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: 101021

 I did what I should've done yesterday, besides the decision was sort of forced upon me. This morning the film crews (see yesterday's post) had taken over most of the parking lot I walk from to get to the botanical garden, in fact it may have been off-limits to outsiders. I wasn't going to bother finding out. Instead, I drove up the hill and parked in a lot containing only two other cars. Come to think of it, those two cars are always up there, every weekend. It's the main parking lot for the music department and theater arts. Aside from some campus crew people down along the hillside trimming trees, there was no one around. Onsite classes are beginning October 25th and it appears the campus is in full-on preparation mode in order to catch up for being essentially a closed campus for over a year and a half. Baseline COVID tests are required for all students and employees attending school on campus. So there.

Meanwhile, I saw two raptors before I even finished parking my car. Years ago I had mapped out "laps" on this parking lot for extending a workout on my bicycle, so I knew laps around the lot were right about a 1/4 mile. I modified this slightly, considering I was on foot. I did several laps which turned out to be .38 miles a lap (although there were a couple modest detours, extending those laps) while I spent most of my picture taking time monitoring two hawks, a Cooper's hawk and a young red-tailed hawk. This went on for 61 minutes. 

Here's the basic outline of those laps from Google Earth. The covered parking are solar photovoltaic carports. They are, in fact, the first solar panels I ever saw. It was a long time ago.

 Here are the pictures. The two hawks were along the left hand (western) edge of the walk.

The first bird I saw perched was this red-tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicensis). I didn't realize how young this hawk was until I got home and saw the pictures. It never left this position during my stay. For the closest shots this young beauty was 44.8 meters (49.1 yards) away.

While the lighting changed a little, there wasn't much of any variety in the pose. I actually saw the Cooper's hawk first as I was parking but it was moving from one spot to the next and it was awhile before it settled in for pictures. During the exercise portion of my journey I happened upon a few other photo ops. There were several crows scoping things out.

My first thought on this bird was, I'm going to have to look this one up. I went to my Cornell Labs bird ID app to find out this is a Cassin's kingbird (Tyrannus vociferans).

 Once again, Canada geese (Branta canadensis) flew overhead.

I had to fudge with the shadows on this one a little to make sure it was a Northern mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos).

On the last two laps around the hilltop the Cooper's hawk decided to sit a spell and cooperate on some photos.

 Here's how far apart the Cooper's and the red-tailed were from each other at that point.

I walked two laps hoping the rising sun would provide better lighting for the Cooper's hawk but the bird gave me something better by moving south a tree or two.

Just as I was about to drive back down the hill I saw this large mourning dove and I'm pretty sure it's the same one I took pictures of on August 1st.

It was a nice round of picture taking and it turned out to be a pretty decent walk despite the repetition. Hopefully COVID protocols won't affect me as a visitor on the weekends. I'm fully vaccinated and carry digital proof of vaccination on my phone. If you haven't done so yourself, I highly recommend it. It's safe, it's fun and it might even save your life.

Today's walk report: 100921

Not much of a walk and pretty weak on the photo front too but here goes...

The campus was getting set up for filming once again and this time there were way too many people milling about. Some of them seemingly walking around rather aimlessly and since I seemed to be spending much of my effort on the lookout, wanting to avoid people, I left rather quickly. Docken and I were on the phone together and most of my side of the conversation was me bitching about people, so that wasn't good either. 

Before arriving my much grander plan was to schlep up the hill looking for birds of prey and in retrospect perhaps I should have just driven up there and poked around... oh well. Last complaint, I swear... I wasn't paying too much attention to the camera ISO and I should have changed the mode dial to afford me more creative control. Pictures were pretty grainy. 

Crews were setting up much closer to the garden this round. The entrance to the garden is less than 50 yards from where this truck was parked and people were venturing as far as midway inside the garden.

