Favoritos de joelle

I thought we might make history today, @catchang @sea_kangaroo and myself: 3 Endangered butterflies all seen on the same day. We saw this beauty halfway through the walk. Tough cuz W. Brown Elfin out here as well. Didn’t hit our historic goal but 16 species is Amazing in the month of March in the Bay Area...

A male damselfly lands on top of a male dragonfly, and tries to form a tandem. I have more pictures, but unfortunately the damselfly is more or less blurred by movements, as I opted for a small aperture just before the damselfly appeared.

May 2011, Rössjöholm, Sweden.

Male Pachydiplax longipennis being eaten by Opheodrys aestivus

Like a lot of these predation shots I heard the irregular beat of frantic, chafing wings before locating the scene.

I was taken aback when I first realized what was happening. That quickly wore off though and I was on the ground trying to get as close as possible without disrupting or having any meaningful influence on the situation.

Two great predators. In the end the dasher broke free and clumsily flew off (though he was lucky there were birds looking for an easy catch). I can't say for sure whether or not I played any part in the snake not succeeding in this struggle. If it were venomous I think (though I don't know if venomous snakes spend their venom on dragonflies or if they specialize in more protein-rich options) the dasher would've been done for.

But, the snake maneuvering his jaws to clamp down on the dragonfly gave some room for escape--especially since his jaws were over the thorax and wings, which were already beating trying to escape.

Genus: Batrachostomus
Species :mixtus Sharpe, 1892.
Common name : Bornean Frogmouth.
It is fomerly considered conspecific with B.poliolophus but lacks extensive white on underparts, male has a much darker crown and female more contrastingly rich rufous. Vocalizations yet to be analysed in depth. It is considered to be monotypic.

Thamnophis proximus predating Acris blanchardi

I saw these two while patrolling the pond from the inside, facing where the water level normally would be if the pond weren't mostly dried out.

I don't know if it was because of the pond's conditions or the time of day but we saw six snakes (one deceased). I usually find 0-1 Nerodia spp. on my walk around the pond.

Upon seeing this interaction I was shocked and called @elizrose and @joelle over. The snake soon bolted and we frantically reorganized ourselves trying to keep from losing him.

It was a extremely exciting encounter and though we went to this place in search of dragonflies, this was definitely the highlight.

Saw four today all hill-topping on Rocky Outcrop. This incredibly-fresh one sitting on it's host: Erigonum latifolium ( Coast Buckwheat ) The teal blue/green color at the base thorax of each wing is only present for it's first few days of flight - it wears off and becomes uniformly green.
This site is part of a project I created awhile back:
http://www.sfbutterfly.com/www.sfbutterfly.com/Green_Hairstreak.html

Mt. Burdell Jewelflower - read more here http://www.cnpsmarin.org/plant-science/plant-of-the-month/2017-plants-of-the-month/item/547-april-2017-plany-of-the-month#!Streptanthus_Mt_Burdell_IMG_9836c
Thanks to @wildmarin for stumbling on this population and sharing it with me!

i just heard that species existed three days ago. I wasn't even sure what it look like. As I started to run down the hill from my afternoon hike I saw this patch and I thought hey that's not miners's lettuce.

This female Clubtail attacked a tandem of the Spreadwing species Lestes stultus. It grabbed the female and started to eat it right away. Just after this picture was taken the head fell of the Spreadwing and tumbled down, while the Clubtail chewed on the thorax.
20th May 2006.
Miners Ravine, Roseville, Placer County, California.