Another Nest

 

Nope, not a hummingbird nest!

I was sitting on the ground beneath a pine tree next to the Bison Paddock, hoping to catch a red-headed house finch hanging out on the chain-link fence, when I looked up and saw a baseball stuck in the upper branches. Only on closer examination did I see that the baseball was a wasp nest (a.k.a. aerial yellow jacket, Dolichovespula arenaria).

I love how the nest is wrapped around not only the tree's branches, but even its clusters of needles. The bees are still busy building, so I expect it to get a lot bigger. I only hope the park staff don't spot it. They destroyed the last one I'd hoped to watch as it evolved.

P.S. It looks like Artificial Intelligence is evolving too. Here's a scary bit of news.

This unusually colored iris (it looked almost brown in the early morning light) was growing in the newly refurbished Garden for the Environment. Their construction project took a surprisingly long time, so it's nice to be able to walk through the whole garden again.

Autumn Olive in Spring

This plant looked like a cross of stinging nettle, mint, and forget-me-not. It's called Green Alkanet (Pentaglottis sempervirens), a member of the forget-me-not family.

A number of house finches were feeding on the mustard seeds next to the Bison Paddock fence. When I first showed up, many of the finches were hanging out on the fence, perhaps resting between forays into the mustard, but of course they all fled as soon as they realized I was interested in them.

One thing the Z8 does far better than the Lumix is catching birds in flight. The red-tailed hawk was screeching its classic call as it circled over the paddock to gain altitude.

A pair of Western bluebirds had to constantly defend their nest box against very active tree swallows.

A pair of Steller's jays swooped onto a pine branch above my head, occasionally dropped to the ground to snatch something I couldn't make out, then leaped back up into the tree.

Finally, one of the house finches obliged me by posting on the fence in the way they'd been doing when I first arrived.

The red paintbrush is still going strong at the Balboa Natural Area down near the beach. Notice how close it's growing to the coyote brush, whose roots it parasitizes. Paintbrush does have chlorophyll for photosynthesis, so it's considered a hemiparasite.

There's only one juvenile red-tail overlord at Balboa Natural Area these days. I think Marlon Bando and its (suspected) sibling flew away as they became more mature hawks.

There were at least two Allen's hummingbirds appearing to lay claim to a huge pride-of-madeira patch in Golden Gate Park at the intersection of MLK Jr. Drive and Bernice Rogers Way. They spent almost all their time chasing each other and maybe other interlopers, while countless bumblebees visited the flowers with impunity. The white-flowering bush (small-leaved myrtle, Gaudium laevigatum) was next door, as well as pretty much all over the place. 

* * *

More Pipevine Swallowtails

 

Pipevine Swallowtail, SF Botanical Garden

A late-morning dentist appointment precluded a more ambitious photo outing, so I biked down the hill to the SFBG to spend more time trying to get comfortable with the new Z8 and 180-600mm lens, and to try again with the resident butterflies. 

The camera is great at finding birds' eyes, but there is no setting for insects (yet), so there's a bit of setting-switching to do when trying to photograph both birds and insects. I think I did a little better today at putting the focus point on the butterflies' eyes than last time. 

A lot more caterpillars are on the pipevine leaves now. The gardeners recently replanted the area, and although they kept some of the pipevine plants intact, they are trimmed way back. I hope there's still enough leaves to support all the larvae.

Some of the butterflies are still laying eggs on the sparse pipevine leaves.

California Towhee

At the time I shot this I didn't realize the red-shouldered hawk was getting photo-bombed by a passing jet.

Townsend's Warbler in Puya chilensis

Guardian of the Succulents

Allen's Hummingbird and Salvia spathacea

Hummingbird Sage

Pipevine Swallowtail Larvae

These purple flowers come with color saturation already turned up to eleven.

In addition to the pipevine planted on the north edge of the new nursery and reservoir, there's another patch on the north edge of the California Garden (and another in the Redwood Grove).

About to Take Wing

* * *

Another Nest

 

Hummingbird Nest, Golden Gate Heights

It's still kind of a bummer to walk past the empty Inner Parkside nest, as I did this morning for the second time. My Wednesday walk had reverted to the mean -- meaning nothing much to photograph, nature-wise. So when a mama hummingbird squeaked in alarm and flew out of a small tree as I walked under it this morning, I felt grateful for the chance to observe another nest.

