המועדפים של micro_ecologist

Heard this repeated "cheep" call continuously for half an hour coming from high up in some dense tall aspens intermingled with firs. Perhaps a juvenile begging? Didn't get a visual. Previous sighting of a juvenile near here on 6/7/21.

Two juveniles repeating a rough "cheep" begging call. This is the one we saw, very hard to spot us in the aspen unless they fly. Heard a juvenile here the previous night: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/83249631 and one was seen at a cabin on 6/7: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/82117963

The plant was found along the Turtle Rock trail in Irvine. The plant appears to be a coastal prickly pear, though I have had difficulty differentiating between the coastal and chaparral species. The plants themselves seemed to have grown fairly sparsely along the trail nearby other plants, and for the patches found they were all around the same height as in the photo a bit less than knee height.

I came across a hummingbird that stayed pretty still in my photo (if not clear enough).

It looked about 2-3 inches long (?). It was fairly small, as most hummingbirds are.

I snapped a picture of it in front of an elementary school, perching on a big flowering plant. The plant was most likely not native to the area, and was deliberately planted there for aesthetics, but I'm guessing the hummingbird was there since there were flowers and they are natural pollinators.

Found on self after hike through bay area chaparral about 1cm in length. Brown body with white/light brown collar. Hadn’t fully burrowed yet, photo was taken after it had been removed and drowned with isopropyl alcohol.

Found this through a walk in Big Trees, the same forest that runs through Yosemite. Also made me feel very small. Somehow my camera kind of puts their size in perspective. They are truly enormous, I'd estimate these were about 150 feet tall, maybe 200 feet tall and their width is immense as well, far thicker than redwoods. Very humbling to be among these oldies. Super interesting to see how the leaves grow towards the top to get the most sun.

I saw these love birds at Alpine lake up near Yosemite. My friends and I thought it was a sign because we've never seen eagles before but someone at the rental place said they're on the lake everyday. These two sat side by side, still, on this perch, overlooking the lake. They were right in view atop the barren tree trunk.