Dipper Ranch

Chorro Creek bog thistle on a reserve on the Cal Poly-SLO campus.    2019 UPDATE:  I've now moved to San Luis Obispo (SLO) County fa...

Windscorpian    It's walnut harvest time. There's going to be a big crop and lots of neighbors and friends to share the bounty...

Female timema from oak tree, 3/14/15   Oaks have spring flowers too. Yellow male catkins dangle from the tips of oak branches the bett...

green segmented bunch of legs antennae kinda squishy That makes it a bug, right?    I say, "I don't do bugs" but t...

Check this thing out. I've been researching it but haven't had the time to write about it. The more I read about it, the more co...

Wolf's milk - actually not a fungus or a Hostess pastry - a fact I learned while browsing iNaturalist    The National Park Service i...

Southern alligator lizard ( Elgaria multicarinata ) sunning next to filaree seedlings. Last week we got the first rain of the season on ...

A lacy doily made out of petals of a cudweed I have crafty caterpillars in my farmyard.  My five sisters inherited our grandma's s...

Almaden Quicksilver County Park Almaden Quicksilver County Park  is located in south San Jose around the former mining town of New Almade...

Edgewood Park and Natural Preserve, Redwood City, California Edgewood Park and Natural Preserve  balances on the edge of San Francisco...

As you travel on Highway 101 between San Jose and Morgan Hill, you may have noticed bright patches of spring color on the hills to the east...

International Rock Flipping Day is today (September 12).  Go ahead,  flip a rock, record what you observe, and send info including photos, ...

 Rain beetle with interesting orange-red combs on its antennae. It's still raining gobs in May which is unusual for California.  I feel...

--- Pacific spiketail devouring a wasp or similar insect as detected by the yellow & black parts dropping from its mouth. --- Dragoning...

First rain Sunday night. September and maybe October will still have hot, dry days of Indian summer , at least our western version where t...

Got lucky today and had a camera when I saw another tarantula hawk. It could be either a Hemipepsis or a Pepsis species. A knowledgeable ...

--- Notice the red hairs on the tarantula's abdomen. --- I was driving a hot country road one evening last week. 96 degrees Fahrenheit...

Plants use flowers to communicate with aliens. Over eons of meticulous research, the most creative plant families have developed countless ...