Fin Whales

We went out whale watching off Point Loma and Mission Bay. Sometimes you'll go whale watching and seeing very little and at a great distance. However, today there were fin whales everywhere! See for yourself!

Fin Whale blow hole

Another fin whale showing the characteristic tiny fin just in front of their tail.

Fin whale leaning over to take a peak at us.

Fin whale swimming directly towards the boat.

Skate

Skate caught by a fisherman at the Imperial Beach Pier.

Marbled Godwit

Marbled Godwit, Limosa fedoa, feeding in the sand; Imperial Beach, California. How do they find anything under all that sand? I've been told they have tiny hairs along their beak that sense or perhaps smell the small worms and crustaceans they feed on.

Fiddle Player at the Hillcrest Farmer's Market

Fiddle Player at the Hillcrest Farmers' Market.

Seagull Gets the Last Laugh

Gull hanging out on a netted roof what was specifically netted to keep the gulls off of the roof of the bathroom on the Imperial Beach pier. Score: gulls 1: Humans 0.

Winter Guests

Dunlin, Calidris alpina; Winter plummage. These birds nest in the Summer up on the Alaskan Tundra and Winter along the Pacific coast of North America where they are found in mudflats, pond edges, marshes and along the ocean.

Lava images

Lava images. Tell us, what do you see? As the molten lava cools, it twists and turns into all sorts of fantastic shapes and forms. I snapped pictures of some of the more suggestive ones.

Cedar Waxwing

Cedar Waxwing. These migrate through San Diego on their way South. As a pleasant surprise, I found a whole flock of them in the eucalyptus tree this morning!

Green Crested Lizard

Bronchocela christatella or Green Crested Lizard. A very happy and well fed lizard posing for the camera! These beautiful agamid lizards are natives of West Malaysia, Borneo, Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines, Southern Thailand, South Myanmar, and the Nicobar Islands. They live up in trees and shrubs where, using their long, slender tail for balancing, they hunt for small invertebrates.

Side note: there are approximately 300 species of Agamid lizards in the family Agamidae. They are also commonly called "dragon lizards," including the bearded dragon and the uromastyx among their ranks. Agramids are distinguished by their teeth, which are borne on the outer rim of the mouth (look close!), rather than on the inner side of the jaws as with most other lizards.

Balboa Park Arboretum Reflecting Pool

Balboa Park Arboretum by night.

Gemmed Orbweaver

"Araneus gemma, Family Araneidae. Sometimes it's called a Gemmed Orbweaver. These are pretty common at this time of year and usually make their webs up in trees or around buildings where they can be a pest depending on where they build webs. As almost all spiders they have venom and these are large enough to bite if handled. The bite would be a bit painful but certainly not life threatening. This is the time of year that they mature, mate, lay eggs, and die out. They are usually gone by the end of November." Identification and information complements of Jim Berrian at the San Diego Natural History Museum!

Rattle-free Rattlesnake?

Santa Catalina Island Rattlesnake, Crotalus catalinensis. The Santa Catalina Island Rattlesnake has evolved without rattles, possibly due to the lack of predators on Santa Catalina island or perhaps due to a random genetic mutation which, without survival need, became dominant.

Double Primrose After the Rain

Double Primrose after the recent rains. San Diego has been unnaturally wet and rainy this past year and it looks like, in spite of a second year of La Nina warnings by the weather persons, we are headed into another wet Winter.

Double-Flowered Rhynchostylis Retusa

Double-flowered Rhychostylis retusa. This Rhynchostylis retusa has a fused stem/ovary between two adjacent flowers.

The California Bell Tower in the Setting Sun

The California Bell Tower, Balboa Park, in the Setting Sun.

Casa Del Prado by Night

Casa Del Prado, Balboa Park, California. The lights of Casa Del Prado reflecting into the tranquil, dark, nighttime waters of the Balboa Arboretum pool.

Yellow Water Lilly

Yellow water lilly in the setting sun, Balboa Park, California.

Costa's Hummingbird

Costa's Hummingbird (Female), Calypte costae. These tiny hummingbirds (about 3.5 inches long) are found throughout the Arid Southwestern U.S. and into the Baja Peninsula. The males have a bright violet mask.

Sparkling Violet-Ear Hummingbird

Sparkling Violet-Ear Hummingbird, Colibri coruscans. These beautiful hummingbirds are found from Venezuela and Columbia (the birthplace of hummingbirds) through northwestern Argentina.

Blue Butterfly Bush or Clerodendrum ugandense

Blue Butterfly Bush, Clerodendrum ugandense. This is a small to medium sized, warmer growing (zone 8) shrub. The flowers apparently attract butterflies as well. Quite the charmer.

