Flinging photos: Sierra Nevada lower-montane life in early March

 This appeared at our window last night & I almost had a heart attack:

It's a ceanothus silkmoth (ID thanks to @CrawliesWithCri), 3.5-5 inch wingspan. AMAZING.

Just look at that gorgeous abdomen! So stylish, jeepers.

After taking some photos w/my confused camera (why shooting at night??)

I went back inside & turned off our lights so it would stop being confused by us,

and continue on toward finding a mate, or whatever it would normally do. =)

So, walking in the dark house, smiling quietly,

my husband said, "Welcome to Samantha National Park."

I'm glad he understands. =)

Baby Blue Eyes and Friends

Photographed first baby blue eyes (Nemophila menziesii) on our property this year, March 3rd.

When I uploaded the photo, saw I captured one of

the so tiny (presumed) globular springtails in focus. So cute!

If you scroll back up to the flower photo, can you find the tiny bug?

For amazing shots of all kinds of these cuties,

much clearer, and much closer up,

check out Ed Phillip's photos on Flickr.

Truly, his work is superb,

and there's such diverse colors & patterns in these species.

He finds them in leaf piles on the ground. So, so cool.

Love and Death

Just this morning, saw evidence of a spidery romance on our window...

I think it's a female up top, and a male down below.

"So, Bob. How'd the date go last night?"

(no response)

"Bob?"

Presumed female looks as innocent as possible...

batting her perty eyelashes.

Dating in the spider world is risky business.

Other Visitors

Teddybears of the insect world, a bee fly appeared recently.

Super hard species to get good photos of--they're very speedy and restless. 

For much better photos:

The subfamily Bombyliinae has lots of the fuzzy types.

Check out this shot--WOW. SO CUTE!

We flung out some birdseed & got lovely visitors, including this spotted towhee (Pipilo maculatus).

The redberry (Rhamnus ilicifolia) is blooming--it's an extremely subtle event.

At least to us. Lots of tiny bugs are floating around it, so for them it's shouting.

Those teensy green blooms are barely discernible to my eyes.

Squinting hard I can pick out the white stigma to know which are open.

Miner's lettuce (Claytonia spp.) is also blooming happily.

 Another fan of the birdseed: a brave western gray squirrel.

 And last, early for Easter, a black-tailed jackrabbit (Lepus californicus) plays peek-a-boo.

Happy spring!

xoxobb

The Stranger

Was supposed to take a photograph of a (presumably human?) stranger, yesterday,

for the photo challenge, but I didn't see one.

Work at the house, & no one darkened our door, yesterday.

So, how 'bout this charming creature, from a few days ago?

We've not been formally introduced.

This spotted towhee was on the back porch during the cold snap,

when snow covered almost everything,

and our porch sported birdseed.

It was a rare treat--this is a pretty people-shy bird.

Since the snow melted, most of the birds have abandoned our porch,

save the ever present dark-eyed juncos, and the occasional western scrub jay.

The spotted towhee is among the missing.

*sigh*

Perhaps I should have called after them, "Don't be a stranger!"

I fling birdseed onto the back porch, and the towhee ignores it.

It doesn't want to be my friend.

I can't blame it.

After all, I have cats.

Professional killers in my house.

Clearly a character flaw.

Smart bird.

xoxobb

Beauty (this is gonna be EASY)

Day 7 of the 30 day photo challenge.

I'm going for everyday beauty,

'cause frankly, it's all around, all the time.

And to prove it, I'm not even LEAVING MY HOUSE to do this.

Western scrub-jay gettin' snacks post 6" snow dump & 14F night.

 Spotted towhee doing the same.

Ditto junco.

 Traffic signs showing mammalian searches for food & love today.

=)

Next photo assignment is Dance.

CAVEAT

To be 100% honest, these may evolve into mere tweets,

'cause I'm traveling this week, visiting, and will be BUSY

w/no internet action most the time.

Which is good, too.

Anyhow, if you've not yet, feel free to

check out @biobabbler (Samantha Biobabbler) on "the twit"

for more from the 30 Days of Photographs (via @just_go_do_it)

in case this site grows still.

xoxoxobb