California Towhee on a Broom baccharis Baccharis sarothroides
A California Sister butterfly on a Black (Gooding's) willow Salix gooddingii .
Cottonwood Populus fremontii ssp. fremontii
A common green darner in flight.
Silver argiope tends to its catch
Silver argiope on its web in a prickly pear
A fly, but a pretty big one
A duskywing moth.
California mugwort Artemisia douglasiana
A broken California mugwort Artemisia douglasiana
Zooming a bit closer on the Great-horned Owl
Great blue heron on Kumeyaay lake
Ducks on Kumeyaay lake.
Can you see the owl? I probably wouldn't have on my own.
Side-by-side comparison of acorns from a California (Inland/barberry-leaved) scrub oak Quercus berberidifolia (left) and a Scrub oak Quercus dumosa (right).
Acorn on a California (Inland/barberry-leaved) scrub oak Quercus berberidifolia.
Bird on a Blue elderberry Sambucus nigra ssp. caerulea
A Greater Roadrunner (probably the same one) poses for someone with a very long lens.
Slightly sharper picture of a Greater Roadrunner (but I left both in because the previous picture shows the iridescence of its tail feathers)
Grasshopper on a Broom baccharis Baccharis sarothroides
A gold-crowned warbler frolicks in in mist collecting on the lime tree.
Back home, a bushtit in the lime tree
Another bee-fly on a Common sandaster Corethrogyne filaginifolia
Some of the more daringly-placed graffiti
Graffiti on the spillway of Lake Hodges dam.
Chaparral honeysuckle Lonicera subspicata var. denudata
San Diego wreathplant Stephanomeria diegensis
Rush sweetbush Bebbia juncea var. aspera
Argentine ants climb over a Broom baccharis Baccharis sarothroides
Argentine ant sticking its head into the flower of a Broom baccharis Baccharis sarothroides
A bee fly on broom Broom baccharis Baccharis sarothroides
Broom baccharis Baccharis sarothroides
Stampen and pistel of a Jimsonweed Datura wrightii
A sweat bee in the trumpet-flower of a Jimsonweed Datura wrightii
A praying mantis hides among willow leaves
A goldenstar Bloomeria crocea var. crocea holds up a spider web.
Dried flower wands of black sage
A Silver argiope on its web
A Tarweed Deinandra fasciculata flower in profile, with bright yellow glandular sacs on its phyllaries.
Leaf-miner bug trails as seen from the bottom of a Laurel sumac Malosma laurina leaf.
Trails from a leaf-miner bug through a leaf on a Laurel sumac Malosma laurina
A single flower of a Tarweed Deinandra fasciculata. You'd think I could have found a better flower, but a lot were damaged.
A Tarweed Deinandra fasciculata plant alongthe trail.
Canada horseweed Erigeron canadensis
Closeup of flower on a Canada horseweed Erigeron canadensis
The Prickly lettuce Lactuca serriola the previous flower was on.
Bushtit in the backyard lime tree.