California Tour pt. 1

It was an expedition to the San Jacinto Mountains this weekend as fellow iNatter Jason Crotchwell (aka berkshirenaturalist), had scheduled an extensive west coast trip. His goal, to find at least 1000 species, with 100 in each state, in a long, extended trip through CA, NV, UT, and perhaps even further afield. Besides appreciating his optimism, anyone that had the resources to take this much time out of their lives, and dedicate it solely to nature, well deserved my utmost respect!

It was quite late on the 23rd September when I finally met up with Jason. I had been camped outside of Starbucks with a few backpacks of supplies. Several people, finding the circumstances of a stranger with camping gear on the sidewalk unusual, had previously approached me asking if I was homeless, or needed help getting home! An interesting experience in itself and another reminder that we deserve more naturalists in the world who understand our efforts. After meeting we first made a quick stop at Home Depot to gather pipe frames, a necessity if we were to set up a black light and sheet. I could not join Jason for the entire expedition sadly, but I could help him out with the southern California portion of the trip. 

Myelopsis subtetricella.

Our trip would start properly tomorrow, so it was a quick visit to the nearby O'neill Campground for now. Jason's flight wasn't the smoothest sailing, so he deserved a lie in! Before hitting the hay I perused the local restroom lighting and picked up a couple of new moths, Schinia velaris and Myelopsis subtetricella, along with an antlion that will probably never be named. The grounds were a bit too congested for our liking, so we skipped the blacklight for now. Last thing we needed was a swarm of angry, light-attracted campers disturbed by the light!

The gossamer sheen of Schinia velaris is a wonder to behold.

It was bright and shine early next morning. Earlier in the week Jason came to me for advice on how to prioritize this portion of the trip. The fall is a difficult time of year in dry southern California, as the dry sun quickly desiccates vegetation and turns verdant wilderness into crackling brown clay. At this time of year even invertebrates can be few. After consulting weather reports and terrain maps my first thought was checking the local Holy Jim Canyon. The waterfall at this site is apparently permanent, and it looked sufficiently forested to distract us for a while. Jason's primary motive was native gastropods and herps, so finding permanent water was critical. I was quite surprised how bumpy the road to the Holy Jim Trail was. Luckily the 4WD Jason had hired was enough to handle it, but to say it was unsettling even with this vehicle was no exaggeration. We spent a small portion of the morning chasing up some local west coast birds before heading out, and sadly did not make the waterfall. We could have spent longer and tried to reach the falls itself, but the creeks nearby were bone dry so I figured it was better heading out earlier and dedicating more time to other locations.

Before abandoning Orange County entirely I called a stop in the nearby wash adjacent to Rose Canyon Road, after noticing duskywings attending flowering broomsage. This was evidently a good decision as only seconds in we were looking at one of the greatest congregations of nectaring insects one could ever hope for in California. The profuse canary yellow of scalebroom quite pleasantly gilded the cliff boundaries and crevices, and was worth a few photos in itself. Seeing the scale of hover flies, bee flies, butterflies and other inverts in such large numbers was a bonus! Of note for me was a tiny beetle, Attalus trimaculatus, that made up for its size with some stunning colouration. The large bumbling buzz of Copestylum, either mexicanum or violaceum, was also welcome.

California broomsage, Lepidospartum squamatum, pollinator paradise incarnate!

Mournful duskywing, Erynnis tristis.

Behr's metalmark, Apodemia virgulti.

White-crossed seed bug, Neacoryphus bicrucis.

Attalus trimaculatus.

Lest we forget one of the most important members of the pollinator community, the honey bee!

It was then a long drive on from here to reach the San Jacinto Mountains. On the way I called for a stop in Aguanga, a place where I had previously encountered cactus wren. Despite finding old nests, there was strangely no sign of the birds themselves. This site did pay off in other ways however, with great views of several reptiles, including orange-throated whiptail! In this desert habitat I picked up a few other bonuses, including small-flowered tamarisk, the longhorn beetle Crossideus discoideus, California matchweed, rough harvester ant, coyote melon, and an interesting hopping true bug, known only by the cumbersome name of Coridromius chenopoderis which I located by beating roadside Atriplex canescens.

Small-flowered tamarisk, Tamarix parviflora, has finer and greener foliage than the usual species.

Crossideus discoideus, a longhorn beetle.

