cazalea
[Seiko Moderator]
20873
Ring around the Reservoir, Part 1
Today's walk started last night with a call from my CPA's office. "Your taxes are ready, can you come pick them up?"
Most of you will know that in the USA, we are expected to calculate our own income taxes (Federal and/or State) and pay them by April 15th of each year. That means the pressure is on this week to get them finished (if you have been procrastinating), get out the checkbook OR if lucky, waiting weeks for a refund if you happened to overpay via paycheck deductions or estimated pre-payments. Thus I booked a trip across town to the accountant's to pick up the bad or good news.
We decided to stop on the way at a lake near the office for our morning walk (we'd driven by but never got out of the car).
This short detour became 10,000 steps and the equivalent of 24 flights of stairs, so I am exhausted today, but the action was incredible.
It started with turkey vultures having an exercise class on the park lawn!
Or else he was showing off his goods to a horrified Ms. Vulture
A non-participant and someone coming to class late.
Here's the lake.
I spotted some birds flying on the other side and was able to get a few photos as they circled, dove,
climbed, rolled
and dropped in.
Then they floated and talked just 20 feet away, casually.
We continued around the lake counterclockwise, enjoying a quiet walk and on the middle or lower paths (most people take the upper, wider, noisier pathway).
We saw two ducks obviously in some courtship behavior.
then turned to shore and saw the path turning into ferns and other greenery. It's springtime of course.
A few minutes we saw that Mr and Ms Duck had "got a room" and were headed for it...
We gave them their privacy and continued along the shoreline.
Just missed walking into this giant web!
My wife says this is used for nettle tea. I know not to touch it!
The swing bridge was chained off, so we leapt over the tiny incoming creek.
Caught a hummingbird in mid-air,
and sniffed some flowers (no smell).
Please come along to part 2 for the main thrills...
Ring around the Reservoir, Part 1
Today's walk started last night with a call from my CPA's office. "Your taxes are ready, can you come pick them up?" Most of you will know that in the USA, we are expected to calculate our own income taxes (Federal and/or State) and pay them by April 15th...
Ring around the Reservoir, Part 2
This lake is larger than I thought, and the two ladies who said "it's 2 miles" were more than a mile off the actual circumference. More on that later. Another hummingbird chirped at me, as I spotted some light coming through the pampas grass and flowers. ...
I love the eagle, but Part 2 is really impressive for the distance you guys go!
What was the temperature out there?
Started about 55° up to 72°
But it was hotter going uphill! Later, talking to my CPA, I learned we should have gone clockwise around the lake so the later part of the walk would be shady.
Thanks, Mike, osprey and
bald eagle are on my ornithological bucket list. Made my morning! Cheers Marc
Osprey
Hi Marc, Here's my closest-ever shot from a couple years ago. If you search on the word Osprey here in WPS you will find the posts where I have spotted and photographed them. We see them regularly, but not THIS close. ...
Ramona Lake
Here's a cloudy-day view of Ramona Lake, which is up higher in the hills, and whose dam was visible in my Lake Poway photos: We looked at a home on the hills surrounding this lake, but decided it was too remote for us. ...
Ring around the Reservoir, Part 3
The hardest part of our walk began with a long climb in the hot sun. I was so fried I couldn't focus, but I did notice we are going to be late for the accountants! The lizards appeared to be sympathetic but it didn't help. I was beginning to get thirsty w...
Amazing adventure today 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽
Seriously, given how adventurous you guys are when exploring seemingly remote areas like today, don’t you worry about mountain lions or whatever other dangerous animals??🤔
No, we walk in the daytime and watch out for rattlesnakes (revised post)
This is actually quite remote, though there are a few homes on the perimeter. I guess we did plow through some thick brush on the far side of the lake (my wife complained). But there were plenty of other people on the trail. You only have to run faster th...
Those vultures truly do look like turkeys! I didn’t think they congregate on the ground like that.
But they do have beautiful wings.