It appeared they were going to focus filming in a small building used primarily for assemblies. Sign of the times, they needed to augment the air circulation/filtration to the building. The device is marked, "Cinema Air". How refreshing.

 I entered the garden a little north of where I would've normally. Covid or no, I would generally avoid people either way. I wandered around quite a bit looking for some activity. It was colder than usual, about 47º so not a lot was stirring. I followed one female Selasphorus sasin hummingbird through a good portion of the garden for awhile but wasn't able to get a decent shot off. The garden is approximately one acre in size. This flock of 14 mourning doves (Zenaida macroura) was unusual, at least I don't typically see that many milling about together. 

 Yes, I said 14, this one was a few feet in front, as if standing guard.

Back to the usual hangout for male Calypte anna hummingbird, Dusty, I first spotted this young male Anna's hummingbird which Dusty seemed to be unusually tolerant of.

Then there was Dusty...

And that, dear reader, was about it. I went sort of roundabout to see if walking the stairs looked approachable without running into the ubiquitous film crews but it didn't appear likely so Docken and I chatted back to the car and as I returned home.

Meanwhile, while writing this drivel and gazing out my office window, this lovely giant swallowtail (Papilio cresphontes) was fluttering around the bougainvillea and plumbago plants in the backyard. You know, if I sit here long enough a bird of prey will eventually show up.

In parting and somewhat in theme with the television crew and where we seem to be heading, here's the song which was in my head upon rising this morning. Specifically the line, the species has amused itself to death.

And out in the valley, warm and clean
The little ones sit by their TV screens

No thoughts to think
No tears to cry
All sucked dry

Today's walk report: 100221

According to the calendar, it's autumn. According to the weather, it's not. While it's only the second day of October, so far, the average high temperature for the month is 94.2º. However, it appears we might be cooling back down soon with a predicted high of 81º by Tuesday and then dropping into the 70ºs on Wednesday. I like autumn, it's the season for getting stuff done outside around here. 

For today my short trip to the local botanical garden provided early morning temperatures hovering right around 52º. That coolness made for a rather quiet experience in the garden but there was something else going on...

 Film production, my guess was a movie but it turned out to be Warner Brothers and some television series called, All American. It's a "sports drama." Allegedly it's been around since 2018. I never heard of it until I looked up some clues I saw. All I knew was, it was cramping my style. Fortunately, I only saw a security dude in one of those trucks and a few janitorial staff for the school milling about on the campus. Nevertheless, I assumed a bunch of people were going to show up and soon so I made haste. I parked a couple hundred feet behind the trucks and walked to the garden.

It was still a tad too cold for critters. I did see a couple of California desert cottontail rabbits (mostly hiding) and several mourning doves (mostly flying away) but then there were these guys. A small flock of 6 or 7 American bushtits (Psaltriparus minimus). They tend to not make picture taking very easy. They move rapidly as a group from bush to bush munching on a wide variety of tiny insects.

 I took a couple of laps around the garden, thought more about the people who were certainly arriving onto the campus soon and decided to head up the stairs, round the hill on the other side and head home. The entire journey on campus was 37 minutes.

A Cooper's hawk flew overhead at the top of the hill.

And about 50 yards later I noticed something in a tree. Now, with my 22 mm (give or take) ocular lenses, I wasn't too sure if this was a hawk or a piece of tree but with the camera lens set to 250 mm I went, ah-ha!

And onto the other side.

The red-tailed hawk didn't stick around for very long and I was fiddling with my sunglasses when it took flight.

Around the hill, heading for my car, more evidence of a potential onslaught of humans.

On the way out I saw what became the final clue as to the name of the television series. “All American: Homecoming,” which is set at the fictional Bringston University. "Homecoming" is apparently the incarnation of the show for the upcoming season. Well, good for them. The baseball field behind this had fallen into total disarray during Covid. It was completely screened off from view for this nonsense. I wonder if they fixed it up.

 If I could've only just closed my eyes...