False Lake Meadow

The previous post with the coyote was in a different meadow from this one.  

I like this meadow better for few people pass through here.

Here is looking down almost the full length of the meadow.

 Looking back from where I came.  The trail is well worn in from mountain bikes who are NOT supposed to be riding through here.  Fortunately they stick to this track and haven't created a spider web of trails cris-crossing the meadow.

It is green now but for the better part of the year all is brown.  You can see the even brighter green where water settles and a very shallow stream slowly meanders through the meadow.  

This could be the meaning behind the name given False Lake.

It is so peaceful and quiet here you can hear the birds

in the oak trees on the far side doing whatever it is birds like to do.

Whoa!  This is what happens when you accidentally push the shutter release on your camera.

Coyote Fever

There is the condition known as Buck Fever where the hunter once spying his deer gets so excited that he forgets to load his gun, shoots too soon or does something stupid that causes him to miss his quarry.

Something similar occurred to me when I encountered this coyote.

I was standing at the edge of this meadow in the shaded area to the right 

when I noticed this coyote coming straight towards me.

He saw me before I saw him and wasn't concerned in the least about my presence.

I slowly got my camera out and took these pictures

and it finally dawned on me...TAKE A MOVIE dummy!  

And there you have coyote fever.

I've seen them from a distance often but never had one this close before.
They really are a pretty animal.

The Last Fungi

These two images probably will be the last of the fungi for this season.

This one looks like a perfectly cooked pancake.

Appears to be the same type of fungi.  An overly cooked pancake.

I may come across a few more but I don't plan to beat the brush looking for them.

Slim pickings this year.

Fleeting Reflections

Standing water is a rarity in my next door State Park so when there is some, 

you take advantage of the reflections. 

This is a running stream in Frey Canyon.  The water here is always milky looking and this may be due to the rich deposit of rhyolite farther up in the canyon.  Rhyolite is a volcanic rock of silica composition and maybe this is silica suspended in the water.

In another part of the park a large oak tree is reflected in a small pond 

that will not last much longer unless we get more rain.

Just Little Me...

...casting a long shadow along the trail.

On the weekends I don't go out on the trails.  Too many people out there so I leave them for those poor souls who still have to work during the week.  On those weekdays I have the trails all to myself!

(insert smiley face here)

A Record Find

I have never seen this large of an outcropping of witches butter (I love that name) before 

so when I photographed it I assumed it was some similar type of fungi.

Back home I looked online and found various shapes, sizes and colors of witches butter shown so I'll go ahead and log this in as such and a record size find for me.  In the past what I have found were like those off to the side of the main mass shown here.

A lot of the ferns in my forest have suffered due to our drought here in California but this clump of sword fern was doing very well so I just had to photograph it.

Forest Scene

It is suppose to rain today and tomorrow and I hope it does 

for the ferns and mosses would really appreciate the moisture.

Waxy Caps

While hiking along I came upon a young lady stooped down taking pictures of some grass stems.  I stopped thinking she had found some mushrooms to photograph.  Nope.  I showed her the pictures of these I had as they were the find of the day for me.  She rattled off a Latin name so I figured this woman knows her fungi.  Knowing I'd never get the spelling correct I asked her what the common name was and she told me "waxy caps".  Putting together this post I searched images online for waxy caps and all types of mushrooms came up with only a couple images kind of looking like these.  

Oh well.  Call them whatever you want.  I think they're great by any name.
And too, for as pretty as they are I think they deserve a better name.  Any ideas?

Misshapen and Pretty

This mushroom was a little bent out of shape or maybe it is suppose to be that way.

Sometimes it is due to the struggle in breaking through the surface

which may have been the case here.

Pretty color to this fungi.

Mushroom Shortage

I am not finding as many mushrooms and fungi as in the past years.

May be a result of the ongoing drought.

Notice the little sprout underneath

What a Difference a Century Makes

The daily commute, then and now.

This was sent to me in a collection of Unique Photos.

I thought this one was especially telling.

Whereas in the first photo they are reading local and world news,

in the second photo everyone is looking at the coffee their friends just bought at Starbucks.

Fungus Tree

I've never seen this much bracket fungi on a standing tree before.  

Usually on down trees that are dead.

I am not sure if the white furry stuff was spider webbing or some action from the fungi itself but since it looks like dusting off the side on the bark I'm thinking a spores release.

Beauty of Nature

Sometimes we tend to take for granted the beauty of Nature all around us.  

Just pause for a moment and you can find it right at your feet.

Ah, but Nature can get ugly too.

Just a few feet beyond I came across this crime scene.

The body had already been removed by the time I arrived.

"Nothing to see here folks.  Just move along."

Mirror Clear

A still day produces a nice reflection.

I am out there hiking about today looking for more to photograph.  What will I find?

More nice reflections? Another slimy fungi?

Maybe some boxing jackrabbits? 

As usual for me I never can decide between color of black & white for selected photos.

So I present both and let you to decide.

Sign of the Season: Black-tailed jackrabbit boxing

Evidently I was unknowingly a witness to this behavior shown in yesterday's post.  A follower to my blog sent this from the Bay Nature bulletin he receives.

Every spring jackrabbits deviate from their usual routine of staying

hidden in shrubbery to head out into the open to compete for the role

of top hare among the jills (females). Bay Nature’s contributing

editor Alison Hawkes is covering this annual phenomenon, which

includes “boxing matches” as the females fend off the males. We’re

looking for shots of these antics, and while we’d prefer that they be

from the Bay Area, we’ll consider shots from other locations in

California if the content is right.

I was unaware that jackrabbits did this.  

I was also unaware that the females were referred to as jills.

I like that.

Bunny Play

I was intently trying to follow cat tracks left in the muddy trail and never noticed the two rabbits just ahead of me.  I grabbed a quick shot for usually at this point they would dart away.  

But these two did not.  You can just pick them out in the center, one on each side of what appears to be a log lying on the grass.

I slowly moved in closer and they resumed their frolicking about without a care that I was there. 

Hard to tell in these fast grab shots but the one on the right is airborne with all four feet off the ground.

I first thought I had interrupted some boy/girl action but when one finally ran off to the far brush,

the other sat there and did not chase off after "her".  I think they were just playing and having fun.

Oooey Gooey

A fungi I found along the trail where the two specimens below it are slowly dissolving into a gooey dripping.  It reminded me of a favorite rhyme of mine when a little boy.

Oooey Gooey was a worm

A mighty worm was he.

He sat upon a railroad track

train he did no see.

Oooey Gooey

Losing Followers to Your Blog?

The week before last I all of a sudden lost a handful of followers from my blog.  I wondered what I had posted that upset so many to abandon ship all in mass.  Well this morning Genie at Climbing the Digital Mountain had a post about the very same issue she was experiencing.  The Super-sleuth she is, she found out what was going on.  So click on the highlighted link above if you too have lost a large amount of followers.  Now I know it wasn't anything I said or did. 

Now with that all cleared up, here is a happy little cascade.