Nectar Robbery

 

Anna's Hummingbird, Nectar Robber

Every now and then I'll notice hummingbirds going for flower nectar by probing between a flower's corolla and calyx rather than going straight down the flower tube. I looked up the phenomenon and was surprised to see it called "nectar robbery." The term "illegitimate" also gets used to describe this behavior, because the bird gets its reward without contacting the anthers or stigmas to pollinate the flower.

But is it still "robbery" if native hummingbirds are doing this to non-native horticultural plantings? Of course not. The natives are simply adapting to the human disturbance of their landscape. Botanists ought to come up with non-pejorative terms for the intelligent behavior of hummingbirds who take advantage of available non-native plant resources.

Anyway, it was great to get out again today after being hunkered down with a cold the last few days. Unfortunately, I had just recently finished watching all eight seasons of Homeland for the second time before I got laid up, but I did enjoy perusing The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2025.

I was interested to see an Allen's hummingbird nectaring on the tiny flowers of white ramping fumitory (Fumaria capreolata). The flowers are cleistogamous, or self-pollinating, so there's no chance of any nectar-robbery shenanigans by the hummingbird. However, its nectar ordinarily attracts bees and flies.

Resting After Visiting Fumitory Nectar Spurs

Instead of going back to the fumitory, the hummingbird flew to a nearby poison hemlock, where it appeared to be more interested in whatever the leaves were offering instead of its umbels of little white flowers.

At Mallard Lake, the usual suspects were taking advantage of the little creek.

Brown Creeper

Fantail

Red-winged Blackbird at Elk Glen Lake

The Wilson's warblers are still singing as they forage through the treetops. This one obliged me by briefly pausing in the open.

Allen's Hummingbird Near The Salvia Patch

The treatment is actually for a pretty yellow-flowered plant called capeweed (Arctotheca prostrata), so it's more of an herbicide treatment.

This devil's coach-horse beetle (Ocypus olens) had just avoided being eaten by a robin that hopped over from the grass to give it a go. The beetle raised its abdomen and presumably fired off its stink glands since the bird dropped it from its beak almost instantly.

The robin went back to foraging in the grass where it appeared to keep an eye out for predators flying above. After all, a robin doesn't have a stink gland to fall back on....

The paper wasp nest is still coming along.

Several blue-eyed darners were buzzing about near the cattails at Metson Lake (where I saw a female hummingbird collecting cattail fluff; apparently nesting season is still on, a second clutch in the making).

The two juveniles I've previously photographed at Blue Heron Lake are getting big, but are still attached to their nest.

No More Room For Mama

This screenshot is from the latest upgrade to Photoshop. Makes me wonder if human models are going to become a thing of the past.

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Baby Bushtit

 

Stranded Bushtit Fledgling, Cole Valley

If anything can be cuter than a little bitty bushtit, it's gotta be a baby bushtit. Because it was messing around the side of a car, I first thought the tiny bird was fighting with its mirror image, as some birds do. But when it tried to fly into a nearby tree I could see that it was just a fledgling. It failed to reach even the first branches of the tree, then fluttered across the sidewalk onto a home's door frame, then down to the ground, and then back onto parked cars, silent all the while. 

I looked around and kept my ears out for an adult bushtit, but none appeared. I cringed as the fledgling flew weakly across Cole Street, hoping it wouldn't get hit by a car, and was glad when it landed on the roof of a parked pickup truck. It was tuckered out by then and settled down, even closing its eyes for a time.

The surreal part of the incident was watching the fledgling's struggle while no one else walking by even noticed the bird. I left hoping an adult bushtit would come to the rescue before a passing raven took notice of the helpless little guy.

Ornate Leaf in Golden Gate Park

The squirrel nipped off the flower top of a plant (Pentaglottis sempervirens) growing at the base of the redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) on the edge of the AIDS Memorial Grove, ate the good parts, then resumed foraging without returning to the plant. There's no FDA to ensure the safety of what a wild animal eats, so they don't necessarily gorge themselves on any one thing, just in case it's toxic in large amounts. Wikipedia says the flowers of this plant are edible, the roots are toxic, and the leaves are medicinal.

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Bay Trail

 

Black-necked Stilt & Willet Foraging Together, Hunter's Point Shoreline

I've been hemming and hawing about carrying my Z8 on a longer bike ride (from home to India Basin to Fort Mason to Crissy Lagoon then back home), so today, graced with perfect weather, I finally bit the bullet and strapped on the camera backpack, which weighed exactly 11 pounds. I was out for a little more than four hours, and the verdict at the end of the trip was that it had gotten pretty uncomfortable in the shoulders. New and bigger bike saddlebags (my ThinkTank Glass Limo fits in my wife's large Ortleib bags) are probably the next step, and I've been thinking about upgrading my ebike as well (the Spanish-made Orbea Kemen ADV 10 is at the top of my wishlist for now).

I was disappointed but not surprised to find very few birds out at India Basin and Heron's Head. Even so, there was one black-necked stilt, one semipalmated plover (that I saw) and one whimbrel. I couldn't get close to the black-bellied plovers, of which there were just a few mingling in the strongly backlit mud with a bunch of least sandpipers. 

I spotted a red-throated loon just offshore as I passed by Chase Center and two more in Mission Bay, just across from Oracle Park where folks were converging for the Giants vs. Dodgers game.

The Fort Mason Community Garden didn't have a lot of bird variety, but I could photograph hummingbirds there all day if I didn't watch out. 

Near Crissy Lagoon I was summoned to the Quartermaster Reach by a vociferous kildeer. If those were alarm calls, I couldn't tell what it was upset about. The calls were continuous, whether any humans were nearby or not. There was one other, silent, killdeer in the same area, so maybe they had a nest nearby. I also spotted my first barn swallows and Canada goose goslings of the season there. 

Least Sandpiper

Frisky Snowy
(It had just chased off an interloper.)

Black-necked Stilt

Semipalmated Plover

Whimbrel

Stilt Catches a Minnow

It looked like the stilt might have been playing with its food, as it took quite a while (and even dropped it once) before finally sending it down the hatch.

Willet Trudging Across the Mudflat

Willet & Stilt

Snowy Egret on the Wing

I loved the beautiful coloration on those least sandpiper feathers.

I usually think of willets as being gray birds, which they are until they don this more marbled breeding plumage.

I don't know if these are male and female willets, but the bird in front wanted nothing to do with the bird that was following it.

Hummingbirds at Ft. Mason Community Garden

Anna's Hummingbird

Nectar Guides

The western bluebird was perched near a tree with holes in it, but I never saw it enter one of the holes. If there is a nest in there, it's very stealthy about it.

Killdeer at Quartermaster Reach

Making Noise

The adults seemed surprised to be noticed, and they soon moved the youngsters into the water to put some distance between us.

I don't recall hearing any sound coming out of the little fuzzball. It might have just dipped its beak to drink some water.

Cliff swallows had been reported to be building mud nests nearby, but I didn't see any sign of them. The colorful barn swallows were a good find though.

Including this guy who did some preening from a sturdy fence railing.

Killdeer on Fence

I watched as the heron pierced the turf and came up empty, but this time it actually caught something -- a spider.

Cropped to show the spider.

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