High Tide at Ocean Beach

 

Sanderling on the Run, Ocean Beach

A huge and chaotic swell joined a high tide, drowning most of the sand at Ocean Beach near Noriega Street this morning. I'd arrived about 45 minutes before peak high tide during my morning walk, so it was just about peak by the time I got back home. After a short rest, I slipped on a pair of reef-walkers and biked back down to check it out.

I had to cross a pool to get from the dunes to where the birds were hunting mole crabs, and at one point the water rose just above my knees. You definitely don't want to be in there with an expensive camera when the occasional super-sized set rolls in, since it gets even deeper and rowdier in the pool.

One of the highlights was seeing a mole crab swimming in maybe three inches of water right at my feet, then diving under the sand while it was still wet and loose.

Waves often pushed water way up to very near the base of the dunes just north of Noriega Street, so I wondered where the Snowy Plovers were hanging out. I saw only one foraging with the Sanderlings.

On the way home I spotted a coyote in the Pioneer East Meadow near Blue Heron Lake. It looked much like the one I recently saw near Spreckels Lake -- infected with mange and not exactly photogenic. The poor guy was just looking for a place to bed down for the afternoon, so I didn't stick around for long.

Sanderling pecking into a mole crab.

The sanderlings were often pushed high up the beach by incoming waves, only to have to fly back closer to the ocean when the coast was clear.

There were lots of interesting patterns being created by the interaction of water, sand, and various states of sea foam.

Here's a fairly organized state of sea foam with its iridescent bubbles. (See how life may have originated in a bubble.)

At one point, all the sanderlings up and flew north. I turned around expecting to see a dog chasing them, but there was nothing there. No dog, no humans. The signal to flee remained a mystery.

The handsome Western Gull didn't even flinch when the flocks of sanderlings took off.

Here's some of the more chaotic and condensed sea foam.

A Raven was trying to get into the good parts of a washed-up sea lion. You can also see how high up the beach the water had pushed up. Those are dune grasses in the background.

This was my only snowy plover visitor.

Snowy didn't stick around very long.

Sanderlings escape a foamy deluge.

Ocean Beach @ Noriega Street, 11 a.m.

A young Black-crowned Night Heron was hanging out in the shallows at South Lake.

The coyote was in obvious discomfort with its mite infection.

Here it's trying to gnaw some relief into its leg.

I followed along until I found the coyote resting in a shallow depression on the forest floor just south of the log cabin.

I figured it needed its rest and continued on my way.

Nice little lenticular cloud above Mt. Shasta this morning.

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Diwali Sunset

 

Festival of Lights, Grandview Park

After stopping for shoes at On The Run late yesterday afternoon we were in the mood for a late lunch or early dinner, so we walked up to Masala Dosa and dined on chickpea curry for my wife and a spinach masala dosa for me. I followed up our delicious meal with a delicious sunset and only made the Diwali connection when I was back at my desk to download the images and noticed it on my Sierra Club calendar.

Scratching a little deeper, I learned that Gov. Newsom signed legislation to make Diwali an official state holiday, complete with paid time off, as of January 1, 2026. However, a lawsuit filed by the San Francisco Taxpayers Association and Quentin Kopp put the holiday on ice when Sacramento Superior court Judge Stephen Acquisto found the legislation unconstitutional: "The Court finds that AB 268 violates several provisions of the federal and state constitutions by giving Diwali special treatment expressly based on its religious importance without any significant secular considerations."

If the legislation can be rewritten, it might yet emerge from darkness into the light.

Mt. Shasta Sunday Morning

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Bewick's Wren

 

Singing Bewick's Wren, Fort Mason Community Garden

A high tide of 7.27 feet was predicted near Heron's Head Park this morning, so I was surprised to get there within five minutes of peak high tide and see right off that it wasn't as high as the last time I was there, when the prediction was 7 feet. The character of the bird life was completely different, too, with few birds actively feeding, and zero Greater Yellowlegs.

