New Routes

 

Nuttall's Woodpecker, S.F. Botanic Garden

I was pleasantly surprised when Google Maps gave me an unexpected return route from the Cosumnes River Preserve. Instead of directing me onto I-5 it sent me back out West Walnut Grove Road (which is also the way to the crane-viewing areas along Staten Island Road). That was a beautiful drive, and I had the road almost all to myself. I looked foward to more of the same as I turned onto Isleton Road, but it wasn't long before I got stuck in a chain of maybe 25 cars backed up behind a slow-poke driving a commercial van well below the speed limit. Oh well. It was a great route while it lasted.

After the rainy portion of the storm had mostly moved east yesterday morning, I  could have done my usual walk to the beach via Ortega Street and back via Noriega, but I decided to find a new route that would put me in the park. I needed to have a more varied nature experience than I would have found in the Outer Sunset. I ended up walking down two sets of mosaic stairways to reach the park at Blue Heron Lake, where I walked the spiral trail to the top of Strawberry Hill, then over to the Botanic Garden and back up the hill to home. 

This was the most photogenic of the three mourning doves that were hunkered down at the bottom of Grandview Park to escape the fierce winds that continued even after the bulk of the rain had passed.

Two sets of mosaic stairs, looking down then up. That's the Moraga Steps on the left and the Hidden Garden Steps on the right.

It's not an animal and it's not a plant. It's not even a fungus. It's Fuligo septica, and this spongy mass is its spore-bearing aethalium -- the largest of any slime mold. Being both common, large, and brightly colored, the scrambled-egg slime is probably our most frequently seen slime mold. 

A shy hermit thrush landed on the flowering branch of a nearby pokeweed plant, but it really wanted one of the ripe berries growing on another nearby branch. It hopped over and finally snagged one, then darted back into cover.

This purple bromeliad fly (thanks to iNaturalist for the ID) was much bigger than your average house fly. 

I'd checked the red-legged frog pond in the Children's Garden, but there was no sign of either frog or pollywog. Someone had been pulling out a lot of the aquatic plants in the pond, and I hoped no frogs were harmed in the effort. As I was leaving the area I was surprised to see a red-shouldered hawk on a low branch, and surprised again when it stayed put as I pointed my camera for a photo. I took a couple of quick shots and moved on, not wanting to disturb it into flight.

The Nuttall's woodpecker checked out several different trees and shrubs in the California Garden, including this still-standing but 99-percent dead manzanita (that I suspect will be replaced soon).

It was briefly in the big buckeye, but I couldn't get an angle on it in there. The lichen-crusted manzanita was still a pretty good perch though.

The California Garden's sacred datura plants are done flowering, and their thornapple fruits are earning their name.

Several lesser goldfinches were eating evening primrose seeds in the California Garden.

Lesser goldfinch at its lunch spot.

This little guy was crossing a sidewalk in Forest Hill. I'm hoping someone at iNaturalist will come through with an ID, but it seems like many caterpillars are difficult to name.

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Sandhill Cranes

 

Sandhill Cranes at Cosumnes River Preserve

Sunrise is a gift that opens very slowly, and the anticipation itself is part of the gift.

It was still pitch dark when I arrived this morning at Woodbridge Ecological Reserve near Lodi. I got out of the car expecting to hear the familiar croaking of the cranes, but they were silent. The dominant natural noise was delivered instead by countless coyotes. I couldn't see any of them of course, but I'd love to have been able to see the one particular coyote whose howling rose above the din of all the others. Was it calling in its kin to a kill? Showing its strength? Or maybe just feeling jazzed after a great night of being a coyote.

Only one or two cranes vocalized in the darkness, so I didn't know what to expect. Maybe there were only going to be one or two cranes out there. Thankfully, the vocalizing did start to pick up as it got light out, but the nearest cranes were pretty far away. As the morning got brighter, what few cranes there were, soon peeled off in twos and threes and flew away.

It was just barely bright enough to get this shot at f/16. Moments later, all but a couple of the cranes had lifted off and winged south.

Mt. Diablo with Sandhill Crane

Crane Flexing its Wings

In the distance I watched sparse flocks of geese and cranes fly out to their morning feeding areas.

