Bayou Buteo

 

Red-shouldered Hawk Eating Crawdad, Mallard Lake

The hawk reminded me of an old friend who'd grown up in Louisiana who talked about eating crawdads back home. The hawk seemed to relish the delicacy just as much as he did. (There used to be a popular crawdad joint down on 9th Avenue in the not-very-Cajun Inner Sunset.)

I left the house this morning with a plan to photograph a common yellowthroat at Mallard Lake. I'd seen one of the tiny but gorgeous birds there during my usual Tuesday walk. And although I haven't been bringing my compact camera along for a couple of months, I actually did bring it on Tuesday just for the heck of it, but I was unable to capture a photo of the yellowthroat as it darted in and out of the little creek in one of its darkest nooks. I brought the full-frame camera today, and the yellowthroat taunted me several times with its distinctive chittering, but never came in for a bath or a drink. I never did lay eyes on it, much less photograph it.

Checking e-mail this morning before I left, I saw a birding report from near the Lily Pond, in the exact spot where I recently photographed juvenile cooper's hawks, so I stopped by there first. I photographed a Bewick's wren, a Western warbling vireo, a black-headed grosbeak, western tanagers, and a couple of brown creepers that landed on a tree right next to me (the male, which I didn't see at first, was whistling its sweet, thin call, one of my favorites).

I've forgotten what species the other birders were hoping to see, but I enjoyed the more common ones I saw. The autumn olive bushes are still brimming with berries, and numerous robins (and a couple of western tanagers) were taking advantage. 

The Bewick's wren streaked through so quickly I wasn't sure I'd gotten a shot.

I believe this was a female or juvenile. It remained still after landing on the tree and appeared to be listening to the male's singing. Note the speck of tree resin on the tip of its beak.

I think this might be the male. It's hard to tell these birds apart, but there is no tree resin on this one's beak.

I was so happy to see this burly little black-headed grosbeak land nearby, and I couldn't believe my luck when it didn't immediately fly away after spotting me.

It even obliged me by turning around.

Note the little tidbit of autumn olive berry on the tip of the western tanager's beak.

There are two big autumn olive bushes nearby, but all the birds were focused on the one on the north side of the street, even though the other one was bigger and more laden with berries. It was, however, more exposed.

Western Warbling Vireo

The last time I saw one of these was at the Bristlecone Pines campground.

At one point, it landed on a branch right above me.

Eventually I headed down to Mallard Lake and set up along the little creek where I'd previously seen the yellowthroat. This time the tiny yellow critter that stopped by was a Wilson's warbler.

A brown creeper also stopped by to briefly sit in the water.

A Townsend's warbler also dropped in.

I was surprised that no hummingbirds were dropping by, but it turns out they were visiting a different section of the creek.

There were several hummers, and they sometimes jostled for their favorite drinking spot.

Three in one frame.

A dark-eyed junco dropped in to get a drink.

And another reached out for a bite of ripe blackberry.

I had my bike helmet on and my camera packed away, just about to leave, when I looked up in a tree toward a rasping noise that sounded like a squirrel munching on a pine cone.

First time I've seen a red-shouldered hawk eat a crayfish.

From Tuesday's walk:

Since I had the compact camera with me, I was able to photograph this raven who seemed in no hurry to eat the apparent mouse he'd caught.

This one flew over and landed on a branch above the one with the mouse and began hailing about as loud as I've ever heard a raven hail. Such excitement! 

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Yellow Warbler & Friends

 

Yellow Warbler in Bottlebrush, SF Botanical Garden

The birds wouldn't let me leave. I was greeted right off the bat by yellow warblers, pygmy nuthatches, chestnut-backed chickadees, and Nuttall's woodpeckers. After a few hours of roaming around the gardens, the banana I'd eaten for breakfast had burned through the Krebs cycle and proton-pumped the last molecule of ATP the starchy yellow fruit could muster. I required sustenance but was waylaid by Western tanagers on the way out to my bike.

Several chickadees were foraging in the bottlebrush flowers as well.

As was a group of pygmy nuthatches.

Nuttall's Woodpecker

Here it's using its tongue like an anteater to try to pull something out of the cracked tree bark.

It also snagged a couple of good-sized insects with its beak.

Closer crop of previous image.

American Robin, Fat & Sassy

It looked like a small bike helmet: latticed stinkhorn fungus.

A couple of red-legged frogs were still out in the open in the Children's Garden pond.

The California pipevine plants are starting to grow back, and the caterpillars are having a population boom as a result. Once colder weather sets in I'll make an effort to find some of the chrysalises in which the pupae will overwinter.

There were a few Western flycatchers around.

I finally realized they are the ones who have a call that's like a whistle meant to get your attention.

Another flycatcher: Black Phoebe

Squirrels were busy eating dogwood nuts.

At least one had opted for yew berries instead.

Several Western tanagers were also going after the yew berries.

At least half a dozen robins were bathing in this little creek, along with one Steller's jay and very shy Western tanagers.

I saw a couple of Townsend's warblers, but they were playing hard-to-get.

I probably spent half an hour waiting for the Wilson's warbler to be relatively still and in the open long enough to get a photo as it foraged in a dense buckeye tree on the other side of the fence around the new nursery.

Steller's Bather

I actually spooked a mouse to dart across a stretch of open space when I approached a log to sit on.

The red-shouldered hawk didn't see it.

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