Today's walk report: 070714: Catching up, 4th of July weekend.

We just finished up a rather spectacular 4th of July weekend which included lots of photo taking and a big surprise for the 4th itself.

Friday night, July 4th, Independence Day.

We "debated" options for a Friday evening walk, hoping to see some fireworks. We had no idea what was in store for the evening. Last year I had planned to go up to a hilltop at the nearby College campus to see what firework displays I could photograph but that turned out be a non-event when I saw the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department had decided to close the campus and block off the entrances.

College campus, July 4, 2013.

This was a sight I'd never seen. It's a community college, it's a public school and while I've seen it closed to inbound traffic I'd never seen it barricaded by police.

When we read that the campus would be "closed" for the 4th this year I expected the same. This sort of behavior tends to get worse and never better so that's the assumption I had made. I was wrong.

We decided to walk the "bus way" west which runs parallel to our neighborhood on one side and the campus ultimately on the other about .75 miles in. We hoped to see some fireworks out of chance. When we got to the NE corner of the campus I looked down the block and it appeared to be open, no signs to the contrary--no barricades. So we went in and crossed the campus to make it to the top of the hill rather swiftly.

What a beautiful sight! We were alone too for the most part and we saw 100's of firework displays all across the San Fernando Valley, some miles off in the distance and some just a few blocks away, everything from neighborhood celebrations to professional displays. It went from bottle rockets to huge dahlias.

Here's a mock-up I made which no where approaches what we really saw but hopefully you get the idea.

Docken said it was the most beautiful 4th she ever experienced and I would have to agree... plus I had her with me. We watched fireworks for well over an hour, holding each other like lovers do.

Onto July 5th...

It was the start of Le Tour de France today and that meant getting up at 4 AM to watch the race. Actually it meant getting up at 3 AM only to find out that NBC had been re-miss once again in getting the start time right. The race was over shortly after 9 AM and we were off for a walk around 10. It was already getting pretty darn hot too.

Clouded Sulphur (Colias philodice) butterfly.

Blue dasher dragonfly being overly receptive during mating?

Gulf fritillary or passion butterfly (Agraulis vanillae).

Pond flowers, no ID.

Cardinal meadowhawk (Sympetrum illotum).

No ID, water flower.

Same deal yesterday, July 6, AM coffee and cycling with stage 2 of the tour and out after 10 AM for an even warmer walk. We hit 92º by noon.

Mud dauber wasp drinking from the pond.

Monster grasshopper on Salvia uliginosa.

Flowers are dying and seed pods abound.

Small Red Damselfly (Ceriagrion tenellum) enjoying the water plants.

Pieris rapae on salvia.

Colias philodice on Salvia darcyi.

Thanks for joining in!

Today's walk report: 091513

"Like a whirlpool it never ends"

I was going to mention something about me bitching about the hot weather and I still will. First however I'll mention an incident this morning because something similar happened on March 26, 2012 and if I write it down I have a reference. Oddly enough that last incident was within 50 meters of this one. All of a sudden my left leg swung over to the right, crossing my right leg and causing me to stumble a little and shift off the sidewalk by close to 1 meter. I also felt a little disoriented and immediately was in self-check--arms over head, reciting "she sells sea shells..." Shit like that. It was very brief but I considered turning around and going home. I was less than 500 meters from the garden and figured if I needed to I'd sit down and take inventory there. I also got myself a Gatorade from a vending machine. I seemed fine. This goes back some years. In 2008 I had what I felt was a serious incident with vertigo. It wasn't the 1st time either but it was the most drastic. It resulted in a "sudden loss of hearing" which can better be described as a sudden gain of auditory disturbance. I heard strange noises, almost like frogs croaking from far away, echoing sounds, sounds that seemed like wind rushing through tress--despite it all being in my head. That, after some treatment but most likely past a recovery period, evened out to my hearing testing within a "normal range" despite my having persistent tinnitus ever since. Part of my joy in listening to music on my walks is having the music cancel out the tinnitus. Several years ago I read about a study for treating tinnitus with frequencies that would effectively cancel out the frequencies created by the tinnitus, this makes perfect sense to me. The 1st study I read came out of research in Germany, discussed in this article from the NY Times in 2010, Suppressing Tinnitus With Music Therapy. Another article regarding research out of UC Irvine using low frequencies to filter out high-pitched tinnitus was published here in Science Daily.

