The Odd Sock: Today's walk report: Over the Hills and Far Away

Okay, I didn't actually go over the hills and far away. In fact, I avoided any hills and stayed pretty close by. The song just happened to pop into my head while I was trying to come up with a title. It was a decent walk though, all things considered. The total walk was 2.3 miles. On Thursday I finally got back to exceeding three miles with a neighborhood walk which ultimately took me into the local botanical garden. It's been a challenge so... good for me. That walk was 3.3 miles.

To make sure I would be ahead of high temps I was on the nearby college campus a little after 6 AM and 64º. Yesterday's high was 104.6º and I was having none of that. This includes getting this post done. Current temperature with just a fan blowing on me in my office is 82º. Current temp outdoors is 87.4º. This room will start to catch up and the dedicated AC unit is horribly disruptive when one is listening to music. So, without further ado, here are some pictures from today.

Arrival, shortly post sunrise.

Onto the garden. This is the male Calypte anna hummingbird I call Not Dusty. I'm relatively certain that Not Dusty is the offspring of the male Calypte anna hummingbird known as Dusty. Neither one of them would know that unless there's some sort of instinctual mechanism I'm totally unaware of. I have seen Not Dusty a number of times over the past few weeks but he wasn't staying put long enough to pose for pictures. On June 23rd there was another male anna's hanging out, I have not seen that bird since. This post somewhat summarizes the story of Dusty and Not Dusty.

From this point I started walking but I planned to revisit the garden on the way back to my car because when I walked here on Thursday, July 18th, the bumblebees I photographed last week were back on the same flowers they were collecting pollen from that day. Since it was still early and a bit on the cool side for bee activity I figured my odds would improve if I came back closer to the time I saw them on Thursday which was 6:50 AM. Meanwhile...

One of my burro friends. I didn't spot the other one but then again, I didn't look too hard. This one was close enough that she (I think) was quite aware of my presence.

Just about at the end of the road and preparing to turn around, I spotted these three mourning doves. I'm gonna assume they were on the edge of the road because nooks and crannies have captured seeds blowing in the wind. Mourning doves are granivores. They aren't interested in consuming insects. Almost their entire diet consists of grains, seeds, weeds and herbs.

Back to the garden and oh, look... This time I counted for sure. There were four bumblebees in exactly the same place as last week and on Thursday morning. 6:58 AM. What timing. Maybe it looks like a bunch of the same from last week but I'm telling ya, I don't see bumblebees very often so for me it's pretty exciting. Life's simple pleasures.