unidentified fungal object

What is the longest amount of time you ever spent staring at a fungus?

This morning

This morning:

Grasshopper













Chamaesyce albomarginata. wikipedia says it is in the Euphorbia genus which is very, very outdated taxonomy, don't always trust wiki for species names. The pseudoflowers are called cyathium.








LBM:
Little brown mushroom


Helianthemum scoparium

San Diego Wreath Plant (Stephanomeria diegensis or possibly Stephanomeria exigua) is a very ruderal native annual, learn more here (scroll down).



with a bee:




Nuttall's snapdragon (Antirrhinum Nuttallianum)






Stink bug with fungus:

Silver and Green

Silver and Green


Here is a Silverback Fern. When dormant it curls up to only show the highly reflective silver underside. After a rain it unfurls to show the green photosynthetic side of its leaves. Winter is the alive season here.




This one is almost entirely unfurled, just the very tip remains unfurled.




Silver and green lichens, there are silverback ferns on the right.












These are liverworts. They are very primitive but have actual sperm with flagella like animals but unlike flowering plants.





Dudleya Pulverulenta is actualy this silver. It's leaves are densely farinose to protect its leaves from intense sunlight.

Blair Valley

I slept in the desert.

There were teddy bear cholla...








and Mammilaria





lots of agave desertii





a few ferocactus cylindricus








and echinocereus







I woke up before dawn and walked to a site that was once a seasonal a Kumeyaay village.
This symbol is all that is left of a pictograph over a thousand years old. Below the black symbol there are more symbols in a red pigment that are very faint. Nobody knows what they mean.




This vertical rock had many smooth dents carved carefully into it.



This is the main grinding stone. The mortero holes are a foot deep and were made slowly by dozens of generations. At the top there are some that were just started.



This is what the place looks like.

Yesterday I caught (not for keeps) this little guy. His lost tail (lost before I cought him, not as a result of me) is just starting to grow back. Regeneration of lost parts is a cool adaptation that I wish I had. In this pic you can also see the bit of flesh on my index finger that I cut off and re-attached. It looks pretty good now. It was all white and bloodless the first two days. I will never have the feeling back in it though.







This tiny guy has the powder blue throat of a mature male fence lizard. Usualy they do not develop the blue markings untill they are sexualy mature and almost full grown-this little guy is quite precocious and it can't be blamed on the hormones in milk.

This is a female trapdoor spider (link) hole:


Can you see it?








This is the Wiki link
The burrow is lined with satin smooth silk. The door fits so tightly that when it is closed you cant fit a pocket knife blade in the crack. Obviosly I know a trick to open them. There are drap door spider species in the mediterranean region as well.






The male trapdoor spider hole is half the size of the female.