Today's walk report: nothing to crow about

 In a nutshell, it was the wrong day to go for a walk on the local college campus. Not only were there "events" and classes going on, it was also registration day. Covid or no Covid it was way too crowded for me. At least I had good company on the phone with Docken. Fortunately I had chosen to drive onto the campus so aside from limited on foot activity (I walked maybe .75 miles) I did drive around a bit and I ran into this amazingly beautiful and quite large crow. Correction (10/13/22): This is a common raven, Corvus corax. I have a story forthcoming on my mis-IDing some birds. I’m alway game for someone coming onboard in the comments and correcting me.

Flying birds,
Excellent birds... This is the picture*

That's it. Tomorrow might be a better, quieter experience. There's been a lot going on at the homestead. I've gotten a little frantic about getting seeds started for some summer flowers. Some of this preparation was mentioned here. Namely the part about starting zinnia and Tithonia rotundifolia seeds in Jiffy peat pellets. What I discovered was... Tithonia rotundifolia won't germinate in Jiffy pellets, not for me anyway. I ended up investing in 3, 2.0 cu.ft. bags of Happy Frog potting soil on Tuesday the 22nd and started Tithonia seeds in red party cups on my patio table. They've already begun sprouting. I also repurposed the Jiffy pellets with zinnia seeds and they too have started sprouting. In one day! Monday rain is coming!

I went outside to look at the patio table to see if there was anything else I might want to mention about the propagation taking place (there's not) and lo and behold look who showed up for peanuts. I didn't get any peanut munching shots but I did catch the post mealtime bath. Here's Bowie!

Looks like I need to go rinse and refill the birdbath (thanks to Docken for the birdbath), so until next time... *

Today's walk report: 032022

 Spring sprang in but winter had something to say about it.

Heading to the local botanical garden mid-morning it was a cool 57º and the wind was blowing hard. At 6' 5", 220 lb I'm a relatively formidable human and there were moments walking into strong gusts where I was definitely applying extra effort. I was on the phone with Docken again. She was walking to her local botanical garden some 45 miles from my location and I know the wind against the microphone was making some conversation difficult. 

Picture taking was also a challenge, especially when the subjects were in flight. I saw some amazing crow flight acrobatics but even attempting to capture them on camera was an obvious... nope, ain't gonna happen.

Here's what I got.

The ever so reliable male Calypte anna hummingbird known as Dusty.

Up above and in another familiar spot for red-tailed hawks was this one. I think this may be one of the same birds I've been seeing in the general area for weeks now. They were nesting nearby. Notice the angle of its tail. The hawk was doing some amazing maneuvering in the wind.

Down below and in an odd spot were these two. I got the feeling they too were working on logistics for a nest.

Back in the garden Docken heard too a male and female mallard duck pair come flying in almost directly over my head and into the pond. Fond memories. Mallards can live up to ten years in the wild, could these be OUR ducks? Perhaps. Maybe even offspring of our famous ducks. I had a hard time getting a picture of the male. The pond is currently overgrown with cattails.

Despite the wind blowing dust into my eyes, it was (still is) a beautiful day. We got a little rain early in the morning, just enough to help clean the skies along with the blustery blasts of wind.

Back home, Stan was hanging out on the patio which was a real treat because he hadn't shown for breakfast on his normal at dawn schedule. He had already eaten quite a bit of dry food (AKA, squirrel food) but I brought him some Friskies pate. It's very usual for Stan to be out when it's windy. Sorry no pictures.

Shortly after Stan left I heard the wonderful scrub jay Bowie nearby and I called her by name while rattling peanuts on a paper plate until she showed up at the patio.

 That's all I've got. I hope you're having a beautiful 1st day of spring wherever you are. I know Docken did. She's probably looking at her pictures right now.

Today's walk report: 031322

 Too many people. I felt pulled and pushed around. Apparently today was the day for a contractor to come in and clean out all of the air-ducts in the classrooms on the college campus I frequent for walks and visits to its botanical garden. They were everywhere and they were cramping my style. Plus the workers were loud and they had crappy music playing. I decided to mostly make a walk of it. The walk ended up being 2.53 miles and I had Docken's company on the phone.

There was a red-tailed hawk flying next to this Cooper's hawk when I first spotted them but the Cooper's seemed to make a quick decision to go the other direction. In my post back on February 27th I indicated that red-tailed hawks were nest building in this same general vicinity. I wonder now if today's red-tailed hawk simply wasn't going to have anything to do with a competing hawk in its territory.

I saw male Calypte anna hummingbird "Dusty" in his usual perch but I didn't get a very good picture since humans were encroaching upon my space and I didn't feel like hanging out in their proximity. Plus it's rather creepy having dudes masked up wearing what looked like low-budget hazmat suits cleaning air-ducts nearby during a pandemic.

 I decided to head west for a change, in the direction of the campus livestock. Here are two of my donkey friends. We go way back. Somewhere I should have a video of me talking to these two and one other donkey probably taken in 2011, possibly 2012. Notice the wear in that post. That appears to be from at least the burro on the right chewing on it. A donkey toothbrush?

