Lakeside

 

Black-crowned Night Heron at South Lake

I cruised by North Lake to check up on the black-crowned night herons that have been hanging out along the north side of the lake for weeks, but I saw only one.  As usual, it was too far away and too well-concealed to try for a photo.

Nevertheless, I stopped riding to have a more thorough look, and in the quiet I heard a soft tap-tap-tapping nearby. A red-breasted sapsucker was working its way up a maple tree that used to be full of warblers when the tree still had leaves. It's been ages since I last saw a bird in that tree (a squirrel eating its seeds was the last critter I photographed in it), so I couldn't resist trying to snap a photo. I last saw a red-breasted sapsucker up near Golden Gate Park's Oak Woodland in late December.

Later in my ride, I saw a juvenile black-crowned night heron chasing another one around South Lake and stopped to check them out. Their frisky interlude was soon over, though, and they returned to doing what these herons seem to do best: standing absolutely still. I won't hold my breath to actually see one hunting, because they don't call 'em "night herons" for nothing. One of the youngsters did a little preening today, so I settled for that.

Red-breasted Sapsucker at North Lake
(I moved to the right to get that branch out of the foreground, only to end up with a more difficult background....)

According to All About Birds, the males and females look about the same.

Here, it's beak is pointing toward its next stop.

Big waves are still rolling in and booming against the cliffs. Still no sign of the Cliff House yellow-rumper.

Now you see it.

Now you don't.
I've always enjoyed seeing the sand paintings down here (a rake is the paintbrush), but the timing wasn't great when I was there a little before noon, when we still had a six-foot high tide at Ocean Beach.

Marlon Bando
(The Say's phoebe was posted up nearby, but I didn't try to photograph it.)

Marlon dropped in on a potential meal but came up empty this time.

Night Heron Keeping An Eye Partly Open

The other juvenile was nearby, surrounded here by flying gnats before leaping up into the branches of the storm-fallen tree.

Now gnat-free, the heron preened for a few minutes before settling down for some shut-eye.

Preening those hard-to-reach neck feathers.

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Cedar Waxwings

 

Cedar Waxing Eating Cotoneaster Berries, Sunset Parkway

I only gradually realized I'd entered cedar waxwing country. The thin, high-pitched trilling of numerous birds, an unmistakeable sound that always captures my attention right away, was masked today by traffic noise along Sunset Boulevard. I saw the birds flying back and forth across the boulevard before I heard them. The  more sturdy calls of a couple of robins cut through the traffic, but the birds I saw flying were too small and speedy to be robins.

As I looked up at a couple of birds fairly close by, I was happily surprised to see they were waxwings. They were in a difficult lighting situation, and the Lumix FZ80D had a very hard time locking in the focus. While the lens was hunting, I could see that the two waxwings were having a little game or ritual with a seed. They passed it back and forth several times, and thankfully the lens finally locked in on time to catch the final round before they both flew away.

Some of the birds were snagging cotoneaster berries on my side of the boulevard, but the bushes had been mostly picked clean, and the dappled light was atrocious for photography. Meanwhile, the bushes that were chockablock with berries were in a thin median strip between the boulevard and the southbound onramp from Lincoln Boulevard. I decided to try my luck out there despite the sparse protection, and the first Muni bus that entered the ramp gave me a friendly warning honk. Nevertheless, the spot seemed safe enough to fire off a few frames.

Not the first gooseberry flowers I've seen this season, but this good-sized bush along the Sunset Parkway was in full bloom today. A bumblebee visited several of the flowers but didn't linger at any of them, so I never got a shot.

A couple of western bluebirds were perched so cooperatively in the morning sun that I couldn't resist snapping a photo. This is the male...

...and this is the female.

Berry on the Left

Berry on the Right

The Berry-passing Game
(Apparently this is bonding and/or courting behavior.)

Made in the Shade

Tail feathers gathered up...

...and tail feathers fanned down.

Dive With A Prize

This white-crowned sparrow must have taken a cue from the waxwings to give the berries a try. As a local who's gotten good tips from tourists myself, I can relate.

Berry Pickers

Waxwing in Blue

Loading Up

Note the red waxy-looking tips on the wing feathers. They are carotenoid pigments and get their color from the berries. The yellow-tipped tail feathers are also pigmented by carotenoids.

The great blue heron was stalking from a floating perch in Metson Lake and remained unfazed when a small flock of eight Canada geese came in honking, then landed with gentle splashes.

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Blowin' In The Wind

 

A red-tailed hawk leaps into the wind at Balboa Natural Area.

