We have had a severe heatwave. COVID19 continues. The world is thrown into chaos, and everyone's personal life has been thrown into quiet chaos. Political conventions are unconventional. My sleep patterns are off. I've stayed in more due to the heat, and have been feeling lethargic. I am feeling a bit cooped up. However, my social life is thriving in a virtual world. I host a monthly zoom trivia night with my family across the country, a monthly socially distanced gathering in the park with a few friends, a zoom bird chat, and a zoom insect chat. I also can't keep up with all the on-line lectures! That sums up the month. That is my new normal. How are things for you?

My big activity in the beginning of the month was participating in a 4-day bioblitz. With all the photos I took and follow-up computer work, it turned into an 8-day effort. It was jam-packed with learning and interesting things. I wrote a separate daily diary for the event. https://kimssight.zenfolio.com/blog/2020/8/california_wild_women.

I have also started contributing to the Natural History Museum's Widow Wars project. See my photos in their announcement. https://nhm.org/stories/widow-wars?fbclid=IwAR24ucO3xZPacEd0-ey6cbm7LhWyw3fty3D7-wWesxjwuixb_roVAvP5Nwc. The goal is to photograph brown widow spiders with what they are eating. I am creeping around my backyard at night. I am always afraid some neighbor will call the police on this strange prowler carrying a big camera. "But officer, this is for science". I have gotten to know these spiders better. I have seen orb weavers make a web, but until now had not seen a brown widow make its messy cobweb. I also found a number of other spiders in my yard. Noble False Widows are new to my yard and are relatively new to the LA area. Their population seems to be increasing greatly. Many will cringe when they see my spider pictures.  I challenge you to look closely and find something that makes you say, "I didn't know that" , "let me look more closely", or "wow".  Or just scroll past them quickly to get to the birds.

My outdoor activity for the rest of the month was slow. I visited the LA River a few times looking at migrating shorebirds. I now bring a dog stroller to carry my camera, scope, Sibley's, binoculars, and water. I think I have completed my metamorphosis into full fledged bird nerd. People see me and immediately identify me as someone who knows about birds. Strangers often stop and ask me questions, which I enjoy answering when I can. Mostly, I enjoy their enthusiasm. I browsed through a few local parks looking for early migrant flycatchers and perching birds. In the last few days I have seen some, but the numbers of birds still seem frighteningly low. I enjoyed watching an American Bullfrog stalking Common Green Darners. It made several attempts, but I'm not sure it caught them. In one of my photos you can see the leap, but you can just make out the dragonflies escaping on the right. 

I left my air conditioning for short bursts, and inspected my own yard during the day, only to be attacked by Yellow-fever Mosquitoes. Of course I photographed them before swatting them.  I also was surprised by a Long-horned beetle - Icosium tomentosum. It is non-native and first showed up in Orange County in 2005. I checked over the next couple of days to see if I could find it again. I did. It was in the web of a Nobel False Widow. Non-native spider eats non-native beetle. 

I need cooler weather and to go somewhere! One can dream.

I hope this window on nature inspires you to look out your own.

Follow me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KimMooreNaturalist/

Watch the slideshows or click on the links to look through at your own pace. Links open in a new tab.

Enjoy the show! I always appreciate corrections to ID's.

Local Stuff:    https://kimssight.zenfolio.com/new_aug_2020

Wetlands Survey:    https://kimssight.zenfolio.com/hellman_aug-2020