Last Days of Summer

It's mid-September and the oppressive Summer heat is beginning to wane. We had a weekend of rain and our temperatures dropped into the 40's today. Yahoo! I love the shifting of seasons. It happens so gradually that it is easy to overlook the subtle changes.

 On a recent visit to Lake Hemet, I recognized big changes from a month ago. Berries are now on the bushes. Coffee Berry, California Honeysuckle, Rose and Toyon are covered in blue, red and orange.
With this plentiful fruit, lots of birds are enjoying the feast!

The arrival of Spring flowers was so spectacular due to our wet Winter that it's easy to overlook late Summer/early Fall blooms. Insects and butterflies don't miss them though.

Painted Ladies and green-eyed Orange Sulfur butterflies covered this Rabbit Brush yesterday. 

 Another abundant butterfly can be found in the Oak trees - the California Sister

It's really easy to overlook camouflaged moths. Since arriving here, I discovered that there are some really spectacular moths that live in these mts including the White-lined Sphinx Moth, Bumblebee Moth and One-eyed Spinx Moth. My newest discovery last week is the Pandora Moth.

This photo is pretty bad so close your eyes and imagine a moth that at first glance is a moth with grey coloring. When it opens its wings, you see white hind wings with a tinge of pink exposing an abdomen with yellow stripes and bright yellow antennae! Stunning, indeed!

I was reminded about paying attention this weekend while looking for a bird in a grove of trees. I totally missed this nearby Southern Pacific Rattlesnake that was a foot off the trail. He let me know that he was nearby with his loud rattle. The lesson was a good one. Later in the day, I didn't miss the juvenile Golden Eagle fly overhead. I enjoyed the playful Ravens soaring in the sky and I saw a brief rainbow that lasted just a few minutes.

Hairy Woodpecker

There's a lot to discover where ever you are but the challenge is being able to pay attention and see what surrounds you. It's worth the effort!!!

If you are wondering what is going on with the hummingbirds in our backyard, take a look. They are still around. Every afternoon, 20 or more of Anna's Hummingbirds with a couple of Black-chinned and Rufous Hummers show up. Some of them are starting to look like feathered ping-pong balls. My reward is having one land on my finger while it drinks from the feeder. There's nothing like it!

Click on photos to enlarge
Photos and content by Robin Roberts

Thanks Bruce and Kurt for some tricky ID's