Nature Pics

[Jude]

All the Hawaii pictures look so amazing. Even though I'm an atheist, it seems to me like a holy place.

[RoseMorninStar]

Thank you Jude. I'm not religious either but some places on this earth just have a special feel to them. I don't know how else to describe it.

[narya]

Acacias are blooming here. I can smell them from a block away!

[Frelga]

Oh confusticate it, already? Lovely trees, but sneeze provoking.

Also, is that an acacia? I think of it as the mimosa. And this as the acacia.

Screenshot_20220101-162817.jpg (90.3 KiB) Viewed 916 times

[narya]

The Acacia genus is a large one. Acacias are part of the Mimosoid clade of the Fabaceae (Pea) family. There is a long-term heated debate among taxonomists as to whether to split up the African and Australasian acacias into two separate genera, but taxonomists from both regions insist that their genera should be called "acacia" as a matter of regional pride, because they are so iconic, so they aren't making much progress.

Most acacias have tiny puff ball or pipe cleaner shaped flowers and bloom in the winter.

The photo I posted may be Acacia dealbata, which is often called "acacia", "blue wattle", "silver wattle", or "mimosa". The photo you posted looks like the black locust, Robinia pseudoacacia, AKA "false acacia", which, confusingly, produces "acacia honey" but is not an acacia. This is why we have scientific names.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Acacia_species

Which is probably more than you wanted to know about acacias.

[RoseMorninStar]

Wow.. blooming in January! Nice.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Today's bike ride


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[Inanna]

Gasp.

[narya]

Primulas on my walk today.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

That's a stunning picture, narya. And that doesn't do it justice.

And

[RoseMorninStar]

Stunning photos. Beautiful memories.

[Inanna]

Oh. I didn’t know….

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Today's friend


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[RoseMorninStar]

Is that a buzzard? Turkey vulture?

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Turkey vulture I believe. There is a small chance that it is a California Condor, but that is highly unlikely.

[Frelga]

I'm pretty sure it's a vulture. But they did see a condor flying over Mount Diablo last year.

[RoseMorninStar]

We saw a group of what we think were turkey vultures in a field on our walk yesterday. They were too far off to tell for certain, but they were dark and too large to be anything else we generally see in our area.

That would be cool to see a condor.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

There have been a few (Condors) spotted in the Santa Cruz Mountains, but I don't know that any have been seen in Santa Cruz itself, where I was walking.

[Frelga]

I think the tell is the silvery wing feathers instead of condor's light underwings.

[RoseMorninStar]

This perhaps doesn't strictly qualify as 'nature' but it is pretty.