Winter to spring to summer to spring and back to winter again. That, in a nutshell, has been SoCal weather over the past several weeks. Monday, March 7th opened with thunderstorms and lightening (very, very frightening) while less than two weeks ago we were approaching temps in the 90sº. Crazy.
On the walk and photo front here's what's been happening since my last report...
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Agave parryi spine.
No ID
Lycianthes rantonnetii 'Royal Robe'
We were greeted in the garden by Eric and Docken, our two mallard friends. Eric duck was having problems with his left leg and we feared for the worse. However, we believe an almost daily contribution of whole grains helped him recover and within a couple of months he was walking again. Ah, the attachments we make.
Docken duck thanking us for the food.
Eric duck resting his leg.
Aloe flowers.
Female Calypte anna hummingbird.
Male Calypte anna on "moon lagoon" eucalyptus.
The same bird with a turn of his head.
One more from the backside.
Another male Anna's hummingbird watches his territory.
Mimosa acacia flowers.
Eucalyptus 'Moon Lagoon' (Fine-Leafed Mallee).
Opuntia flowers.
Opuntia flowers.
Red-eared slider.
Selasphorus sasin. My friend, "Rusty."
No ID.
A tiny female Calypte anna on Eremophila glabra.
White-crowned sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys).
No ID.
I barely caught this red-tailed hawk flying almost directly overhead.
Another female Calypte anna.
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Northern mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos).
And here's a brief recording of said mockingbird. I've become more tolerant of these birds in the past two years. During springtime their constant chatter, while interesting and sometimes pleasant can become rather irritating, especially when the proximity is close and it goes on throughout the night.
Acacia boormanii, Snowy River Wattle.
Probably the same male Anna's as above.
Female Allen's hummingbird in a palo verde tree.
A black Phoebe in the grape arbor.
Wild pink succulent flowers.
Acacia covenyi flowers.
Sedum flowers.
Eucalyptus torquata, commonly known as coral gum.
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It was a very windy and very sunny early afternoon. I struggled a bit with each of these factors.
Wind blowing the Acacia boormanii shrub.
Leucadendron.
Grevillea sericea.
Some type of figwort I presume.
This female Calypte anna was being rather elusive.
Another Leucadendron.
and another...
and one more.
A male Calypte anna earnestly looking for a mate...
and she was just four "houses" away.
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Alyogyne huegelii, blue hibiscus (not blue and not a hibiscus, I don't name these plants).
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Don't tread on me.
A ground squirrel collects some sunshine.
Our not so friendly mockingbird defends his territory.
and that same male Anna's is still looking for a girl?
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Meanwhile, the red-eared slider turtles are really back in force. This is a non-indigenous invasive species which is taking over this small pond.
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Along the way. This turned out to be a very diverse group crossing the street along the nearby bike path. The photo was taken to get a shot of the elderly lady on the 3-wheeler. Some people just amaze us and she is one of them. We've seen her several times before. That bike is a tank and she must be in her mid-late 80s, yet she powers along with all the "youngsters."
Still no ID on this shrub...
It seems to attract a number of critters...
and I spent a good deal of time trying to get a decent bumblebee pic. This was the best I could capture.
Meanwhile, the grasshopper moved over to a Westringia shrub.
Another "battle" sequence, this time a prairie falcon (Falco mexicanus) going after a red-tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicensis). Prairie falcons are known to be very aggressive raptors and has an edge over the hawk in both speed and flight agility. Notice in the 3rd image, the falcon is right on top of the hawk.
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These are seriously tiny flowers. That is a very small hover fly. A weed just off the sidewalk. A slice of beauty we'd normally pass by without a thought.
A bee enjoys Westringia flowers.
A squirrel trying to decide where to lose an acorn.
This is a 1945 Douglas DC3 which has, according to web info, been fully restored and is owned by Clay Lacy Aviation, Inc. out of Van Nuys, CA. A thought occurred, my father worked as a mechanic for Douglas Aircraft shortly before he was killed in an auto accident in the early 1960s. It is possible my father's hands touched this plane.
A male Calypte anna perched high in a Western redbud (Cercis occidentalis) shrub.
The same bird now perched low in the Western redbud.
This is a common sight on a Saturday morning. I've seen all of these planes many times over the past 4+ years but it's not always the same group. I thought I heard more than two planes but you should be able to see why I thought it was just two from the 1st image.
A little more separation as they moved away from me.
A tattered red-tailed hawk. Did it meet up with a prairie falcon?
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A bunch of like shots of the same male Calypte anna hummingbird. He was being very cooperative.
Greviiiea paniculata.
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Alyogyne huegelii, blue hibiscus.
Allen's hummingbird, "Rusty" on Grevillea aspleniifolia.
Allen's hummingbird, "Rusty" on scarlet bugler.
Opuntia flowers left.
Opuntia flowers right.
This is the same male Anna's hummingbird seen in many of the shots above. Notice his tongue is out in every photo. This was true in almost every picture taken and there were over 100. I don't know what that means but I did just learn something new about hummingbird tongues that I'll share below.
A little face scratching.
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Unknown eucalyptus flowers.
Here's Allen's hummingbird, "Rusty" again. I wanted to point out something about his tongue and hummingbird tongues in general. Notice in the 2nd image, his tongue is forked. I had always thought that hummingbirds took in nectar via a capillary action of fluid rising through a tube in the tongue. Not true but this is what was commonly believed until recently. What is actually happening is the tongue traps liquid by an automatic response of curling the tongue. The tongue is indeed forked and is lined with hair-like extensions called lamellae. Inside a flower the tongue separates and the lamellae prolong. As the hummingbird retracts its tongue the forked tips come together and the lamellae roll inward trapping the nectar inside the tongue. There's much more information on this here including slow motion video.
lined with hair-like
extensions called lamellae. When inside the flower, the tongue
separates and the lamellae extend outward. As the bird pulls its tongue
in, the tips come together and the lamellae roll inward. This action
traps the nectar within the tongue.
lined with hair-like
extensions called lamellae. When inside the flower, the tongue
separates and the lamellae extend outward. As the bird pulls its tongue
in, the tips come together and the lamellae roll inward. This action
traps the nectar within the tongue.
lined with hair-like
extensions called lamellae. When inside the flower, the tongue
separates and the lamellae extend outward. As the bird pulls its tongue
in, the tips come together and the lamellae roll inward. This action
traps the nectar within the tongue.
