KVelligan @kvelligan.bsky.social · 03/09/2025Found this little dude on my outdoor table today (it’s glass - that why it looks like it’s floating). I think it is Phidippus adumbratus. It was gone before I could get a better picture. It was about a half inch long. Jumping spider! 080
KVelligan @kvelligan.bsky.social · 25/08/2025Snake sunbathing on the trail. Probably a black diamond or Southern Pacific rattlesnake. 071
KVelligan @kvelligan.bsky.social · 25/08/2025Penstemon newberryi known by the common name mountain pride or Newberry's penstemon. Favorite flower of John Muir. 070
KVelligan @kvelligan.bsky.social · 21/08/2025Shortly after seeing the iridescent clouds, there was a huge flick of birds circling. I couldn’t tell what kind they were. 080
KVelligan @kvelligan.bsky.social · 21/08/2025Iridescent clouds are a diffraction phenomenon caused by small water droplets or small ice crystals individually scattering light. Also called Irisations after the Greek goddess Iris, goddess of rainbows and messenger of Zeus and Hera to the mortals below. 050
KVelligan @kvelligan.bsky.social · 20/08/2025A covey of California quail (Callipepla californica) out searching for snacks 040
KVelligan @kvelligan.bsky.social · 20/08/2025Yes, you’re totally hidden. I never would have notice that fluffy butt sticking out if I hadn’t seen you run in there. 😂🐰 030
KVelligan @kvelligan.bsky.social · 15/08/2025Western Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio rutulus). Native to Western North America, from South California to Southern British Columbia and Alberta. 🦋 🌿 051
Reposted by KVelliganRiley Black 🏳️⚧️ 🦕 @restingdinoface.bsky.social · 13/08/2025I'm endlessly fascinated by how life shapes life. When the Earth Was Green grew out of that affection. 🌱bookshop.orgWhen the Earth Was Green: Plants, Animals, and Evolution's Greatest RomancePlants, Animals, and Evolution's Greatest Romance 16513
KVelligan @kvelligan.bsky.social · 13/08/2025From the native garden: Solidago or goldenrod starting to bloom. Gonna have a bee palooza here pretty soon 🐝🌿 050
KVelligan @kvelligan.bsky.social · 13/08/2025The diabolical ironclad beetle (Phloeodes diabolicus). Native to the California Floristic Province in the states of California and Baja California. It eats fungi growing under rotting tree bark and is frequently found under oaks. Lives long for a beetle - 8 years. It is flightless, with fused elytra 050
KVelligan @kvelligan.bsky.social · 13/08/2025Transitioning to day. The Sierra Nevada never disappoints. 0412
KVelligan @kvelligan.bsky.social · 09/08/2025Sun on the wings of this raven look indigo blue, reminding me that scrub jays and Steller’s are also in the Corvidae family 🌿🪶 0111
KVelligan @kvelligan.bsky.social · 04/08/2025Pods starting to burst open on the milkweed and release the seeds with their silky hairs. Note the red and black milkweed bug on the dry pod. More info in alt text. 🌿 040
KVelligan @kvelligan.bsky.social · 31/07/2025Now blooming in the native garden: Eriogonum fasciculatum - California Buckwheat. Drought tolerant, important for pollinators, erosion control benefits, post wildfire mitigation, used in a variety of indigenous medicines. The flowers turn a lovely rust color in the fall. 050
KVelligan @kvelligan.bsky.social · 26/07/2025From the native garden, now blooming: California aster. Corethrogyne is a monotypic genus of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. Its only species is Corethrogyne filaginifolia (syn. Lessingia filaginifolia). There does seem to be a ground cover variant, but mine are tall 040
KVelligan @kvelligan.bsky.social · 23/07/2025Walk down any street in Los Angeles and the majority of plants and animals you see are non-natives. Biologist Craig Stanford walks us through the native and introduced mosaic of flora and fauna in L.A.’s unique and extensive wildland urban interface and their impact on its ecosystem 🌿 020
KVelligan @kvelligan.bsky.social · 26/06/2025Hello beautiful! Do you like the narrow leaf milkweed I planted for you? Are you laying eggs so your little caterpillars can feast? 🐛 The monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) is a milkweed butterfly (subfamily Danainae) in the family Nymphalidae. The caterpillars only feed on narrow leaf milkweed. 2202
KVelligan @kvelligan.bsky.social · 25/06/2025Adelpha californica, the California sister, is a species of butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. They are common in California, but can also be found in western Nevada and Oregon, as well as in northern Baja California. 060
