Photo Sunday, 8/5/18

Photo by Ken Ekelund.

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Dudleya. If you know the location, please do not reveal. As many of you know, these have been subject to poaching up and down the CA and OR coast by visitors who then ship thousands overseas for profit. Take photos, not plants.

Photos – bird & flowers

I saw these last week on my travels. The bird might be a peregrine falcon (I am never sure of my bird IDS) and the two flowers. The pink one looks like a wine cup, which is in the clarkia family, but the color is not as deep maroon, as is usual. The yellow one I have never seen before and neither my California nor my Monterey Wildflower books have this one,  but finally found it in my North American wildflowers book. No leaves at all, just the stalk, that I could see. It is a Golden Star or Bloomeria crocea in the Lily family.

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Someone suggested an immature red-tailed hawk, but I am not sure, either, given the lack of white feathers on the legs. As I said,  I am rarely confident in my bird IDs, Here is one for comparison.

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Another special wildflower

There is a patch of Delphiniums I have watched for years. It is not a big patch. Some years, it is only 1/2 a dozen or so, other years, it is a couple dozen or so. Never bigger. As all wildflower lovers know, Delphiniums are blue.

This year, “my” patch has a pink one. This is not the clearest photo I’ve ever taken, but the wind was blowing it around. I will try again tomorrow, but for now, enjoy this version.

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Favorite Big Sur Wildflower

I really needed a change of pace, from the problems of overuse, to something much more beautiful, so I suspected you did too. This is the Calochortus venustus, or Mariposa Lily. My favorite.

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May Wildflowers on Plaskett Ridge

Here are just a few of the wildflowers I photographed on the way down Saturday.

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And then there were –  what used to be the exceedingly rare, but much more prolific in the last few years – Charmin flowers.

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