Today's walk report: 082821

 Dusty, not Dusty?

While I'm glad and grateful I got out to visit the local botanical garden, take some pictures and get some walking in, for the most part... it was a struggle. I'll blame it on the vacuuming yesterday. When I decide to vacuum the house there is always more vacuuming to be done than my back can tolerate. Heck, there's more vacuuming to be done than is humanly possible, it should be an Olympic event. I think the killer was in the third quarter, the vacuum lift onto the ottoman to clean cat hair. Yeah, that was it. Anyway, I got out and I took a few pictures. I climbed stairs too because I'm badass.

There wasn't much hummingbird cooperation in the garden. There were two male Calypte anna hummingbirds. I'm about 92% sure this first bird is Dusty and I think I could clear up any uncertainty if I did some comparison scoping with previous photographs but I'm not up to the task. Maybe later.

 

This male Calypte anna is definitely not Dusty. I had a really hard time on photographic congeniality with this bird. This is the best I could do. For the most part the sunlight was directly in my face once again, so that and the fact that presumed Dusty was chasing the bejeebies out of this bird along with a single female Selasphorus rufus hummingbird, kept me from having decent moments to get a shot off.

After about 20 minutes of dicking around (intransitive, chiefly US, informal + somewhat vulgar : to spend time idly or aimlessly : to waste time : fool around, mess around) with these birds and being blinded by the light, revved up like a deuce, I decided to hit the stairs. The stairs, only rivaled by the Angkor Wat's temple stairs in Cambodia. 

Right as I was thinking about a prairie falcon which flew directly in front of my face and landed next to me on yesterday's neighborhood walk (messing with the phone for a photo seemed unnecessary), a red-tailed hawk flew in front of my face. You know, pretty darn close. Closest point, I'd say about 10 yards in front of me. When a bird of prey, that large is that close you take notice. I fumbled with the camera, then I followed the bird. More stairs.

It was well camouflaged. I tried to walk around to where the light was to my advantage but I didn't get too far before the hawk took off.

Still apprehensive about students showing up on campus, it was a little after 8:00 AM, I decided to head home. As it turns out, school starts on Monday and most of the classes I looked at on their schedule were either "Internet" or "Live on-line". However signs and banners around the campus seem to indicate they expect the presence of people. I suspect any "lab classes" are going to require attendance.

For me personally? I wouldn't put a lot of faith in those notices. 

In closing... how about some more butterfly pictures from the backyard?

Giant swallowtail butterfly (Papilio cresphontes) on Mexican sunflowers (Tithonia rotundifolia). It's a non-stop parade of butterflies on these flowers.