Today's walk report: Ongoing Alerts

 Yes, indeed California is under ongoing weather alerts. I generally look forward to rain but after over 26" of precipitation so far for the season, I'm not looking forward to the potential of another 2+ inches coming my way on Tuesday. Putting that aside for now... today is an absolutely beautiful day in the neighborhood. Here are some pictures from today's walk.

Of course there was male Calypte anna hummingbird, Dusty. Yesterday he was the only hummingbird I saw, which is pretty weird. This trip I saw several. It was about 5-6º warmer for today's walk and it was also a lot less gloomy. Maybe they were happy to see some blue skies?

Besides just milling about I did 2 laps on the 1/2 mile plus "loop" I frequently reference. Time-wise I walked for about 80 minutes and I enjoyed Docken's company on the phone along the way.

Also of note, there were a lot of desert cottontails (Sylvilagus audubonii) milling about. A serious boom in the bunny population. I'm glad they're not at my house but I kind of don't think it's going to be too long before they'll show up.

The star of the show today was this Cooper's hawk (Accipiter cooperii). I lucked out with this bird sticking around and letting me get relatively close. It wasn't until someone walking some 35 feet behind me and talking to the person next to her loud enough to wake the dead, that it got spooked and flew off.

The ancient car worshipers were out again however there were few people and fewer cars.

This is a De Tomaso Pantera, I believe it's a 1974 model. I got a ride in one of these once from a classmate in High School. A friend and I were on an off-campus run for the cross-country team and a former teammate was driving by and offered us a ride back to campus. The run was ridiculously long so we were happy to take him up on his offer.

Nearby was this 2020 Ferrari 812 Superfast. Not to be confused with the 2022 Ferrari 812 SuperDuperfast.

Also nearby, only way up... Does anyone recognize this pair of red-tailed hawks? Note the damage on the left wing of the larger female. Red-tailed hawks are monogamous and generally mate for life.

Up on the hilltop, not much to report. I am however finding more ways around some of the fenced off sections of the campus so I can get some walking in. Here we have the famous "Elephant Mountain" and the Santa Susana Mountains, respectively.

I wish that I could really tell you
All the things that happened to me
And all that I have seen.
A world full of people their hearts full of joy,
Cities of light with no fear of war,
And thousands of creatures with happier lives,
And dreams of a future with meaning and no need to hide.