Rough harvester ant, Pogonomyrmex rugosus.

Coyote melon, Cucurbita palmata.

The unusual hopping Mirid, Coridromius chenopoderis.

Our next stop was along the southern portion of the San Jacinto Mountains, in the wilderness adjacent to the Paradise Valley Cafe. Here lies a record of the rare pinyon pine, Pinus edulis, apparently close to the road. Given this seems to be the only easy-to-access sighting in California, and given the potential of the habitat, I thought it was a good shout. The pines in question were actually quite easily found, and, sure enough had the diagnostic 2-needle bunches. Since then however I see that there has been speculation about Pinus edulis in California, and now they are considered relict hybrids between the common pinyon pine and Pinus juarezensis from Mexico. Not the species I had hoped for, but in some ways even more interesting! The soft autumnal wisps of redshanks were common in this area, one of my favourite California shrubs. I find them very photogenic!

Hybrid pinyon pine.

This pinyon pine has two needles per bunch.

Redshanks, Adenostoma sparsifolium.

This spot was actually quite rewarding, and before we knew it we had spent more than an hour here! This was primarily an invertebrate session, with Scolops, the yucca plant bug Halticotoma validis, the gall midge Asteromyia gutierrezae, the whitefly Aleuropleurocelus on manzanita, and a mealybug on chamise that matches Anisococcus adenostomae. By sheer luck we bumped into one of Jason's hoped for insects, the monkey grasshopper Morsea californica! There was one plant I had not seen before though, pointleaf manzanita.

A partridge bug, Scolops sp.

Yucca plant bugs, Halticotoma valida, on Yucca schidigera.

The matchweed stem gout gall, Asteromyia gutierreziae, is formed by an
orange midge larvae. From the outside the only indication that this insect is
there is by looking for a slightly raised black portion of the stem.

Mealybug on chamise, most certainly Anisococcus adenostomae due to the paired tail filaments
and overall appearance.

The rather non-descript pupa of the whitefly genus Aleuropleurocelus. There are at least 3 species in
CA on this host plant, pointleaf manzanita.

With that eventful stop, we headed down into the Jacintos themselves. It was getting a little late in the day now so we stopped by a few other roadside areas, before descending into Mountain Center. In the town itself I heard one of my much-needed katydids, Microcentrum californicum, calling from some low residential trees. By some sheer turn of luck I found this katydid, and at no more than head height. Generally these live in the canopy, which I blame for the long delay in getting to see one in person. On the same birch tree a small moth, apparently Ypsolopha nella, was another welcome sight.

California angle-winged katydid, Microcentrum californicum.

Before heading to the campsite we dropped a blacklight and setup a white sheet along an elevated ridge nearby. Although not bursting with moths, we found a great selection of species. Sympistis linda, Cryphia nana, Henricus umbrabasana, Drepanulatrix nevadaria, Arta epicoenalis, Sabulodes spoliata, Eudonia echo, and the stunning Edward's glassy-wing were just those that we could identify. Other insect highlights included the green lacewing Chrysopa coloradensis, the distinctive fruit fly Valentibulla californica, and a beetle called Aphorista morosa. With lights in Southern California you always attract a myriad of little micros, some colourful some not, that you can't identify. Given that so much of what we have seen has only a handful or even no photographs before our trip, I can only imagine what we were overlooking.

Sympistis linda.

Cryphia nana.

Arta epicoenalis.

Drepanulatrix nevadaria.

Edward's glassy-wing, Pseudohemihyalea edwardsii!!

Sabulodes spoliata.

A green lacewing, Chrysopa coloradensis.

An interesting fruit fly, Valentibulla californica.

In the darkness I noticed an odd creature scrambling across the trail. It was another of Jason's most wanted critters, a Jerusalem cricket! These strange creatures are unlike anything else. See for yourself:

Jerusalem cricket, Stenopalmatus sp.

We hit camp in the nearby mountains, but it was not quite what we had hoped. Maybe we were too picky, but there was just not enough space, the terrain was rather rocky, and the tent site was on a very steep incline that even the vehicle struggled to climb. With all nearby towns booked for the night, we made the tough decision of heading another hour north to Thousand Palms, where one motel had rooms open. It was not what we planned, but sleeping in proper beds was exactly what we needed. Plus, couldn't dismiss that it put us very close to some other great desert locations for the next morning!