I didn't stay long, so I had plenty of time and energy to take the long way home, passing Chase Center and Oracle Park, then skirting the Embarcadero (which wasn't flooded at all, even near the Ferry Building) and Fisherman's Wharf. The tide at Aquatic Park pretty much covered the sandy beach, where little waves washed all the way up to the cobblestones next to the pedestrian path.

I stopped by the Fort Mason Community Garden where it was downright hot in the sun. An Orange-crowned Warbler was feeding in the shade tree that I parked my bike under. It was so intent on its prize that I had plenty of time to get my camera out of the saddlebags and snap a photo. A singing Bewick's Wren (and a second, non-singer; perhaps its mate) was a highlight, but the real highlight was running into a former co-worker from Earthjustice -- a guy I'd always gone to for bird identifications, back before it was so easy to do online.

I was glad to at least photograph a Spotted Sandpiper as it ran away from me at Heron's Head. I saw just one Wilson's Snipe this time, but it was in no mood to be photographed.

Orange-crowned Warbler

This was the non-singing Bewick's wren. It was emulating a Brown Creeper by climbing around the trunk of the same tree the singer was on.

The Lesser Goldfinch seems to be a reliable find at the community garden, as there's always one plant or another producing seeds for them.

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Red-Tail & Waxwings

 

Red-tailed Hawk in Redwood, South Lake

About a half-mile into my walk this morning I heard the telltale trilling of Cedar Waxwings at about the same time that I spotted a Robin's red breast glowing in a sunbeam as it swooped into a tree full of red berries, probably a cotoneaster. The waxies appeared to be way up in a nearby eucalyptus tree, but they did not join the robin, so I kept walking.

A little farther down 8th Avenue I had better luck when I spotted robins and a few mystery birds diving into another tree of red berries that was not a cotoneaster. Only when I zoomed in with the compact camera did I see for sure that the mystery birds were cedar waxwings. I was tempted to go home and get my full-frame camera, but I figure I'll get my chance eventually. I did go back on my bike after completing my walk, but a couple of gardeners were working below the tree and making too much of a disturbance for shy birds.

Nevertheless, I still had my full-frame camera with me and thought I might encounter waxwings elsewhere. I poked around here and there within Golden Gate Park, checking a few trees where I've encountered them in the past, but no dice. I stopped by South Lake to watch a blazingly white Great Egret on the hunt, but I didn't get my camera out until I saw a red-tail swoop into one of the redwoods along the lake's edge.

It was soon apparent that the hawk needed to dry its wings, and my first thought was that it had tried to nab a duck or something and got soaked in the effort. More likely, though, it had simply been bathing nearby.

Cedar Waxwing
(Last seen Oct. 6.)

I'll have to go back and find out what kind of tree this is.

Cole Valley Sun Cat

Looking for a stable perch....

A new perch, but still not great.

And away we go.

Since I already had the camera out....

I figured I'd try to capture whatever the egret was capturing.

But I can't say for sure what it is.

After trying a few different limbs, the red-tail finally settled on a spot with lots more sun than it was getting in the redwood.

During my Wednesday walk I spotted the Red-naped Sapsucker again at Elk Glen Lake.

The word in the birding community is that this guy is actually a cross between red-naped and a red-bellied sapsucker.

Heading out on the bike on Wednesday, I stopped as soon as I spotted this coyote heading toward me. I was honored as it casually passed just a few feet in front of me on its way into the Rhododendron Dell east of the de Young Museum.

I suspected it was the same beautiful coyote I recently photographed in the dell.

In any event, it was a healthy beast. Earlier in the week I'd seen a motley and mangy coyote that I felt sorry for and didn't even try to photograph.

Also on Wednesday I stopped at North Lake to watch yellow-rumped and Townsend's warblers joining a black phoebe to snatch termites as they rose, freshly winged, into the warm sunshine. Nearby, a squirrel was being very picky in its choice of ripe fruit. It appeared to be using its nose to discern the worthy from the unripe.

Again on Wednesday, there were more Surf Scoters in the water below the Cliff House than I've ever seen there. I counted 37 in this one frame.

A little farther out, many Brown Pelicans enjoyed the sunny morning on Seal Rocks.

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