I’m going to break this story up into the journey to the top of the Calavera “Volcano”, summit observations, and the trip back.
My trip starts at the west end of the preserve which is the entrance to one of Carlsbad’s high schools. There’s a trail that starts here - a dirt road actually - that heads roughly north alongside a Sycamore-lined stream. Here terrain ranges from riparian to chaparral. So as you might guess, this is where most of the bigger butterbirds hang out. I started right out seeing Monarchs. And a few other littles. #

Closeup of nectaring Monarch
A couple of maybe Eufalia Skippers, in what looks like mating situation in trailside weeds
Wing pattern of a flying Skipper.

CWilbur, 3 days ago to animals

The tragedy of cat paper. Don’t let this happen to you! #caturday #catsofmastodon

CWilbur, 4 days ago to random

Posting a Monarch #butterfly one of 3-4 I saw a couple of weeks ago in Oakland.

Monarch floats over the Community Garden in Adam’s Point, Oakland.

CWilbur, 5 days ago to random

#butterflies today in Copper Creek, were out in force.

Mourning Cloak resting between patrols
Male Sara Orangetip, hanging on thistle.
Tiger Swallowtail flying by, checking things out.

CWilbur, 7 days ago to random

Back to Daley Ranch and adjacent Dixon Lake. Good sun, and the #butterflies were flying. Still not getting the specie variation I hoped for. Not pictured: Any Whites. They were out, of course.

Buckeye in flight. There were tons of Buckeyes today.
Gray Hairstreak, hidden in foliage. There were lots of Grays too! Two generations of them.
Metalmark on Broom. My one Metalmark for the day but I’m sure there were more.

CWilbur, 9 days ago to random

Elfin Forest rarely disappoints for #butterflies and today was no exception. Lots of good stuff.

Female Bernardino Blue gives a hint of orange inner wing as she pauses to snack on a Buckwheat blossom.
This Behr’s Metalmark also enjoys the new Buckwheat blossoms.
This unidentified Skipper bravely defends its trailside pebble.

CWilbur, 12 days ago to HashtagGames

Knock Knock
Who’s there?
Banana… Knock Knock
who’s there?
Banana… Knock Knock
Who’s there?
Solitary
Solitary who?
Solitary Orange you glad I didn’t say banana?
#trumpguiltyasongorpoem
#HashtagGames

CWilbur, 12 days ago to random

At Mission Trails today #butterflying. Don’t ever try this, thinking you’re going to just zoom back up to north county in the afternoon. 🙄
Anyway the Blues showed up out there. Multiple species. All of them terrbly camera-shy today, so my pix are atrocious and not very definitive. That said, I’ve narrowed the field somewhat. The first two pix are I believe to be either Western Tailed Blue or Reakirt’s Blue. The final two are of a Marine Blue. That one I know. #butterflies

Same WT Blue taking off.
Marine Blue rests on Broom.
Marine Blue nectaring trailside in Broom.

CWilbur, 13 days ago to random

Some nice observations of #butterflies during an excursion to Orange County today. “Vanilla” species.

This Tiger Swallowtail dances around what appears to be Lantana blossoms.
Monarch floats over Milkweed.
Orange Sulphur female bolts from her grassy hideaway.

CWilbur, 14 days ago to random

Headed out to a new location for #butterflies today. A place called Daley Ranch, in northeast Escondido. It was an interesting day: Relatively few species, but tons of individuals. Lots of Metalmarks, lots of Cabbage Whites, and multiple Swallowtails, and even two probable Sisters. But the real story was Buckeyes, dozens of them. They were so common they were fighting each other in groups of three or four. I stopped playing attention to them after a while.

Buckeye leaves the ground, leaving its shadow behind.
Buckeye on the ground, wings partly open.
My first sighting of the day: A lovely Tiger Swallowtail, nectaring in its usual fluttery fashion, beside the trail.

CWilbur, 15 days ago to random

Not a great day for #butterflies near the coast. Blame #maygray.
But I did see this guy. #roadrunner There were two actually.

