R: Wiry Snapdragon.
Today we had a Monday to BOTH go Naturing, and Brian was craving a warmer climate than SF had on offer. So we headed down South to the trusty peninsula, where the warmer temps were. He had never been to Edgewood, and I still had a couple trails left there to explore. And have been seeing a good amount of Butterfly observations coming out of there on iNat. So…
We visited the North end which I’d yet to see, taking the Old Stage Road, Edgewood, and Serpentine Trail Loop on AllTrails. And as of today, I’ve now been all around the outskirts of Edgewood!
I wasn’t sure what to expect, wildflower-wise. It’s been a strange late Winter and Spring, it seems. Starting out, we immediately saw a handful of Ithuriel’s Spear flowers. And it seemed intriguing to me to still see them. Were those recentish rains why they were still out? Or are they typically out this late in the Spring? Seemed like it was time for the later similarish purply wildflowers to have their time.
After admiring what looked like a very hollow California Gall Wasp gall and a couple Rough Hedgenettle flowers, we were making the slow climb up Old Stage Road. And soon enough, a large Dragonfly landed in my view. I was able to take a crap photo of it, as it camouflaged itself so nicely in the shade of a tree. Possibly a Blue-eyed Darner? Then it soon started zooming just above our heads, back and forth. Seemingly getting better and better looks at us!
Up ahead, a newtome flower appeared. At first, I thought it was just a bizarrely-pale Ithuriel’s Spear, but it turned out to be a sweetly yellow lookalike called Prettyface. Yeah, an honestly odd flower name. It’s also known as Golden Star, which I much prefer as a common name. It was only growing in a small patch there. And we never saw it after that. Hm!
I’m now realizing how late it’s getting, so let me just focus on the highlights…
YELLOW MARIPOSAS. Holy crap, are they all over this route! I don’t think (?) I’ve seen them at Edgewood before. Clay Mariposa Lilies, yes. But these were starting to pop up and were continuously abounding in the open and even shaded grasses. Such a treat to see again.
We often heard, saw eversobriefly, then never saw again a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. Brian got the better look, but they taunted us a number of times throughout our visit.
While I was pretty excited to catch sight of an Orbweavery-looking Spider at the tippy top of a California Mugwort, I learned when I got home to take closer looks at my photos that it might be an Arabesque Orbweaver. AND it was apparently eating a Fly (perhaps?) at that very moment!
Loved FINALLY spotting a Skipper (Rural!) posing before me. First time I think one has stopped for me this whole dang year so far.
So much CLARKIA…
And though I wasn’t sure we’d come upon them, we did indeed get to see MANY Clay Mariposa Lilies. Especially once we got to the open grasses. Wasn’t quite sure if I was going to make it out to see one in time this year. So that was just DANG awesome.
While taking in the sweeping views of Yellow Mariposa Lilies, I noticed a small black Moth next to one. Turned out to be newtome Small Heliothodes Moth! And we then kept finding them inside so many other Yellow Mariposa Lilies. Sometimes two in one flower. I got incredibly lucky that one was perfectly displayed for great photos. A MOTH. Doing that for me. In the daytime. Incredible!
We were just about finishing our Naturing through the end of the Oak Woodlands, when I caught sight of what initially looked like Chinese Purple Houses flowers. But these were individually set on long stems. Not bunched together. They turned out to be newtome Wiry Snapdragon! I especially LOVE the white ear hairs it has. Reminds me of Brian’s Grandpa Lew.
And then we were back where we started. I had no real expectation I’d see anything newtome at Edgewood. Thought I’d see newtome trails, which I did. But I ended up seeing two, and possibly three, newtome flowers in this place. And a newtome Spider and Moth. It’s not something that should surprise me, after all the Naturing I’ve done since 2020. But what an utter delight to continue finding newtome things in places I’ve been before.
I’ll never be done seeing all the things there are to see. Lucky me.
