Weekend walk report: Well, sort of

 By sort of I mean I walked both Saturday, February 22nd and Sunday (today) February 23rd but I only brought my camera along on Saturday and I wasn't motivated by any subject matter to pull my phone out of my pocket this morning. I'm not inclined to take pictures with a phone, any phone, I fundamentally hate phones. So, while I might have something to say about today's walk (and it was ultimately a very pleasant walk) the following photos are all from Saturday. Both walks included the company of Docken over the phone. Thank you Docken.

 Saturday, February 22nd 

I mentioned last Sunday that I would be revisiting the Eremophila racemosa shrub in my local botanical garden as long as it was flowering because the thing is an amazing magnet for hummingbirds so that's what I did.

These images are displayed in the order in which they were taken.

Male Calypte anna hummingbird in the "rest stop" eucalyptus tree directly behind the Eremophila racemosa.

This is the first female Calypte anna I've been able to capture over the past few weeks.

Another female, this time a Selasphorus sasin, AKA, Allen's hummingbird. She was across the path on a Chilopsis linearis (Desert Willow).

This male Anna's hummingbird heard the same thing I did and was being very attentive checking the sky and surroundings.

 I changed my position by a step and he kept looking.

A moment later the threat revealed itself. While the possibility of a red-tailed hawk catching a hummingbird has got to be slim to none, they simply are not quick or agile enough to catch small birds aware of their presence, it's the hummingbird's nature not to throw caution to the wind. The pine tree the hawk screeched from is about 50 yards (45.72 meters) from the hummingbird's perch in the eucalyptus tree. I was a little slow in getting a shot off.

 You can relax now, dude.

 A male Selasphorus sasin. This bird was outnumbered and outsized by Anna's hummingbirds. Nevertheless it was darting around spending much of his energy trying to chase others away. I was bending at the knees here. My right knee hasn't been especially inclined for handling such a position lately.

Meanwhile, this male Anna's seemed to be contemplating something...

While I saw the approach, I had no idea I got this shot. The disappointment in not getting both birds in focus is palpable. The bird on the left is a female Allen's hummingbird.

A reasonably long walk ensued. Nothing else grabbed me on the photo front so I chose instead to engage in conversation with Docken and set a goal for the western edge of the campus and back. The entire walk was 3.22 miles.

When I got home my feral buddy Vit the cat was waiting patiently for some grub.

Sunday, February 23rd

I had guessed today's walk was about 2.5 miles. I just measured it and turns out it was 2.7 which was a lot better than I thought I was going to do at the start. Without a bunch of whiny complaining (already delivered over the phone--my apologies, Doc) the first 1/2 mile or so was widespread polyarthralgia torture. Yeah, don't worry, I just learned that word myself. But I think I commented to Docken just a little beyond that position that I was feeling a lot better and at the 3/4 mile mark, my original goal before turning around for home, the difference was amazing so I continued on to the aforementioned botanical garden, got to the bench in front of the Eremophila bush, chatted some more with Docken and then took off for home. Thanks again to Docken because having her to talk to really helped with the mission. 

Meanwhile, I would like to dedicate this song to... well, you know what? Why don't you take your pick, there are so many people to choose from.