Bookwyrme's Lair

Skimmers are such beautiful birds.

I think this is a side-blotched lizard     I don't know why this made me nervous; it's not as if I didn't know about the rat...

An egret fishing

There seem to be several nests in Bolsa Chica all full of busy, hungry blue herons.

I think this may be a western fence lizard.

When they aren't eating my garden, snails are rather beautiful in their own way. I'm trying to find out which sort this is. It...

A sunflower. I do not think it is native, but I suspect the birds will enjoy the seeds all the same. A native coastal sunflower. The...

Finally saw one for sure at Bolsa Chica!

Looks like there will be blue heron babies in Bolsa Chica's future.  

A squirrel enjoys a midday meal at Bolsa Chica.

Brown pelicans always look so fierce and prehistoric when they are flying overhead.

You know how people are always nagging at you to be careful what you do with your trash? This is one of the reasons.

A cormorant tending its wings in the evening at Bolsa Chica. I think it's a Double Crested Cormorant .

I've tentatively tagged this as a Black-Necked Grebe in non-breeding plumage. The size and coloration seem right. They were busy divin...

I added a belted kingfisher to my list of birds. There was quite a glare, so I didn't get as good a look at it as I'd have liked. ...

I recently decided to learn more about the creatures in my neighborhood, including, finally, their names, so I'm slowly working on learn...

I saw the squirrel first, standing on his hind legs and waving his tail. Then I looked down. The rattlesnake was pouring himself across ...

On a recent visit to Bolsa Chica, I spotted these tiny, metallic green wasps (I thought). They were fascinating, flashing in the sun, and I ...

To me, the barrier is an eyesore, a regretted necessity. To the heron, it is a convenient place to sit and watch for fish. The hero...

Egrets find the fence a  convenient resting place. The wall there helpfully funnels the fish right to them. If you look carefully, y...