The Beauty of Natural California

Mostly a photoblog of California's natural beauty.

[montereybayaquarium]

Protect California's coasts!

No matter where you live, you can speak up and take action now to protect the coast of California from offshore drilling.

The Trump administration's plan for new offshore oil and gas drilling in federal waters is expected any day. If finalized, drilling could begin off the California coast as soon as next year.

We need you—our Aquarium Tumblr community—to act right now.

📣 California residents: Tell your lawmakers to vote YES on AB 1448—closing loopholes that let old infrastructure fuel new drilling. Submit by August 3.

📣 Everyone: Tell NOAA to keep California's coastal protections strong. NOAA needs to hear from everyone who loves the California coast, no matter where you live. Public comments are due August 22.

Our coast can't wait. Take action now:

Protect California’s coastline

Take two actions to stop federal offshore drilling off California's coast.

[spinus-pinus]

Great Horned Owl Bubo virginianus

3/12/2024 Orange County, California

[feet-of-clay]

Pink skirts on California poppy seedpods.

[beastsposting]

yes... yes! the condor is out!

condor 1215 (tag yellow 15) being released back into pinnacles national from (as far as i can tell) a checkup. she is 3 years old and was wild born to 589 & 569 ("phoebe the forager"). [1]

[src]

[stellerssong]

in the los padres national forest. straight up "scaling it." and by "it," haha, well. let's justr say. mount pinos

[jillraggett]

Plant of the Day

Monday 13 April 2026

The emerging foliage on this Aesculus californica (California buckeye) was looking so smart. This deciduous multi-stemmed tree will be covered in candles of fragrant white flowers with yellow then pink throats.

Jill Raggett

[catboybiologist]

Imagine if a like 8 foot tall guy that looked kinda like an alien species just kinda showed up at the house you rent a room in and crashed on the couch and at first everyone hated him but you kinda just accepted this weird massive kinda-human alien species thing as a part of your group even though he's like twice the size of everyone else there

[catboybiologist]

Cuz that's literally happening to sea lions in San Francisco right now

[catboybiologist]

So there's two species of sea lion in North America: the California sea lion, ranging along California (including Baja) but not ranging into the north coast or into oregon

And the Stellar's sea lion, which are WAY bigger and live in Washington, British Columbia, and Alaska

A male Stellars sea lion showed up in SF like a month ago and just kinda. Didn't know what to do, and joined a colony of California sea lions, and is just kinda chilling there now.

[catboybiologist]

Weird vagrant species happen from time to time, but this is just a particularly funny instance of a highly social species getting very lost, and just trying to blend in with its closest nearby relatives

[mybigfatgaylife]

his name is Chonkers

[savouryduck]

Chonkers the sea lion draws crowds to San Francisco's Pier 39

A massive sea lion nicknamed Chonkers is charming tourists and locals at San Francisco's Pier 39. On Thursday morning, visitors snapped phot

[aro-isopod]

correction: there are sea lions in oregon. there are a bunch of male california sea lions that live in newport, migrating back in july for the breeding season

there is also the sea lion caves in florence which has stellar sea lions

[catboybiologist]

I've issued this correction multiple times, but unfortunately it doesn't have as much reach as the initial post. Def my bad.

[bedupolker]

It feels cool to be "in" on celebrity gossip before anyone else. I ran into Californian Condor V9 and looked her up on the condor lookup website. It says her current mate is dead and she has no kids but I saw her with a new man AND a juvenile.

[theplanthropologist]

Our native Tomcat Clover (T. willdenovii)

[theplanthropologist]

White Sage Architecture

[theplanthropologist]

The Sea Dahlia (L. maritima), a threatened coastal wildflower that lives in a very small range of coastal bluffs between southern California and Baja California.

[theplanthropologist]

[theplanthropologist]

Chaparral Shrub Textures

[theplanthropologist]

Even amongst scores of invasive radishes and European brome grasses, the poppies persist.

[steepravine]

My First Yellow Globe Lily!

Calochortus lilies are the best, so beautiful and varied, and most of them are endemic to California. This was my first time seeing a calochortus amabilis, the yellow globe lily.

(Jack London Park, California - 5/2014)

[flippantsmeagol]

While walking back to my truck, kinda sad but lifted by the smell of wet desert. Came across these scenes. Giant Eastern Mojave buckwheat and hedgehog cactus in moonlight. It will be okay.

[wenbochenphoto]

Purple Fairy-lantern (Calochortus amoenus) in Sequoia National Park California.  It looks like Cypripedium orchids from distance but actually belongs to Liliaceae family, endemic to California.