What? Two entries in the same month? Something has changed... and so it has.
Thanks to a ridiculous heat and humidity wave this summer, I have spent my nights in front of a fan and a laptop. My goal was to finish compiling images of all the arthropod species I've taken in San Diego County, order them in taxonomic rank, and publish them.
This was rather time consuming and not very exciting although I did enjoy reviewing the wonderful species that I've encountered the last few years. Many images were taken with a compact camera or iPhone back-in-the-day; however, they were clear enough for positive identification.
My goal is to not only share the wonderful beauty and diversity of the arthropods of San Diego County, but to share how important it is to learn how to be a Citizen Scientist. This is evident when clicking on the individual images of organisms. A new page will open that directs you to my Project Noah entry for that spotting. There you can read my description, habitat and notes (as well as see how my knowledge of anatomy, observation, etc has increased over the years). Some spottings even have video so you can see movement and maybe even hear the organism. The more people learn about wildlife (yes even creepy crawlies), the better they understand their role in nature and hopefully make the leap to accepting their importance to natures balance.
Now the whole taxonomic thing is so people can use it as a reference but I will be the first to admit that there may be errors. I have absolutely no science degree or formal qualification unless a self-proclaimed nature nerd status counts. I have been very fortunate to have met many experts and other nature nerds during my re-connection with nature and thought I should share what I've learned. I have a lot of people to thank for identifying my spottings such as my friends at Project Noah and at Bug Guide. Even a helpful guide of Natural History of Orange County has pointed me in the right direction. There have been countless books as well but I won't list them all here.
Accuracy is important so if you see an error or disagree with an identification, please don't hesitate to contact me. I can see who provided the id to me and further investigate what features led to the id. Photo identification is tough and just one image may not be enough (or any images alone for that matter). That's also where the Project Noah link comes in handy. I have up to 6 different images of that same organism at different angles. That can be very helpful for positive identification.
I still have images of other organisms from other locations in my portfolio. I hope to someday have a reference of other types of organisms in San Diego County but that's not in the near future. For now, check out what I have so far and come back for updates (additions, replacing images as I get better images of that organism, corrections, etc). Arthropods of San Diego County
I hope you find it useful or at the very least, interesting :)

     I can't believe it's been a year since I've posted anything on here. Here I am, working two jobs and have hardly ventured outside to enjoy wildlife. That is except those on our acreage of our new home. I love our oak woodland, grassland and chaparral. The wildlife are plenty yet I hardly have time to photograph what I see between unpacking, mending fences and tending to goats.
     As I take a few moments to type this, I can hear the wind blowing in the Oak trees, California Quail carefully cross the backyard to open space and hummingbirds compete for the feeder outside the window.
     I do grab the camera from time to time but don't keep it on me for fear of it getting damaged or really, really dirty. It's dry, I mean really dry! There is a layer of dust inside and out every day. We do our part to reduce water usage and only water the established trees as needed. The rest of the property is dirt which the dogs love to roll in and bring inside to share with the rest of us. If the drought continues a few more years, I think most of the wildlife will move on or decline.
     The critters I manage to photograph while eating dinner on the back patio or while watering the plants have mostly been new-to-me. I hope you enjoy seeing the wildlife as much as I do while they're here.

Well July is nearly done and I'm nowhere near finished with the site remodel. So much to do and so many distractions (AKA Life). I sure hope everyone is having a wonderful summer!

I'm heading out on a road trip for a week with the fam. We're exploring the beach, cities, tacky tourists stops and Redwood forests. I'm hoping to capture some new critters but this is family time, not mom-stopping-every-few-feet-for-a-photo time. I'm down to just the macro lens so not much practicing with scenic photography.

Let's plan on the site completion in the Fall. For now, here are some pics I have managed between activities this summer.

Happy trails!

Time certainly flies when you're having fun and working nearly every day. I was not trying to hide, just have little free time at present.

What free time I've had has been spent on a handful of hikes and updating the site to be more of a reference. It will be focusing on the organisms of Southern California.

Since the primary reason I picked up a camera in the first place was for knowledge of what's around me, I may as well have a site that contains all of the data I've collected.

Images on this site will contain a link to my Project Noah page for that particular species. That is where all of the data beyond the thumbnail is located. There you will find multiple images, a description, the habitat, date, location and a reference link. I expect to publish the changes to the site by the end of July.

As always, please contact me if you would like more information or permission to use this data. I hope everyone is well and is spending a lot of time outdoors!

As the hot Santa Ana's blow outside, I'm daydreaming of cool Alaska. My family and I had the vacation of a lifetime last summer in America's 50th state and we fell in love.

Hummingbirds are tiny, jewel-colored birds that are found in the Americas. They are flashy, fast, and very small! Some of the most colorful and unique species are found near the equator. This blog shows some species found in Southern California.

They then fly off to start the cycle again. If they survive the first year, they have a good chance at living a full life of up to 12 years.

If you are fortunate to live around hummingbirds, I hope you enjoy these amazing, little jewels of the Americas.

As I mentioned earlier, there are other causes for galls such as fungi, other plants, bacteria and viruses.  I have yet to spot a gall made from these other sources.

Below are a few more photographs of galls I've encountered so far.  There is a page dedicated to galls that I'll add more images to as I take them.

I have finally found an employer that I am proud to work for! For two decades, I have given my all for companies that make products I don't care about and do anything but help the environment. A few years ago, I had had enough so I left the workforce to search for something I felt good about being a part of. Something that enriched my soul, not drained it.

This period of my life is when I found Project Noah and started taking photographs. I absolutely loved it! I completed naturalist training at a local reserve and also signed up for a childhood cancer fundraiser that had me hiking every weekend in preparation for a 27 mile hike on the Pacific Crest Trail... in 12 hours. I felt great on both the outside and the inside!

Sadly, since this was all volunteer work, money eventually became an issue. I was unsuccessful finding a fulfilling career that accompanied a paycheck so I had to give in to an offer placing me straight back where I left. Ugh! That lasted just over a year before they decided I had to go.
Months later, it finally happened. I got a job that I'd been looking for. I now work at a zoo!  Animals, conservation, education, people passionate about the same interests, a paycheck. Perfect! And how am I supposed to resist snapping photo's of the incredible organisms? Well, being the big Star Trek fan that I am, I will simply say, resistance is futile!