My Charlotte

 Last night, early evening, while I was editing photos of the gulf fritillary seen in my previous post, I was distracted when this orb-weaving spider caught my attention through my office window. I watched her for about 15 minutes before I finally got up to go out and take some pictures in the dwindling daylight. I thought, she's moving kind of slow, this should be easy. It was not. She moved from the upper portion of the drip edge on a lower end of my roof all the way down to the ground. That's about 96". 2.43 meters. And she wasn't moving slow enough for a 300 mm lens with a close-up attachment, nor a 60 mm macro lens. Neither of those options has very good depth of field. Focusing was problematic. I ended up using three lens options in only 5 minutes.

Anyway, Charlotte in the book Charlotte's Web by E.B. White was a "barn spider," specifically an orb-weaver, very specifically an Araneus cavaticus. Her full name was Charlotte A. Cavatica. I suspect my orb-weaver is Neoscona crucifera but there are 3,108 species of orb-weaver spiders in 186 genera worldwide so I'm not going to sweat it on the ID.

 Along Came a Spider

Yesterday's Butterfly

I realize these are all very similar but this was the only opportunity this Gulf fritillary (Agraulis vanillae) gave me and Gulf fritillaries have been conspicuously absent this year so, I wanted to give this one its moment in the sun (quite literally).

New album, released on the 22nd, very pleasant. No auto-tune and real instruments. How about that?

Sunday's Butterfly

 Shortly before 6 PM on Sunday, right in the middle of an urgent, time-sensitive project, this Monarch shows up. Whatcha gonna do?

Pretty keen, yes, my hobby keeps me busy
And if I talk to myself, well, that's not a crime

Today's walk report: How’s Your Bird?

 Another fine walky talky with Docky.

First up, with my sunglasses still on and considering the location, I thought this was going to be the male Calypte anna hummingbird known as Dusty. As soon as he took flight I realized it was not but wondered, could this young male be Dusty's offspring? I think it's highly probable since there haven't been many male Calypte anna in, at least, this part of the garden competing for territory for a long time. Be that as it may, Anna's hummingbirds are not at all social, nor do males ever associate with offspring.

Meanwhile, Dusty appeared moments later right where he typically greets me (of late). For anyone who has paid attention, you may have noticed the tiny white dot under his right eye over the last few weeks. It won't last but it's an easy way for the uninitiated to confirm his ID. Come to think of it, it's been a couple of years now with Dusty and just scratching my head over it, I can only think of perhaps a few (as in three) times I've seen another male Anna's in his territory and they never lasted very long. (Click to enlarge and you'll see the white dot).

The Catalina Cherry tree (Prunus ilicifolia ssp. lyonii) is loaded.

 Mexican lime cactus (Erocactus pilosus).

Onto the walk. It was a "Vintage Fair" day so the ancient car worshipers had to move to another parking lot. To be honest, both events tend to cramp my style. This is a small fraction of the vintage fair scene. Appears to me it's predominately people selling their old crappy clothes.

Up on the hill I was able to walk around again. After at least 2 years of fenced off construction, I really couldn't tell much had been done. These are the fine arts and music education buildings. I never figured out where they moved those disciplines in the interim. Topside, I missed out on my only bird of prey photo op but found this red-tailed hawk down in the flat-lands. It flew off to join its companion. 

Before departing, I went back up the hill and did a lap around the parking lot and surrounding buildings since most of uphill/downhill activity was via automobile. I stopped to take a picture of this small flock of common starlings (Sturnus vulgaris). Recently, YouTube has been offering me videos of starlings vocalizing. They can have an amazing vocabulary. I had no idea that both mynas and starlings were both in the starling family (Sturnidae). The starlings never talk to me.

Now playing...

A tiny flame inside my head
A compromise I never planned
Unravel out the finest trends

Today's walk report: Moo U

 55º and hazy morning sunshine. My photo editor/proof reader is making this difficult so I'll get to the photos.

Male Calypte anna hummingbird Dusty. I wonder what he thinks because it's obvious he recognizes me. His behavior changes when he sees me. I don't feed him but we do enter into conversation, or at least I try to.

I decided to get going on a walk. Docken was with me on the phone and I enjoyed the company. Thank you Dockie.

Moo.

Overhead and littering the ground, Juglans californica, the California black walnut, also called the California walnut, or the Southern California black walnut.

I just started seeing hawks again earlier in the week. I'm so glad to see them. There was a pair of Copper's hawks the other one was in the tree behind this one. The glare of the sun rising was coming across in front of me making these shots a little troublesome.

My photo editor/proof reader fell asleep so I guess the proof reading is up to me.

Now playing...

I don't know how I'm gonna tell you,
I can't play with you no more...

Today's walk report: Out of Place

 Am I out of place or is it everything around me?

 

2.25 miles that went by quickly thanks to pleasant conversation with Docken. Thank you Dockie!

Today's walk report: First on the Block!

 It's September 18th. Two different streets, first to get into the spirit! I suppose. 

There's a raven in this tree. We were talking about humans. Merely this and nothing more.

The walk was 2.3 miles, mostly pleasant. I write this for me. It's encouragement to do better.

Most motivating song along the way. Jimmy Page called Skunk Baxter's solo on this, "12 out of 10."

Your everlasting summer and you can see it fading fast
So you grab a piece of something that you think is gonna last

Today's walk report: It's So Nice and Gloomy

 It was drizzling again this morning. I'll put it at 42% of what I experienced yesterday but it still made for a somewhat damp experience for at least part of the trek. Docken joined in over the phone for the round trip and beyond. Thank you, Dockie.

Here are some pictures...

Drimia maritima, known by several common names, including squill, sea squill, sea onion and maritime squill. This species has been used as a medicinal plant and has also been used as a poison. Please don't confuse the two.

Mr. Reliable, here's male Calypte anna hummingbird, Dusty.

 On to the walk. There was a massive amount of ancient car worshipers but I didn't catch any autos I could especially appreciate. I mean, for example, a 1962 Rambler Classic 400 Cross Country (wagon), doesn't strike my fancy.

I went on and did the extra-wide lower campus loop again. I decided to look for seed pods on the Tecoma x 'Orange Jubilee' shrubs I visited yesterday. Upon further reading I found that this plant is a hybrid of Tecoma stans and Tecoma alata. At least one website indicated I could propagate this plant from seeds. I had (have) some concerns about recessive vs dominant genetics, in part because of...

Here's how the plants have been manicured on the campus. There are four of them.

I managed to find three of these, easy to reach and prime for germinating the seeds.

Apparently research has shown that hummingbirds have no innate preference for red but they sure seem to be more attracted to it over yellow.

It was a slightly longer walk than yesterday's at 1.80 miles. It was mostly okay and company over the phone was certainly helpful.

Meanwhile, as an added bonus, here are some photos of a giant swallowtail (Papilio cresphontes) from yesterday afternoon.

While I certainly enjoyed her company, Lucy made composing this post quite challenging. I love you Boo.

Now playing...