Today's walk report: Butt what?!

 I debated this for quite a while and concluded it would be poor journalistic practice and substandard reporting  if I didn't include it in my report. I have to say it is probably the weirdest item I have ever encountered during one of my walks. To make matters worse, I even did a Google image search to make sure it couldn't be something else, only to find that some models include functional features like vibrations or LED lighting. And that's all I have to say.

 Moving along to the General Audiences portion of my walk... 

Female, Allen's hummingbird (Selasphorus sasin). 

 Cabbage White Butterfly (Pieris rapae), considered a major agricultural and garden pest but they are one of my favorite butterflies.

 A favorite of mine because in March of 2014, National Geographic had an online community called Your Shot, and there was an assignment requesting images for a story on Biodiversity. I entered a 5-image focus stack of a cabbage white for the assignment. Not only was my image selected, I found out a short while later that National Geographic wanted to use the picture for an upcoming book titled, "Getting Your Shot: Stunning Photos, How-to Tips, and Endless Inspiration From the Pros." My photo ended up spanning the two inside title pages.

 In classically typical National Geographic style, they over saturated my image. Your Shot later moved to Instagram and that's when I bowed out of participating. 

The southwestern fence lizard (Sceloporus cowlesi).

 
Once again, Brachychiton acerifolius (Flame Tree), but I wanted to point out the larger of the two flying

insects in the upper left. That is Cotinis mutabilis, also known as the figeater beetle (also green fruit beetle or fig beetle). It is a member of the scarab beetle family, and they were swarming everywhere today. I looked in usual places and tried to find one close up but wasn't able to. The other insect is a dragonfly. Also known as mosquito hawks in Louisiana. 

Here's a picture I took of a pair of green fruit beetles back in 2013. The fruit is Catalina Cherry (Prunus ilicifolia).

 Grevillea.

 One more shot of the Brachychiton acerifolius but this time for the plane. Turns out that's a China Southern Airlines aircraft, specifically a Boeing 777-300ER. Maybe Elaine Chao was on board, returning to her residence in Washington, D.C. to check on the home remodeling efforts. 

 This structure is apparently a vertical architectural sundial, designed to cast a shadow onto the building's surface to indicate the time based on the sun's position. The image was taken at 9:13 AM. I must be missing something.

 The star subject of the day. This is a red-tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) and I believe it's a female. I'm pretty sure this is one of my regulars over at least the past few years. I would take a picture and then move up 10-15 yards at a time. Around the third image down she was very aware of my movement.

 These shots are of her mate. Red-tailed hawks are strictly monogamous and typically mate for life.

The common raven or northern raven (Corvus corax), also a couple that generally mates for life. 

 Northern mockingbird. There's always a mockingbird.

This is a Pepsis mildei, the tarantula hawk wasp. I took pictures of one back in September in this same location. These wasps are known for having one of the most painful stings of any insect, however, they are generally docile and primarily feed on nectar from flowers like milkweed. This appears to be a female. I chose to keep my distance this time.

 

 Knocking at Your Back Door (Deep Purple)