The Overlook at Halibut Point in mid-June

When Coreopsis blooms alongside the grout pile, an already spectacular Overlook panorama gets re-minted in gold.

A Goldfinch perched above the Overlook...

Just then a congregation of Goldfinches arrives to further embellish the scene.

dives to the ground...

The birds animate the moors with their brilliant plumage and gymnastic foraging.

to forage in the flowers

They've come looking for seeds that have ripened on the earliest-blooming plants, while the inflorescence rolls on.

The Coreopsis carpet

The rocky scree of quarry cast-offs seems like an unlikely place for such profusion. Vegetative colonization and soil-building have proceeded hand-in-hand over the century since granite mining ceased here.

An Eastern Calligrapher Flower Fly and Tube-tailed Thrips

An advancing web of life has populated the formerly sterile grout dump that became the Overlook.

Spot-winged Glider above Coreopsis

Dragonflies seem to be dashing over gold coins on the terrain below.