Kissing in the Moonlight

Statue of Sailor and nurse kissing in the moonlight with the USS Midway museum in the background. Taken with ambient lighting.

Paper Wasp

Paper Wasp, Polistes species, in Jimson Weed. There were several Paper wasps prowling around the Jimson Weed flowers. Adult paper wasps are nector feeders, hence their presence in the Jimson week flowers.

However, adult paper wasps will sting soft bodied insects, such as caterpillars, to paralyze them. The wasps then carry the soft bodied insect or caterpillar to their nest for their larvae/grubs to feed on as they are developing.

Anna's Hummingbird

Anna's Hummingbird, Calypte anna (juvenile), in the back yard. These are found all up and down the Pacific coast of the United States and down into the Northern Baja Peninsula. You can differentiate them from Costa's Hummingbird based on the eye being below the green patch on the head rather than within the green patch as with Costa's Hummingbird.

AOS Awards, Pac South

(Catamodes Painted Desert X Catasetum Brent's Black Hawk) AM/AOS. In ambient light, this flower is almost black but if you light it up, it's a glossy deep red. Congratulations Brent!

Great Purple Hairstreak

Great Purple Hairstreak (male), Atlides halesus, Mission Trails Park, San Diego, California. Note that the males have the blue streaks on the outside of the wing while the females do not. These are found from California across the Southern states to Florida and then down into Mexico. They're hard to spot in a tree or bush but well worth the trouble. The wings are typically kept closed when not in flight. However, if you're lucky enough to see them open, they are an irridescent blue. Also, the wings roll out at the rear exposing wing patterns, which, when viewed from the rear look like eyes and antenna, likely to confuse potential predators.

Prarie Falcon

Prarie Falcon, Falco mexicanus, Mission Trails Park, San Diego, California. I saw this little guy sitting high up in a sycamore tree and, with that big old 500mm lens, here we are.

Classic Automobiles

Old speedster off highway 8.

Dendrochilum cobbianum

Dendrochilum cobbianum, showing that notable triangular lip.

Pelican Over Water

Pelican Over Water, Mission River Preserve, San Diego, California.

American Avocets, Winter Plumage

American Avocets, Recurvirostra americana (so named for it's upturned beak -- aka recurved rostrum), resting on an exposed sand bar in the middle of the Mission River. Yes, the Avocets are back sporting their ever so stylish black and white formal Winter plumage! I had been to the Mission River for years without ever seeing an avocet until I realized that the little guys hang out in the shallows in the MIDDLE of the river, far from feral cats and stray dogs. Now that I know where to look, they're readily visible, albeit with a huge lens or perhaps binoculars.

I also puzzled for quite a while over the funky upturned beaks, wondering how they manage to eat anything at all with such beaks. However, it became fairly obvious upon watching them feed. They sweep those upturned beaks in shallow water over the mud and sand bottom kind of like a scythe cutting through wheat. The beaks scare up small water bugs and crustaceans which, as they are trying to flee the disturbance, become the Avocet's next meal.

Barkeria Lindleyana

Barkeria lindleyana semi-alba. A forgiving Central American orchid species that will grow hanging from a wire with no media whatsoever, given a little humidity and some decent water. These vary from bright lavender to pure white.

Unknown Dendrochilum

Dendrochilum species, unknown. Fascinating little Dendrochilum species with a compact growth habit and the cutest little dog biscuit shaped lip.

Honey bee on Broom Baccharis

Honey bee (Apis), her back legs full of pollen, on Broom Baccharis (Baccharis sarothroides - Asteraceae). Broom Baccharis is native to a riparian habitat and blooms from June through October. It is in the sunflower family (Asteraceae).

Snowy Egret

Snowy Egret, Egretta thula, Mission River Preserve, San Diego, California. We went to the preserve to see if the ducks had made it this far South yet. They had not. There was not a duck to be seen anywhere. There were, however, lots of terns, egrets, herons and an early flock of avocets.

Rth. Jungle Jumbalaya 'Arnilicious' HCC/AOS

Rth. Jungle Jumbalaya 'Arnilicious' HCC/AOS 77pts, from tonights Pacific South American Orchid Society Judging at Balboa Park, San Diego, California.

AH-1 Huey Cobra Helicopter

AH-1 Huey Cobra Helicopter, Miramar Air Show, San Diego, California.

