I just love Point Reyes Station! So much in fact, that, at times, for two or three minutes, I make plans to move there.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Reflection
Yesterday's unusually high tide, created reflections in the Corte Madera Marsh, that made me jump for joy. Well, at least try to hop.
Friday, January 29, 2010
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Muir Creek
Rainy morning in Muir Woods, a couple of days ago. I came to look for spawning salmon, but no such luck. However, Muir Creek, swollen with a week of downpours, was very impressive.
And I have to make a correction. My Senior Bird Consultant informed me, that yesterday's bathing Sparrows, were really Yellow-rumped Warblers. My first mistake of the New Year.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Birds Bathing
This morning Bob H and I hiked up the trail from Big Rock on the Lucas Valley Road. It had stopped raining but the trail was muddy and there were many puddles. Three sparrows were having the time of their lives, bathing and splashing, in one of them. As usual I couldn't identify the birds, especially since they had some bright-yellow feathers. Look closely at my picture, or you might miss the sparrows altogether!
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Scoliopus bigelovii
Meet world-renowned botanist Hans R. Here is his own speak ~
Early this morning, trusty umbrella in hand, I ventured to Muir Woods National Monument, there to photograph nature, wondrous and rare. Soon I came upon a lovely wildflower, in the guise of a park ranger. We exchanged pleasantries and I queried the young damsel about secrets of the forest. She confided in me that the New Year's first native flowers had appeared and were close at hand. Their name ~ Scoliopus bigelovii, a.k.a. Fetid Adder's Tongue. She told me where to look and how to recognize the flower. Then she added a warning ~ The "Fetid" part of the flower's name comes from its foul smell! Attached is a picture of three of these beautiful flowers. Fortunately, my cold protected me from smelling anything ~ sweet or foul!
Here are a couple of quotes ~
Mary Elizabeth Parsons in The Wild Flowers of California, 1897:
"When the flowers first open they stand erect, held in the shining chalice formed by the two sheathing green leaves. Later the leaves open out, showing their beautiful blotched surfaces, and the three-angled flower-stems become limp and twisted."
"When the flowers first open they stand erect, held in the shining chalice formed by the two sheathing green leaves. Later the leaves open out, showing their beautiful blotched surfaces, and the three-angled flower-stems become limp and twisted."
John Thomas Howell in Marin Flora, 1949:
"One of the first plants to bloom after the beginning of the rainy season, the Fetid Adder's Tongue thrusts its queer ill-scented flowers from the pair of closely rolled leaves as soon as they are above ground. By the time the attractive brown-spotted leaves are developed, the first fruits are already well formed at the ends of elongate sprawling twisting pedicels. This remarkable plant was discovered by Bigelow at "Tamul Pass" in 1854."
Monday, January 25, 2010
Lichen
Lichen on a rock, yesterday, in Tennessee Valley. I love lichen, and there's a lot to love! Here's what I found on the web ~
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Structurally, lichens are among the most bizarre of all forms of life. That's because every lichen species is actually composed of two, possibly even three, distinct species of organisms. One species is a kind of fungus. Usually the other species is an alga, but sometimes it can be a photosynthesizing bacterium known as a cyanobacterium. Sometimes all three organisms are found in one lichen. 
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Resurrection
I'm not necessarily exclusively a fair-weather photographer but, I'm stuck indoors, waiting for my Honda to be serviced. Meanwhile I still wanted to send out a picture taken today, and here it is.
My older (not by age, but by time on my list!) subscribers will remember last year's boring pictures of a Buckeye that I raised from a seed (don't eat - it's poisonous, though the Indians leached it and then did eat it). After a few months I thought it had died. For some reason or other, the pot, with the "dead" tree wound up at Bob H's house. To his surprise, he noticed signs of life a couple of weeks ago, and brought the tree back to my house. No sooner did it land on my veranda, than it began popping leaves.
I'm planning to drill a hole in the floor of my upstairs neighbor's veranda in a few months. I'll keep you posted.
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