Tucked in

A couple of weeks ago, I was at a meeting at the Hastings Natural History Reservation in Carmel Valley.  While walking by one of the buildings, I heard some high-pitched sounds coming from behind the shutters.

The shutters were attached to the building, so there was only a very narrow gap behind them.  I had to flatten my face against the wall to peak behind the shutter.  But once I got into the right position, I had a pretty nice view of the animals that were making the sounds:

 

Bats!  

I was excited to see some up close.

I'm not sure which species of bat this is, but if you have any thoughts about the identification, I'd love to learn more.

Here's a slightly closer view (check out the size of the ears!):

 

Maybe you'll see some bats tonight during your Halloween adventures?

Laughing lanterns

 

Happy Halloween!

Around the corner

Earlier this month, Eric looked out the window to see an enormous spider web high in a maple tree in our backyard: 

 

I went out to take a closer look.  

There were wonderful "waves" in the lower part of the web:

 

And a dazzling, beaded pattern in the center:

 

 One more radiating perspective:

 

Halloween is around the corner...

Let's go!

Okay, I can't help it, I have to help the home team celebrate.  Here's a photo for the 2018 World Series Champions — the Boston Red Sox!  

A red octopus with eight arms for a championship won on 28 October 2018. The Red Sox had 108 wins in the regular season.  And note that retired Red Sox great Carl Yastrzemski (#8) threw out the first pitch in Boston to start the 2018 series.

Yeah, Boston!  Let's go!

Basking in the October sun

 

The colors in the wings of this Common Buckeye (Junonia coenia) seem like a good match for fall.  Photographed on 27 October 2018.

Floating

 

Pied-billed Grebes (Podilymbus podiceps), resting among floating algae at the north end of Bodega Harbor, 26 October 2018.

 

The night after

 

The night after the Hunter's Moon (photographed on 25 October 2018).