Central Califronia

We made it to central Ca without a hitch, staying with Martha and Orlando. They showed us the sights at Lake Berryessa the next day. On the way to the lake Orlando pulled over to get a spot off the windshield, I chased a swallowtail, and we heard these fellows. Orlando honked the horn and they 'shock gobbled' back. We went around the corner and pulled over again, Orlando got out and called to them. Wild turkeys are silly creatures.

This one in particular was strutting his stuff... Handsome guy huh?

Our five mile oak woodland walk commenced, I brought my uninitiated butterfly net (have to get in shape for my upcoming job you know...), and we stopped every three paces when I decided I needed a picture. Some sort of Brodiaea above I think and an unknown to the right. I've missed oaks. These are nice craggy oaks.

 It was  beautiful, clear, mild temperature, and there were flowers, birds and butterflies for all...

Acorn woodpeckers are farmers. That's something I learned. They make hundreds of holes and drill acorns into them. They don't eat the nuts themselves, but wait for insects to mine in and eat the acorns... Then there are insects galore! This is the best I could do, but there were at least three or four winging around.Some pines, like the one below, are well on the way to death since they have probably thousands of holes drilled into them, allowing introduction of bacteria, fungi, malicious insects...

After laughing at my antics, Martha decided she needed a turn. She didn't catch anything :)

 We wandered on, there were healthy patches of lupine all over, demanding admiration. Shooting stars(below), a few Indian Warriors, and some borage were blooming too.

Incidental bycatch... damsel flies are too damn easy too catch, especially when you aren't trying to catch them. This guy was probably a little stunned since it didn't move til I prodded a little bit.

 Brandon stunned a little butterfly for me. It sat still for a bit before its vertigo receded. (Do butterflies get vertigo?)
We came across this critter sunning itself; it was pretty unimpressed with our presence.

 A lone Downy woodpecker hanging out in an oak.

We had seen these Osprey on the way to the lake, but when I got out, they abandoned the nest. The next time, I managed to picture-capture from the car without frightening it off...

Look at that beak!

Dutchman's Pipevine and Pipevine Swallowtails

Dutchman's pipevine is a special and weird plant. The flowers look like little pitcher plants, but aren't. Pipevine swallowtails (above) feed on pipevine species in the caterpillar stage making them poisonous...

The butterflies are fairly large, and quite eye-catching.

We left for the farm later that day.
 Have a deeeeelightful Thursday!!