The weekend walk report: Loosey Goosey

 Not much to say, here are some pictures from the weekend, Saturday, April 15th and Sunday April 16th.

It was odd seeing this Canada goose up on top of one of the classroom buildings. I watched it for quite awhile, it never took a step, it only moved its head from side to side.

Then there was this male mallard duck wandering around all over the garden.

Not much else going on, hummingbirds were once again very elusive, so I decided to get some walking in and went round the lower north west end of the campus for my 1/2 mile "loop."

This pair of red-tailed hawks should be familar to anyone who has frequented this blog. The female is the one missing a feather or two on her left wing.

 In one of the campus newspaper bins. This was a flashback for me in a way. My freshman year in college, I took a class in the history of religion. Among a bunch of other stuff, I read the Bhagavad Gita. It was one of the best classes I've ever taken. It solidified my rejection of the belief that any deities exist. I think it may have been the most reading I ever had undertaken for any single class throughout my four years as an undergrad. I tried to embrace the good I found.

Where's the fire? The Los Angeles County Fire Department, a rough and honorable gig.

I scouted around quite a bit and for the most part things were very quiet. I ventured to the top of the hill and the valley skies were hazy and tinted brown. Who is making those new brown clouds? Who is making those clouds these days? I decided to call it quits.

Today, Sunday, April 16.

I didn't even realize until I got home just how lackluster the photo experience was. I saw the male Calypte anna hummingbird affectionately known as Dusty but he was way up in a Caesalpinia cacalaco tree and I found my photos unusable. However... I finally learned today that tree is a Caesalpinia cacalaco. I've been trying to figure that one out for some time. There were several other pictures I rejected from the antique car worshipers to some in flight images of a battle-scarred crow.

This is all I've got. 

Tagetes lemmonii

For a third time now... Western bluebird (Sialia mexicana). According to the Encyclopedia of Life... Conservation status: Least Concern (Population increasing). So there you go.

This common raven didn't want to have anything to do with my presence. I followed it twice and then left it alone.

Thanks again to Docken for joining on the walks. Thanks too to you for joining the walks in this blog, whoever you may be.

The music post is the full album. I have it starting at, Loosey Goosey.

Weekend walk report: But the Raven still beguiling all my fancy into smiling

 Saturday, April 8, 2023. The walk wasn't much of an adventure, certainly not in the photo department so I held off until today, April 9th, to combine the two days into one stunning walk report.

Here's Saturday, through the lens.

Wait, but first, in part because of the lack of photos during the walk but also because I liked this image. Here's the male Selasphorus sasin hummingbird who is the king of the hummingbird feeder outside of my bedroom window, taken Friday evening from my front door. This bird has been valiantly defending that feeder for over three years now. The rose bush, is probably 70 years old and the smell of these roses is unparalleled. 

Okay, onto Saturday.

I have to assume this is male Calypte anna hummingbird, Dusty. I honestly didn't hang out in the garden long enough to observe his behavior. He was the only hummingbird I saw during yesterday's excursion which is pretty unusual. Dusty was often the only hummingbird in the garden from fall though winter.

This desert cottontail (Sylvilagus audubonii) kept kicking up the ground on the the trail so it could roll around in loose dirt.

A lesser goldfinch on prostrate rosemary (Salvia rosmarinus).

There's always a mockingbird. I am, in fact, experiencing more mockingbirds singing around the house than I have since I arrived here in 2011. I woke several times last evening, always to hear a mockingbird outside in song.

I went up to the top of the hill hoping to find some birds of prey, a raven or a crow or two but nothing. Maybe they're all busy with springtime activities? Goats, however were out doing what goats do best.

Sunday, April 9th, today we celebrate the spring equinox as I have been for over 20 days. Spring and fall are my favorite seasons. Thanks again to Docken for walking with me both days via the phone.

Before the walk, once again there was Stan. Stan has had me donning my Dr. Doolittle hat for the past four days. He had an encounter with another cat quite early on Thursday morning and I noticed he was injured. I don't think it occurred during that encounter but then I don't know exactly when their spat started. It appeared to me Stan was simply trying to get to his house on the patio when I interceded. This was well before dawn. I did my best to separate the two without frightening Stan. Again, search "Stan" on this blog if you don't know about him. Stan is both feral and is a dear friend of Docken and I. Stan returned for breakfast about an hour and a half after the incident and got a first dose of Amoxicillin, just in case. He had a significant open wound. Stan had an infection in his right eye back in December of 2020 and it was getting pretty ugly. I'm not sure what I would have done had Docken not gotten an antibiotic to me. This round he had his 6th and final dose this morning, He looks AOK today.

Yes, he looks quite the ginger in direct sunlight.

Onto the walk...

I just noticed yesterday, suddenly there are Southwestern fence lizard everywhere.

Something else that's everywhere and I'm struggling to keep off my property, Urtica dioica, often known as common nettle, burning nettle, stinging nettle or nettle leaf. This little crop is right next to the garden. All going to seed.

