Today's walk report: 081521

 "No Card"

The two most dreaded words when you go to take pictures, look through the viewfinder, CLICK and no card. Actually, my current generation camera just says CArd in green LEDs and that word flashes. I don't know why the C and the A are in caps but they are. Flashing like, dumb guy, dumb guy, dumb guy... This morning I didn't get quite that far and thankfully I hadn't started walking yet. As I was getting out of the car these words surfaced to a conscious level, you didn't check for the SD card before leaving. The door to the SD card slot added insult--it was open. I sat back down and drove home. That process added about 20 minutes to the original ETA in the garden.

In the garden...

There was a time, years ago, when I was taking so many pictures of a certain or some certain hummingbirds where I told myself, I'm only posting new pictures of these hummingbirds if there's something sensational about the shot. It's getting that way with male Calypte anna hummingbird, Dusty. I'm not quite there and to be honest, he's always a joy to see. As I entered his territory a Cooper's hawk (Accipiter cooperii) came storming out of an olive tree about 30 yards in front of me. It was both impressive and disappointing. A few steps later there was Dusty, just looking right at me like he was saying, what am I, chopped liver? So, I took some pictures...

I walked over to the pond to see if any interesting insects might be flying about. That was a no go. The pond is a mess in that there is very little pond left. It was headed that direction well before Covid. The biggest problem is this plant, cattails (Typha latifolia). I have a better name but I'll skip it for now. They've taken over and for whatever reason the garden curator has let them. 

 

After that I paced around a bunch and decided, why not wander around a bit and perhaps trudge up at least some of the stairs, maybe I'll spot the hawk again. I pointed myself in the direction I saw the hawk exit the garden. These two were right out in the open and they were obviously well aware of my presence so I figured no A. cooperii nearby. 

 

I headed for the stairs. Well, you know how sometimes overweight, classless humans can make disgusting noises after running and stuff? There was one of those in my path, so I detoured.  No stairs but I did manage a steep incline of asphalt pavement. Then I hung a louie back to the car.

Back home: To make up a little for the lack of pictures and since I had stuff to do in the backyard, the camera came with...

I started several Tithonia rotundifolia plants indoors last winter. I figured I could then put them where I wanted and hopefully get enough seeds from them to gear up for something more extensive come spring of 2022. I'll probably start them indoors again but around May, that way I can clear the way from wildflower remnants (and weeds) from earlier in the spring. 

Starting with a couple pictures from today. Gulf fritillary (Agraulis vanillae), one of my favorite butterflies in that they look so very different between wings open and wings closed.

These were taken four days ago.

Thanks for stopping by. Thought for the day: Freedoms provided by the Constitution of the United States (or where ever) don't exempt you from the social consequences of being an asshole.