Roadrunner on a metal fence, clacking away.

CWilbur, 16 days ago to random

Hit the trail again today at Elfin Forest and I didn’t see a single rattlesnake. However I did see #butterflies, which is what I came for. Finally the spring butterbirds came out!

Desert Sylvan Hairstreak perched on spring foliage.
Desert Sylvan Hairstreak perched on spring foliage.

CWilbur, 18 days ago to Geology

Super find on eBay: This Boleite specimen from the copper deposits near Mulege, Baja Sur. #geology #bajacalifornia

CWilbur, 19 days ago to random

Remember Akbar and Jeff from Life in Hell? There’s a certain prescience about 1992, AIR?

CWilbur, 21 days ago to random

Back to Denk and Copper Creek for #butterflies . The numbers were definitely up today, if not the species. Nice Mourning Cloak serving as guardian to the trail entrance.

Same Mourning Cloak, wings closed.

CWilbur, 21 days ago to Geology

So, long #geology story long, I was driving the Modesto-Oakland leg of my weekend journey on Friday, and I accidentally went up Corral Hollow Rd instead of Patterson Pass. It was an interesting explore, although ultimately it dead-ended and I had to turn around. There’s a state park in there called Carnegie (really a rec vehicle place), so I checked out the butterfly situation. I crossed a wash several times, and I saw a lot of this material. At first I assumed it was old road tar, but it was weathering funny. I picked up a piece and discovered it was quite heavy, so I snagged a chunk and brought it home to clean. Seems to have a lot of feldspar - probably calcic. And mostly fine-grained mafics.
My guess is that I stumbled upon some un-serpentinized ultra-basic material from the Franciscan. I’ve heard it’s around, but in all my years of living in Northern #california I’ve never seen any in the field.
Anybody else know?

CWilbur, 22 days ago to random

A few #butterfly finds on my weekend trip to Oakland.

Gray Buckeye resting on a log
Tiger Swallowtail patrols the high ground and would not land.
Unidentified Grass Skipper.

CWilbur, 25 days ago to random

Drove 450 miles for this. Plus lunch. #corporatelife

CWilbur, 28 days ago to random

Who the hell makes a cover of the Ramones’ “I wanna be sedated”? #complaints #PunkRock

CWilbur, 29 days ago to random

Interesting day in #butterfly land. Not a record day, but some nice early afternoon sightings.

Lorquin’s Admiral keeping steadfast watch over his section of trail, very close to the creek.
Buckeye rests on trail rock between patrols. He likes trail sections and is also water-adjacent. His territory seemed to overlap the Admiral’s, but they overlap in different planes, so the two interacted rarely.
Male Orangetip hustles by, near ground level mostly. There were several of these today.

CWilbur, 30 days ago to random

Today’s Calavera #butterflies Part 1

California Ringlet perched on dry grass.
Checkered White hanging with the Sunflowers with an interesting iridescence on the upper wing surface.
Female Marine Blue perched on a dry twig near the top of the Volcano.

CWilbur, 1 month ago to random

New Blue today #butterflies

Pictures of a Blue close-up with outer wing pattern.
Pictures of a Blue nectaring on white flowers.
Pictures of a Blue wings open on low foliage.

CWilbur, 1 month ago to random

Speaking of #butterflies, have a look at this guy! Not a mark or blemish anywhere this Tiger must be newly emerged, because it was kind of docile and clearly hasn’t seen any combat.

CWilbur, 1 month ago to random

Found this political pamphlet in a 1992 newspaper I was saving. #democrats They all look so young.

CWilbur, 1 month ago (edited 1 month ago) to random

So-so day in the #butterfly world here. Still not seeing the Hairstreaks or the Blues. Saw what I thought was a Lorquin’s Admiral but on photo-inspection turned out to be a Sister. Still seeing Orangetips, which are usually gone by now. The biggest catch was a Pale Swallowtail (maybe more than one). I was about to say the species are slowly coming out, but again the pictures reveal this guy already has major battle scars. Not sure what the story is there.