With the Master’s – thesis and all – in the bag and my last season of working in northern Michigan possibly less than a week away from ending, I’ll still be away from California indefinitely, both fortunately and unfortunately. There’s a lot to see out there and a lot of cool job opportunities I’d be a fool-of-a-Took to not seek out!
Here are some photos of the jaw-droppingly beautiful north coast of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. I recently backpacked the section North Country Trail near Pictured Rocks and to sum it up…I would recommend it. 🙂
Truthfully, I actually haven’t lived in California for about a year and a half now. Nonetheless, to see more of what is not California, I recently went on a trip with some friends to Kentucky to see the Red River Gorge. I needed to get my dose of mountains that keeps me going strong. The mountains were majestic, and I also met a skink.
None of these are of rattlesnakes :,( I need rattlesnakes, people! But there are other awesome things going on here in my study area in north central Michigan!
I love, love, love frogs and it was such a surprise to find bunch of little chorus frogs hanging out by a drainage on the side of a bike trail. They’re so freaking cute!
A few weeks ago, I was lucky enough to go on top of Coyote Ridge on the east side of the south bay to look for tule elk. No tule elk for us, at least not on that day HOWEVER! We did see plenty bay checkerspot butterflies, which are a federally endangered species, some of their caterpillars (!!!), a few horned larks, golden eagles, red-tails…. It was also just a gorgeous day, with the hills green and purple and white and gold and orange from all the wildflowers.
The view of the Santa Cruz Mountains from the Diablo Foothills, across the valley 🙂
Today was a day and a half as far as field research goes. A friend of mine and I have been commissioned to get film of red-legged frogs in Año for Jeff Corwin’s TV show (:O :O :O). SO…I can’t show you guys the very amateur film we got, at least I don’t think I can. BUT we saw so much wildlife today, it was wild, including an adult bald eagle, an osprey, a rufous hummingbird, a bobcat, a belted kingfisher, an elephant seal, AND a San Francisco garter basking in the sunlight. I haven’t gotten a shot of this extremely rare subspecies of the Common Gartersnake until now, so enjoy!!!
A site dedicated to exploring California's wild side.
HOWEVER! We did see plenty bay checkerspot butterflies, which are a federally endangered species, some of their caterpillars (!!!), a few horned larks, golden eagles, red-tails…. It was also just a gorgeous day, with the hills green and purple and white and gold and orange from all the wildflowers.
QueenofWildCalifornia 