Again, an AM walk to try and beat what I really hope is our last heat wave of the summer but probably isn't. Which brings me back to bitching about the heat. I didn't used to do this. For whatever reasons I just can't tolerate high temps like I used to be able to and this house simply does not cool down easily once it gets hot. Last night, for example, this room was 86º without a/c on when it was only 79º outside. Yes, I turned the a/c back on. The other thing, quite recently, is my skin feels sunburn hot even in just mid-80º temps. However, it's cool to the touch. I've Googled the crap out of this and I just think I've become much more sensitive to the heat. I've also been trying to be more than prudent over the use of a/c because of the cost.

Out the door: 7:55 A.M., 72º

Yesterday I mentioned trying to get some "in flight" shots of the Blue Dasher (Pachydiplax longipennis) mating ritual, coupling included. I saw no coupling today but a lot of activity, most of which appeared to be multiple males vying for the attention of single females. Part of it was the quiet relative today. Even though there were some classes or orientations going on the students stayed near classrooms and away from me... and my little friends. The other part was the sheer amount of activity near the water. Some shots had enough cooperation from the dragonflies for auto focus to happen, others were manually focused.

Meanwhile, this praying mantis (Sphodromantis viridis) could not care less about the mating rituals of the blue dashers. This lovely lady was 2.4 meters inside the pond so that was as close as I could get. I usually try to focus on an insects eyes for single shot images (as opposed to shooting a focus stack). I had a hard time doing that with this mantis.

For comparison, here's a 10 image focus stack of a mantis in my front yard 5 days ago. This was shot from 30 cm. Again, Sphodromantis viridis, female.

 

Back to the garden... This is the most interesting looking grass skipper butterfly I've seen this summer. Unfortunately I didn't get the shot I wanted with its wings fully open.

 

This Cabbage White (Pieris rapae) appears to have seen better days but here it is on a mustard plant doing its thing.

Three image panorama of a red-tailed hawk in flight, spooked from a nearby tree by your's truly. Of all the critters I come across on my walks birds of prey remain in a highly regarded class by themselves.

 Looking up into this tree to see if it landed in there somewhere reminded me a little of my earlier "spell."

There was one more, almost home, camera data reads 291 meters. It was up there. The sudden influx of red-tailed hawks got me doing a little research this afternoon on their migratory habits. Their appearance, the recent seagull sightings and also the Anna's hummingbirds all seem to be indicators of the season change around the corner. Hopefully. Fall in Southern California is not like most places in the Northern Hemisphere, it's often like a quickly revolving door into winter. We don't see a change of seasons. We feel hot and then we're not hot.

I don't know where our hawks went during the summer but here is a nutshell summery of what I learned today...

The migratory pattern of red-tailed hawks is complex and varies annually with the weather. Most birds breeding in northern regions migrate southward, remaining there for 3-5 months. However, even in harsh winters some northern birds remain near their breeding territories year-round. Similarly, many mid-latitude (45-50 degrees N) breeding birds remain within or near the breeding range throughout the winter (Preston and Beane 1993), and even northward movements are not uncommon (Brinker and Erdman 1985). Approximately 95% of fall migratory movements at western interior sites occur between 23 August and 2 November (Preston and Beane 1993). Because it is not usually possible to determine the sex of migrant red-tailed hawks, it is not known whether the timing of migration consistently differs between males and females (Preston 2000). However, juveniles generally migrate earlier than adults (Haugh 1972; Geller and Temple 1983).

