Today's walk report: 071413

9.04 km and 3 hours later...

I didn't add much distance to the "regular" 8.79 km walk but I sure took my time.

Mostly stuff I've shot before, only different.

A green fruit beetle (Cotinis mutabilis) gets serious with an Emu Bush flower.

More tiny flowers, no ID.

 

I'm not sure if that was a flour tortilla or some sort of pastry but this squirrel was eating like it was a huge score.

 

A much better shot my donkey friend from the other day.

The world famous straw flowers once again.

 Bee on another unknown flower, Australian native.

A flower in the sun.

Igor came up on my iPod again so I cruised over to the chalk hills of the cross country course to listen and watch the sunset.

It was a really nice walk. I got a lot out of my system. Thanks for participating.

Today's walk report: 070613

The Birds is coming...

Anybody remember that bit of marketing genius? People were so angry about the apparent grammatical error for the upcoming release of Alfred Hitchcock's film, The Birds (1963), the film ended up with a ton of free advertising. I was only 7 when The Birds was released so it must've made an impression on me to be aware of this and to remember it.

Anyway, my birds came today. The doves I mentioned here were doing their ritual circling of the neighborhood just south of me at the .5 km mark and I finally had the right camera and lens to get a decent picture or two. They circle about 2 blocks wide and a block and 1/2 long 6-8 times before they go back down into whichever backyard they're living. I think I've narrowed it down to one of 4 homes, not that it matters.

The pictures don't do it justice. There's something sort of magical about this event every time I experience it.

Meanwhile back in the garden... My sister ID'd this at least as a Nymphaea, a water lily. Shows what I know, I didn't think of a water lily being so vertical, even though it carries all other characteristics of the water lilies I'm used to. This bud is about the size of my fist, by the way. The entire plant was posted here yesterday. In addition to what my sister told me I read up a little and am now assuming this is going to open in the AM, based on the behavior I see of the other Nymphaea I see there in the pond and because it didn't appear to be coming closer to opening as evening was approaching. Apparently some Nymphaea flowers do open at night. I'm going to try and swing by tomorrow morning and check again. I'll let you know... I promise.

Nymphaea from the main pond, June 2012. I determined the best time for the water lilies was about 10-10:30 AM, even though I never ended up going at that time. This shot was about 1:30 PM.

Leucadendrons, also ID'd by my sister, without me directly asking. She had posted some pics of them in her blog recently. I spent a bunch of time trying to find out what these were before. I'd like to try and see if I can get some growing at home. I'd like to get anything growing at home to be honest.

Lastly, here are three images from the straw flower bushes in the Australian section of the garden. Yes, I know I've done pictures of those before. The flowers lend themselves to picture taking though. Also, I ended up chatting with a woman in the garden for awhile and lost much of my picture taking time.

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.

Today's walk report: 051013

I was just minding my own business walking the final stretch of the college campus with my camera over my shoulder, hanging down at my hip, lens cap on, camera turned off and I hear a WHOOP! from the Los Angeles County Sheriff driving up the hill I'm on. So I take off my headphones and ask what's up. He asked me what my business was on the campus. I explained, "I'm going for a walk, just like I've done here almost everyday for the past 2 years. Why, is there a problem?" I already knew what he was going to say because this is the second time this has happened in two years. He says, "you can't take pictures here." I sort of played dumb at 1st so I could hear his explanation, except he didn't really have one... simply, you can't take pictures here without a permit. I questioned the campus being a public place and how was this so. Again, he tries to impress upon me that it's a matter of a fact. So then I explain that two years ago the very same thing happened. When I got home that time I called the Sheriff's station on campus, thinking that the officer who harassed me that time was some rookie and somehow skipped school the day he was taught about the 1st amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Except the officer answering concurred! He said, all you need to do is go to the Student Services office and let them know. About a week later I did just that, mostly out of curiosity. I had already checked long and hard for something on this in the school's website---this is a Los Angeles Community College, folks--this isn't some outpost of tyranny. We're not talking North Korea here. Anyway, the office knew nothing about it. So I told this guy, "yeah, when I went to the office someone there said, 'that's a violation of your 1st amendment rights' and I said to the officer, "this is exactly what I thought." He basically skirted over everything I said, including my going back to his alleged "permit" because, of course, there is no permit. They don't require permits for things which are within your constitutional rights. He also skirted my question as to what ordinance was he trying to enforce. Remember, at this point all I was doing was walking with a camera strapped over my shoulder. Now, I wasn't going to go at it with the guy. I even offered him my driver's license, in fact I sort of insisted. Despite him violating my civil rights, I don't feel like having to deal with this again. Here's what the ACLU has to say regarding this issue...

When in public spaces where you are lawfully present you have the right to photograph anything that is in plain view. That includes pictures of federal buildings, transportation facilities, and police. Such photography is a form of public oversight over the government and is important in a free society.

You can read more here. He continued with a whole song and dance about all of the terrible problems in the world and the stuff that has happened on college campuses, that "we just need to know the intentions..." Total bullshit. I didn't even get into with an enrollment of 21,000, how many students have cell phones and how many cell phones have cameras... I mentioned some other stuff though. I tried to pose a question or two in order to point out just how ludicrous his premise was but again I wasn't going to hammer on the guy and put him in the corner he needs to be put into--along with the rest of them.

On to the walk...

He thought he was perfectly camouflaged.

Red-eared slider (Trachemys scripta elegans) I have no idea what he was eating but he seemed to enjoy it.

Allen's Hummingbird (Selasphorus sasin) and
Kangaroo paw.

Help! There's a terrorist taking my picture!!!

Some straw flowers in the Australian section of the garden.

For sure no one will have a camera at the car show on the weekend not to mention all of the children's soccer events which take place all the time or the gymnastics classes, swimming classes, just regular students going to school and having fun at lunch or whatever... no iPhones or other mobile devices taking any pictures of that!