Today I had truly hoped we’d finish at my parents’ house in time to go out and enjoy some quality Naturing in the area, as it’s one of my last days here while the house keys are still in my hands. And sure enough, we were able to visit Alviso. A place that’s always been special to me.

As a recent high school graduate, I was introduced to the place by a new friend who adored the abandoned and stuckintime old neighborhood of San Jose. I also fell in love with it. And set my senior thesis film there, which made me see it in an entirely different and cinematic light.

I’ve wanted to give Brian a tour of the place for so long, but for whatever reason(s) it was never a good time. Until today.

After giving him the driving tour, stopping by Vahl’s to see if they were open (nope), and going down memory lane of shooting my student film there, we made our way to Alviso Marina County Park. It was going to be a hot day, but we were thankfully able to enjoy strong breezes the entire time out there in the brutal sunshine.

But. That SUNSHINE. It was INTENSE. Somuchso that I pretty much got no good photos of anything. And those BREEZES. It made it pretty tough to get DECENT photos of almost anything. But that SUN didn’t help either! My camera had such a hard time finding anything to focus on when everything was oversaturated with light.

All this is to say that my photos are pretty crap from today. I even thought about not posting. But it’s good to remember that I came to this place. That I actually went Naturing in Alviso. And that this makes me really want to go back and see the other side (where Don Edwards SF Bay National Wildlife Refuge is).

The thing is, we saw SUPER COOL THINGS today!

Soon after arriving, we got to watch TONS of Barn Swallows doing some crazy bizarre behavior. They looked like they were maybe getting insects from the mud, but their wings were lifted high up while doing so! Brian, who can easily see way better than me when blinded by sunlight, realized they were grabbing mud into their beaks. To make nests!

As to the lifting of their wings while doing so, I could only guess they didn’t want their wings to get wet or muddy in the process?

Just after that, I stopped to notice the many Tidy Tips and California Goldfields below me. And I saw that a Ladybuglookingthing was on one of the Tidy Tips. It wasn’t until I got home that I could see it up close in my photos. It didn’t look like a usual Ladybug. And iNaturalist’s best guess is a Ladybird Fly.

Huh! Never heard of them! And, looking at observations of them on iNat, my observation is the only one in North America. Really? Can’t be. Must be something else. I can’t hardly wait to find out what folks on iNat think of this!

We walked out a bit, and a handful of American Avocets and one Black-necked Stilt was in the water below us. Got ok photos of the Avocets, but they don’t do it justice. Super sweet to see one of them napping.

Ok, so it was around this time that we were seeing SO MANY BUTTERFLIES. But they were just patrolling and patrolling and never stopped to land for more than a second. It was absolutely impossible to catch them on camera. But we saw Cabbage Whites and a yellow Butterfly of the same shape and size and Skippers and Gray Buckeyes and one small Butterfly the size of a Blue but not that blue. SO MANY. It was disheartening not to get good photos of any. But the conditions were so not favorable. I gave up soon. For the most part.

Two Killdeer were peeping in the slough bed. Is that a thing? Like lake bed. But in a slough.

Caught sight of a GORGEOUS emerald green Bee on a tiny purple-pink flower. Sadly, not a great photo. But iNaturalist’s best guess is a Fine Striped Sweat Bee. Hm!

A Golden-crowned Sparrow, a couple Black-crowned Night-Herons, and a Wasp (European Paper Wasp?) were all nice to see as we made our way to the Cannery Warehouse ruins. Where we got to see some of the Barn Swallow nests.

We were slowly making our way back to end our time there, and I noticed the tiniest Butterfly looking thing just sitting on a stick of yellow flowery things. Can’t remember that plant. But it was just sitting there. I got to take a bunch of photos until my camera’s battery died. And I quickly realized that I had completely forgot to charge my backup battery.

I got Brian to come over to take in the view. This Butterfly was like half the size of a Blue. And honestly infinitely more beautiful, if you can imagine such a thing. I remembered seeing this Butterfly before. Thought it was a Point Reyes, but I saw this Butterfly at Islais Creek in SF some time ago.

It was a Western Pygmy-Blue. And it was STUNNING. If it wasn’t so hot and sunlight-blinding, I could’ve stood there and soaked up its beauty for HOURS.

I can’t even begin to convey my EPIC PISSED-OFF FEELINGS about not capturing one IOTA of the artistry of those dorsal wings in photos. Not one. My second photo that I got with my iPhone shows the deep colored hues better, but still. It’s still crap. Smallest Butterfly in North America. My second time ever seeing it. DANG!!!

My consolation prize was still waiting, though.

We checked out a boat launch just before heading out, and a flippin’ NORTH AMERICAN RIVER OTTER was just cruising in the water near the launch! My digital camera was useless, and my iPhone was only able to get one photo in before it disappeared. The photo looks like it could so many things. Perhaps the back of a Double-crested Cormorant? But Brian also saw it. So I have a witness.

Who knew River Otters were in the bay? Not me!

Having seen the Pygmy-Blue and the River Otter, AND having Brian also see both of those, was easily the highlight of the alltoosunny time out there today. On a much less breezy day, that’s likely an amazing spot for Butterflies. Looking forward to returning someday to see more of Alviso’s natural world…