One of many captured during a night eye shine survey.
I observed four separate groups of pelicans flying in lines, one behind another.
Group one had six birds; group two had eight; group three had thirteen; group four had four pelicans.
The birds were flying north to south, over the surf line, adjacent to the beach.
Description: yellowish-tan with whitish stripe behind beak; stripe runs down neck from top to bottom; body grayish-brown.
I sat at the picnic table with a sandwich in hand. Four pigeons flew in and landed on the table, about 2' from me.
Each pigeon appeared to be an adult. Appearance: head, neck solid, dark gray; body, lighter gray; wings three stripes (dark/light/dark) from front edge to back edge of wing; tail same shade of dark gray as head/neck, with some white.
One pigeon repeatedly tried to take the sandwich out of my hand or get into my lunchbox, and flew away when I waved my hand and said "Get away!"
This is the first time I have experienced such close-up, aggressive behavior from a pigeon!
I observed this caterpillar in my back yard. Does anyone know what it is?
Fuchsia Flowered Gooseberry! Found this while doing a "sit spot" observation in Fort Ord.
Beautiful pattern on this flower. Seemed to like the shady parts of the trail.
This test was standing up next to a rock on the beach. When I picked it up to take a photo I was pleased it was not broken. The skeleton is bleached white by the sunlight according to Wikipedia.
The plant was growing on the beach near the entrance to the main beach access to Fort Ord Dunes State Park.
The leaves are green or red and white underneath. This is a food plant of larvae of the Smith's Blue Butterfly.
Turn off from e. machine gun flats onto trail 56. Beautiful day!
Monterey County, California, US
