The Odd Sock: Once Upon a Walk Report

Happy birthday to me. It's a big one too, at least in that there was paperwork involved. I'll leave it at that.

Coincidentally, I finished my photo folder clean-up routine for the first folder from 2016 today. So, happy new year, 2016. So to speak. Here are some selected images.

Female Calypte anna hummingbird. I remember this bird well. She was reliably hanging out in this Calothamnus quadrifidus shrub for quite some time.

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Here she is again, one week later.

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25-30 meters north, her handsome male suitor?

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This is the famous male Selasphorus sasin (Allen's hummingbird) who appeared on the last OUaWR. This is the bird I named, "Rusty". I had a long history with Rusty.

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Male Calypte anna hummingbird.

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I posted a few of these images back in 2016. I looked it up this time because I wanted to make sure I hadn't noticed this before. The smaller bird is a prairie falcon (Falco mexicanus). It's going after a red-tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicensis). What I didn't notice back in 2016 is depicted in the first image. The falcon has its talons embedded in some prey. You can see the tail hanging down clearly. I'm guessing it's a mouse or a rat but could it possibly be a rather large fence lizard? The second picture is only about 11 seconds later and the third is about 10 seconds after that. The falcon had left my frame in both instances. I'm not sure it still has its prey in tow. My guess is. no it does not.

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Male Calypte anna hummingbird. He must've exhaled for the second shot.

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Alyogyne huegelii .

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Meanwhile, back at home. This is what we had to look forward to when we returned from walks. Covid-19 put a huge damper on this experience both in 2020 and this year. In 2020 there were workers coming and going at the houses on both sides of me. Parading back and forth on the sidewalk in front of the house. Coughing and spitting, smoking and yelling. The mask thing was almost non-existent and I was reluctant to go out front for picture taking, maintaining the yard and finally to collect seeds as flowers started dying back in April. The lack of seeds collected in 2020 and a serious lack of rain this past season left the front yard virtually bare of wildflowers. The exception was my nemesis plant, common storksbill (Erodium cicutarium). Not entirely unattractive but it makes up for anything pretty with its invasive nature.

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Here's another view from the right side near the garage wall pointing out to the driveway. There are flagstones in there, mostly obscured.

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Dimorphotheca sinuata and Arroyo lupine.

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Back to the botanical garden. Docken Duck and yeah, I thought that plane was flying a bit low. Burbank airport is about 25 km (15.5 miles) away from where I was standing.