Cranes on the Wing

These were the only two cranes that flew anywhere near me.

A flock of red-winged blackbirds was busy in the same field as a few cranes. A farmer running a disk harrow was off-camera to the right.

Sometimes the cranes are frisky with each other, but this was the only display-tussle I saw all day.

Blackbirds would sometimes circle the cranes before landing.

This was another roadside feeding area with a flooded stubble field, also along Woodbridge Road.

I couldn't see what they were picking up out there, but apparently they pluck out fallen grains from the harvest.

A flock of shorebirds flies past white-fronted geese.

This great egret was lounging atop some grape vines.

I drove the short distance to Staten Island Road, where I found a few cranes in a field more colorful than the plowed ones at Woodbridge Road.

A young sandhill crane forages with its possible family group. There was another adult off-camera.

There were lots of pintails out at Cosumnes Preserve. The secondary parking area was closed for some reason, but the birding was very good up Desmond Road (where Franklin Boulevard ends due to construction).

There were lots of white-fronted geese cackling and humming (yes, humming; I think it was a warning to other geese to keep their distance) in the flooded fields.

This flock of geese raised up for unknown reasons. The sound of their wings as they first lifted off was incredible, and I didn't recognize it right away. There was no vocalization at all, just a rushing sound of wind. The honking came in after they got well into the air.

After circling around, a few of the geese floated down to land next to a small group of cranes.

This was the closest any cranes came to the road all morning.

Such a beautiful bird.

I hadn't used the video on my full-frame camera in so long, I didn't realize I was only capturing sound when I thought I was recording video of the cranes. I still didn't have the exposure quite right when I was recording the geese later on, but at least it's not completely dark.

This is a screen grab of Mt. Shasta from yesterday. Today it's just gray and rainy, like it will probably be around here tomorrow.

Looking for something else, I came across this panorama from 15 years ago, November 4, 2010.

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Heron's Head

 

Willet Nabs a Shore Crab at Heron's Head Park This Morning

I was standing on the back stoop yesterday, overlooking our garden which has been abused by squirrels (besides riddling the garden with holes, they have eaten one succulent, leaf by leaf, and recently ran off with another whole plant), when this Cooper's hawk swooped right past me and landed on the neighbor's fence to look for a meal. I ran upstairs to grab my camera and was surprised to see the hawk still there when I returned. Unfortunately, it left without taking a squirrel along for a ride....

I recently read about improvements being made to India Basin Waterfront Park, so I was a little surprised this morning to see that the park has been demolished, only a year after its grand opening. I guess it'll have an even grander opening sometime in the future.

Meanwhile, the bird life at Heron's Head Park has picked up quite a bit since I was last out there.

Something was putting the shorebirds on edge. I never knew why with any certainty, but they appeared to be quite nervous around a nearby great egret that dwarfed the snowy egret above in size. In nature, throwing your weight around is par for the course.

I don't often see a meadowlark in the city. This one appears to be in jail.

It eventually came back over to my side of the fence.

But not for long.

It called out from the top of a toyon bush but received no reply.

Meadowlark with Yellow Building in the Distance

Kayakers on the Fog-shrouded Bay

In no hurry to get back on the road, I sat down to watch this lone willet for a minute.

The willet very quickly caught this lined shore crab, which seemed a little too big to deal with. I'm not sure if the crab ever got away or was mortally wounded, but the willet never appeared to really eat it.

Quick Clip of Spotted Sandpiper

Spotted Sandpiper at Rest

Urban Kayaking

A red admiral landed briefly on some gumweed flowers, but quickly abandoned them in favor of warming up on the rocky shore.

I'd never seen a surf scoter on land before. I wondered if it was injured.

It wasn't. When I got too close, it bolted into the water.

Ghost Ship Belching Smoke

Container Ship Anchored Near Port of Oakland

Urban Paddle-boarding. It looked like paddle boards and kayaks could be rented at Crane Cove.

There was a popular new sculpture along the Embarcadero.

A flock of gulls and elegant terns was hanging out on the sandbar at Crissy Lagoon. The two darker birds in the lower right corner are killdeer.

I love the sound of fog horns on a sunny day....

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