A Live Badger Observed in Pine Hills (San Diego County)

No photos, unfortunately, but this was my first "good" view of a live badger ever, and especially interesting, at least for me, as it was in San Diego County.

On the night of May 1, 2019 while driving home from Palomar College, at around 11 pm in Pine Hills near the town of Julian I saw what looked like a low-slung cat waddle off to the left side of the road and then disappear into a small grassy ditch along the side of the road.

I decided to carefully back up and look more closely (from the car) and saw an unmistakeable badger face observing me from a foot or so from the edge of the road. That explained the short-legged waddle. I tried to take a record image with my cell phone but the head disappeared. Upon later investigation, there is a culvert in that spot which extends under the road, although on the opposite side it seems to be closed off.

I have driven along this stretch of road late at night two days per week for about 32 weeks per year over the past 12 years or so, so this sort of observation is a rarity.

For the record, the spot where this badger was seen was very close to:
33.048016, -116.636228 just south of the corner of Eagle Peak Road and Boulder Creek Road (as shown on Google maps).

An Interesting Scorpion...IN the House

On the morning of December 2nd, one of the cats was trying hard to tell us something but we were not quite getting it. Then I walked out into the hallway between our guest room and study and saw something odd along the edge of the base of the railing. It was clearly a small scorpion, dark in color. The cats wisely did not try to engage it. I quickly captured it and placed it in a container for further study. Unfortunately it was a Wednesday morning and I had to rush out the door to get down to Mesa College to teach a class and did not have time to do more than quickly post the image of it in the hallway to the web, in hopes of an identification. Kari McWest helped tremendously, and narrowed it to the genus Kovarikia and then later to K. williamsi, a species that is seldom-photographed alive.

On Friday, finally free from my intense mid-to-late-week schedule, I was able to do a photo shoot of the scorpion, then let it go to the natural habitat surrounding the house.

Here are the images:

The first view of the scorpion in the hallway. We speculated that it might have been carried in on firewood.

Mushrooms are Popping!

Must be the rain we've had. More than I'm used to seeing here in Cuyamaca Woods and surroundings...

These photogenic fungi were too much to resist, so I got the camera and drove back down the road to the area near the entrance to Camp Winacka on Boulder Creek Road (after making an earlier foray into Julian). MAYBE Leucoagaricus americanus? According to Mykoweb, an excellent resource for identifying Californica mushrooms, that species is common in the midwest and east, but rare here, and usually associated with wood chips around suburban areas. This photo was taken with available light and the tripod (at 1/10 second and ISO 100).

Another nice cluster.

Some mature ones.

A young one...crying out to be photographed!

Large white mushroom (tbd). This was one of about 8 -10 that were growing along the side of the road near the corner of Sandy Creek Road and Mountain Meadow Road.

This one (also along Mountain Meadow Road just down from our house) will look impressive when it opens up, I suspect. It's about 4 inches tall now.

More Pepsis (and Others) at the Baccharis

The Baccharis sarothroides that we planted nine years ago (and which normally lives at slightly lower elevations) continues to flower...and flower, and flower. The rains seem to have created the ideal flowering conditions for them, as I don't remember them being quite this rich in prior years (although they flower every fall).

Pepsis mildei and Pepsis thisbe (and possibly P. pallidolimbata, but hard to tell due to wing wear) and the most abundant visitors, with P. mildei (with the orange antennae) being the most numerous.

I saw no Pepsis mildei over the summer at the milkweed. Those Pepsis seemed to be P. thisbe primarily.

The luxuriously flowering Baccharus. This is only a small fraction of it. 

Pepsis mildei male. He has 11 flagellomeres (long segments) on his antennae (females have 10). 

Orange antennae and dark margins on the wings identify this species (at least in this region).

I believe that this is a Pepsis thisbe male, due to the amount of hyaline (clear) edging on the wing tips.

A large bumblebee (likely a queen). Looks like Bombus occidentalis, but I am not certain yet.

This bee slowly moved from flower to flower...

Look Up!

On June 30th, a nice almost-full moon rose over the trees to the east, with some delicate clouds dressing it up a bit.

Venus and Jupiter still hovered to the west, and I thought I'd finally take a shot of them. For fun, I also did an eight minute long exposure of the two planets, letting them streak a bit.

It was truly full the next night, but to my eyes, it looks pretty round in outline here.

Venus (the larger one) and Jupiter.

"Planet-streak"

This high ISO image of the Milky Way was not taken this year - I took it in July of 2012. I may experiment with these night sky images a bit more this summer.

A Hen Turkey Decides to Take a Break on the Patio

This hen turkey decided to settle down on the patio this morning, for some reason known only to herself. Gary spotted her and called (in subdued tones) for me to come down -- with camera -- and the cats started to converge (meowing TOO much, I must say!). I finally was able to get right up against the glass to get a decent image of her, while Bonnie crouched next to me, emitting her chattery "bird meow". She had a hankering for a turkey drumstick!! For the record, Bonnie has done this same behavior with a full grown DEER that visited the patio years ago. She wants to bite off WAY more than she can chew...

She was well aware of our presence, and stiffened visibly, or even craned her neck, when little movements occurred on our side of the glass. She had some flies buzzing around her and took a peck at them now and then. She seemed uninjured when she stood up and walked away later.

Bonnie, ready to take on "big game". Bonnie never leaves the house, and would have no clue of how to hunt, I suspect...but don't tell HER that.

FOS (First of Season) Insects at the Black Light!

As the work responsibilities wane, and the weather FINALLY starts to mellow, I had a chance to put the black light out on the patio last night, in wonderfully warm, calm air. It seems like this season so far has either been cool (too cool at night here in the mountains for many insects) or very hot (with intense wind and wildfires thrown in for good measure). I hope we're starting the "normal" late spring/summer season with moderate warmth...and not so much WIND!

The first Prionus californicus of the season buzzed in to the light early on. I shifted him to one of the "photo rocks" nearby for a picture.

Prionus californicus (the California Root Borer).

Not long after, the first Polyphylla decemlineata that I have seen this season showed up (noisily, and clumsily). He did not want to pose, but I managed a quick shot of him as he clambered off this bit of sandstone.

Polyphylla decemlineata, the Ten-lined June Beetle

There was an unusually high number of reddish cockroaches, most of which were not going to the light, specifically, but were lingering around in the shadows. Usually I see just a couple of these at a time, but this time there were at least a dozen. Must be a good year for them.

Cockroach. Possibly Parcoblatta or some other native roach, or possibly Turkistan Cockroaches, which are invasives.

One of the "Giant Ants" made on appearance, as well. These ants are about 15 mm long (at least). Possibly a carpenter ant.

On the prowl...

There were also the usual Brown Leatherwings (Pacificanthia consors), Serica sp. (to be determined later by those who know them better than I), and miscellaneous moths, as well as a large Olios spider feasting on a crane fly.

A pretty typical late-May evening on the patio.