Snowy & Yellowthroat

 

Snowy Plover, Ocean Beach

I finally made it to Ocean Beach to look for Snowy Plovers on Saturday morning, wondering if I would be able to find any. Several dogs were chasing gulls into the air, and it seemed improbable that the dogs wouldn't have flushed the tiny plovers already. But plovers are cagey little guys who keep a low profile, resting in cups in the sand made by passing beachwalkers. They will get up and scuttle out of harm's way when your average surfer or photographer passes close to them, but they don't panic and fly away as an attention-grabbing group.

One plover did seem more wary of me than the others. It was the only one I saw with colored leg bands, and I figured it's probably fed up with being handled by humans.

After leaving the beach I biked over to Chain of Lakes where I was finally able to get a decent photograph of my friendly little nemesis, the Common Yellowthroat. 

Last night the rain woke me up at 1:56 a.m. It continued for about 40 minutes, ending at about 1:34 a.m. Now that's spooky.

Common Yellowthroat, South Lake

The first snowy plover I saw was doing a little half-hearted foraging along the beach. 

It seemed to be finding all shell, but no meat.

It finaly found something worth swallowing.

Enough foraging. Time to stretch out and relax.

I'd photographed the cool clouds and decided to overlay it with the surfer.

A little sunlight broke out on the Marin Headlands but soon faded.

I loved how this one had found such a deep depression.

I eventually inched a little too close for comfort, though, and as it retreated I spotted the ankle bracelets.

Keeping Limber

The often-harried gulls.

Townsend's Warbler

This Kingfisher was hunting at South Lake. Later I'd see one at Middle Lake and wonder if it was the same bird.

The yellowthroat stopped very briefly to peck at some ripe blackberries.

Hopping along the plants covering parts of the lake surface.

The Orange-crowned Warbler did a quick touch-and-go on this fern frond.

Kingfisher at Middle Lake

I was waiting to see if a Great Blue Heron would catch anything when this raccoon showed up.

It was hunting by itself.

I wondered how the heron could hunt for anything beneath the duckweed that covered the water's surface, but it must detect swirls of motion.

I didn't see it make a stab at anything. Here it's just been drinking some water (and maybe choking a little bit on the duckweed).

A beautiful Bengal cat was enjoying its nature outing.

Yosemite This Morning

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Varied Thrush

 

Varied Thrush, San Francisco Botanical Garden

The first one I saw was on the ground and was so unexpected that I just caught myself before possibly scaring it away with any rapid movements. I'd heard a couple of buzzing calls from Varied Thrush earlier in the morning near the Fragrance Garden but had left that area without a sighting. 

The one on the ground did eventually fly away into the nearby Redwood Grove, but as I continued my walk I got another nice surprise. Varied thrush and robins were going after some berries nearby, including some purple barberries that were in fairly good light. Mostly, though, the birds were going after some other orange berries in deeper, denser foliage, well out of camera range, and I waited quite a while before either returned to the purple berries.

The rest of the morning was filled with the usual suspects, and a lively lot they were. The other day at Heron's Head I was enjoying all the bird life so much I didn't want to go home until hunger intervened. Today was much the same, with lots of birds to try to photograph. A mid-day lunch break seems to work out well anyway since the birds get more scarce around that time too.

The many Yellow-rumped Warblers were a scream.

I wondered if this Orange-crowned Warbler was eating the insect larvae within some leaf galls.

In addition to the orange-crowned warblers and ruby-crowned kinglets, several Townsend's Warblers soon joined the ruckus. This one appears to be nabbing an ant.

A couple of squirrels were yanking out dried vegetation to build a new addition to their existing nest in a nearby tree.

Some cotoneaster bushes with berries just as ripe as any others are unaccountably left alone while others are pounced on. 

Bushtit!
(It's been a while since I was able to photograph one.)

This little Nuttall's Woodpecker looked so clean and fresh, like it just got out of the shower.

While, on the other hand....

Actually, being covered with rhododendron pollen isn't the same as being dirty.

Speedy Little Fella

Showing just a tiny bit of its namesake ruby crown.

Some yellow-rumped warblers were spending a lot of time on these Chilean rhubarb fruit spikes, but I couldn't catch one with a little orange berry in its beak.

Whenever one bird was chasing another one this morning, the culprits were these guys -- Hermit Thrushes.

Life on the Edge

Anna's Hummingbird

I hear Red-breasted Nuthatches quite often, but I haven't actually gotten to see one up close in quite a while.

While the nuthatches and Townsend's warblers worked the foliage, a Brown Creeper did its foraging on the trunk.

Varied thrush, feeding on the ground.

Varied thrush with barberry.

An Anna's hummingbird sipped nectar from the flowers on the same tree.

Barberry host: When the coast is clear, a robin swoops down to shanghai a berry or two.

Northern Flicker

Black Phoebe

I didn't notice the berries behind the Swainson's Thrush until I saw the picture. Had I seen them I'd probably have waited to see if it would snag one for the camera.

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