Today's walk report: 050822

Mother's day. Whether you wanted to be one or not. With all the stories I've ever read about a dystopian future, I, quite honestly, never thought I would be part of that future.

I've nowhere, nowhere to hide
I'd give you all of my dreams
If you'd help me
Find a door
That doesn't lead me back again
Take me away*

My diversion for today, here are the pictures...

On my way to the local botanical garden, there was a small murder of crows engaged in chasing a squirrel away and they also appeared to be gathering for nest building. I captured none of that but here are a couple of the crows, just hanging, watching, very aware of the human below.

Into the garden... what is becoming an obligatory shot of the first two palo verde tress.

Seemingly there are now more flowers dispersed below than on the trees above.

Another now familiar shot of the slowly flowering Agave americana. Can ya see the little birdie?

I walked right up to this very young desert cottontail (Sylvilagus audubonii). It didn't seem at all concerned about my proximity.

Last week I had prepared these images of Caesalpinia gilliesii flowers but forgot to include them in my post and while I took some more pictures today, I opted to include last Sunday's images here. It appears to me they have expanded their territory via some controlled reseeding. These particular plants are in the "Australian Native" section of the garden. Caesalpinia gilliesii are native to Argentina and Uruguay.

I plopped myself down on a bench and stared at this grevillea shrub willing a hummingbird to show, and one did. A female Calypte anna.

She took a short break and I moved on.

This western fence lizard seemed to be very curious about me.

Another baby on my way out of the garden, a California ground squirrel (Otospermophilus beecheyi).

*Genesis - The Chamber of 32 Doors

Today's walk report: 050122

 Mayday! Mayday! Oh wait, sorry... May Day, May Day!

What's the difference these days? But, it is indeed a beautiful first day of May, 2022. Currently it's 74º F and during this pseudo-walk it was 62º-64º, sunny with a slight dingy gray haze just to remind me of where I am. Here are some pictures.

Once again the palo verde trees upon entering the local botanical garden are spectacular even though now about 1/2 the flowers we saw back on April 3rd lie withered on plants and the ground below.

I followed this monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) around for some time, or perhaps it was following me. It was kind of hard to tell. In the first image it's on a Desert Willow (Chilopsis linearis) tree while the second and third shots were taken earlier, back on the blue palo verde (Parkinsonia florida) trees.

Before I headed around the bend I noticed the spire on the century plant posted on this spiffy little blog back on April 10th had risen above pretty much everything else in the garden.

Onto the other side...

Verbena, also known as vervain or verveine was becoming a little sparse over the past several years but it appears to be making a comeback. Notice the happy carpenter bee in the second image.

Male Calypte anna hummingbird, affectionately known as Dusty, was once again reliably in his favorite roost. Although, he was a little busier than usual because migrating rufous hummingbirds (Selasphorus rufus) have arrived and he seemed a little upset over their occupying his domain. So, lots of chasing going on.

This may or may not be a male rufous hummingbird. I was across the pond, about 30' away. It could be a male Allen's hummingbird (Selasphorus sasin). The flower is Iris pseudacorus, the yellow flag, yellow iris, or water flag. It's an invasive species and out-competes native riparian vegetation, including cattails... which have been way out of control in this little pond for several years. Back in 2017 it was Docken's and my understanding that the pond was going to be drained for a makeover. That never happened. Some bad stuff happened we won't get into. Docken was on the phone with me for the walk again today. In case anyone was wondering. Thank you Docken!

On a nearby bench, this western fence lizard was optimizing some direct rays of sunshine.

 

 

 I ended up driving up the hill in search of birds of prey but it was very quiet. All I spotted was this sleepy mourning dove.

Look closely at its eye and you can tell it was trying to sleep.

 

 

 That was it. I headed back home. Way back on March 11th I posted about, among other stuff, 13 Osteospermum plants I grew in a closet from seed and transplanted in front of the house. Just a few days ago I got my first flower. Everything I grow from a seed amazes me every single time--with that I'm like a child. It's like a secret... all those secrets.

Today's walk report: 042422

 Let's put it this way, at least I got out and did some walking.

Here are pictures taken along the way.

This female Calypte anna was being courted by a male. I didn't get a good enough look to determine whether or not it was our friend the male Calypte anna hummingbird known as Dusty.

Okay, I'm just going to pretend to ignore him.

No, wait... where the heck did he go?

As it turned out, Dusty was hanging out in his usual perch once I rounded the bend in the garden.

This male monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) was showing off nicely against the bush sunflowers (Encelia californica).

Over the past week the blue nolina (Nolina nelsonii) went into full bloom.

 That's all. The journey was short and rather rough around the edges. Once again my thanks to Docken for joining me over a cellular network. Meanwhile, this sums up a lot of the past week or so for me. I'll see you on the dark side of the moon.