Hello folks basking in the summer sun,

One way I keep myself entertained on the trails is to mimic a pollinator and observing a visual feedback from the stigma of a
sticky monkey-flower. You can try it yourself by using your fingers or a blade of grass to mimic a pollinator. The stigma will take about 3 hours to reopen if no pollen was applied, so be mindful of that.



Bees are fascinating because they have a shopping bag that they carry along when they go foraging for food. The pollen basket is present on certain species of bees that they use to combine the pollen collected from all the flowers and take it back home to feed the larvae.

Over here, you can see a
Western honey bee scraping the pollen from the stamen. Also observe the pollen basket on the hind leg.



Sierran Chorus frog or Sierran treefrogs are captivating because no one gives them a second thought when you think about animals who can change color. These frogs can change their body color from green to brown and vice versa within a few hours. These changes help them camouflage themselves in various environments as well as adjusting the amount of sunlight it will absorb.

Below is a juvenile found in Coyote Hills Regional Park and to find them you need to look among the grasses and bushes not on the trees.




Another strategy that these frogs employ to get away from predators is a bright yellow color on the inner thighs which distracts the predators when they leap in the air, buying them enough time to get away.

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