Critters of Jolon
When I drive to work (as opposed to taking the bus or vanpool) I try to swing by some areas reliable for spotting elk or cool birds. I don’t always see the elk in their usual spots, but sometimes I get lucky.
This herd enjoyed a cooling rest stop in the marsh, which accounts for why their bottom parts are dark colored.
Late in the day they are backlit, which makes photography more challenging
I went in the morning last week, when the light was good, but the bull was nowhere to be seen.
The late-season calf is getting bigger.
The watering hole also attracted mule deer and wild turkeys.
Of course, birds are great subjects, too.
The yellow-billed magpie has eluded me with perfect portrait poses or lighting. This one was pretty close, though.
Even thought it was late October, the male red-winged blackbirds seemed to be trying to impress the ladies. Or maybe just each other.
A great egret (I still call them American egrets) is often seen in the area.
A kestrel and acorn woodpecker vied for the same pole.
I’ve visited this area many times in the two years I’ve lived here, and there is almost always something interesting to photograph.
Photos and text copyrighted by Cindy McIntyre
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Monterey County Wildflowers
We have had six months of pleasantly cool weather with plenty of moisture in California this year, and the Memorial Day weekend was a perfect time to look for tiny treasures in the Los Padres National Forest and environs of southern Monterey County.
The harlequin lupine (above) was perhaps one of the most interesting flowers I found, and it was only in a small patch of ground. They aren’t rare, but I guess they’re also not common.
Read the rest of this entry »Pinnacles National Park – Wildflowers Second Wave
The first wave of wildflowers at Pinnacles National Park has gone by, and the second wave is going strong even though the grass has now turned brown and gone to seed.
The California buckwheat was beginning to bloom, and this head was the nicest of the bunch.
Read the rest of this entry »Pinnacles National Park
Flowers have been blooming all over California for a couple of months, and despite the end of the rainy season, they are still going strong. Early blooms go to seed and mid- to late-season blooms replace them.
These are among the early bloomers at Pinnacles National Park. The Fremont’s star lily is in the same toxic family as the death camas, which is what I thought it was at first. The park has a nice wildflower guide on its website which set me straight. This visit was on April 15, so the landscape will look different now.
Read the rest of this entry »Central Coast Wildflowers
My photos needing editing are covering my computer desktop, so I’d better get these up while the flowers are still blooming.
Last year there were almost no wildflowers blooming in southern Monterey County, and the green grasses from the winter rains didn’t last very long.
Read the rest of this entry »Carrizo Plain Just Gets Better!
I have viewed wildflowers in many parts of the country, from the giant lupines in Maine to the sub-alpine bouquets of Mount Rainier, the bluebonnet and paintbrush fields of Texas, and the superbloom in the California deserts. But I have never seen the type of expansive floral bounty as I have in the Carrizo Plain National Monument.
Tidy Tips 
Owl’s Clover 
Fiddleneck closeup 
Owls Clover 
Phacelia 
Phacelia 
Phacelia 
Fiddleneck
More Superbloom
I discovered a very pretty hillside two weeks ago when I exited the southern end of Soda Lake Road in Carrizo Plain National Monument, and took a short drive to explore.
I love the soft curves of the grassy hills in Central Coast California, and am still wowed by the brilliant greens which we hardly saw last year. But add in the vivid yellow hillside daisies, and the goldfields belly flowers, and I’m in loooooovvvveeee with the landscape.
Read the rest of this entry »Carrizo Plain Wildflower Feast
For some reason, people seem to think the purple wildflowers are the most desirable, or at least the best colors to set off the sunshine yellows of the goldfields and hillside daisies at Carrizo Plain National Monument.
Me, I’m a fan of yellow. Lemon yellow. The most brilliant yellow that has carpeted the hills and fields of this area. I do love it when a smattering of purple shows up, however. Yellow, green, purple. Sometimes goldenrod where there are the fiddlenecks. If I could get orange California poppies added to the quilt I’d be in wildflower heaven.
Read the rest of this entry »Carrizo Plain Wildflowers-March 3
It only took a week and a little more rain and cool weather, and the yellow splashes on a few hillsides spread like wet paint splattered on the landscape. While most of the wild color occurs just outside the Carrizo Plain National Monument, it is clearly visible from Soda Lake and Seven Mile Roads.
I love clouds that add depth and an ever-changing light show, and because the plain is skirted by two rows of hills, the clouds were held back just enough to allow sunlight to dapple the soft hills.
Read the rest of this entry »Carrizo Plain Winter Birds
Last week’s visit to Carrizo Plain National Monument yielded some nice birds as well as a herd of at least 100 Tule elk about a half mile in the distance.
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