Yesterday we did the same basic campus walk as today and we had a few fun episodes with nature. The 1st one was seeing the pair of coyotes, mentioned and photographed here and here, come down from the hilly side of the "farm" portion of campus heading straight for us, presumably spooked by some joggers we could see off in the distance. They came in close enough to the road we were walking on to become aware of our presence and veer off toward deeper pastures.
2nd, we saw what I now believe was a Prairie Falcon (Falco mexicanus), see posts here, here and here, swoop right into the flight path of a mourning dove and give that bird a bit of a fright. Prairie Falcons are known to catch birds in flight. The dove got away. This happened directly in front of us and our response was a simultaneous, "wow!"
The 3rd event was spotting a Great Horned Owl perched atop of one of the backstops for the baseball field as we exited the campus. We also caught this magnificent bird taking flight. It was all really fun however, because it was a school day and I'm not inclined to do so on school days, I didn't bring my camera <<DOH!>>
Today wasn't so exciting but it was a wonderful walk and whatever the situation I always enjoy walking with Docken.
Same old Mockingbird. Two nights ago we had a Mockingbird which sounded to be right outside our bedroom window... cheerfully singing, ALL NIGHT LONG. The songs from the Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos) would be fine except they never shut up.
The curator of the botanical garden, Keith, pointed out this Mourning Dove nest and its two young chicks to me, nestled somewhat precariously in a Moon Lagoon, eucalyptus.
Too cute, huh? So here's a closer shot.
A rather ravenous beetle on some eucalyptus spotted by Docken.
A number of recently planted Bush Monkey flowers (Mimulus aurantiacus) in bloom.
A male Lesser Goldfinch hopping around in a Desert Willow.
For the most part I was too close to the hummingbirds for a photo op. I got a few shots off but nothing special. This is the same bird I showed in a recent post here with much better shots taken.
That's it. Thanks for coming along on our walk.
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