Today's walk report: 041314, a weekend report.

Weekend walk pics... I'm in a hurry. More details forthcoming (maybe.)

041114, Friday

Heading out, from my yard...

Sweet William Pinks.

Male rufous hummingbird.

In the garden.

Carpenter bee on salvia.

Barrel cactus flowers.

Some opuntia flowers.

Lily pad 1.

Lily pad 2.

Some opuntia flower.

Male mallards.

Male rufous hummingbird. This was a 1st for me, seeing a hummingbird drink from anything other than a feeder.

Cactus flowers, I'm still trying to find an ID.

041214, Saturday

Bumble bee and silver sage.

Male rufous.

My regular male Anna's hummingbird on red stemmed dogwood.

Looking inside the cactus flower.

Squiggles.

Tiny cactus flowers.

Yellow rumped warbler.

Painted Lady on Silver Sage.

041314, Sunday

Agraulis vanillae.

Bee on some variety of Cistus.

Agraulis vanillae on lantana.

Aesculus californica, California Buckeye or California Horse-chestnut.

Some Grevílea.

Kangaroo paws.

Ladybug and an ant, looking for some action.

Duck again.

Male rufous.

Sphaeralcea ambigua, Desert Mallow.

Prairie falcon.

Tecoma stans.

More kangaroo paws.

Caged flowers, protected from the hares.

Today's walk report: 041014

An evening stroll...

It was a very warm (hight 80ºs) relatively muggy day today and after running a few errands Docken and I decided on having a nice, easy post sunset walk. It's a beautiful night out there.

In the garden I spent most of my time tracking small insects, mostly moths and golden eyed lacewings, in the air hoping for one to land for a photo op but they merely hovered around as I followed them with my flashlight. About all I stumbled upon was this little fellow.

Time for dinner and a show.

Today's walk report: 040914

After a really long four days...


My girl, Docken, is back and I had company again on my walk. It was a wonderful walk too. Here are pics for you and I'll get back to her.

Male Anna's hummingbird.

Please don't watch me, I'm bathing now.

The Snowy Egret returns.

and turns camera shy too.

Something else to look forward to. 1st monarch caterpillar sighting of 2014.

Pigging out on salvia seed, Lesser Goldfinch.

Time to go home and be with my girl.

Today's walk report: 040814

Tuesday afternoon, I'm just beginning to see, now I'm on my way...

This is the same male Anna's hummingbird shot yesterday about an inch to your left of where he perched yesterday.  We seem to have an understanding at this point. The big difference in the images from yesterday to today is I brought a flash with me today. Artistically I like the images from yesterday without flash better but as a representation of the bird as it looked to the eye, this is closer to reality. However, reality is highly overrated.

Hi, It's me again!

A slight turn of the head and voilà!

And this is the same male Rufous hummingbird as yesterday. I had a difficult time once again getting close to this little fellow. The flash just barely got up there for this shot, about 5 meters away.

This shot was special for Docken  because it made me think of her... she knows all the reasons why.

I watched this red-tailed hawk fly right at me and directly over my head. It was too amazing to bother with the camera right away but I did get some shots off as it found its perch to watch the sunset.

and there it sat.

It was a fun walk, thanks for coming along!

Today's walk report: 040714

One, two... three.

It was a beautiful walk. I rather would have had the company of the lovely Docken but I made due. The music carried me for the most part.

One.

My buddy, Anna's hummingbird. He had no problem with me clicking away 2 m in front of him.

Two.

This one I'm still trying to get closer to. In general I've found Rufous hummingbirds to be more skittish than Anna's are. Yes, both birds are in approximately the same spots as yesterday.

Three.

I was sitting on a bench, listening to my iPod when I saw this hoverfly. I quickly put my close-up attachment onto my 70-300 mm lens. I NEVER SAW THE ANT until I got home with the pics. This image was a compromise for a sharper shot of the fly.

One more item, the music... what a blast and while I typically listen to a lot of King Crimson, this was some stuff I haven't heard in decades. More info here.

Today's walk report: 040614, a weekend report

Another 3-day report, just because... I'm in love.

Friday, 040414...

 Gray bird grasshopper (Schistocerca nitens)

My good friend, male Anna's hummingbird.

Some variety of Penstemon.

The squawking was worse than the battle but once again I witnessed a crow and this time a Copper's hawk having at it over territory (or something). As usual the crow appeared to be the aggressor.

Salvia leucophylla.

End o' day.

Saturday, 040514...

Not a happy walk. My companion, Docken, wasn't with me for a 2nd time and I found the walk rather melancholy without her. Knowing she wouldn't be home when I got there made things that much worse. As we prepare to be together, some days we'll need to be apart and I'm not digging it.

Part of the reason for limiting walk reports is the activity going on in my own garden. I find photo ops here daily.

My front yard.

Vanessa cardui on red-stemmed dogwood.

This is what I saw not so much what the camera saw but hey... artistic license.

Red-tailed hawk watching airliner.

Echinopsis is a large genus of cacti native to South America, sometimes known as hedgehog cactus, sea-urchin cactus or Easter lily cactus.

Close up of the Easter lily cactus.

 Sunday, 040614...

Another mopey walk alone.

On my way out, just off my driveway, a pollen coated hoverfly on Coreopsis.

Carpenter bee in Palo verde tree.

Flies? I like flies! Male Anna's hummingbird.

A new patch of irises appears. No ID.

More cactus flowers, no ID.

Day 2, Easter lily cactus.

My elusive male rufous hummingbird friend says "hello."

and "hello" again from his other side.

"OUCH!" They seem to like the fuzzy stuff in the center of the barrel cactus.

Eric duck says ,"where the duck is Docken duck?"

I got several shots off one this one particular rufous hummingbird in a palo verde tree. Thing is there were about 8 of them and they were all playing 'who's king (or queen) of the tree?' This made difficult shooting all the more difficult.

Another shot, I still haven't looked carefully enough across about 100 images to find the best one.

Mourning dove watches the sunset and I slide on home to an empty house... well, OK, there are 3 cats but that ain't cutting it for missing my girl.