Today's walk report: 082122

 Not a lot to report. I was out early again at around 6:30 AM, 66º F, with completely overcast skies combined with a little fog. Not especially great weather conditions for picture taking and ended up mostly walking and talkin' to Docken over the phone. Thank you Docken. I put in about 2 miles, which of late is kinda okay. Here are a few photos...

Of course there was male Calypte anna hummingbird, Dusty on his new favorite twig. Last week my friend Trey asked me, How long do you expect Dusty to hang around? I finally answered that, via email, Friday evening. Here's what I wrote... The short answer is, I dunno. Anna’s hummingbirds have an average lifespan of 8.5 years and they can move from one territory to another. This is typically a seasonal thing. Dusty has been consistently in the same general territory for over a year now. I think he’s pretty happy in that garden. He’s a trippy bird. Anna’s hummingbirds seem to be much more accepting and perhaps curious about humans than Allen’s hummingbirds or rufous hummingbirds (both sasins). Dusty definitely knows me, we have a bond of sorts.

Remember the flowering Agave americana (century plant)? Here's an update on that. I'm wondering if they're just planning to let the thing fall. It seems like that could be a liability.

After a few more minutes of hanging with Dusty I decided to walk the same basic walk I did last week and sure enough the car buffs were out again. It seemed to be pretty much the same crowd although I did get snapshots of a few different cars. Despite my owning a classic ('71 Volvo 1800E) as my first car in my late 20's (long story), my general attraction for automobiles ended when I was around 11 years old. My rather curmudgeonly perspective for the past 30+ years is, I just want something that looks okay and is reliable.

Pontiac GTO, best guess is 1967.

  Ford Ranchero, guessing on all of these but, 1964?

Notice how everyone is looking like they could be well into retirement? Well, I'm glad they've got a hobby. Look at Congress, why can't any of those codgers and crones retire? Because they don't have a hobby (Sociopathology is not a hobby) and on the Republican side they don't even have allegiance to the Constitution. Amazing. Who's gonna tell you when it's too late? Who's gonna tell you things aren't so great? Who's gonna drive you home tonight?

A couple of Chevrolet Bel Airs. I guessed around 1957. Looks like a modified hearse to me. Sorry.

 This Avanti, I'm reasonably certain this is a relatively late model car, early 2000's?

I was feeling done once I started to loop back around. Docken convinced me to drive up the hill and look for a bird of prey or two. This is the largest red-tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) I've seen in quite awhile. Too bad the lighting was so bad. It just sat in this spot for the duration of my time on the hilltop. I even walked a couple of laps around the .27 mile parking lot. Doc, it's a 1/2 mile if I can add the fine arts buildings into the lap. That's still fenced off. [We had this discussion over distance]

That's all. Currently it's 10:40 AM, 73º (fine by me!) and the sun is just breaking through the low clouds. Time to tend to the garden.

Today's walk report: 101621

 First, two details that saved my day, at least they took the sting out of a bad start to an early morning. Those two things were taking this walk on the phone with Docken and simply taking this walk. What started the morning, once I was prepared to leave the house, was a garage door that wouldn't open. Well, it opened a little. Upon close inspection I discovered one of the springs had snapped in two. The garage door opener didn't like that. Nor did I. Preliminary study into the matter indicated I might be able to do this repair on my own but then I again, I might suffer in the attempt. So, I got on the phone. The job was swift and like almost every service and repair company/person I've ever had the displeasure to deal with (oh, you too?) I was lied to and had to pay up the wazoo. It's not like it's the 1980's, we can look this shit up now but they still lie with impunity. Anyway, the door got fixed and I ended up driving to the local college campus about four hours later than originally planned.

Red-tailed hawks (Buteo jamaicensis), there were three of them and they were interacting with intensity. This particular bird stole the show. Notice its wide-open beak in this first shot. The screech is loud and piercing, Docken also took note of it over the phone.

I stayed with this bird for several minutes.

All three hawks were circling together in the sky but for the most part it was a wider shot than my 70-300 mm lens at 70 mm would accommodate. I did manage to get a few shots off of the three on them before they flew too distant. Even so, this aspect is Panavision, or Technirama, Dimension 150 if you will, all from bygone eras in filmmaking. So be it, don't you deserve to see what I saw?

Moving in a vigorous circular motion along the top of the hill here are some other pictures. These two donkeys are my friends. You can ask them, they will tell it's true. I first met these donkeys over 10 years ago.

