Today's walk report: 122018

I'm a day late posting this one. There really wasn't much happening yesterday and photos depended on a reliable subject or two.

First there was the big "E" in the sky. I had some trouble with auto focus on this and it had moved and faded quite a bit before I got a picture.

Then it was back to male Allen's hummingbird Rusty G. Alpha. What a delightful and accommodating little friend he is.

Then there was Grumpy bird. Grumpy was looking more pensive than grumpy today as if he had felt a great disturbance in the force or something.

Today's walk report: 100515

While the past few days have displayed hints of fall (we even had .05" of rain yesterday) we're still due for at least another week of hot summer like conditions. The kind of weather which has put a serious damper on going out to take photos, walks generally being an evening adventure.

090515...

Hylephila phyleus

Peucetia viridans, bee catch on Vitex agnus-castus

closer shot, note the flies moving in to scavenge

Kalanchoe delagoensis

A juvenile Schistocerca nitens

and from the other side.

092715...

For the most part this wasn't a walk. Since we were schlepping a bunch of "extras" (like a tripod & beverages) up to a nearby hillside for this event we decided to take a car. We did however engage in some walking to get away from other people who also decided "our spot" for viewing the September 27th total lunar eclipse/Supermoon event was good for them too. The nerve.

The night before was as clear as could be but not this day. We sat around for sometime hoping for the best.

Disappointed and still plagued by "others" in our vicinity we went home. My girl spotted the Earth's umbra moving away from the living room window and we went out front for this.

Next thing we know, it's October.

100315...

Monarch on Vitex agnus-castus

This was disappointing. I saw what I thought was a hummingbird flying in from about 15 meters away (49'), moved in to about 7 meters and took a shot just to "see later." I didn't realize that there was a mating ritual going on between two common green darner dragonflies. The dragonflies flew in conjoined. I could have moved in for a much better shot.

Common green darner, Anax junius

Water flower and a tiny spider

Closer on the spider

Monarch on lantana

No ID

100415...

California towhee

Looks a little perturbed by my presence

Docken had brought some leftover carrots and bread to donate to the "critters."

This scrub jay had her covered and apparently told a friend.

These two both took off with a chunk of carrot in their beaks.

There were at least 5 monarch butterflies floating about, more males than females all competing to mate. It's lovely to watch the mid air dance they do.

From the other side of the pond (about 5 meters/16 feet) I thought I saw another pair of conjoined green darner dragonflies moving into the reeds for mating. It turned out to be something very different. This male was instead devouring what appeared to be some type of skimmer dragonfly. Despite my fascination this went on for a lot longer than I cared to watch.

5 image focus stack of a gray hairstreak (Strymon melinus)

different angle

That's all for now. Thanks for coming along!

Today's walk report: 032214

Mockingbird battle... and stuff.

Hey it's Saturday night so screw the banter!

Squirrel on the garden grape arbor.

California Towhee, hee, hee.

Palo Verde in glorious full bloom.

These two mockingbirds went at it for awhile. They sat relatively quiet together at the end so I'd speculate it was a spousal spat as opposed to a territorial issue.

Same male Anna's Hummingbird as yesterday and here. I confess, it's really hard to shoot a hummingbird when it's coming straight at you.

White-crowned Sparrow.

It was a beautiful walk with my beautiful lady. Thanks for taking the time to join in the sights.

Today's walk report: 092013

HAWS.

This morning I had another fabulous adventure at the Stanley Mosk Courthouse on Hill St., aka, Los Angeles Superior Court. They need to call it Stanley Mosk Courthouse on Hill St. because someone in their infinite wisdom decided Stanley Mosk was so significant that they also created a Stanley Mosk Courthouse on Grand Ave. It's really the same building, just two different ways to get in. The name thing is a device to confuse postal carriers and probably fuck things up on other levels for a place that's already pretty fucked up. It seemed real apparent on my first visit, for example, that jurors frequently didn't know which entrance they needed to use to do their civic duty.

Stanley Mosk was an Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court for 37 years (1964–2001), and holds the record for the longest-serving justice on that court. Before sitting on the Supreme Court, he served as Attorney General of California and as a trial court judge, among other governmental positions. Mosk was the last Justice of the California Supreme Court to have served in non-judicial elected office prior to his appointment to the bench. I have no idea if he was a good person or not.

Haws is a company that makes drinking fountains, among other things I suppose. It's also the name of the attorney my mother had when she (we) went to court in a lawsuit claiming damages for a tragic auto accident which took the life of my dad and two other men in 1961. The first time I visited the court over my current probate case back in July I noticed the drinking fountains were still made by Haws. Back in the 1960s because of the association I just mentioned my sister and I took a drink from about every Haws drinking fountain we saw at the courthouse. Perhaps we thought it would bring good luck. I don't believe it did. It did however make me rather sick to my stomach. To this day I walk into this courthouse and again I feel sick to my stomach, although I wouldn't consider drinking from one of the faucets. My nausea is for very different reasons now. Imagine that.

On to the walk...

Last of the Apache Plume flowers, lots of plumes are left.

California Towhee (Melozone crissalis)

Cactus flower, no ID.

Partial ID. Family: Darners-Aeshnidae. From some posturing I believe this is a female.

Sunset. Freaky sky. I don't think there were fires. This is low clouds and fog.