I'll bet I'm not the only one who was jolted awake in the wee hours last night by gusting winds. For me it happened around 3:30 a.m., with not just windows and doors rattling, but the whole building shaking. It reminded me of the earthquake we had the other day that rattled and shook the floor-to-ceiling bookcases next to my computer desk. (The quake was relatively small, a 3.5 or so, but struck less than ten miles from my home.)

Ordinarily I'd have simply enjoyed feeling nature's power, but the hideous fires in Los Angeles have made the "what ifs" a little too close, and too real, for comfort. 

Most of my yard looks dry and colorless this time of year, but I was pleased to see that the pipevine is in bloom.

A scrub jay boldly perches out in the open atop the raven tree seen in this post.

Note the heat-shimmer distorting the foreground buildings (the VA Medical Center being the big one) and the sun reflecting in the windows of Stinson Beach homes in the background.

Yesterday's Moonrise from Grandview Park

Ikebana

Windrows at Ocean Beach This Morning

Suspended Animation

Tubular Swells

Cliff House View Toward San Pedro Rock

Moment of Bliss

Riding back down the hill from the Cliff House I noticed this red-tailed hawk in the grass inside the Balboa Natural Area, so I turned around to check it out. I arrived just as it was tearing into the last of whatever meal it had recently caught.

Note the single banded leg, probably the same red-tail shown in the last post. I'm tempted to give this hawk the name of Marlon. As is Marlon Bando....

I put the camera in burst mode in anticipation of the hawk taking flight.

* * *

Green Grass & Blue Skies

 

Red-shouldered Hawk in Screech Mode, Golden Gate Park

It hasn't even been winter for a month, but it's already looking, feeling, and sounding like spring around here. Blue skies and cool temperatures, green grass and miner's lettuce, and juncos trilling their territorial song. The red-shouldered hawks seem to screech just about any time of year, but I've seen a few instances of them pairing up lately (which might mean nothing at all, just a fluke that I happen to have seen only recently).

The hawk on the left is the one that was screeching in the topmost photo, and it flew over to join the other hawk on its branch. The hawk on the right soon flew to another nearby tree.

The remaining hawk hopped around to try out some new branches to perch on.

I'm still seeing the Say's phoebe at the Balboa Natural Area from time to time, but I haven't seen the Cliff House yellow-rumper in a while.

I stopped to photograph this hawk near the Beach Chalet to see if it was banded, and indeed it was. This is probably the one who devoured a mouse right in front of me back in early October.

* * *

Marsh Birds

 

Greater Yellowlegs, Coyote Creek

I was feeling lazy this morning and caught myself already looking forward to a laid-back Saturday. The plan was to ride out to Tennessee Valley to look for bobcats if the wind wasn't too bad, and my laziness almost convinced me that some breeze-jostled tree branches out back should put the kibosh on the trip. I didn't let myself off the hook though, and it turned out to be a beautiful day for a ride. 

It was good to see a lot of the seasonal marsh-loving suspects along Richardson Bay and Coyote Creek -- killdeer, greater yellowlegs, least sandpipers, black-necked stilts, and American avocets, plus the great egrets and snowy egrets that are out there year-round.

I'd hoped for another appointment with a bobcat, but couldn't swing it. The highlight of the valley was a Cooper's hawk enjoying the warmth of the morning sun while perched in some coyote brush.

A Pair of Killdeer Foraging Together

I was watching the killdeer when a greater yellowlegs that had been resting, well-concealed among the marsh plants, stood up and mosied away.

As the yellowlegs left, a small flock of least sandpipers swooped in.

A killdeer looks sneaky as it walks past some pickleweed.

There were quite a few black-necked stilts, dressed in formal wear as usual.

There were a couple of minor squabbles among the stilts that ended with small flights to safety.

Stilt & Marsh Grass

Rippled Reflections

Tennessee Valley Cooper's Hawk

A pair of California quail, male and female, kept an eye on me from the fenced edge of Haypress Campground.

The quail were not tame or unconcerned with a human's presence. I doubt there are enough campers using the facility to get them more acclimated. Meanwhile, I'm sure they deal with owls, coyotes, hawks, and bobcats every day. Crossing open ground isn't a time to dawdle.

Mirror Image on Coyote Creek

Greater Grooming

Feather Flexing
(Check out this article on preen oil and its scented place in a bird's life.)

Brief Video Clip of Preening Greater Yellowlegs in Coyote Creek

American Avocets Foraging Among Snoozing Gulls

Killdeer & Pickleweed

I kind of like the way the sculler photo-bombed the great egret, forming a kind of contrail for the flying bird.

* * *