 Ref: EXPLORING RED-TAILED HAWK MIGRATION USING STABLE ISOTOPE ANALYSIS AND DNA SEXING TECHNIQUES, by Kara Clare Donohue.

'Tells me a lot of nothing.

291 meters up there and I have about the same distance to my front door, arriving home 10:10 A.M., 84º. Other than the weirdness it was a really nice walk.

Thanks for joining me on my walk today.

Today's walk report: 091413

Another A.M. walk effort.

I left at 09:00, 77.4º.
I got home at 11:20, 92.3º.

While this was a much cooler start than the typical end of my evening walks as of late I'm not inclined to applaud the weather. As I type, 2:50 P.M., I'm in my office, I just turned on the a/c and am trying to get this room down from 90º. Meanwhile the front room I just departed now has its a/c working down from 86º.

Anyway, that 2' 20' walk on a comfort level wasn't the improvement I was looking for. Looking at the numbers from this morning, if I want to make this work tomorrow here's the schedule...

07:00, 62.2º
09:20, 79.7º

Sunrise tomorrow is scheduled for 6:36. Hey, you never know, it could get canceled. My getting out at 9:00 this morning took some serious energy.

The walk. This is a nice field for little leaguers. The college players keep it well maintained. Here's a list of all-time MLB draftees from the school. The kids playing today were probably 14-16 years old (Junior League). Here are some moms and dads. Some people show up with their own little private cabanas. I watched a couple of plays, eh...

My 1st observation hitting campus central was not the Allen's hummingbird below but was rather, school in session. Bummer. A couple dozen kids already roaming around the garden with classes on break. So I asked one student and he said, Thursday/Saturday classes, 8 AM - Noon. Although it's important enough for me to have accuracy on this and I see Sat. classes on the school website going as late as 2:35 PM. I'll try to explain without sounding like a curmudgeon here but I find the kids to be rather annoying. It's usually just a few out of a bunch but for example today there was the girl on her cell phone obviously in some sort of break-up drama with that "special person" in her life and she was giving off a vibe that even the dragonflies avoided. Then there was some big dopey guy navigating the cinder path by sliding his feet along, noisy and dusty. You know, like an 8 year old.

Anyway, that break went on FOREVER...

Pretty much the same activity I saw on my sunrise labor day walk.

Gulf Fritillary (Agraulis vanillae)

Blue Dasher (Pachydiplax longipennis). They were everywhere but hardly ever landed. They were also coupled in flight and it was quite nice. I tried picking spots to focus on and shooting bursts as they entered in frame or close to without any luck.

For the observant: The bee has both antennae the right one is just blurred out from the limited DOF of the lens with a close up attachment.

I don't usually get this close to grass skipper butterflies, so here you go...

Overall? It's kind of nice to have the walk over with today. Hopefully the front room has cooled some (still up to 88º in here), it's 100º outside, I'm going to catch a movie and have a relaxed evening. Thanks!

Today's walk report: 082513

When does walking actually become a walk, as in, I'm going for a walk?

For some people getting up from the couch and going into the kitchen, then back again, is a walk. I was trying to qualify or quantify if I was going for a walk this morning at 11:30 or not. Here's the deal, I needed to go to Home Depot and pick up an all-in-one toilet repair kit, then stumbled on a couple of good plant deals in the nursery there. I had decided before leaving I would take my camera either for pictures at the nursery (it helps me plan some things in the garden here for one) and/or stop by the college campus and go to the botanical garden on the way home. I chose to do the latter.

So I could park in the shade I went to covered parking which is up on a hill well above the center of campus. The center of campus being where the garden is. For a bird that's about 390 meters. I, however, took the steps. I also covered a few to several laps inside the garden itself. The garden is about 95x75 meters. Here's what I stopped to take pictures of during my "laps" in the garden.

