Snapshots of spring

 This hymenopteran (tiny bee? wasp?) was DOA, discovered while I was weeding.

It is SO TINY I had to carry it on a saucer

with a glass over it to keep it from blowing away. 

The irises are blooming, now. Not all of 'em, but this one is going at it. =)

See the TEENY tiny thrip?

An extremely small insect

living in an impossibly beautiful place.

Western fence lizard watching me photograph irises.

I'm not sure that's an approving gaze... 

The "beard" in bearded irises reminds me SO strongly of nudibranchs.

I'm JUST in love with irises. And the ones I have smell amazing, too. That's a requirement. =)

A local native, golden brodiaea. Beautiful buttery yellow faces beaming up at you.

Even with the drought, they're making a good showing.

They're just shorter than usual, if I remember correctly.

Yay, natives! 

An extremely tiny spider (crab spider) atop a pale owl's clover flower.

For a sense of how tiny thrips are, look at the pale part of the bloom,

center left edge. 

Zooming WAY in, there's a few thrips.

Can you find this tiny section in the previous photo?

One last moody gaze from a still-unfurling iris, this year's very first.

A great thing about irises, since I am clearly deeply in love with them,

is that they love OUR climate.

They don't need summer water.

They just sit there, high and dry, through the drought,

waiting for the rainy season to return.

Lovely, since my standards for the drought tolerance

of plants I'll allow in our garden is rising every year.

I hope your spring (or fall) is progressing beautifully.

xoxobb

been in the field, pardon... =) 2 rattlers, today!!

 
So, my fatty Nikon D50 is harder to carry around, yank out of my pack at a rattler, etc. BUT, it has the advantage of me knowing how to USE it to actually, you know, FOCUS. On the SUBJECT.

Today's BEST shot of a rattlesnake. (erg.)

The BIGGEST rattlesnake, of course, I did NOT get a picture of. My task was to grab it out of a burrow and move it to the happy side of the wildlife fencing (i.e. the side that does NOT lead to cars and squishing). Did not succeed 'cause it decided it did NOT want to move so glided further into a ground squirrel burrow complex (outtareach and undaground).

I will admit that it was HUGE, I was a little intimidated.

Here's a co-worker moving a very cranky gopher snake to the happy side of the fence.

Doin'

the go-fa-snake

shuf-fle.

Zoom in on me. The chick who took my photo cannot use her new camera, so every time she crops a shot, well, almost, the computer says the new shot is 0KB. And I'm handsome!

Honestly, I just ate a scone post dinner (what's up with that??) so I gotta get to the gym right now. More some other time. When?? Hard 2 say.

=) Back in the field next week, more snaky rescue, possibly with my bulky-yet-beloved Nikon fatty. =)

Hope y'all are well!

xobb