KVelligan @kvelligan.bsky.social · 23/06/2025The black-crowned night heron (Nycticorax nycticorax) is a medium-sized heron found throughout a large part of the world, including parts of Europe, Asia, and North and South America. This one was at the old sawmill pond in Verdi, Nevada 🪶🌿 0221
KVelligan @kvelligan.bsky.social · 16/06/2025Argemone munita - commonly called flatbud prickly poppy and chicalote. "Munita" means "armed", in reference to the many long prickles. Native to California, also extends into Baja California, Arizona, and Nevada. Similar looking to Matilija poppies with their “fried egg” flowers 0162
KVelligan @kvelligan.bsky.social · 10/06/2025Pussypaws(Calyptridium monospermum, synonym Cistanthe monosperma). Native to western North America from Oregon to Baja California 070
KVelligan @kvelligan.bsky.social · 05/06/2025California Quail (Callipepla californica) on an important quail mission. Maybe she was late for a tryst. The California Quail is the state bird of California. 🪶 1322
KVelligan @kvelligan.bsky.social · 28/05/2025Bearded iris - the neighbor has the most gorgeous iris garden and it’s in full bloom. A popular garden plant that will take a lot of neglect. There are hundreds of cultivars in myriad color combinations. Probably originally native to Mediterranean. 1262
KVelligan @kvelligan.bsky.social · 26/05/2025Donner Summit. 40 miles of wooden snowsheds were built to keep the trains running through winter (because you don’t want to get stuck in a blizzard in Donner Pass). Snow removal improved & concrete sheds were built where still needed on new routes. You can hike through some of the old wooden sheds. 0211
KVelligan @kvelligan.bsky.social · 17/05/2025West Temple and Towers of the Virgin under ominous clouds. The colors of the cliffs are so mutable under different light conditions. #ZionNationalPark 061
KVelligan @kvelligan.bsky.social · 15/05/2025Red tailed hawk. Widespread throughout North America. It turned around to show off that rufous (reddish) tail. Very cooperative photo subject! 🪶 #birds 060
KVelligan @kvelligan.bsky.social · 12/05/2025Female Selasphorus hummingbirds (Rufous or Allen - the females are hard to tell apart) have been stopping by on their annual migration north. Very tiny and sounds like a giant bee buzzing among the alstroemeria. The males migrate earlier in the year. 🪶 1110
KVelligan @kvelligan.bsky.social · 11/05/2025The desert is putting on its party clothes. Opuntia polyacantha aka plains pricklypear. It is native to North America, where it is widespread in Western Canada, the Great Plains, the central and Western United States, and Chihuahua in northern Mexico. 090
KVelligan @kvelligan.bsky.social · 05/05/2025Yosemite Valley, Incense Cedar snag. Bear scratching post? or something else? 050
KVelligan @kvelligan.bsky.social · 02/05/2025Travel through millions of years as life developed on earth, stopping to observe a few plant and animals illustrating the chaotic exuberance, diversity, and entangled relationships between them that have enabled and driven evolution, adaptation, and survival. Plants have shaped the world we know.🌿📚💙 051
KVelligan @kvelligan.bsky.social · 02/05/2025Eschscholzia californica, the California poppy. You can see why it’s also called golden poppy, California sunlight, or cup of gold. It became the official state flower of California in 1903 beating out the Matilija poppy (the ones where the flowers look like fried eggs). 0294
KVelligan @kvelligan.bsky.social · 30/04/2025Salvia apiana (Californian white sage, bee sage, or sacred sage) Native to the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, found mainly in the coastal sage scrub habitat of Southern California and Baja California, on the western edges of the Mojave and Sonoran deserts. . 070
KVelligan @kvelligan.bsky.social · 29/04/2025Diplacus aurantiacus, the sticky monkey-flower or orange bush monkey-flower, is a flowering perennial that grows in a subshrub form, native to southwestern North America from southwestern Oregon south through most of California. It attracts hummingbirds and bees. 050
KVelligan @kvelligan.bsky.social · 29/04/2025I planted a native garden and they’re starting to bloom. First up: Salvia spathacea, (California hummingbird sage or pitcher sage), native to so. and central Calif growing from sea level to 610 m (2,001 ft). This fruity scented sage blooms in March to May with dark rose-lilac colored flowers. 020
KVelligan @kvelligan.bsky.social · 23/04/2025Love is everywhere. ❤️ Heart ledge on El Capitan, Yosemite. #protectourparks 050
KVelligan @kvelligan.bsky.social · 23/04/2025Big horned sheep in Zion. Let’s take care of this beautiful world 060
