The Odd Sock: Today's walk report: 082914: 5 day photo extravaganza

Finishing up August in SoCal and I'm starting to get excited for fall. Face it. Unless one lives near beaches and certainly NOT in the Valleys of southern California, summer pretty much sucks. We live in one of those valleys. I know a lot of people say they "love" summer here but then they just complain about the heat. I think, for the most part, it's people hanging onto how they thought they perceived summer as children--free from the bonds of school for... well, as the song goes... forever. I like fall once it gets rolling and I love winter and spring. Screw summer.

Here are photos from August 23rd to August 27th, all A.M. walks in an effort to beat the heat.

082314...

Gulf Fritillary (Agraulis vanillae) on Salvia uliginosa and lantana.

I have taken many pictures of the diminutive (wingspan 2.2 to 2.9 cm) Leptotes marina (Blue marine) butterfly in the past but this was the 1st occasion where I've had an opportunity to shoot them with wings open. These little butterflies are generally a real pain to get staying still let alone still long enough to take the time to flash their colors. Over the last 5 days I kept returning to this Baja fairy duster shrub for more photos. The trick is to pick one butterfly and stick with it until it lands or another crosses inside one's "zone" for a good photo and then track that one. Eventually one will land.

082414...

Out front, on the "hell strip," were some weeds I missed weeding out earlier in the week. This is one of the ugliest, nastiest weeds around. It has a sticky sap, nettles, is almost impossible to simply pull out, it grows up to several feet tall and it's everywhere. It does however have a surprisingly cute little flower.

Back to the usual suspects... there will be more of these in the days to come. I was enjoying myself and testing my threshold for patience.

Gulf fritillary inside blue nolina (Nolina nelsonii)

Gulf Fritillary (Agraulis vanillae) on Salvia uliginosa.

Gulf Fritillary (Agraulis vanillae) on Baja fairy duster (Calliandra californica).

Agraulis vanillae on Salvia uliginosa.

Leptotes marina on Calliandra californica.

Cactus fruit.

This immature rufous hummingbird came over and sat about 18" away from where I was standing, elbow high, looking as if it wanted to see what I was fussing over. I had to take two big steps backwards to get a picture with a minimum focus distance of 1.5 meters.

Some of the fuss was over this young male rufous rustling its feathers above me in the Baja fairy duster shrub.

The other side...

082514...

More Leptotes marina on Calliandra californica. The opportunity presented itself and it's challenging.

Meanwhile this Western scrub jay was squawking for the limelight.

082614...

Never mind... tomorrow's another day.

082714...

As a child, in this very location, I remember Western tiger swallowtail (Papilio rutulus) butterflies to be a regular sight. I hardly ever see them now. Perhaps they suffer some of the same plight as the Monarch, which is now considered an endangered species. On the Monarch side please consider planting milkweed, if you're in Monarch territory. You can find some good information here, you can get seed appropriate to your region in the usual places.

This particular butterfly was a little on the tattered side but I tried to take some shots where damage was obscured by the creature's incredible beauty.