I've known most of these goats for just as long but I never asked them if they'd be my friend.

This is a common or European starling (Sturnus vulgaris). You don't usually see them alone, you see them in masses. I saw an article today referring to them as "America's most hated bird." That's pretty harsh, don't you think? Then I saw another article in Smithsonian Magazine online saying we can blame Shakespeare for their invading North America. I'm okay with that call, I guess. Last and maybe least there was this article, How Mozart Changed My Mind About America’s Most Hated Bird. Really now? You don't say?

I think it's a pretty bird.

Then, finally, there was this event. Having been a cross-country runner in High School my educated guess is this was a city quarter final race. There were too many runners for it to be a regular meet and quite honestly some of the runners I saw would not have qualified beyond a quarter final race. Sorry, more power to them and with all due respect, at whatever level, cross-country running pretty much qualifies as some sort of masochistic indulgence which defies logic. I decided to leave the campus as this was wrapping up, this shot only represents a small fraction of the people who were about to exit as I did.

Special thanks to Docken for the "look on the bright side" viewpoint this morning and to the hawks for being awesome birds.

Today's walk report: 092521

 Dusty's back!

Another fine morning walk and talk with Doc. Upper 50ºs to low 60ºs it was a beautiful morning in the garden and around the campus.

Here are the pictures...

Female Calypte anna hummingbird. Yo Dusty, over here!

 Male Calypte anna, Dusty, was back to owning his regular territory.

Some Canada geese (Branta canadensis) flew overhead at the top of the hill. 

Up the hill and back down red-tailed hawks (Buteo jamaicensis) were plentiful. I saw five.

 As I moved closer, the moment the bird became aware of me.

Shortly after these shots the hawk flew off to the other side of the road and I heard one long, loud screech. I was able to make out another bird in the distant trees as a squabble ensued but I wasn't able to capture any pictures of the two birds together. This is where the incident occurred and this shot was taken after the other bird flew off. I believe this is the red-tailed I was originally taking pictures of. I know it's not a great shot, the bird is in the center of the frame. Tip: viewing this blog on a decent computer monitor or smart TV is a better experience than a mobile device.

Before it took position as victor in the squabble it flew across to some trees a short hop west of the trees in the image above. Less than a minute later it went back and the bickering continued.

 

Behind me there had been another red-tailed perched atop a tree about 80 yards from the first bird. I turned to see if it was still there. Yep... In retrospect, I should have spent a little more time with this bird but it was still pretty far away.

Here's the bird that finally flew off, leaving the quarrel, heading north. The original hawk took off a couple of minutes later heading east.

That's it! I thought it was fun. I've never seen hawks of any combination have a disagreement before. Thanks for joining in.

Today's walk report: 072521

On yesterday's walk I kept looking for something I couldn't find and have dearly missed seeing throughout my Covid activated confinement. Ever since I felt some confidence in being fully incubated post my second vaccination shot, when I reinstated walks on May 8th, I kept looking to the skies... where the flying frick were all the birds of prey? As much as I love to take pictures of hummingbirds and butterflies I really missed sightings of raptors. Well, today I finally got a good show.

But first...

Sunrise reflecting on roses as I headed toward the garden. Not fragrant in the least mind you. Who thought it was a good idea to breed the scent out from roses? There's a rose bush along the walkway to the front door here. The bush is probably 67 years old and its flowers smell heavenly. I plan to attempt propagating some cuttings soon.

Yesterday, in comments, Trey suggested this male Calype anna hummingbird be given a name and coincidentally I was thinking earlier about when and where I have named hummingbirds. Trey came up with the name "Dusty," perhaps a nod to the famous Selasphorus sasin I once named, Rusty. Anyway, here's Dusty...

I headed past the southern grape arbor and noticed the grapes are significantly more grape in color since I last took a photo.

I wanted to check on this little fellow. I took some pictures of this monarch larva on narrowleaf milkweed (A. fascicularis) yesterday and was a little disturbed by the milkweed aphids which are omnipresent but I don't typically see them on the caterpillars. Today there were fewer and the caterpillar looked healthy. 

Then I looked up. Oh joy!

A juvenile red-tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) just waiting for me. You're gonna get a bunch of pictures because I was excited.

I followed its movement until it flew away.

 The hawk took me well outside of the garden so I decided to head home.