Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Walking the Rub

Took a walk up Mt. Rub today around noon. Cloudy and drizzly most of the time.

For weekday, there were more people walking that I had expected.

On the exercise front, I went pretty fast. Shaved about five minutes off my usual time. Probably because I wasn't talking. BUT don't take that to mean that I don't like walking and talking. That aspect of the walk has been therapeutic for me.

Scenery-wise, it was indeed cloudy and drizzly. The road was wet, as was the ground. Along the way, I saw a sweatsuit on the path. I kept I eye out for the former wearer, but saw no one. It will remain a mystery.

As I approached the top, I saw a couple of hawks just hovering in the sky, occasionally fluttering their wings so as to stay in one place. I wish I had taken my binoculars.

They played that game with me that birds of prey play when a human approaches their territory. I have seen this on my bicycle outings at the lake as well. As you approach, they act like they don't see you, but subtly shift out of your sight-range as you get closer.

I remember once in the desert, I could see a hawk hovering like this and then diving at its prey below. It moved so quickly that it looked like it had just disappeared.

As I started the downhill, I saw what looked like a dozen or so hawks cavorting lazily in the sky, much like the first two, except they were looping around one another. I have never seen anything like this. In fact, I always thought that hawks claimed territory in pairs and that you wouldn't normally see this many this close to one another. But there were about twelve of them.

I guess they could have been some other kind of bird, but they looked and behaved like hawks. Buzzards I have seen, and their wingspread always looks more raggedy. These birds had the even wingspan that you normally see in a hawks. They were not crows, as their feathers were multi-colored.

This group played the same game with me. As I walked down the Rub side of the mountain, they drifted over to the Riv side. As I turned the corner and started down the Riv side of the mountain, they drifted to the Rub side.

I could also see downtown Riv's tall office buildings, their top floors dissolving into the clouds.

On my right, grasping a branch of a shrub, a hummingbird twitched its head around, perhaps wondering if I saw it, its throat feathers shifted from emerald to ruby as it did so. Near the bottom of the hill, a couple of woodpeckers argued while clinging to a palm tree.

I saw two cats: one calico; the other almost white, with highlights of orange. This last cat approached me and I could see it had blue eyes.

8 comments:

Donita Curioso said...

I've visited with those cats. The white one was herding me one day. He kept walking right in front of me.

Uh-oh. If you're walking faster is means I'll have to walk faster. After this week I'll be dragging, I just know it. I'm glad you went yesterday. We went to L.A. and walked around in the pouring rain.

Howlin' Hobbit said...

Must've been a day for walking. I did a little urban stroll that totalled a tad over three miles by the time I was done.

I was raggedy last night but I'm surprisingly ache free today.

Love the word picture of the hummingbird checking you out.

HH

Brother Atom Bomb of Reflection said...

I think any day you get close to a humming bird is probably a time to take notice.

Billy Canary said...

bro,
they weren't hawks. they wuz turkey vultures. they travel in groups like you described. they have white on the trailing edge of their wingies.
xo
billy

Brother Atom Bomb of Reflection said...

But that's just it. I've seen turkey vultures before an theselooked more like hawks. Walked the Rub again today, but didn't see them. Saw two hawks.

Donita Curioso said...

I'm a total blob. I need to walk.

Brother Atom Bomb of Reflection said...

I skipped today.

Jim said...

What a poetic posting of observations! Great writing, Babor!