Purple flowers – purple bee’s knees! Actually, they’re called pollen baskets. The flowers are Globe Gilia and are native to California. And the bees, bugs and butterflies all love them!
(This picture is available as a print. Please leave a comment if you’re interested.)
I’ve never seen a hopper like this – it is so colorful! It was hanging out for days on the same cactus like this spider here and got a bit nervous when I got too close. I couldn’t find exactly what kind this is, so if anyone knows please leave in the comments. For another hopper without much color, click here.
This brown praying mantis peeked curiously through my window, I had to take a portrait. It was pretty large, about 4 to 5 inches long! And had such a friendly face 🙂 According to this praying mantis guide it was probably a male. There are more praying mantis photos here.
“Hello there!”
Our uro Joey.
Male mali uromastyx reproductive parts.
First we thought there was something wrong, but when checking with the Herp Society we learned that those were his male reproductive parts or genitals. (Sorry Joey :)) Since there still don’t seem to be many images about this on the web I’m posting it.
And while I have your attention, please do not buy your reptile at a store. Instead, search the web for your local herp society and get your pet from them.
We often hike in Towsley Canyon (Southern California) and during the spring and summer you’ll see lots of these brown lizards everywhere. This little gal or guy was camouflaged so well, you could barely see it sitting there on the rock. Anyone know what kind this brown lizard actually is?
Two flies are mating on a lavender plant 😉 Never knew how colorful flies were until I took this shot!
A sandpiper bird on Santa Monica beach. These birds look very delicate and vulnerable but are extremely fast runners!
Nice to see this rare honey bee visitor in our backyard. They used to cover the lavender plants, now I only see them occasionally. In the past three or four years I have seen more dead bees than live bees unfortunately.
