Grandview Parkers

 

Nuttall's Woodpecker, Grandview Park

I'd just planned to go for a short walk around and up Grandview Park, but I brought along the Lumix just for the heck of it. I'd walked all the way around without incident, then up the stairs to take in the view near the top. It's a beautiful day, but nothing strikes my photo fancy -- until I circled the top and was about to head down the other set of stairs and go home. 

That's when I saw the first of at least three western bluebirds flycatching from various perches. And while I was at it with the bluebirds, a lesser goldfinch showed up, followed by the Nuttall's woodpecker, and finally a red-tailed hawk who glided across the sky to land on a nearby eucalyptus branch. I wished I'd brought the Z8 instead. Next time.

Hummingbird Territory

Western Bluebird on what I believe is goldenrod.

The flying insects must have been out to enjoy the spring-like weather.

Something Stuck in its Craw

Leap to a Better Perch

The lesser goldfinch was so well camouflaged that I could barely see it with my glasses off. Its back looks yellow from the side, but when its back was directly facing me it looked green and fit right in with the beach strawberry leaves in the background.

Eating Grass Seeds

The little bluebirds were quite tolerant of all the people and dogs around, but they did have their limits.

Goldenrod for the Goldfinch

I recorded some video of the white-crowned sparrow singing, but the sound was almost completely blown out by the wind.

Bouncing in the Wind

This guy allowed me to get quite close. The background is 19th Avenue.

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Z8 Shakedown Cruise

 

Ruby-crowned Kinglet in Aloe, SF Botanical Garden

I finally broke down and bought a Nikon Z8 with a 180-600mm telephoto (a very popular combo) and 1.4X teleconverter. Today I took it out for its shakedown cruise at the botanical garden where I got off to a rocky start. No matter how much I pressed the shutter release, nothing happened! 

Or so I thought. It took a minute to see that I had left the camera in "Silent Mode," which must have been the default setting. I hadn't thought much of it while setting up the camera over the last couple of days, and I hadn't even released the shutter on purpose even once until this morning's trip to the SFBG. (I didn't even have the right card reader until yesterday.)

Another default setting I used was "Normal" for image quality, which I assumed would be RAW mode, but it turned out to be JPEG. So all my shots today were done as JPEGs, which is probably a good thing since I came home after a couple of hours having fired off more than 600 frames. (Out of 634 frames, I deleted 552 in Lightroom.)

Anyway, after using the lightweight Lumix FZ-80D for so long, I was worried that the Z8 would be too heavy to hand-hold for fidgety little birds. But even though it was far heavier, it was still managable. When not in use I had it on a Waka neck strap. I'd carried it down the hill on my bike inside a Think Tank Glass Limo backpack. I'll still carry the much more portable Lumix for my daily walks and rides, but I'm looking forward to getting a lot of use out of the new Nikon otherwise. (For now I'm going to stick with my 13-year-old D800E, which is still excellent, for landscapes and macro.)

Hummingbird Feeding on Aloe Flowers

This hummer was shot at ISO 12,800! Lightroom doesn't do noise reduction on JPEG files, so this is right out of the box, so to speak. 

This cute little dark-eyed junco was singing already, although it wasn't using the species' typical bell-like chittering sound.

The song sparrow was foraging on top of the aquatic weeds on the small pond in the Children's Garden. The camera easily acquired focus on shaded subjects (unlike the Lumix).

Townsend's Warbler

The Z8 couldn't actually read my mind when my subject was behind branches, so I still had to work to capture the orange-crowned warbler.

Even though I was set on "Bird" capture, the camera easily found a squirrel's eye.

By the time I photographed this yellow-rumped warbler I had re-learned one reason for using "back-button focus" after accidentally firing off a few frames while obtaining focus by pressing the shutter half-way.

The pine siskins were back in the alder tree at the pond.

Anna's Hummingbird

The Townsend's warbler spent a fair amount of time collecting seeds in the alder as well.

Pine Siskin Eating Alder Seeds

A ruby-crowned kinglet also stopped by the alder.

I had to get home in time for other activities today, so I left before I would have otherwise, and given how many frames I had to download, that's a good thing.

Black Phoebe

* * *

Surf's Up!

 

Red-tailed Hawk in the Wind Near Murphy Windmill, Golden Gate Park

After taking care of errands this morning I finally had time to bike down to the beach to check out the big waves they've been warning about. There was a pretty strong, mostly offshore, wind that nicely shaped-up the waves. Only a handful of surfers braved the conditions, but it was fun to watch for a little while on a cool and sunny Friday afternoon.

My first stop at the beach was near Ortega Street, where I was surprised to see only one surfer out, and I lost sight of him so quickly I wasn't sure I'd really seen anyone.

A dog chased some sanderlings off their feeding area, and the birds flew up the beach to the siesta grounds.

From Ortega Street I rode south to the Esplanade and found a handful of surfers to try to photograph.

This actually turned into a very short ride.

No one caught the biggest waves I saw, but I'm sure plenty of adrenaline was pumped just the same.

A pair of red-tailed hawks was sharing a street light along the Great Highway, but they flew away before I could get in position to photograph them. They landed in a nearby cypress, though, which was even better (although they were too far apart to capture in the same frame).

Heading Toward a New Perch

The red-tail had a hard time in the wind with this flexible perch and soon flew back to a sturdier street light.

* * *

Beach Birds

 

Sanderlings at Ocean Beach

I was surprised to find most of the beach birds resting instead of hunting while the tide was out this morning. I didn't stay long and would have to spend a lot more time down there to understand what conditions prompt the sanderlings and western snowy plovers to untuck their bills and scamper across the sand to hunt for mole crabs. Unfortunately, there are no bathrooms nearby, so it'd be difficult to hang out that long, even if I was tempted to do so.

The air was clear, and the temperature brisk this morning, with heavy and dramatic breakers pounding the surf zone. No surfers out there. The snoozing shorebirds were unfazed by all the churning drama, showing concern only at the approach of dogs. I was surprised and glad to see that none of the passing dogs chased the birds off the beach while I was there.

Yesterday's Sunrise (with Twin Peaks on the left).

Western Snowy Plover

Sanderlings

Surf's Up!

I had to put on the brakes as I rode past the Bison Paddock this morning. The grass was fresh and green, and the bison were in beautiful light.

Sutro Tower Sunrise

Yesterday's sunrise, SF Bay web cam view.

Yesterday's sunrise in the High Sierra.

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