Thanksgiving weekend walk report

 That's right, you read it right, a Thanksgiving four day weekend walk report extravaganza.

I'd like to thank Docken for joining me and putting up with me over the phone all four days. Here are some photos that were taken along the way.

Thanksgiving Day, 112725.

Red-tailed hawk. 

 Senna bicapsularis 'Buttercream.'

 The sky (it was a great day for looking up).

Speaking of looking up, L.A. County Fire. Phone conversations cease when these are flying overhead.

 Tecoma stans 'Orange Jubilee'.

 112825

Monarch butterflies were the stars of the holiday weekend. The flowers are Salvia farinacea. 

Monarch on a rose bush.

 112925

Monarch on Verbena bonariensis.

 Datura wrightii, commonly known as sacred datura, is a poisonous perennial plant species and ornamental flower of the family Solanaceae native to the Southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico. It is sometimes used as a hallucinogen due to its psychoactive alkaloids.This is not advisable, this is a very dangerous plant. All parts are poisonous, containing toxic alkaloids. Livestock and people have been fatally poisoned by ingesting the plant and seeds.

 Monarch on narrow-leaf milkweed (Asclepias fascicularis). Narrow-leaf milkweed is native to Southern California and thrives in the region's climate.

 Monarch on lantana.

 Gaura lindheimeri, also known by common names such as white gaura, butterfly gaura, or Lindheimer's beeblossom. 

 Red-tailed hawk on the backstop for the campus baseball field. Tennis courts are directly on the other side and tennis balls have forever been embedded in the chain link fencing. 

 Cyperus papyrus.

 Myriophyllum aquaticum.

I believe this is an immature White-crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys).

 Apparently a gopher found the one hole broken in the sidewalk.

 113025 (today, Sunday)

Iresine herbstii, or Herbst's bloodleaf, is a species of flowering plant in the family Amaranthaceae that is native to Brazil. Some call this plant the chicken gizzard plant and beefsteak plant. Neither of which is very attractive.

 Back to the monarch butterflies. Each day female and male monarchs were doing their aerial mating dances, pretty much impossible for me to capture on camera. The actual mating though? That was another story today.

He took flight with her, probably trying to get away from the annoying human with the camera.

 The West Coast lady (Vanessa annabella) is one of three North American species of brush-footed butterflies known colloquially as the "painted ladies." This butterfly was eventually chased off by one of the monarchs.

 December is coming. Is it cold where you are? It's getting colder here...

Were we ever colder on that day? 
A million miles away 
It seemed from all of eternity, yeah