Dean's Outside

08/06/2025

Opalescent Nudibranch. This tiny, 3/4 inch sea slug was really showing off it's electric blue lines in a tidepool near Trinidad, California.
I believe this one is a Hermissenda crassicornis, common name "Opalescent". They are one of the more common Nudibranchs found from Alaska to Northern California. They can live on rocks in tidepools, bays, and some estuaries. This species of Nudibranch can grow to about 2 inches long.

Opalescents eat tiny invertebrates and almost whatever they can find that is smaller than them.

Nudibranchs get their Name from their Order classification "Nudibranchia" The name means "naked gills" because their gills are the unprotected feathery structures that you see that they breathe through, like a fish. They are a type of Mollusk, just like garden slugs, octopus and oysters. There are about 3000 species of nudibranchs known on Earth, and are some of the most vibrantly colorful creatures you can find anywhere.

This Nudibranch has amazingly bright neon lines on its body that are hard to catch in a photograph. They truly look like an electric neon sign.

Tidepools are magical places. The ocean has so much color and activity, and lots of amazing creatures to watch.

02/06/2025

Here's a few of the Honey Bee Swarms I've caught so far this year in Humboldt County, CA. Each one is different, and beautiful in their own right.
Here's a short version of a what a swarm of honeybees actually is-
When a hive gets too full of bees, the old queen leaves the hive with around half the workers, leaving the old hive with lots of honey, baby bees, and a new queen. The bees fill their stomachs with honey to last about 3 days while looking for a new home. This is called "Swarming", and it's how bees reproduce and make new colonies.
They fly around, looking for a place to settle while hundreds of "Scouts" look for a suitable new home for the swarm. The queen will tire out (she's not a good flyer) and all the bees will ball up around her somewhere- this is usually a tree limb, stop sign, fence post, mailbox, etc. This is to protect her, and to conserve warmth. They can stay like this for an hour or up to three days, but usually they will find a new place to ball up a couple of different times over 3 days. After the scouts find a suitable new home, they tell the swarm, and guide the queen to the new hive- this could be an old tree cavity, or an empty space where a colony died out during winter. Sometimes though, it's a space that could interfere with humans. The goal is to get them moved into a suitable and safe place that doesn't interfere with human activity.
If they do not find a suitable place within 1-3 days, or if weather is bad, they can die. Also, it is difficult for a newly homed swarm to establish themselves and survive the first season- only 25% survive if they find a suitable home in the wild. Survivability of a new swarm under the care of an experienced beekeeper is often over 80%
Good news- during Swarming, bees will not usually sting. They have no hive to defend, have bellies full of honey, and have finding a new home as issue #1. If they've landed, just look from a safe distance. and don't agitate them. That is when they can become a little angry.
I'm an experienced Beekeeper, If you have any more bee questions, or would like to report a swarm in Humboldt for removal, please contact me. The goal is to get them moved into a suitable and safe place that doesn't interfere with human activity. If I can't help, I will contact another Humboldt Beekeeper who will.
If you encounter a flying swarm, marvel in the magic of this "Tornado of bees"!

20/05/2025

Happy World Bee Day. There are 1600 different Native bee species in California. 4000 native species in the USA. Over 20,000 bee species worldwide Bee thankful for pollinators. Spend time outside with the bees.

Bumblebee. Kneeland, California

15/05/2025

This PBS documentary is extremely good, and photographically rich. Extremely worth the watch. The link is for the full streaming episode on PBS. It's also available on YouTube, and if you'd like to watch on broadcast TV- It's on NATURE tonight at 8 on PBS. Please watch it. You'll learn stuff.

Discover the diverse species and personalities of bees who live in a British urban garden.

