Weekend walk report: Dressing for the weather

 Walks for Saturday, February 1st and Sunday February 2nd (AKA, Groundhog Day) deciding on what to wear was a little challenging. Saturday's daily minimum temperature was 39º F with a maximum daily temp of 79º, while today, Sunday, the low was 43º and it looks like the high will be 81º. For attire, I tried to target the medium temperature but for both walks I was dealing with a slight chill upon departure and was dripping with perspiration toward walk's end.

Docken joined me for both walks over the phone and for today's walk we both trekked to our respective local botanical gardens while we chatted. Thank you, Docken. 

Here are some pictures I took along the way.

Saturday, February 1st.

 This is the same red-tailed hawk I took pictures of last week. There were actually three of them circling overhead but the other two (all three really) got either too close to direct shots into the sun or dipped below the tree line.

One of the other hawks just before it moved into the bright glow of the sun.

 My only other photo ops were with a couple of yellow-rumped warblers. As reported by Audubon.org, the Yellow-rumped Warbler (YRWA) is one species according to current taxonomy. However, it is still split into four subspecies, with two of those subspecies being common in the US and Canada: coronata (Myrtle) and auduboni (Audubon's). I also noticed that a common nickname for YRWA is "Butter Butt." I think maybe I'll simply call them Butter Butts moving forward.

Sunday February 2nd (today).

A northern mockingbird.

 A pair of stately ravens.

This pistachio tree has long been a perching location for a few different male Calypte anna hummingbirds. There was Dusty, Not Dusty and Not Not Dusty. I didn't get to spend much time with this bird (for one, flowers are scarce) so I couldn't observe him long enough to decide whether or not this was a familiar friend.

This was another popular hang for the male Calypte anna hummingbirds in this portion of the garden. This was a California bay tree and in fact this tree may have saved Dusty from a red-tailed hawk attack once upon a time. The tree has been dead for at least a couple of years now and I was kind of wondering when it would get cut down.

Moving along, I once again thought to fill in some space here with photos of the ancient cars from the almost weekly visits by ancient car worshipers. I try to be accurate with make, model and year but I honestly don't care too much.

1974 Citroen D Super 5

1970 Dodge Dart Swinger

1938 Chevrolet Business Coupe

1967 Chevrolet Camaro

1966 Ford Mustang GT

I looped back around to the botanical garden thinking I might get a little more hummingbird time but he wasn't around. These are bladderpod (Cleomella arborea) shrubs. The bees were out as it was warning up. A few years back I swiped a few of the seed pods and had them growing on my patio but I think I was a little premature with my transplanting efforts into my front yard. In other words, I killed them.

That's all. Looks like we have some more rain heading our way Tuesday night.

I know what I like, and I like what I know;
getting better in your wardrobe, stepping one beyond your show.