Sometimes I read my past blogposts for the same month from prior years to see where I went and what I was seeing. I notice a consistency. I have concluded that August is a hot month, I stick close to home, birds are quiet until the end of the month, I photograph insects, I do some sort of  artwork, and my camera lenses go in for repair. This year is no different. 

Fortunately for me, Tamron has an excellent 6 year warranty. I have had to take advantage of it all too often. This time my favorite birding lens came back after 4 weeks and still didn't work. A week and a half later they finally just replaced it. This, among other things (the news, delta variant and accompanying societal anger, the heat, a bad spell of migraines and headaches, and fights with ant invasions in my home, ... shall I go on?) had me feeling a little down this month.  On the plus side, it left me time for making art, and now, at the end of the month, at least some of these have been resolved.

I am continuing my project of art inspired by the wildlife of Dominguez Gap. Last month I worked on watercolor illustration. This month I am working with multimedia collage and trying to be more expressive. Instead of watercolor alone, in each piece I may add paper collage, ink, gouache, acrylic, gesso, pencil, and anything else I have at hand. I find this style to be very experimental and colorful. It takes longer to plan, create, and clean up, so fewer pieces, but I am pleased with the process and result.

In the beginning of the month I participated in a 4-day bioblitz, a repeat from last year. This year I scaled back my personal effort but still was gratified to work with a team, and I made some interesting observations.  I wrote a blogpost  for the event. https://kimssight.zenfolio.com/blog/2021/8/california-wild-women---2021-sequel

Midway through the month I went to Casper's Wilderness Park where a friend was doing a program on blacklighting. It always seems that the best things start to come in later, when it is time for me to go home. I spend a lot more time on the computer after such an event to process and then try to id these critters. It is much harder than birds. Some will continue unidentified. Some highlights were an antlion and a mantidfly. These are not ants, nor lions, nor mantids, nor flies. They are in the order Neuroptera and have finely veined membranous wings. Sometimes people confuse them with dragonflies, but dragonflies are in a different order and don't have the long antennae. I find them fascinating.  There was also a fine assortment of moths and beetles attracted to the light at night.

A group of my fellow local birders and I went out on a whale watch boat. It was a pleasant day. Although we saw no whales, we saw a few dolphin, some birds, and a highlight of a very large Ocean Sunfish (Mola mola). Always fun to share the day on the water with fellow nature lovers.

The month ended with my bird survey at Los Cerritos Wetlands. I have been helping with this for years. There were some signs of migrants returning. August is also primetime for Tiger Beetles. Normally I would have some highlight about a bird or insect, but this time it was a different kind of excitement. We were four of us this time, split into two teams of the 'girls' and the 'boys'.  Apparently someone reported that there was a person carrying a rifle in the area. A scary concern. When the three heavily armed flak-jacketed officers confronted my friend and myself, took our names, and questioned us, we assured them that we had permission to be on the property, were merely counting birds, and that one of the other two people with us in the other area, was carrying a birding scope and not a rifle. I guess they believed us and let us carry on. I used to think there were sketchy-looking people around, now I suppose its me. It is a good thing they first found the 'girls' who are older short white women wearing floppy hats and carrying binoculars. Had we looked more menacing, this encounter could have had a different outcome.

I look forward to autumn. Happy nature walks. Stay safe!

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_2021

Blacklighting at Casper's Wilderness Park:    https://kimssight.zenfolio.com/caspers_aug_2021

Whale Watch:    https://kimssight.zenfolio.com/whale_watch_aug_2021

Los Cerritos Wetlands:    https://kimssight.zenfolio.com/hellman_aug-2021