Thursday, October 31, 2024

Happy Halloween, 2024

 Happy Halloween, everybody!


 When I composed this image in 2019 I had indicated these were crows but I think it's pretty clear that they are ravens. As adolescents, ravens that live together in a group are referred to as an “unkindness.” These young ravens can be masters of mischief by working together to trick other animals, including paired adult ravens, and steal their food.

One more, this from 2014.




Tuesday, October 22, 2024

One month and another Once Upon a Walk Report

 How about that, it’s been a month since I’ve posted and I pretty much got away with it. I’d like to thank this blog for being mostly my personal journal of sorts. Walks? There have been a few to several, I’m not exactly sure. I had planned another sunrise walk report on October 5th because the two previous mornings had produced beautiful sunrises I only viewed from my kitchen windows. The sunrise on 10/5 took a turn for the worse. In fact, I called it the sunrise of the apocalypse. 


Since then, I’ve been mostly in the repair shop. However, last Saturday, I went out with my camera and Docken joined me over the phone. My thanks for her company. I wasn’t especially enthusiastic about the pictures I was taking and have yet to look at them.

Basically, I spent a couple of weeks trying to figure out what was wrong and then the last couple of weeks trying to fix the problem. I’m much better now, thank you.

In the middle, around October 14th, I was reminded of a couple of events in 2016. That had me going down a rabbit hole of sorts looking at photos from April 3, 2016 to August 21, 2016. I was looking for something specific and it was mostly a pleasant distraction. I didn’t really find the pictures I was seeking. I came close but no dice. However, in searching through 9,722 images I came up with some which weren't included in this OUaWR, a few that were and maybe a couple that were close. This folder is the backup for the folder I already edited on a different hard drive. The story behind the Once Upon a Walk Report enterprise can be found here in the first edition. That project, by the way, isn't done yet.

Here’s what I’ll call Once Upon a Walk Report, Part Eight, version two. I'm reasonably certain these are in the order in which they were taken.

Male Calypte anna

Bee on pride of Pride of Madeira at home

The lovely Docken Duck

Cooper's hawk

The same Cooper's hawk

Female Calype anna

Female Calype anna (my fav)

Same Female Calype anna (maybe immature male)

Grevillea, note the trichomes

Male Calypte anna

Male Calypte anna

Male Calypte anna

Song sparrow (Melospiza melodia)

Hooded oriole (Icterus cucullatus)

Female Selasphorus sasin (the mother lode agave)

Honey bee on California buckwheat

Same bee

Bees on matilija poppies (3 shots)



California scrub jay (Aphelocoma californica)

Female Selasphorus sasin

Leptotes marina on Baja fairy duster

Female Calypte Anna

Kangaroo paws

Female Calype anna

Milk thistle

Capparis spinosa

Hooded oriole (Icterus cucullatus)

Female Selasphorus sasin

Desert cottontail (Sylvilagus audubonii)

Praying mantis on my hand

Monarch butterfly (no plant ID)

Western fence lizard

Variegated meadowhawk

Cereus cactus flower

Echeveria

Alyogyne huegelii, White Swan

Female Selasphorus sasin

Female Selasphorus sasin or immature male

Blue-eyed darner

Erynnis-tages baynesi

Leptotes marina on Baja fairy duster

Female Selasphorus sasin

Male Calypte anna

Female Calypte anna

I believe I have also used this song here before but it's certainly appropriate. It's also playing on my head right now.