EISPIRATEN

Took a brief trip up Bear Creek a couple weeks ago and found a lot of critters! I generally don't hike anywhere unusual and keep the big lens on my camera 99% of the time, so in lieu of a TR or anything, enjoy some fauna.

The walk along the reservoir road had a lot of bees working on the flowers, and quite a few birds. I'd never seen one of these before, and it was surprisingly big and bright orange.

Evening Grosbeak by Icybacon, on Flickr

There were a lot of these wasps along the road, colored like tarantula hawks but I'm pretty sure that's not even close.

Hunting Wasp by Icybacon, on Flickr

After the turnoff to Bear Creek it was damselfly country. The blue males were everywhere and very photogenic. Love their bizarre blocky jaws.

Damselfly by Icybacon, on Flickr

Big dragonflies were out too, at least 3-5 other kinds.

Green Clubtail? by Icybacon, on Flickr

Away from the creek, the sunny patches were full of butterflies. I've generally seen that area full of Variable Checkerspots, but this time there were some rarities like this Buckeye.

Buckeye by Icybacon, on Flickr

Tiny blue butterfly.

Little Blue by Icybacon, on Flickr

There were a lot of Swallowtails around, but never close or calm enough for a photo. Then we found a whole swarm puddling in the wet sand at a crossing, very nice surprise. I've heard the colors are by gender and by different species, anyone know for sure?

Swallowtail Kiss by Icybacon, on Flickr

Lots of wolf spiders were lurking around too. The little fella with the pedipalps (boxing gloves) wasn't having much luck with the lady, who seemed a bit hungry...

A Suitor Approaches by Icybacon, on Flickr

Someone's gotta eat all these bugs...

Another Lizard by Icybacon, on Flickr


Colorful Lizard by Icybacon, on Flickr

Someone's gotta eat all those bug eaters. I think this is a gopher snake, it was a few feet from the trail and very calm. It even tried to rattle its tail in the leaves during its exit.

Snake near Bear Creek by Icybacon, on Flickr

Finally, there were a lot of birds, mostly way up in the trees and hard to spot. This wren was hard at work in the open.

Wren Woodworking by Icybacon, on Flickr

One of the many Yellow Warblers that were around, generally far up in the foliage.

Yellow Warbler by Icybacon, on Flickr

And finally, a very calm hummingbird. There were definitely Allen's and Anna's varieties, I think this is a female Anna's.

Hummingbird by Icybacon, on Flickr

Wow, IcyBacon. Beautiful pictures.

I can help with some of the birds...
The first bird is a male Black-headed Grosbeak. This has been a good year for them for whatever reason...

The lizards are Side-blotched lizards.

The wren looks like a Bewick's Wren.

Great warbler picture!

Wonderful photos!

Really nice pictures! Keep 'em coming!

Cool pictures.

That wasp sure does look like a tarantula wasp, how big was it? They tend to be more common in the fall when the tarantulas spend more time outside their burrows looking for mates to breed with before the winter closes in.

Damselfly adults don't eat, they just live long enough to 'reproduce' before dying off (what a life!).

The snake is a gopher snake. Not poisonous like a rattler, but they can bite if provoked or cornered.

The Buckeyes are pretty common around So Calif. They're pretty common over in the Santa Ana Mountains right now, too. They might decrease in numbers as you get higher up the hills in places like Bear Creek.

Yes, there are lots of species of swallowtails, and the color patterns of the wings are an easy way to tell one species from another. Not sure about the gender differentiation.

I hate spiders.

Great shots! I can only imagine how it must be in the West Fork, just below Twin Peaks. Few people go there, and it's quite wild.

Beautiful pics!

Thanks, glad y'all enjoyed the pictures! Hopefully I'll get a chance to take a bug day trip and find some interesting tiny stuff. The only problem is size of target insects directly relates to hiking distance.

The wasp was smaller than Tarantula Hawks I've seen, and after some research it seems to definitely be a ground hunting wasp (like this) going by the mandibles. Tarantula Hawks have more of a proboscis as the adults feed on nectar, only the back part interacts with spiders.

Thanks for the Grosbeak ID too, not sure what I was thinking with an Evening Grosbeak.

I was really, really hoping to see another Western Tanager, but I must've just been really lucky at the second campsite last year when this guy showed up. Didn't hear a single Tanager call this year.

Western Tanager by Icybacon, on Flickr

IcyBacon wrote: ↑Thanks for the Grosbeak ID too, not sure what I was thinking with an Evening Grosbeak.

Nope, you're good with the Evening Grosbeak. They generally hang out in the conifers and tend to be at higher altitude. But at this time of year they are much further north. You might catch them down here in fall/winter.

Taco wrote: ↑Great shots! I can only imagine how it must be in the West Fork, just below Twin Peaks. Few people go there, and it's quite wild.

muh....muh... mow...mow... mountain lions

ooh!....and rattlesnakes.

I finally went through some pictures from another Bear Creek trip last summer, and got some help identifying a few rarities. I'd really like to know if anyone else has ever seen an American Rubyspot, as apparently they have a huge range but are unusual in the west, and I'd agree having never seen one before or since.


Robberfly by Icybacon, on Flickr
(Not rare, but really interesting. Predatory flies.)


Pepsis mildei by Icybacon, on Flickr
There were 2 or 3 different looking Tarantula Hawks along the dam road, but only one species has the orange antennae. They're pretty easygoing, though apparently one sting is far more than enough to change that opinion forever.


Mystery Creature by Icybacon, on Flickr
This is from the Archaeognatha order, which technically makes it an insect and not a mutant land shrimp. They haven't changed much since the Devonian period. There are probably a lot around the rocky streams, but might get overlooked as lacewing larva skeletons left on the rocks.

And my favorite find of last summer:


American Rubyspot by Icybacon, on Flickr

This was a damselfly, pretty much the same size as all the blue/grey ones. I took this neck-deep in water at the risk of a month's income worth of camera because it was that exciting. Bear Creek had hundreds of the blue damselflies, but this is the only one I've ever seen. If there's some spot where folks have found them, I'd love to know and spend a day as insect paparazzi.

Amazing shots

Really nice macro shots!