 Hey look! It's Vladimir Putin! Actually, Vlad already fell to the ground.

On my way out. 

Bowie's back!

 No, not that guy.

This would be Bowie the very special female California scrub jay (Aphelocoma californica) I became very well acquainted with from mid-September, 2021 until the first week of February, 2022. I saw her on occasion for close to a year before that but... well, that story is here. From February 8th up until  February 15th I had not seen beak nor tail of dear Bowie. On the 15th I only happened to catch her in the front yard relocating an acorn she had stashed on the roof above my garage (I wish she'd stick with other places). I only had a moment to say hello. Then yesterday... It was a little after 10:00 in the morning and I was working on yesterday's blog entry when I heard a bunch of squawking in the backyard, just outside my office windows. I immediately dashed out. I needed to be certain it was her and wanted to make an observation as expeditiously as possible. I wanted to see her. I wanted to see that she was okay. I missed her. Once I saw it was indeed Bowie I stepped back inside and grabbed my camera.

What was she squawking at you might ask? Well, it was this pair of mockingbirds. I'm also very familiar with these two and much like scrub jays (with the exception of the very unique Bowie), male and female northern mockingbirds (Mimus polyglottos) are difficult to tell apart, unless you see them together. Males, in both cases, are larger. I believe this is the first time I have seen the mockingbirds together. I'm pretty certain the one on the left is the male. I'm also pretty sure he's the one I've seen and spoken to most frequently. Males have a wider range of vocalization and sing more frequently than females.

Bowie took off, at least I lost track of Bowie while the mockingbirds remained. Egg laying for both of these birds species can begin in March. For the mockingbirds my understanding is it depends on warmer than average temperatures. So far, for March, that's a toss-up. Today's temp went from 41ºf to 81ºf. I think we’re headed into generally warmer climes. The situation could be similar for the scrub jays. The best information I can get on them is they might start early March but nesting averages from late March to mid-June. To start, it takes about 10 days to build the nest, so that's possibly happening now... plus... moments ago, Bowie was back again and this time she hung out with me on the patio and got some peanuts. We probably spent close to 20 minutes together so I doubt she's dealing with a baby bird yet. Also, I haven't seen Mr. B since February 25th and they're supposed to do this stuff together. Yes, I will let you know if I see Mr. B.

Again on the utility pole this afternoon. However, when she heard me tambourine peanuts on a paper plate she came right down to the ficus trees off the patio.

 
Look at me, I'm a BIG girl!

That's your Bowie update for now. I think it would be great if I could spot a nest and follow that development. I'm keeping my eyes and ears open.

Where Have All the Flowers Gone?

 The first seven notes and lyrics of this song popped into my head this morning followed by the next five notes minus the words. I didn't know the words. For the most part this song is before my time and I was never too into "folk music" of the 50s and 60s. I'm probably aware of this tune from 60s television. Along with not knowing the words, of course, came not knowing what the song was about. 

The reason the song popped into my head was because I've spent the last four days outside with a line trimmer and a rake cleaning up what was left of my suburban wildflower meadow. There comes a point when the balance between flowers dying back and weeds filling in prompts me to start cutting it all down.

For anyone who hasn't participated in reading this blog, I will illustrate. This is how things looked on February 18th. This was the last effort I made at taking pictures because I saw the weeds were soon to take charge. I think some of the weeds are pretty. I think they add to the charm. For awhile.

There is also a great deal of weeding along the way. I would pull armfuls of weeds daily but there is a point when there are this many flowers that getting to the weeds causes too much collateral damage and I have to opt out. 

See... I think the foxtail weeds (Hordeum murinum?) in this image are rather attractive.

Beginning the last few days of February I began collecting seeds for next year. The orange and yellow flowers are Dimorphotheca sinuata, an African daisy. I bought 1/4 lb of those for this crop. I'm opposed to buying seeds when I can cultivate them myself. I'm also opposed to buying plants when they can be resourced from cuttings. Aside from my finding seeds and plants expensive, I simply think this is the way it should be. I think the plants want to give back. The process is also kinda Zen-like. I'm hoping to get my 1/4 lb back. There are several of these in various stages of production.

After three days of line trimming. Most of the blondish color you see on the ground are cuttings. Ultimately, I want to get it cleaned up mostly down to dirt level. This was raked yesterday and tossed today. I try to shake out the wildflower seed and hang onto the weed seed as I scoop up piles with a snow shovel for the trash... for what its worth.

Yes, those are wildflowers running up to the back gate. I still need to get to that and also in front of the house on the driveway side. Some care needs to be taken on the driveway side since I recently transplanted 13 Osteospermum plants which were started in a closet under a light from seeds I picked up during an early morning walk several months ago. These little guys...

The two odd plants in the picture, three from the left, front and rear, are Fuji apple trees from seed. The larger one is in a one gallon container now and is about to go outside.

