We’re going to stick with the wildlife a little bit longer.

Kay Loughman runs a beautiful and fascinating website called Wild Life in the North Hills. It’s all about the flora and fauna in Claremont Canyon. She has pictures of everything from a grey fox lounging on a patio chair to a banana slug slithering across a stone. She’s a keen naturalist and a skilled photographer. The only thing more remarkable than all of the natural beauty at our doorstep is how easy it is to forget it’s there during the course of a busy week. Loughman’s website is a good reminder.

We asked Loughman for the news this summer from the world of Oakland’s birds, bugs, and other critters. She said that the big story so far was the indigo bunting sharp-eyed birdwatchers spied in Claremont Canyon back in June. Common back east, the indigo bunting is very rare this far west. Phila Rogers wrote about it on her blog at the Lawrence Hall of Science.