City Views

 

Slight Rainbow Over San Francisco Bay

We noticed a little rainbow weather on Christmas Day, but we couldn't see the 'bow very well through our condensation-fogged windows. I took my camera outside but couldn't get a good angle on the 'bow, so I went back for my bike and rode to Grandview Park. Just in time to watch the rainbow fade.

I stuck around as some promising storm clouds blew in, but the 'bow never got brighter than you see above. And then a mass of clouds blotted out the sun and it was time to ride home.

A Little Color at USF

Telegraph Hill & Coit Tower With Storm Cloud

Watching the Storm from Grandview Park

It's not often you see a lone Mycena mushroom. This was emerging from a crack in a tree stump near the southern entrance to the Oak Woodlands.

At the other end of the Oak Woodlands was a flat area with lots of wood chips sprouting the usual suspects -- and also these unusual and very viscid-looking, glutinous suspects, possibly Pholiota velaglutinosa.

Interestingly, the gooey stuff on the caps had hardened quite a bit, almost like a varnish.

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Merry Christmas

 

Squirrel with Fresh Fruit, San Francisco Botanical Garden

Christmas is as good a day as any to reflect on my own core philosophy, which is that holiness is foundational to everything and everyone. I like the word "holy" instead of the perhaps less religious word "sacred," but that's a personal preference. I think of sacred as an attribute, holy as an experience. To experience the holiness that underlies everything from sunny days to hurricanes, from children at play to grown-ups at war, from glorified saints to vilified sinners, is to have empirical knowledge of a deep mystery that can only be explored by an individual person on an individual journey.

May all of you have a beautiful day filled with joy.

My wife spotted this huge chicken-of-the-woods on a stump in the back of the Botanical Garden. Some other interesting fungi were sprouting from the top.

I was surprised to find such a nice fruiting of turkey tails in the SFBG. One of the things we like about the Mendocino Botanical Gardens is that they leave in place any mushrooms that sprout, so it was good to find some unmolested fungi here at home. Also, it's excellent to have such a good season of rain to bring them out, and to let us forget, even for a little while, the threat of drought.

The Townie couldn't decide which tree to forage in next and hopped along the fence line until it found a congenial spot to re-enter the plant world.

A group of bushtits made its merry way through insect-laden trees.

This is one of the SFBG ponds decked out for its holiday light show.

Greetings from down in the pond....

This was the view of surface winds blowing this morning.

And this is the view of winds at 2,000 feet.

And speaking of the High Country, this morning also turned up a foggy yet cheerful snow scene in Yosemite.

On a recent visit at North Lake I collected a few small Chinese chestnuts and meant to put them on the railing at Cliff House. I kept forgetting to do that, so I ended up leaving them out back to see who would get them first, the jays, crows, or squirrels.

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Pacific Wren & Friends

 

Pacific Wren Near Goldsworthy Spire, Presidio of San Francisco

The tiny wren chipped a delicate tweet of alarm as I slowly pedaled by on the muddy trail out near Andy Goldsworthy's Spire. I stopped and put the kickstand down, then slowly maneuvered off-trail to get an angle on the wren's hideout beneath some cut logs. The bird came out maybe a minute later, surprising me by leaping up onto this high lookout point right out in the open. I snapped a few frames and even had time to record a little video of its staccato movements and brusque chirps.

Despite my luck with the wren, it wasn't a very birdy ride overall. I was especially dismayed to find so little bird life at Lobos Dunes. I ended up having more of a fungal foray than a feathered one. A few drops of rain began to fall while I was at Baker Beach, and I ended up having to take cover for 10 minutes or so when the rain picked up. Luckily it was just a squall that soon passed, and I was able to ride home without getting very wet. 

I'm kind of looking forward to a good storm tonight. I picked my wife up at the airport last night in some absolutely crazy traffic localized right around the airport itself. The Cell Phone Lot was backed up to the freeway offramp, and the approaches to the terminals, both north and south, were bumper-to-bumper. At least it wasn't raining. I feel sorry for anyone who has to deal with that scene tonight, assuming the holiday traffic us just as heavy.

Jumbo Gym, Golden Gate Park

Herd of Deer Mushrooms Near Goldsworthy Spire

Deer Mushrooms Showing Gills

Pacific Wren Switching Stance

Tail Feathers Raised

Pacific Wren

My first thought when I saw this in the Presidio was "Deadly Amanita," but then I remembered a genus I encountered many years ago called Volvariella, which is what I'm pretty sure this is (except it's now called Volvopluteus, and this is probably V. gloiocephalus).

If you squint, you can make out the pink tinge to the gills. The deadly amanita's spores are white, not pink or brown.

You can't really resist snapping a photo from this spot. The sailboat beneath the bridge was barely moving in nearly windless conditions this afternoon.

Possibly a Psathyrella species, a pretty little grouping here at Lobos Dunes.

A look at the gills.

Nearby (watch out for the dog poop if you step off the boardwalk), a couple of possible Entolomas seemed to be frozen in mid-dance.

A pair of red-tailed hawks briefly graced the skies over the dunes before gliding off toward Baker Beach.

A tiny bit of Indian paintbrush was already in bloom at Lobos Dunes.

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Found Objects

 

Chert and Hazel

I stepped out into the back yard to get a feel for the weather after the morning's rain blew out of town, thinking I might go for a ride and do some photography. Instead I noted all the leaves that had fallen off the hazelnut tree in the last few days. Some of them had landed on, or just mixed with, various small stones I've collected over the years and which I keep out back. There was a beauty in that juxtaposition of soft-and-wet vs. hard-and-wet, of flat vs. round, of biological vs. mineral, and I instantly wanted to photograph it. 

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Solstice Roundup

 

White-crowned Sparrow Eating Nightshade Berry, Middle Lake

I was disappointed (just a little bit) that I never needed the rain gear I brought along as I biked around Golden Gate Park to see what I might find this morning. It was also a lot warmer than I expected, and I had to shed a layer when I locked the bike to walk around Strawberry Hill at Blue Heron Lake. 

Somber skies lent a subdued flavor to the walk, which turned up relatively little bird action at Blue Heron Lake. The quiet extended also to Mallard Lake, Metson Lake, and North and South lakes (Middle Lake sported a bevy of yellow-rumped warblers who made it more lively there). 

Down at the beach it appeared that the storm chased away virtually all of the brown pelicans who'd been resting at Seal Rocks, which are now inhabited by a loose scattering of cormorants holding fast against strong winds.

On the way home I stopped at Andronico's, where the Ben & Jerry's was priced half-off due to effects from yesterday's power outage. At least, I surmised as much. An explanation for the price drop was posted on the freezer glass but was too wet and curled to make out through the condensation. The pints seemed all right to me,  not too squishy, so I grabbed a couple. I felt like I deserved a treat after yesterday's 12-hour power outage and having to cook dinner on a camping stove.

Recent rains took apart this owl pellet at Blue Heron Lake.

The owl was long gone, but an Anna's hummingbird was perched nearby and chasing off interlopers near its gooseberry patch.

Catching the Early Bloom

These guys reminded me of deer mushrooms, but I think they are some other good-looking fungus.

Hermit Thrush, Blue Heron Lake

There are still lots of false chanterelles coming up.

And more sulfur tufts.

I'm still waiting to see a ruby-crowned kinglet wearing its Santa hat.

Silktassel on Strawberry Hill

Holiday Colors at Middle Lake

I believe these are black nightshade, not deadly nightshade, so the sparrow is unlikely to start hallucinating from a scopolamine binge. (Note the unobtrusive band on its left leg.)

Hooded Mergansers at Rest, North Lake

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