Silly Signs

Every now and then you see a sign or a t-shirt or a slogan that's just so silly and outlandish that you have to chuckle...  Perhaps the secret is to be so outlandish that nobody will take it seriously.  This one was posted outside the Fathom Restaurant on the pier at Shelter Island in lovely, mostly sunny San Diego, California.

On another note, we have received 2.25 inches of rain so far, this May, making it the second wettest May on record.  The 2015 May rainfall was exceeded (so far) only by May 1921 with 2.54 inches of rain!  Ironically, relatively little of it is caught for human uses, the area being largely dependent on mountain snowfall over the Summer months.  This Winter was warm and dry, thus still leaving the area in the grips of the drought, less a little May reprieve for our gardens, canyons and wildlife, all of which clearly needed the water.

Two Contrails are Better than One!

Two Contrails in the Setting Sun above San Diego, California, looking eerily like missile contrails... Every now and then we have those weird orange sunsets where you just have to reach for the camera. Probably due a fire or two somewhere nearby. These two contrails looked suspiciously like those I saw in the missile interceptor tests a few years back. I wondered, for just a little bit, if that was the last thing I would ever see...but no, they were just jet contrails, as far as I can tell.

Bernardo Fire Raging in San Diego

We had a really dry Winter in Southern California this year.  Even some of my cacti are shriveling up...  The wild shrub/chapparal is tinder dry.  I shot this picture out of our office building looking North at the Bernardo fire (at around 2pm).  As of 6pm, over 800 acres burned, 20,000 homes evacuated, BUT we've not lost any homes.  I can smell the smoke all the way down in Mission Valley.  Let's hope they get it under control soon. Meanwhile, it's air conditioning for the dog and I.  The temperatures are in the high 90s and tomorrow in the low 100s with a moderate hot, dry breeze from the East.  If you want to read more about this fire, here's a link.
KTLA News

Ocean Beach, San Diego, California

I decided to try the new wide angle lens during a sunset at Ocean Beach California.  Here's what resulted...(note, the first one is with a zoom but #2 and #3 are with the wide angle).  Doesn't it just make you want to move to San Diego?

 The last bit of sun before the sun dipped below the waves.

The ever-present Seagulls looking for clams.

A good wide angle shot of the beach and fishing pier.

Mime with chair and stuffed dog

Mime with chair and stuffed dog, Little Italy, San Diego, California.  Do you suppose a real dog would work better?  I didn't realize he was a live person until he moved!

Long-Billed Curlew

Long-Billed Curlew, Mission River Preserve, San Diego, CA.

San Diego Bay Skyline

San Diego Bay skyline with a bit of Coronado showing on the left and downtown San Diego in the center.

Balboa Park, San Diego, CA

The Prado by night, Balboa Park, San Diego, California.  It was pretty quiet except for a few of us taking pictures and a pair of ducks gracefully swimming in the lily pond.

December 2013 San Diego AOS Awards

 Cycnodes Jumbo Ecstatic 'Sunset Valley Orchids' AM 88 pts.

 

 Dendrobium eriiflorum ‘Wonderful Willie’ CCM 85pts.

 Fdk After Midnight 'SVO Dark Beauty' FCC 91pts.

 

Fdk Enter Night 'Sunset Valley Orchids' AM 88pts.

San Diego Panorama

San Diego Panorama, shot from Coronado.  Click on the picture to see a larger version.

Flamenco Dancer

Asian Flamenco Dancer at Liberty Station in San Diego, California.

Another flamenco dancer from Flamenco Sur, this time with a fan!

Spotted Bass

Spotted Bass, Micropterus punctulatus, is native to the Mississippi River Basin and Southeastern United States where it is found in rivers and mountain streams.  This one part of a pair hungrily watching a school of mosquito fish in a small pond along the Otay River in San Diego, California.  They one of several species of bass that were introduced into Southern California for sport fishing.

Northern Shoveler

Northern Shoveler, Anas clypeata, at the Mission River Preserve, San Diego, California. These adorable ducks spend the Winters in San Diego every year and can be easily recognized by their large, shovel-like beaks. They spend their summers throughout North America all the way up through Alaska and Winter in the Southern states down through Mexico. I love the way the feathers on their head glow a deep purple when the sun hits them just right, their big gangly beaks that seems too big for their heads and those funky lemon-yellow eyes.

National Bird Day - An Avocet Afternoon

American Avocet, Recurvirostra americana, feeding in the shallows at the Mission River Preserve in San Diego, California. What better way to spend the afternoon on National Bird Day than to go out and watch the migratory waterfowl at the Mission River Preserve in San Diego? As if they knew, the birds were out in full force! There were ducks, herons, egrets, grebes, cormorants and two types of pelicans plus gulls galore! The annual Winter waterfowl migration to San Diego always makes Winter days a whole lot cheerier.

