sshigenaga's Identifications

The second bloom of the season seen by us, one of just two flowers, spotted by @wiley1.

We saw a ton of plants with buds. Here are two posts from this trip:

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/215789453
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/215789455

The first bloom of the season seen by us! Spotted by @ladybug22

We saw a ton of plants with buds. Here are two posts from this trip:

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/215789453
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/215789455

MALE. Link to Female Lesser Goldfinch for comparison: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/197844034

Lesser Goldfinch (Spinus psaltria) Is a small songbird, only 11 cm (4.5 inches) long. It is smaller and darker billed than the American Goldfinch. Both male and female have white wing patch at base of primaries. Adult male has and entire black crown. Underside, starting at lower bill, is bright yellow. Adult females and juveniles have dull yellow underside. There are several subspecies. Two color patterns occur in the United States. Males in some areas may be either green-backed or black-backed. Lesser Goldfinches gather in scrubby oak, cottonwood, and willow habitats of the western U.S., or visit suburban gardens for seeds and water. These finches primarily eat the seeds of plants. In bird feeders, they especially enjoy Nyger seeds.

Visual comparison of 4 species of Spinus: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/news/search/?q=Spinus+lawrencei

Audubon Guide to North American Birds https://www.audubon.org/search_results?search=Spinus%20psaltria

Ebird with species description, range map and sound recordings: https://ebird.org/species/lesgol/

National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America, ed. Jon L. Dunn, 7th ed., 2017, pp. 442-443.

Monterey Birds, Don Roberson, 2nd ed. 2002, sponsored by Monterey Peninsula Audubon Society

The Cornell Lab (Birds in U.S. and Canada) https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/ (enter common name) https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Lesser_Goldfinch

Xeno-canto Bird songs, sound recordings, and species range map: https://xeno-canto.org/species/Spinus-psaltria

National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of Western North America, ed. Jon L. Dunn, 2008

The Cornell Lab (Birds in U.S. and Canada) https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/ (enter common name)

Merlin Bird ID (great app available for Iphones) by The Cornell Lab (Bird ID help for 8,500+ species) https://merlin.allaboutbirds.org/

Comprehensive Feather I.D. tools and more: https://foundfeathers.org/resources/

Found Feathers (Worldwide): https://www.fws.gov/lab/featheratlas/idtool.php

Survey for blue ceanothus along the Old Control Road. C. leucodermis was the only blue-flowering Ceanothus I found.

Nearly all the plant of C. leuco were in full bloom, I only noticed this one plant still in bud, growing in a very shady north-facing slope.

Survey for blue ceanothus along SR74 driving up from Hemet. C. leucodermis was the only blue-flowering Ceanothus I found.

This post is of a large stand of C. leuco just up from the South Fork Trailhead.

Survey for blue ceanothus along SR74 driving up from Hemet. C. leucodermis was the only blue-flowering Ceanothus I found.

These were the first ones I spotted where I could pull over to take a pix of them, but they unfortunately weren't very close to the road and it would have been a steep climb to get to them.

See my next Ceanothus post for up-close pix of the next set of plants I could stop for:

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/214855399