27/04/2025

Here's a fun close-up taken outdoors. Can you identify it?
Humboldt County, CA, Eureka, CA

04/04/2025

A Brand new Honey Bee. (Tap for entire photo) A worker bee emerges from her cell and joins the hive. All worker bees are female, but are fed and treated differently from the queen when they are larva so they are not reproductive. This bee's egg was laid about 3 weeks ago. The same egg could be made into a queen or a worker by the worker bees when the larva is very young.
Spring and summer worker bees live for 4 to 6 weeks and share all the worker bee jobs in the hive with the others throughout their life, graduating to a different job every couple of days.
Just above the new bee, you can see the little bee butt of an older worker bee cleaning and polishing a brood cell to get it ready for another egg from the queen. The darker comb has produced many bees, while the lighter colored comb is newer, and is probably getting prepared to store honey and flower pollen to feed the next batch of larva.
The cells that are capped right above the emerging bee are bees waiting to emerge. Most colonies will be hatching 500 to 1000 bees every day in the month of April.

At the very top of the photograph ( make sure you tap the photo for full size) is a larger male bee. These bees are called "drones". A colony produces several hundred male bees to spread genetics and mate with distant queens.

The bees are out and about this time of year visiting the trees and flowers, growing their numbers after the winter. There are thousands of varieties of native bees, and only a couple varieties of these honey bees. Check them out on flowers and notice the differences- they all do a very important job.

Photo from one of my hives last week. Humboldt County, California. If you have Bee questions, or help with swarms let me know!

15/03/2025

Trillium season is here! Hopefully everyone is out finding and photographing these forest beauties before they disappear until next spring. The usual season for Trillium to flower is February through April.

Look for it's brilliant while blooms at the edges of trails in the forested areas. The Trillium is a member of the Lily order. The bright white blooms often darken into a pink or purple-ish color as they mature. The plant does not always flower each year, occasionally staying dormant underground for several years.

Please photograph and admire, but do not pick the flowers, as this can damage the plant and prevent future growth.

The darker hues of the forest floor get a nice bright pop from these brilliant white beauties. Step outside and enjoy this springtime treat!

27/02/2025

A "Spanish Shawl" Nudibranch crawls along a rock in a tidepool near Trinidad, California. This one was almost 3 inches long and hard to miss among the green kelp. The purple and orange colors are amazing when you see them in person. The orange hair like parts are actually their exposed gills. These features lead to them being named Nudibranchs. "Nudi" (naked or exposed) and "Branchia" (gills). This one is Flabellinopsis iodinea, and always a delight to find in the wilds of the tidepools created by the pull of our moon and the sun against the ocean. Humboldt County, CA.

18/02/2025

Redwoods bathing in the bright sun.
Humboldt County, CA. Humboldt Redwoods State Park

Dean's Outside page

16/02/2025

An Amanita muscaria mushroom in the mixed Redwood Forest of coastal Humboldt County, California.
Mostly considered a fall and winter mushroom, it brings a welcome pop of color to the darker winter months. The season will soon begin to change, the days growing longer. Spring mushrooms have started to appear, and with them, new adventures!

08/02/2025

Track #4 of 4- Today's tracks are from a little more common animal. Can you identify the animal? Can you identify which paws made the prints?

Quarter for scale. The tracks were in silty mud near several salmon carcasses on Elk River, in January 2025

I think only one person correctly identified Tuesday's tracks. We'll let it go for another day or so.

Did you get to ID all 4 sets of tracks that I posted?
Check out Dean's Outside page if you didn't. I'll post the answer to all 4 there in the next day or so.

If you like tracking, make sure you look out for more tracking posts and classes coming up.

05/02/2025

Third day of tracking questions- What animal made this track? And, which foot made the track? The track was found in silty sand at the edge of a river, and was approximately 2.5 inches wide.

Location was near Blue Lake, California on the Mad/Baduwat River in January 2025.

Yesterday's track post was of two North American River Otters. The tracks, especially the hind tracks show the toes splayed out with plenty of room for webbing. The tracks meander back and forth crossing over each other as they moved down the river bar.