Today's walk report: 032114

But 1st a little about yesterday...

Yesterday we did the same basic campus walk as today and we had a few fun episodes with nature. The 1st one was seeing the pair of coyotes, mentioned and photographed here and here, come down from the hilly side of the "farm" portion of campus heading straight for us, presumably spooked by some joggers we could see off in the distance. They came in close enough to the road we were walking on to become aware of our presence and veer off toward deeper pastures.

2nd, we saw what I now believe was a Prairie Falcon (Falco mexicanus), see posts here, here and here, swoop right into the flight path of a mourning dove and give that bird a bit of a fright. Prairie Falcons are known to catch birds in flight. The dove got away. This happened directly in front of us and our response was a simultaneous, "wow!"

The 3rd event was spotting a Great Horned Owl perched atop of one of the backstops for the baseball field as we exited the campus. We also caught this magnificent bird taking flight. It was all really fun however, because it was a school day and I'm not inclined to do so on school days, I didn't bring my camera <<DOH!>>

Today wasn't so exciting but it was a wonderful walk and whatever the situation I always enjoy walking with Docken.

Same old Mockingbird. Two nights ago we had a Mockingbird which sounded to be right outside our bedroom window... cheerfully singing, ALL NIGHT LONG. The songs from the Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos) would be fine except they never shut up.

The curator of the botanical garden, Keith, pointed out this Mourning Dove nest and its two young chicks to me, nestled somewhat precariously in a Moon Lagoon, eucalyptus.

Too cute, huh? So here's a closer shot.

A rather ravenous beetle on some eucalyptus spotted by Docken.

A number of recently planted Bush Monkey flowers (Mimulus aurantiacus) in bloom.

A male Lesser Goldfinch hopping around in a Desert Willow.

For the most part I was too close to the hummingbirds for a photo op. I got a few shots off but nothing special. This is the same bird I showed in a recent post here with much better shots taken.

That's it. Thanks for coming along on our walk.

Today's walk report: 011814

Hummingbird population on the rise?

It would seem so. For the past few weeks I've only seen one or two hummingbirds in the botanical garden. Today there were at least 3 pairs. It's really hard to tell who's who sometimes since they zip around so quickly. I think the most I've ever counted, with reasonable certainty that I wasn't counting any more than once, was 12. That's me standing in one spot and trying to figure things out. As soon as I move it's a whole new ball game.

Yesterday I mentioned "the other" male Anna's hummingbird. Today the two of them took turns perching in the same relative spots. One of the two appeared to have a mate but I never got a really close look at a female, I just saw them paired in flight and they seemed to be together.

If I can get to "know" the birds I'll mostly likely stick with numbers for names. Here's Anna's male #1. I'll go back and cross check later but right now I'm reasonably confident this is the same bird as yesterday and is the 1st Anna's I saw close to Christmas.

This is #2.

Here's another shot off #2 taking off. Unfortunately the flash was still charging from a previous shot.

Knowing which bird is which allows me to understand their personalities better and can make for better photo ops. Male Anna's #1, for example, seems less bothered by my presence and that means I can get in closer and also maneuver around more before the bird takes off.

This Northern mockingbird was watching me so for a change of pace...

and from the other side...

This male rufous and another one pretty much kept their distance from me and hid in shadows whenever I approached. This is behavior I first noticed last year. Anna's hummingbirds are definately braver. They're also larger.

This most likely is the same Cooper's hawk I've seen in this tree and general vicinity before. This is about 45 meters away. I took the picture mainly because I need the practice identifying my birds. On that front I discovered this app today. It's free, published by Cornell University.

Big Red, once again waiting on sunset, also in his regular territory. This is one big bird. I was right under him when he took off and went atop a tree just in front of here.

It was a really nice "full" campus walk, 8.79 km. Low 80sº at the start to upper 60sº at the end. Once the sun goes down it cools off quick but we're still having a very warm winter.

Today's walk report: 052413

Turtle eggs...

Mostly pics.... So tired.

Revisiting the straw flowers. This is a 9 image focus stack.

Another Southwestern fence lizard. Male I believe.

Female Anna's hummingbird. I have not seen many Anna's hummingbirds since March. It's been mostly Allen's hummingbirds. This is a reversal of last year as I recall.

One more, same Anna's.



Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos) on Agave americana, commonly known as the century plant.

Just a few of the 1,000s of flowers on the Agave ocahui stalk. The entire stalk is about 3m tall. These plants are monocarpic, once agaves flower they die and it typically takes years for them to flower.

I'm pretty sure this is the same red-tailed hawk I've taken pictures of twice before.

 

Taking off after something in the distance....

So I went to look and see what it was... some trouble with the eyesight or merely a practice run?

Then back up to another lamppost. When she (I just feel that it's a she) left this post she flew past me ridiculously close, around about my elbows. I have a very out of focus photo to prove it.

Meanwhile, this dove was watching on.

I spent most of the time watching this turtle (red-eared slider) laying her eggs. I observed 3 eggs come out and it seemed like a real serious effort. I was about 6' away. The oddest part to me was how far she was from the pond, it was easily 40 yards (36.57 m) and this ground is like rock. She's actually on the edge of a path for the garden and only about 10' away from a classroom door. Looking at everything between the pond and where she chose, it seemed about the worst place to me. But hey, I'm not a turtle. The mulch you see she must have kicked over from about a foot or so in front of her. It was pretty interesting to watch. Certainly more so than it will be here.