On yesterday's walk I kept looking for something I couldn't find and have dearly missed seeing throughout my Covid activated confinement. Ever since I felt some confidence in being fully incubated post my second vaccination shot, when I reinstated walks on May 8th, I kept looking to the skies... where the flying frick were all the birds of prey? As much as I love to take pictures of hummingbirds and butterflies I really missed sightings of raptors. Well, today I finally got a good show.
But first...
Sunrise reflecting on roses as I headed toward the garden. Not fragrant in the least mind you. Who thought it was a good idea to breed the scent out from roses? There's a rose bush along the walkway to the front door here. The bush is probably 67 years old and its flowers smell heavenly. I plan to attempt propagating some cuttings soon.
Yesterday, in comments, Trey suggested this male Calype anna hummingbird be given a name and coincidentally I was thinking earlier about when and where I have named hummingbirds. Trey came up with the name "Dusty," perhaps a nod to the famous Selasphorus sasin I once named, Rusty. Anyway, here's Dusty...
I headed past the southern grape arbor and noticed the grapes are significantly more grape in color since I last took a photo.
I wanted to check on this little fellow. I took some pictures of this monarch larva on narrowleaf milkweed (A. fascicularis) yesterday and was a little disturbed by the milkweed aphids which are omnipresent but I don't typically see them on the caterpillars. Today there were fewer and the caterpillar looked healthy.
Then I looked up. Oh joy!
A juvenile red-tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) just waiting for me. You're gonna get a bunch of pictures because I was excited.
I followed its movement until it flew away.
The hawk took me well outside of the garden so I decided to head home.