Meanwhile, pushing the issue of cleaning up outside, is the prospect of a round two with some summer flowers. Right now I have about 75 Jiffy peat pellets either outside or under a light breeding some seedlings. The plants you can see are Zinnia elegans and the pellets which aren't showing any plant life contain Tithonia rotundifolia seeds. I'm not sure what's up with that, last year they were slow to germinate but they were also all started in soil out on the patio table. Last night I started 24 more on the patio and I'm probably going to start some more in a few to several days in red party cups with potting soil. Last year the Tithonia were only planted in the backyard and the butterfly show was fantastic.

Papilio cresphontes, the  giant swallowtail on Tithonia rotundifolia.

Both Tithonia and Zinnia seeds will also be scattered on the ground, somewhat strategically. I don't care to water large areas in the summer.

Now, back to that Pete Seeger song. Where Have All the Flowers Gone? was written in 1955. I only existed for part of 1955. I hadn't come out to play yet in 1955. Today, during my morning constitutional I was on the phone with Docken and I mentioned thinking of that song, only knowing the first line and the basic melody. I remembered it was a Pete Seeger song. Pete Seeger, aside from being an American folk song writer and singer, was also a social activist. Docken read me the next few lines of the song and right there, in the street, walking in front of people's homes, I started to cry.

The girls have picked them every one.
Oh, When will you ever learn?
Oh, When will you ever learn?
Young girls
They've taken husbands every one.
Young men
They're all in uniform.
Soldiers
They've gone to graveyards every one.
Graveyards
They're covered with flowers every one.

Tuesday, March 8th, was International Women's Day and watching news I saw people in Ukraine buying flowers despite a war raging around them. In an instant I thought of those same women, the flowers were being bought for, bringing flowers to the graves of their loved ones, now soldiers, all because of the senseless horror caused by a desperate and delusional despot. 

United Help Ukraine – Helping People. Saving Lives.

Today's walk report: 030522

 This was a much needed excursion. Besides waking up at 3:30 AM (not unusual) I ventured into the Dark Side on the news front and also made a serious mistake of translating some Russian Tweets into English and experienced a world of disinformation which was well beyond the pale. The scary thing... those posting had no idea how the rest of, most of, the world is seeing things. It was a big mistake on my part, it won't happen again. More typical during the past week or so, I've been spending early mornings reading SciFi stories, mostly from the late 1800's into the early 1950's. That and walking. 

I've only read one story about the destruction of earth and that was by natural causes. Climate change without human intervention, actually. At least humans weren't getting attribution.

Anyway, company on the phone with Docken and that was nice. I drove onto the campus today and extended my walk to adjust for that. I'm going to guess it was a little over 2.5 miles. I missed more pictures than I took.

In the garden there was ever trusty Dusty (male Calype anna).

Over the phone I commented on sirens I was hearing to Docken because they just went on and on. It's not the kind of thing you ever want to hear but especially now. I took the infinite stairway up the hill and the sirens continued, by this time it had been a solid 15 minutes, along with what sounded like truck horns. From the top of the hill I could see what was going on, sort of. This is a long way away (can't ya tell) and I still hadn't quite exactly figured things out until I got home and zoomed in on the photos, Today was opening day for the local Little League teams and the parade was truckloads of kids and dads. They were being escorted by the Los Angeles Fire Department and also the Los Angeles Police Department. At first I thought what a pain in the butt but then I thought about the kids not having any of this for what? Two seasons of baseball. I have some fond memories of being a Little League dad with my son.   

Age 13, last year for little league, the last game for the league championship, my son... I don't think it was this at bat but in the final inning his team was down one run. It was two outs, runners on second and third my son hits a double to win the game. I was a proud dad. Almost 18 years later, I remain very proud of my son for very different reasons.

 Oh yeah, the parade. I've never seen any sort of parade in this town before...

"St. Louis Cardinals"

"Los Angeles Dodgers"

"Oakland Athletics"

Continuing on the walk I decided to see if the school had finally opened up the cross country course for the general community. There was an incident some five years ago and there was a decision to gate the course. As it turns out it's still gated except for special events under permit. I found this sign on the gate rather odd.

"TOGETHER, WE MAKE POSSIBLE HAPPEN." What the... huh?!

Right after taking that picture there was a roar in the sky. A fairly regular occurrence on weekends, this is the Condor Squadron, a nonprofit organization dedicated to honoring America’s veterans, out of Van Nuys Airport. I believe the planes are North American Aviation T-6 Texan aircraft.

Overall, a beautiful day, good company on the phone (thank you), I was nicely distracted from current affairs and also from a day which I find to be an unpleasant anniversary of sorts. Now, I'm off to distractions in my home garden. Here's what the view was like for the walk. This is a 34 image panorama, I'm sorry you miss the full effect.

Oh, one last picture for Docken... Here's Stan from Wednesday morning. Seeing Stan and letting Docken know Stan was here for bed and breakfast is always a wonderful way to start the day. Stan is a special kitty, Stan is a very good boy.

 Help Save Children in Ukraine (donation link)