Anguloa eburnea

Anguloa eburnea. Anguloa are often called the tulip orchids because of their resemblance, at a distance anyhow, to a tulip. Anguloa eburnea is a native of Colombia, Ecuador and Peru where it is found at around 4500 to 7500 ft. This species is notably distinguished from Anguloa uniflora, which it is often mislabled as, by eburnea's diamond shaped, elongated midlobe (on the lip).

Dendrobium cuthbertsonii var semi alba

Dendrobium cuthbertsonii var semi alba.

Dendrobium cuthbertsonii bicolor form

Dendrobium cuthbertsonii is native to New Guinea where it grows on mossy rocks along streams at high altitude (3k-10k ft).

C. Caudebec 'Carmela' AM/AOS

C. Caudebec 'Carmela' AM/AOS. This magnificent plant with huge upright stems of waxy, vibrantly spotted flowers was upgraded to an Award of Merit at the San Diego Botanical Gardens Show.

Osaka Castle

Osaka Castle, Chūō-ku, Osaka, Japan. Osaka Castle consists of two raised platforms of landfill supported by interlocked granite walls each surrounded by a moat. The castle is eight stories tall and construction was begun in 1583 Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

The Pearl of the Orient

The Oriental Pearl Tower next to the Huangpu river in Pudong, Shanghai. River boats covered with brightly colored lights go up and down the river and night making for great viewing with a nice hot cup of coffee. This was taken from the lobby of the Shanghai Grand Hyatt in the Jin Mao Tower. Until 2007 it was the tallest building in China and the fifth tallest in the world. The Shanghai Grand Hyatt occupies floors 53 (lobby) to 87 (penthouse). Hats off to Jian for IDing the tower and Dave Ross for IDing where this photo was taken from!

Bodhisattva Rising from the Ashes of Destruction

Wat Maha That Ayutthaya (Wat is the Thai word for Temple), Bangkok, Thailand. This was at one of the many temples on the Bangkok river tour where you are taken in a small boat to a whole series of amazing, ancient temples, a river market and, yes, a little thai zoo with snake charmers... It's quite an adventure but dress for hot weather.

This bodhisattva was surrounded by rows of beheaded, worn bodhisattvas that had been descrated by an invading Burmese Army. The heads are mostly gone, perhaps removed to another locale; however, this head was apparently lost underground and arose, somewhat miraculously upright and visibly entwined in the roots of that bodhi-ficus tree.

Les Arenes de Nimes

Les Arenes de Nimes, Nimes, France. While many have heard of the infamous Coliseum in the center of Rome, there were actually multiple arenas throughout the Roman Empire. This one is in Nimes, France and is one of the best preserved Roman amphitheaters still in existence. When new, the Nimes Amphitheater could hold up to 24,000 people.

They had pictures and narratives about all the different types of gladiators that fought in the Arena, each specializing in particular weapons and tactics. The narratives also noted that the combat was only rarely to the death, contrary to popular myth.

Little Rock, Arkansas

Pulaski County Courthouse, Little Rock, Pulaski County, Arkansas. It's a beautiful building. Perhaps not as imposing as many more modern courthouses. It's a picture I snapped when I was walking through Little Rock one evening. It was one of the older and more scenic buildings in Little Rock. As it turns out, Little Rock is a friendly, welcoming place and, outside of being nowhere near the beach, is a pretty nice place to hang out. I still remember the waiter at the restaurant saying they had a special on pate, immediately bringing to mind tiny portions surrounded by crackers. In fact, he brought out a huge plate covered by what looked like slices of meatloaf! It was both tasty and, surprisingly reasonably priced. So, if you're ever in that neck of the woods, stop by Little Rock.

White Bengal Tiger

White bengal tiger, Pana'ewa Zoo, Hilo, Hawaii. The tiger's name is Namaste, and was donated to the Pana'ewa zoo by Dirk Arthur, a magician at the Tropicana Resort in Las Vegas. Note, his eyes are not pink as he is not an albino per se. Just white.

Will the Real Katydid Please Stand Up?

True Katydid, Pterphylla camellifolia, that wandered into the living room. I have to admit, they look a lot scarier up close!

Meet One of the Most Poisonous Animals in the World!

Golden Poison Dart Frog, Phyllobates terribilis. The Golden Poison Dart Frog, a native of the Pacific coast of Columbia, is one of the most poisonous animals in the world. While captive-bred specimens are not toxic, the roughly one milligram of batrachotoxin found in a wild P. terribilis is sufficient to kill about 10,000 mice,over 10 humans, or up to two African bull elephants. The toxin is likely derived from alkaloids present in its natural food source, possibly a small Columbian beetle in the family Melyridae.