Mr. Green's Plumage

 

Green Heron at Lily Lake, Golden Gate Park

The young green heron at Lily Lake has been developing its adult plumage, but it isn't quite there yet. I hadn't seen this heron in a while and wondered if the green heron at Blue Heron Lake, which shows adult plumage, was this bird all grown up. It appears they are two different birds, though, and my new questions are whether the adult is going to hang around at Blue Heron Lake, whether it will find (or has already found) a breeding partner, and whether the heron above is its offspring from a previous season.

The heron likes to hunt from a mat of aquatic plants near the lake's northern edges.

The heron moved around as if in pursuit of possible prey, but I only saw it make a single strike in about 20 minutes of watching.

Very low tide, around -0.3 feet, when I was at Ocean Beach late this morning.

Kelly's Cove had a nice little break for the first time in quite a while. 

Another gorgeous day in San Francisco!

* * *

Crosstown Traffic

 

American Avocet, Heron's Head Park

According to Google Maps it's only 5.2 miles as the crow flies to India Basin Shoreline Park, but for those of us without wings, the bike ride is 8.8 miles. Almost all of this crosstown route is in traffic, but it's sort of an interesting ride despite the fumes -- although not so interesting that I'd want to return home by reversing the route. It's far more interesting to make a loop by riding north along the waterfront and returning through the Presidio, as I did today, or taking the longer option to continue past the Presidio to Ocean Beach.

The tide was pretty low, around minus 0.5 feet, when I arrived at India Basin, and what few ducks and shorebirds there were had almost all wandered well out of camera range. Things were a lot better next door at Heron's Head. Numerically it was still pretty sparse, but the birds were much closer to shore, and one of my favorite local birds, the black oystercatcher, made an appearance just as I was about to leave.

When I saw this dandelion-like flower bud at India Basin I thought it was some kind of weird insect perched on top of the stalk. Only when I put my camera lens on it was I disappointed to see that it was a flower. But at least there was a tiny insect on the scene -- a lone aphid. Whoever heard of a lone aphid?

The aphid plant stalk was growing in the middle of this other plant, which reminded me of St. John's Wort. PlantNet turned up Bulbine frutescens, in the Asphodelaceae. In Greek mythology, the Asphodel Meadows were a section of the Underworld to which ordinary souls drift after death -- a kind of purgatory between the paradise of Elysium and the hell of Tartarus.

Like the aphid, this black-bellied plover was the only one of its kind.

There were maybe half a dozen American avocets, which are pretty much tied with black oystercatchers as my favorite local bird.

The greater yellowlegs is no slouch either.

Trudging across the mudflats, mile after mile.

I like how the willet looks like such a connoisseur, such an epicure, as it daintily probes for delicacies, its eyes closed in delight.

Willet Reflection

Willet in the Surf Zone

Calcareous Treasures

I was surprised to watch the black oystercatcher use its beak in reverse to pry open a small bivalve and eat the shell's occupant.

If the shell was small enough, it could all go down the hatch.

You can make out the tiny bit of clam this one scooped out.

A short way down the jetty from the two black oystercatchers that were foraging together, this dynamic duo of willets also stuck close together.

I didn't see any by-the-wind sailors washed up at Heron's Head or McCovey Cove, but I was surprised to see a bunch washed up on the beach at Aquatic Park. And yes, there were swimmers in the water. One account I read about Velella is that their nematocysts can't penetrate human skin, although softer tissue around the eyes is easier game.

This was a jumbo Velella stranded near the high tide mark, almost level with the sidewalk that skirts the park.

* * *

Velella's Second Wave

 

Wrack Line of Velella

A second wave of Velella velella washed up onto Ocean Beach overnight. It's kind of amazing that these immense strandings aren't catastrophic for the species. I was also surprised that the bounty was being disregarded by shorebirds and occasional scavengers like crows and ravens. At sea, their predators include ocean sunfish, pelagic snails, and nudibranchs. An interesting tidepool predator of Velella is described at The Natural History of Bodega Head.

Lines of Velella Below Sutro Baths

Note the stranded by-the-wind sailors in the pool at the bottom of the frame. New lines of the stranded animals spread south along Ocean Beach, close to the water's edge. Older and denser lines are higher up the beach.

