Eye candy

Here are some assorted photos from a recent trip to Kit Carson Park in Escondido. The photos are unrelated except for being taken on the same day at the same place,... and they are quite colorful!

Here is the first photo. The plant is about 5 feet tall and the big yellow flower is 3-1/2 inches across. My attempts at identifying it online based only on this picture has failed.

Next is a brown butterfly seen flitting about. It has a pale yellow rear border and trailing series of blue spots. Looking it up online revealed the name to be Mourning Cloak--no doubt for the dark funerary colors.

I also tried to figure this second flower out, but don't know whether the flowers were on the bush as it first appeared, or whether a vine grew up through the shrub. If the latter, then perhaps a periwinkle. If it really is a shrub, then perhaps plumbago. Either way, it doesn't seem to be a native plant.

Finally, I end with a bright male Hooded Oriole, found April through September in southern California. It is in a sycamore tree. Birds. Trees. Those I'm pretty good at. Flowers? Not so much.

Hooded Oriole. Escondido, California. May 8, 2016. Greg Gillson.