Some variety of Lampranthus. Intentionally planted.

From a distance I saw what I believed was a prairie falcon so I headed up the hill. As soon as I got to the top I noticed this lovely common raven (Corvus corax) sounding off from atop a lamppost.

After the lamppost photos I went back to my car for a bag of dry cat food I've been saving for such an opportunity. The raven was prudently attentive as I shook the plastic bag and spread out the kibble onto the parking lot below. Before I could put the bag back in the car the bird was making haste going after the cat food.

I talked to the bird. I also tried to imitate it's croaking sound. My biggest question is, will this Corvid remember me? I believe I have seen this same raven nearby before but typically hanging with its mate.

Yes, I've used this song before. Did you listen to it?

Today's walk report: Over the hills and far away, yesterday and today

 Yesterday there were a couple of events that had me perturbed to the point of putting the walk report on hold. One was an animal in distress that I won't get into. The other thing was an event which was irksome in the moment and somewhat disconcerting once I got home and Googled to find out what was going on. It was a cheerleading competition. From what I gather, this included rather young children. Children being exploited by their mothers reliving their youth vicariously through their offspring. You know, I could be wrong but I've seen it before. Only Docken knows my next line to this story and it's best I leave it that way. Anyway, the situation forced me to do a number of things quite differently than I would have otherwise and all of that cut picture taking down to next to nothing.

Here are some pictures from Saturday, April 1st.

First there was Stan, before I got out the door I was looking high and low for my sunglasses and that delay permitted the opportunity to visit Stan and deliver him some additional breakfast. Stan was tardy yesterday. Every morning is so much brighter when Stan shows up. If you don't know the story behind Stan there's more here and here. Actually, simply search this blog for "Stan," there's a bunch of stuff on Stan. Stan's really special.

Out on the walk...

Ye old Calypte anna hummingbird known as Dusty.

Mourning dove (Zenaida macroura).

Turkey vulture (Cathartes aura). This bird flew directly above my head, so close I could almost feel it beating its wings. With a wingspan of up to 70" it's a magnificent sight.

Not a great picture but I'm pretty sure this is another bird I haven't seen before during walks although it's entirely possible I have and I mis-IDed one. This is a Lawrence's goldfinch (Spinus lawrencei). Two of them, the female is toward the upper right.

This is another male Calype anna hummingbird, not Dusty.

On to today, Sunday, April 2nd.

Before the walk and after feeding Stan (he left and came back a short while later for some R&R). This is a phone pano of my backyard. Aside from the established shrubs, much of what you're seeing are elegant clarkia (Clarkia unguiculata) plants (mostly on the right with the lighter green leaves) and slightly lower are common, or Shirley poppies (Papaver rhoeas)... 1,000s of each. They are intertwined with some common weeds like shepherd's purse (Capsella bursa-pastoris) and a bunch of chickweed (Stellaria media) both now dying back. It should be a spectacular show for the wildflowers in about 2-3 weeks. The width of the yard is about 55'. It's kind of hard to see the curvature applied by the panoramic feature of the phone's camera. The established plants sort of mid-depth are, left to right, Echium candicans, Salvia canariensis, another Echium candicans, Lavandula, Buddleia davidii, Salvia clevelandii and Salvia leucantha. There's a bunch of other shrubs behind all of that. Ficus trees line the patio on the far right.

Today's walk and thank you to Docken for putting up with me on the phone both days. In fact this is for Dockie. The kiss emoji is probably the most commonly used emoji in texts and emails between us. This was right outside of the passenger side of my car when I got out to get my camera.

Aeonium arboreum.

The desert cottontail (Sylvilagus audubonii).

My second encounter with a western bluebird (Sialia mexicana).

Of course, male Calypte anna hummingbird, Dusty.

On to my loop around the lower campus. Ancient car worshipers were out in force.

This is a Studebaker E-series pickup. My guess, mid-50s.

This is a VW T1 "Bus". Can you read the sticker on the rear window? 1960-something, I suppose.

 This gopher was asking me about almonds for some reason.

Mourning dove (Zenaida macroura).

 Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos)

Contrails or vapor trails are line-shaped clouds produced by aircraft engine exhaust or changes in air pressure, typically at aircraft cruising altitudes several miles above the Earth's surface. Contrails are composed primarily of water, in the form of ice crystals.

I did a second loop around the garden. Here's dusty again.

This is Descurainia sophia, AKA, flixweed or tansy mustard. Yeah, a weed. I'm posting this because I have tried to ID it for a very long time. This is one of the more pesky weeds prevalent in my front yard. It grows faster and taller than my wildflowers but it always seems to wait until pulling much of it would cause me too much collateral damage. Google image search finally figured it out for me from this photo.

Up on top of the hill. 

Common raven (Corvus corax).

Everything else birdwise was too far away.