More to come

  

Blue Coast Gilia (Gilia capitata subsp. chamissonis), with some open flowers and others just starting to emerge (look for the tiny purple petal tips below the open flowers).  Photographed on 21 May 2025.

Light-eyed?

  

I was checking on some wildflowers in the dunes earlier this week and was noticing it seems to be a good year for many of the annuals, including Dark-eyed Gilia (Gilia millefoliata). 

I had seen hundreds of Dark-eyed Gilias, all with typical purplish petals, when I came across one with all white flower parts:

 

 

I looked around and found eight more plants with white flowers in the same area, but no other white-petaled Gilia flowers elsewhere.  

We've seen this phenomenon of white variants in other species, but I hadn't noticed it in Dark-eyed Gilia before, so I thought it was worth documenting.

The Jepson Manual says that Gilia millefoliata petals can be purple or "colorless," so perhaps this variant appears occasionally and we just hadn't seen it in the Bodega Dunes yet.

P.S.  Should we call the variant Light-eyed Gilia?  ;)
 

Purple and blue

 

 

Close-up of a Blue Coast Gilia (Gilia capitata subsp. chamissonis) flower photographed on 29 May 2023.

Purple petals and pale blue anthers make for a nice combination:

 

 

 

On their way

  

This is an older photo from the Bodega Dunes, taken in May 2017, but I was in the dunes for a short time today (8 March 2022) and could see some of the wildflowers starting to appear.  I'll be hoping for more rain and watching their progress.

Just before flowering

 

Blue Coast Gilia (Gilia capitata subsp. chamissonis) just before the flowers open.

Here's an earlier post about this local dune wildflower — "Enjoying the Gilia" from 31 May 2012.

 

At home in the sand

 

Beach Strawberry (Fragaria chiloensis)

 

Dark-eyed Gilia (Gilia millefoliata)

Both photographed in the Bodega Dunes, 5 April 2017

 

The little things

I'm thankful for many, many things.  But at the top of the list would have to be "the little things."  That phrase could be a metaphor for different things in life, including the knowing look from someone who loves you, the twinkle in a friend's eyes, finding treasure, being proud of someone you don't even know, experiencing the collective cheer for a team.

For me, "the little things" also include natural history observations.  I'm thankful beyond words that there's always something to discover every time we step outside.

Here are a few of "the little things" that live on Bodega Head.  (They really are little!)

 

A tiny chiton crawling among sand grains (!).

 

Dark-eyed Gilia (Gilia millefoliata) flowering in the dunes.  

(The flowers are ~8-11 mm across.  They bloom in spring/early summer.)

 

Ruby-crowned Kinglet (Regulus calendula) photographed in Owl Canyon on 20 October 2012.  

(Total length = 4.25 inches.)

I usually have a hard time finding cards with wording I like.  But this one resonated with me, so I'm passing it on to you:

"Sing a song of gratitude,

Dance a little, too...

Feel the autumn's magic

In everything you do...

Wrap yourself in laughter, 

Give some love away...

Pass around the goodness —

Have a happy Thanksgiving Day!"