ETIII, L2

On my bedroom windowsill this morning,
having some sun and a little spritz.

Cold weather friend

Now that the rainy season is here, the salamanders are out,
and by "out", I mean under stuff. I found 3 of them under
a trashcan the other day.

Rippled slug

I came across this slug the other morning in my back yard.
At about 2 1/2 inches, it's about as big as slugs get around here.




Its skin looked especially rippled. Like it was sporting a
full-body fingerprint.




Or maybe some slimy, shiny woodgrain.

Monarch caterpillar peak season

Well, this is nothing I haven't seen (or photographed)
a bunch of times, but the monarch caterpillars at the
arboretum are approaching critical mass, at least on
certain patches of milkweed.



There are some clumps of tall ornamental grass that the
caterpillars like to hang from in order to make their chrysalis.


A jewel of nature.

Incidental zoo critter

The other day, Jerry and I went to the San Diego Wild Animal Park.
I left the animal photography to him, with his superior camera and big lens.
I still ended up finding a cute little bug to take a picture of.

This natty little treehopper was on a plant in the "Botanical"
section of the park.

The stripe-eyed fly

This bee-sized hoverfly has a strikingly striped set of eyes.
But I was amused by its busy tongue, dab-dab-dabbing all
over the flowers.

You can sort of see the tongue in this video clip.

Popout

Original video source

My favorite part of the caterpillar

The prolegs!

Hairy stinkbugs: Prionosoma podopioides?

Fullerton Arboretum, Orange County, California, USA
November 30, 2008
Size: 1 cm (approx)

I found a family of hairy stinkbugs at the arboretum today.
I've never seen this kind before. I submitted it to Bugguide to
confirm if it's Prionosoma podopioides.