Favoritos de zaf2103

Surprisingly active sloth climbed up the tree and moved around a lot. They are very well camouflaged with the tree bark. Markings on this male's back is normal color variation.

Brown-throated Three-toed Sloth (Bradypus variegatus) The sloths crawl down from canopy once a week to defecate on the forest floor, then climb back up. They eat tender shoots of tree branches. One of their favorite is the Trumpet-Tree (Cecropia obtusifolia). Once they've defoliated one tree, they move on to the next.
"The brown-throated sloth is of similar size and build to most other species of three-toed sloths, with both males and females being 42 to 80 cm (17 to 31 in) in total body length. The tail is relatively short, only 2.5 to 9 cm (1.0 to 3.5 in) long. Adults weigh from 2.25 to 6.3 kg (5.0 to 13.9 lb), with no significant size difference between males and females. Each foot has three fingers, ending in long, curved claws, which are 7 to 8 cm (2.8 to 3.1 in) long on the fore feet, and 5 to 5.5 cm (2.0 to 2.2 in) on the hind feet.[6]
The head is rounded, with a blunt nose and inconspicuous ears. As with other sloths, the brown-throated sloth has no incisor or canine teeth, and the cheek teeth are simple and peg-like.
The brown-throated sloth has grayish-brown to beige-color fur over the body, with darker brown fur on the throat, the sides of the face, and the forehead. The face is generally paler in color, with a stripe of very dark fur running beneath the eyes.
The guard hairs are very coarse and stiff, and overlie a much softer layer of dense under-fur. The hairs are unusual in lacking a central medulla, and have numerous microscopic cracks across their surfaces. These cracks are host to a number of commensal species of algae, including Rufusia pillicola, Dictyococcus bradypodis, and Chlorococcum choloepodis. The algae are generally absent in the hair of young sloths, and may also be absent in particularly old individuals, where the outer cuticle of the hair has been lost" https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/47067-Bradypus-variegatus

adult male coyote out for a stroll with 5 pups. the most pups in one photo was 4 (see third photo), but I thought I saw 5 of them.

adult male coyote has a limp, and he also seems to currently be sporting a cloudy right eye (see last photo). I wondered if the cloudiness was because of lighting, but his eye is cloudy in every photo I have of him this morning, and the pups eyes looks normal in comparison.

Silver Wattle (Acacia dealbata), photographed along the banks of Stevens Creek at McClellan Ranch Park in Cupertino, CA. Note especially the 2-pinnate structure of the leaves; each leaf is divided into moe than 6 pairs of first-order leaflets, which are then further divided into numerous, much smaller second-order leaflets. The first-order leaflets are arrange at angle to one another along the main rachis of the leaf. This leaf structure distinguishes A. dealbata from the other wattle species that can be found within the San Francisco Bay Area.

Link to True Bug observation: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/151889686

Creamcups (Platystemon californicus) Native, annual, shaggy-hairy plant in the Poppy (Papaveraceae) family that grows up to 30cm (12 inches) tall in sunny, grassy meadows, often in serpentine soils. Stems and peduncles have long hairs. Young buds are nodding. Flowers are shallowly saucer-shaped with 4-6 creamy white with yellow petals. Each flower has 6+ stigmas and many white stamens with flattened filaments that are densely grouped. Peak bloom time: March- May.

Plants of Monterey County: an Illustrated Field Key, 2nd edition, Matthews and Mitchell, 2015, pp.230-231.

Jepson eFlora https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=38664

Flora of Fort Ord: Monterey County, California, David Styer, 2019, p. 161

Monterey County Wildflowers: a Field Guide, Yeager and Mitchell, 2016, p. 247.

Monterey County Wildflowers https://montereywildflowers.com/papaveraceae-xpoppy/

Ravens steppin! At first 3, then +1. Standing tall facing each other with puffed-out throat feathers, continuously changing position and shuffling around each other. Sometimes one of them (seemed to always be one of the smaller ones) would dip/bow with wings slightly spread while making a soft clucking noise.

Video of the foursome (there's wind noise, turn down your volume): https://youtu.be/yKP4aRBCM68

Video of the threesome: https://youtu.be/JXmmGKTS6IU