The only problem was, I couldn't find it. The tree is small, with limited potential for hummingbird real estate, and it seemed I had looked in every nook and elbow with no luck. So I began to slowly circle the crown, and just as I was about to close the loop, there it was. So small! It barely seems to hold the mother as she incubates her eggs, yet it will still be big enough to support a pair of growing nestlings.

On the bike portion of my morning I stopped by the big pride-of-madeira on Middle Drive West, where a light spray of drizzle was falling, when I saw that the resident Allen's hummingbird was there. It's actually been awhile since it was in a visible spot as I rode past. It spends a lot of time chasing off interlopers, and it also has a perch that's out of sight. 

The little guy kept moving onto perches ever closer to where I was standing, caught here in mid-blink.

A female Anna's hummingbird kept sneaking in, going for the flowers deep inside the patch instead of the more obvious ones on the edges. Nevertheless, the Allen's hummingbird kept catching her in the act and chasing her out.

* * *

The Single Helix

 

Red-shouldered Hawk Near Elk Glen Lake

I never know what I'll find to photograph when I set out on my morning walk, or even if I will find anything. Today's first photo was of a lesser goldfinch that was one of several that I spotted foraging along the Sunset Parkway. After that came the garden snail, Helix aspersa, a Latin name I still recollect from a biology class I took around 40 years ago at Santa Barbara City College. Naturally, the Latin name has changed (to Cornu aspersum), but the common name remains the same.

The thing that surprised me about the snail was that it was descending a blade of barley-like grass. How it got up there in the first place, I didn't see. Maybe it traversed from another nearby blade of grass. I looked around the area and couldn't see any other snails, which also surprised me. Why would such a lush jungle of grass be supporting only a single Helix?

Looking more closely at the grass I also spotted a few other critters -- a few flies and a plant bug. One of these days I'll have to go out with my full-frame camera and a macro lens to try to better capture some of those tiny fellas that skulk in the grass jungle.

Lesser Goldfinch Collecting Seeds

Descending Garden Snail

Snail-in-the-Grass

Greenbottle Fly

Life on a Dewy Blade

This fly was so tiny I wondered if it was a mosquito. Then I thought it was a robber fly, but it appears to be a snipe fly (Rhagio sp.), an insect I'd never heard of before. Like mosquitoes, the adults have piercing mouthparts for sucking blood.

A Very Random-looking Stinkbug
(iNaturalist ID = Tortoise Bug, Eurygaster testudinaria)

The brown creeper is tiny, but it was a giant compared with the other critters I'd been finding until this guy dropped in to hunt insects in a nearby tree.

I couldn't tell if I was seeing more than one bird, but this one appeared to be gathering nest material.

I wondered if it could simultaneously carry the nest material and hunt for insects, but it soon flew off toward the Polo Fields with its prize of wood fibers.

Miner's Lettuce in Bloom

Pacific Forktail Damselfly, Mallard Lake

Giant Yellow Iris
(Many more of these are in bloom at Blue Heron Lake.)

I had to find a view through the foliage to keep from spooking the hermit thrush from its perch.

Anna's Hummingbird at Mallard Lake

Allen's Hummingbird at Mallard Lake

Creek Dancer #1

Creek Dancer #2

The Townsend's warbler had just been bathing in the creek, then leaped up to the branch, perhaps to make sure I wasn't a threat.

Deciding I was far enough away, it re-entered the creek to splash a bit more before ascending into the crown of the tree that shades the creek.

I've been calling these "banana-like" leaves, and it turns out the plant is called Red Abyssinian Banana (Ensete ventricosum).

As with the hermit thrush, I didn't dare go into the open to try to photograph the red-shouldered hawk, which was actively hunting.

The little Anna's hummingbird appears to be examining the nearby inflorescence, but I think its attention had actually been drawn by a red-winged blackbird that flew overhead.

Making Some Noise

Salvia Guardian

A Slightly Disheveled Golden-crowned Sparrow

I'd seen a coyote ambling along a dirt path near North Lake, but it spotted me and another person looking at it and ditched us. I went looking for it to no avail, but was surprised to find a small fruiting of shaggy mane mushroom (Coprinus comatus), which I'm not sure I've ever seen in the park before it had deliquesced into black goop.

* * *