These stranded riders of the high tide are still fresh enough to have retained their blue coloration.

I spotted this black-crowned night heron yesterday at Blue Heron Lake but forgot to include it in yesterday's post (which included an April Fool's joke).

The heron fluffed its feathers before re-entering the water. Apparently it was looking for a place to rest in concealment, as it eventually ducked out of sight behind some shore vegetation.

Yosemite High Country This Morning
(There was snow on the valley floor as well.)

* * *

Die Rotschulterstärling

 

Red-winged Blackbird, Elk Glen Lake

I'm not into opera at all really, although I enjoyed Götterdӓmmerung (The Ring Cycle), and I was surprised to learn that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's most famous opera, Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute), is about making animals happy ("Tamino plays his magic flute. Animals appear and dance, enraptured, to his music." -- Wikipedia). A lesser-known Mozart opera, Die Rotschulterstӓrling (The Red-winged Blackbird), is based on an occult Masonic Lodge drinking song in which the blackbird symbolizes enlightenment.

I stumbled onto a few of these small flies near Mallard Lake, and they reminded me of the March Flies I've seen on Mt. Tamalpais. Although this isn't the same critter, I believe it is a member of the Bibionidae, the March fly family.

The large yellow iris are finally blooming at the west end of Mallard Lake.

I caught this hummingbird gathering cattail fluff and managed to get off this one shot before it flew away.

At the other end of the lake I found this much more sedentary hummer who remained on his twig every time I scooted a little bit closer. This was about as close as I could get without stepping in the little creek.

Unfurling Cycad Frond

Apparently I was being rude by staring at this red-shouldered hawk. At first I thought it was setting down its second foot, which had been warmly tucked into its feathers, to get a better purchase on the branch in heavy winds. But then he turned his back to me.

There was some kind of frothy stuff being exuded by the big oak at Elk Glen Lake, and a honeybee buzzed close to it, so I thought it might be some kind of sweet sap. But then this yellow-rumped warbler swooped in, and I wondered if it had been going after the honeybee, or if it too was interested in the sap.

Red-winged Blackbird in Mating Display

While I was watching the blackbirds I spotted this Allen's hummingbird on a branch poking out of the top of a large twinberry bush, although the branch itself is not part of the twinberry. 

A female red-winged blackbird was gathering nesting material, and I watched her weaving the material into her nest (too deep in the rushes to get a good shot). She was wrapping some of the material around a stalk to which the nest was attached. Pretty clever work, and again I am left amazed by nature's innate intelligence.

Crane Fly Resting on California Lilac

Cloud Drama With Juniper Crown

The bumblebee was nectaring on the California lilac down by the bison paddock, and also hitting the California bee plant flowers (Scrophularia californica). I'd love to have photographed them on the bee plant, but the tiny flowers were shaking wildly in the strong winds.

I was on the south side of the paddock today, checking out the nest boxes, when I spotted this guy and wondered if it was Sunny Allen. This perch was much sturdier than the pokeberry on the other side of the field.

I saw this red-shouldered hawk swoop onto the branch as I was riding past North Lake and pulled my bike over to check it out. Another photographer (with a full-frame camera) saw me point my lens and asked if I'd seen something. I pointed out the hawk, who soon pounced on something on the ground below.

The ground cover of grasses and other greenery was so high that you couldn't see the hawk. You could only see grass shaking where he was. I hoped to photograph him when he popped out, but I missed it and only caught the photo above when he landed on a nearby branch. The guy with the better camera had better luck. Unfortunately for the hawk, it didn't catch whatever it had been interested in.

When I spotted this vehicle carrier steaming into the Golden Gate I figured it was full of some of the last non-tariff cars that'll becoming to town for a while. (Yesterday I saw a new-car license plate on a yellow Lamborghini, a $275,000 car....) The ship is the Liberian-flagged Delphinus Leader.

Snowy Egret Perched in a Redwood at South Lake

I'm pretty sure these puffballs weren't showing yesterday. I ride the same route pretty much every day, and these stood out too much to miss. I wished I had a knife to slice one in two to show the gleba, but my Clipper Card served well enough.

I finally caught an egg in the nest of the pied-billed grebe at Blue Heron Lake.

* * *