The Cloudless Sulphur or Cloudless Giant Sulphur (Phoebis sennae). Last week when I did an afternoon walk this was the first little critter I saw. Likewise same this time. However, today it didn't disappear so quick and I finally got some pictures.

Marine Blue (Leptotes marina) on some variety of Callistemon (bottlebrush). There were several flying about this bush and I finally saw what I've determined was a male but I couldn't find one landing and staying still for a wee moment.

one more...

Than I happened upon this lovely couple.

Mom left but dad was hanging out, keeping an eye on me.

Common Blue Damselfly (Enallagma cyathigerum). The male holds the female by the neck with its anal clasper while copulation takes place, it can last up to 30 minutes. Notice the heart shape. Romantic, no?

Blue Dasher (Pachydiplax longipennis), perhaps calling attention to his anal clasper?

Cereus sp. cactus flower. I need to try and be a little artsy from time to time. By the way, I had these confused  with the San Pedro cactus (Trichocereus Pachanoi) flowers awhile back, they grow right next to each other. I'll probably fix that later.

My red-tailed friend letting me know it's not far away. I see some downy young feathers often. This bird is growing up. My guess is by winter it will be fully adult.

I was still debating if I should officially consider this excursion as a "walk," until I looked up at the steps back to the car.

End of walk one. Start of walk # 2.

This is right at the 1.2 km mark, 3/4 of a mile in and pushing 6:30 PM. This is one of those shots I'll take just in case there's nothing else up the road.

and there wasn't much. I took some pictures indicating the school was ready for "fall" quarter starting tomorrow. I made the mistake of walking the campus 1st day of fall two years ago. It's totally chaotic. Today it's signs like this, everywhere. L.A. County Sheriff's will be everywhere too. It's their big opportunity to "shine."

Bees loving the cereus sp. cactus, end of day. I know that bats are big pollinators of these and other cactus at night and I usually see bats around dusk. I'd like to camp out, maybe bring a lawn chair sometime and see if I can catch any of that.

Yesterday I mentioned "losing" this green lynx spider (I think that's a right ID) right before I had the opportunity to go from my Canon 60mm marcro to the 70-300mm with a 500D close-up attachment. Well, it was right there again today and this time I was ready.

On the lighter side...

Thanks again for coming along on my walks today!

Today's walk report: 072713

Another abbreviated walk.

The "kids" (my son, his gf) were on their way from Santa Barbara and I figured either my normal walk but really brisk so I could get back or a short walk to the garden and back with more time for photos and to gather a little peace. I chose the latter.

Not too much going on in the way of photo ops though with some of the "same old" but there was one neat little happening and that was a mass of dragonflies zipping all around me. Maybe 30-40 of them. It was a larger dragonfly than the blue dasher you'll see below and they were doing some mating flight thing most likely. Whatever it was I never saw any of these land. I shot a some sloppy video just to give an idea. Don't turn up the volume because there is none. All you could hear was the lens desperately trying to find focus and me chomping on a piece of gum.

First a few pics.

Had I gotten all 3 in focus this would have been nice. Insects are not very patient. 3 grass skipper butterflies.

Yes, once again, an Allen's hummingbird.

Jack rabbit munching on lamb's ear. Last year there was 20 times more lamb's ear and it was flowering over 1 meter tall. This year there is very little. There was a cabbage white butterfly in this scene but I couldn't get them to quite cooperate for a nice picture together.

As promised, blue dasher dragonfly on Hesperaloe parviflora.

Closer. If you don't disturb them too much, stay still and they will usually land in the same place after flying off to get a better look I suppose. Here I got the opportunity to screw on my close up lens.

Then I irked him a little too much, he moved and off with the close-up lens for me.

One of the Australian native Grevillea 'Superb' flowers shows up since my last visit.

Leptotes marina (Marine blue). This little fellow is about the size of a dime and it drove me crazy with it's indecisiveness over landing for about 15 minutes.

Here's the video of the dragonflies "swarming" for what it's worth.