Killdeer & Friends

 

Killdeer Dance, Quartermaster Reach

I believe it was late April the last time I photographed killdeer at this little section of tidal flat connected to Crissy Field Marsh. Yesterday I rode out there in part to look for a locally rare bird called a Pectoral Sandpiper, but also to have a shakedown cruise for some new bike gear.

I just got my bike out of the shop with a new rear rack, trunk bag, and a replacement chainring (including the spider, a component I'd never heard of before), so yesterday was my first fully-loaded trip. I carried the 180-600mm lens in the Ortlieb bag on the right, the Z8 w/ 1.4X and the D800E w/ 105mm Micro and SB400 flash in the bag on the left. Even with all that, there's still room for the 16-35mm when I think I might need it. I was going to buy a little Gitzo Traveler tripod to squeeze in there too, but I backed off that idea. If I need to carry a tripod, I'll take the car.

If you haven't seen it yet, check out a documentary called Mary Oliver: Saved by the Beauty of the World on the PBS show American Masters. One of her quotes that stuck with me was that "attention is the beginning of devotion." I take her meaning of devotion as a spiritual act (not a mere duty), and think it can work the other way too: devotion can also be the beginning of attention. In any event, may all that devotion and attention create the spark that allows us to be saved by the beauty of the world.

A squirrel drizzled acorn bits down on my head as I was using a low oak branch to steady my camera to photograph a Great Blue Heron that was perched high on a different nearby tree next to the Lily Pond. I decided to photograph the Coast Live Oak acorns to make sure I used the D800 and macro lens at least once on the trip.

This GBH was at North Lake on my Wednesday visit, when I'd hoped to find black-crowned night herons.

I watched a family of Pied-billed Grebes as I circled North Lake in search of night herons. In this shot you can just make out a creature in the chick's mouth, kindly deposited there by the adjacent adult.

"More, please!"

Great Blue Heron being the beauty of the world above the Lily Pond.

Although it looks sorta like a killdeer, this is a Semi-palmated Plover.

A Killdeer snags an invertebrate goodie out of the mud.

And another another tasty morsel out of the shallows.

This might be one of the juveniles that was pestering the adults to feed them. A couple other birders said the chicks had been much smaller, and not yet in adult plumage, just a couple of weeks ago.

An adult escapes the pestering young ones.

You know, I just couldn't resist snapping a shot of the bridge. The patch of fog on the headlands probably tipped the scales in favor.

There was a fair amount of bird life for an urban locale, but we never did see the pectoral sandpiper that had been reported on prior days.

A Snowy Egret wings it toward the freeway underpass.

Just across Mason Street at the Crissy Field Marsh, a lone Long-billed Curlew foraged in the shallows. I wondered if this was the same one I recently photographed there.

A few American White Pelicans were still resting on a small sandbar at the marsh. They were all snoozing when I arrived, but they stood up to preen, one by one, as soon as I'd put my camera away. Thankfully they kept at it until I could put it back together again (the body in one pannier; the lens in the other).

I'd planned to check out El Polin Spring, but it was closed for construction activity. I stopped in a random spot in the Presidio because it was quiet, and a Brown Creeper soon caught my attention.

Along with the creeper, a pair of Steller's Jays flew into a nearby tree, both shrieking calls that mimicked a red-shouldered hawk.

After skirting the Presdio Golf Course and checking out Mountain Lake, I headed back toward home along the greenbelt between Hwy. 1 and Funston Ave., stopping when I heard the call of this Nuttall's Woodpecker.

The woodpecker soon flew out of range, but a few Pygmy Nuthatches took its place.

Looking for Tasty Spiders

On Tuesday the 25th I saw several Black-crowned Night Herons perched around North Lake for the first time in maybe months, but when I returned with my camera on Wednesday I saw only two, and neither was in camera range. This morning (Friday) there once again were several.

I saw the Western Flycatcher as soon as I arrived, but it flew away before I could get my camera out. After I'd photographed the night heron, though, I saw it fly back into the area where I'd first seen it.

I was surprised to spot this beautiful, golden-orange chicken-of-the-woods fruiting on a tree stump in Golden Gate Park this morning. Seems a little early, but the park is so well-watered that fungi come up year-round.

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Mountain Mosey

 

Wary Chipmunk, Mt. Tamalpais

Nuts are still ripening on the oaks and tanoaks, the Douglas fir tree pantries are full of empty holes, and cackling acorn woodpeckers are playing hard-to-get. Chipmunks, despite serenading me with chirpy alarm calls, have been much more cooperative. 

My car's thermometer read 64 degrees near Rock Spring despite a stiff, warm breeze. I actually felt hot as I mosied around under mostly sunny skies and slipped off-trail to check up on my camera traps. I wondered if the car's thermometer was busted. The weather forecast said today's high up there would be 70 degrees, but I'd have guessed it was at least 75.

I was surprised to see the fog so low on the mountain this morning since the web cam has shown several days of it rising nearly to the top of East Peak.

In the distance, a few wild turkeys gleaned their way over the golden hills.

Acorn woodpeckers are busy making new holes for the coming harvest.

Numerous pine siskins are still in the area, and still going for drinks at the Rock Spring water tank.

Pretty Young Junco

Caught this guy with a sharp tooth on display.

Family Portrait

Although it's still easy to spot trees infected with Sudden Oak Death (Phytophthora ramorum), there seem to be many fewer than there used to be. Apparently the trees are doing much better at managing the pesky microbe.

Still Bearing Spots

Speaking of playing hard-to-get, the spotted towhees are really sticking to cover.

I thought it was a bird in the bushes about to go after these poison oak berries, but it was fun to see a chipmunk interested instead.

I'd heard a kestrel calling out when I was hanging out earlier with the deer family. Later it wheeled above me before flying off to more private hunting grounds. (Composite photo.)

A lone tom turkey looks for seeds and grasshoppers as it makes its way through fields of brittle grass.

The rest of the photos are stills from the camera traps, with a five-minute YouTube video at the end.

Bobcat

Great Horned Owl

Gray Fox

Raccoon

Big Buck!

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