The Odd Sock: Today's walk report: Of the New Day

One of the more pleasant walks I've had of late. I took my time and sat around a bunch. I was waiting for something to come to me, nothing did, so I sat around with my self.

Saturday, June 27th.

Here are some pictures that were taken today.

An almost blindingly pink bougainvillea.

Baja fairy duster.

Pelargonium peltatum.

Megawatt Rose Green Leaf Begonia.

Monarch caterpillar on Narrowleaf milkweed. Sorry, it's the butt end of it.

Bee on Narrowleaf milkweed.

Achillea millefolium ‘Pink Grapefruit’ (Yarrow).

This is probably a feather from a Great Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus). Could be from a red-tailed hawk but I'm voting owl.

Kapok tree or or silk-cotton tree (Ceiba pentandra).

Tecoma stans.

Here's a Tecoma stans, taken in the side yard, that I grew from seed. I'm pretty sure the seeds were germinated during the COVID shutdown. I have two others, still in 20 oz red party cups, that hatched at the same time. The seeds came from a now very large, nursery-bought Tecoma stans, probably 2012-13. The other one is in front of the house next to a desert willow. Tecoma stans is a prolific seed producer. After flowering, it forms long, slender bean-like pods that are packed with dozens of winged, easy-to-germinate seeds. Fortunately, I haven't had an issue with self-seeded offspring. I'm still trying to get this unit to grow the way I want it to.

Blue palo verde.

I was sitting on a bench, and this tree squirrel came racing down the trunk of that olive tree. When it got to the ground, I made a noise like a ratchet wrench. The squirrel scooted back up the tree, turned around, and I took this picture. It ultimately went where it wanted to go, as squirrels always do.

Desert willow flowers.

The Flame bottletree (Brachychiton acerifolius) is still flaming away.

I spooked three mourning doves that were unseen on the ground as I walked up a path. This was the only one that wanted to pose. Still a young squab.

Today's most cooperative subject. This is either an immature male or a female Allen's hummingbird. I'm voting male on this.

A nod is as good as a wink.

Bees on Eucalyptus orbifolia.

The Eucalyptus globulus is where I thought I was going to find hummingbirds. It was gray out and still a little chilly. I didn't see many hummingbirds. I didn't see a single butterfly.

This is a second immature male. This is part of the reason I think both birds were male. There was some territorial competition going on.

I was sitting on a bench in front of these rocks, thinking about what doesn't seem that long ago, where I would balance myself on these rocks to get closer to that grevillea behind. I can't imagine doing that now. It was dumb then. That's d-u-m-b. Don't forget the "B".

Pseudognaphalium obtusifolium, synonyms including Gnaphalium obtusifolium and Pseudognaphalium saxicola. Common names include old field balsam, rabbit tobacco, sweet everlasting and life everlasting.