Today's walk report: 092614, weeks fly by

This is my 3rd attempt to get this posted. It seems every week has been flying by and posting here has taken a back seat to other more significant pursuits but here we go...

With summer-like weather starting up in spring it's been a long hot one and we probably won't see a lot of relief for another few weeks, moving into mid-October. With the severe drought situation and what seems to be unusually long hot days in this SoCal valley, thriving plant life has taken a major hit and daylight walks have been less frequent.

A short excursion on 091414...

Bees loving the open cactus flowers.

Some ants too...

Pilosocereus leucocephalus.

Selasphorus rufus, Rufous hummingbirds continue to be the main attraction for me. They seem to be more excepting of my presence of late.

Selasphorus rufus enjoying Salvia darcyi.

 Moving on to last weekend (091914-092114)...

Ground squirrel in a Baja fairy duster bush.

Selasphorus rufus.

A feather-like frond.

4th generation of the 2014 monarch life cycle. Prepping for migration?

A grass skipper butterfly on brightly colored lantana.

My 1st siting of a green lynx spider for the fall saeson. Last year I followed the life cycle of two of these spiders quite closely. In fact, I'm planning to do a "special report" on this fine spider sometime soon.

Female green lynx on Alyogyne huegelii.

   Closer...

Euphorbia horrida.

I believe this is the same Selasphorus rufus over two days. They are very territorial however territories seem tightly knit and sometimes it's hard to tell who is invading whom.

I'm standing inside 4-6' tall Salvia darcyi, aka, red mountain sage for this shot.

Taking off.

From the desert willow...

to the grape arbor...

looking up...

at the end of a long day.

Fyi: Selasphorus rufus hummingbirds eat 1/2 to 3 times their body weight a day. The average weight of the bird is 3.37 grams. For reference, a nickel ($.05) weighs 5 grams.


That's all but there's more coming! It might take a couple weeks to get posts up here but I'm always taking pictures... and walking with my girl, Doc.