Gould's Bubble Shell

Gould's Bubble Shell, Bulla gouldiana, plowing through the soft, muddy sand looking for food at low tide. Note also the slipper shells (Crepidula onyx) hitching a ride. Unlike many seashells, Bulla gouldiana cannot fully withdraw into its shell, depending on burrowing under the soft, silty sand for protection from would-be predators. These shells are quite fragile and very susceptible to crushing and bleaching, the shells being thinner than an egg shell (hence the name bubble shell). However, the quiet tidal waters were full of ones in near perfect condition that had been cleaned out by the scalpel sharp teeth of small crustaceans, needing no work whatsoever and harming nothing in the process.

Red-eared Slider Taking a Lily Break

Red-eared slider, Trachemys scripta elegans, taking a lily break at the reflecting pond in Balboa Park. While native to the Southern United States, these adorable little turtles have become naturalized in many areas, such as California, where they are crowding out the native western pond turtle.

Robber Fly: Stenopogon Species

Robber Fly, Stenopogon species, Imperial Beach. I had a tough time figuring out which genus this little robber fly is in. I started off with the genus Omnatius which came up in my online searches for Robber flies but are largely limited to the East Coast. However, Jim Berrian at the San Diego Natural History Museum kindly suggested the genus Machimus and Stenopogon, both of which have been found in Southern California. After some comparing of antennae, carapace shape and foot structure I'm convinced it's a Stenopogon (not that our Gentle readers really care but it gives me a feeling on completeness, go figure).

They are apparently called Robber flies because these capable little carnivorous flies catch other bugs on the wing. Think of it like robbers catching a coach on the trail. They bear some superficial resemblance to dragonflies which also snag food on the fly, no pun intended (Ar, Ar...). How they eat that food is, however, quite different. Robber flies inject saliva and disolve their food (think of it as liquid food on the go). Dragonflies use large mandibles to chew and ingest their food. In fact, Dragonflies are in the order Odonata, meaning "toothed jaws."

Side note: apparently, there was a large sewage spill off of Tijuana Beach (Playa de Tijuana) last week, leaving the Tijuana Estuary Beach largely deserted and peaceful. There were a few people strolling down the long strand of white sand. Otherwise, there were just the passing flocks of pelicans and the occasional shore bird. Overall, it was nice and quiet, with a gentle (and smell-free), cooling ocean breeze, which is a real find on a hot, Summer day during the Labor Day Weekend. While we stayed out of the water, there was no obvious evidence that a spill had happened just a week prior. There was just empty beach out to the horizon.

Fourth of July Fireworks Freak Accident in San Diego

Fireworks Explosion over downtown San Diego as a freak accident results in all of the Fourth of July fireworks launching at the same time.  The "Big Bay Boom" was targeted to be San Diego's biggest fireworks display ever, with multiple, synchronized launching barges timed to music broadcast on a local radio station.  The organizers have promised to put on a replacement show at their own expense.

The light of the fireworks became so bright, you could eventually see nothing but the exploding fireworks, as they lit up the cloudy skies above.

The fireworks in Mission Bay/Beach also went off at the same time in synchronized explosions.  Shown here, the smoke from the fireworks, still undispersed by the light breeze, literally glows with the explosions from the succeeding launches.  It was quite spectacular, if admittedly brief.

The Western Bluebirds are Moving to Town!

Western Bluebird (Sialia mexicana), one of a pair of Western Bluebirds living in a large Ficas macrophylla in Balboa Park (talk about adaptation to foreign introductions!). Perhaps the fig berries or the plentiful tree cavities among the ficus roots proved to be an enticing home. Perhaps the insects attracted by the fallen fig berries were the main feature.  In either case, these beatiful birds of the foothills normally nest in tree cavities made by woodpeckers; in pre-human Southern California, they were therefore restricted to the foothills where the arid sage scrub gave way to pine forest. However, the extensive planting of large trees in urban areas has resulted in an urban migration of these beautiful birds. You can attract them to your yard by providing bluebird nestboxes and a source of water. Berry-bearing bushes/trees such as Toyon berries help too.

Power from the Desert

Huge powerlines, possibly carrying wind power from the Snoran desert windfarms to San Diego. Speaking of wind, you can see the dust of a large windstorm brewing as low white clouds in the distance and a large rainstorm up in the hills. Ironic to have both at the same time, separated by only a matter of a few minutes drive time.