Pride of Madeira

 

The King of the Patch, Golden Gate Park

I passed a Pride of Madeira bush (Echium candicans) down by the beach that had a hummingbird feeding on its flowers, but it didn't seem like a good place to sit and try to photograph it in peace. Lots of pedestrians and cyclists passing by, and a sedentary homeless guy pontificating about something, so I kept going until I rode past another Echium in full flower. I soon spotted the owner of the bush, a tiny Allen's hummingbird who tolerated bees, sparrows, and a lesser goldfinch, but not other hummingbirds.

One nice thing about the miserable "spring forward" time change is that I'm starting my walk during a cooler part of the morning (7:30 is the new 8:30). Nevertheless, as I passed this view about a block from home I felt a slight foreboding about the hot week ahead.

I walked to the beach on the shaded side of Ortega Street and came across these dewy raccoon tracks on someone's fence.

Later on, I glimpsed a handsome duck as I sped past Lloyd Lake on my bike, so I turned around in case it was a wood duck. It turned out to be a hooded merganser, a fairly common visitor that I nevertheless haven't seen in a while.

I went looking for butterflies in the Balboa Natural Area just south of the Cliff House, but the few I saw eluded capture. The cardinal meadowhawk was more obliging.

What do you brake for? You know those bumper-stickers that say, "I Brake for Wildflowers," or "I Brake for Wildlife." Well, I brake for tapping sounds on trees, especially if the tapping is coming from relatively low on the trunk, where I found this Nuttall's woodpecker.

He might seem too tiny to be regal, but I watched him chase several larger Anna's hummingbirds of his Echium bush.

A white-crowned sparrow nibbled on the plants, but I couldn't tell what it was actually munching on.

A song sparrow used the big bush as a singing perch.

A lesser goldfinch dropped in to check things out.

It might have been looking for seeds. Finding none, it soon flew away without pecking at anything.

Many honeybees and bumblebees were visiting the little flowers, which I often forget are in the Boraginaceae (the forget-me-not family).

I'd been hanging out at the Pride of Madeira plant for quite a while, trying in vain to get a shot of the Allen's hummingbird even perching on the flowers, much less nectaring. 

It would always fly off to a higher perch in a nearby Monterey cypress, or it would be too hidden by plant material, or it would just move too fast and fly away too early for me to focus on it. Finally, just as I was about to give up and head home for lunch, I got a good view.

* * *

Hummer Chicks Update

 

Hummingbird Nest with Chicks, Inner Parkside

I've been saying the nest was in West Portal, but a look at a map shows the location as Inner Parkside. I only happened to look at a map because I wanted to figure out a good route to reach a second hummingbird nest that I spotted yesterday while my wife and I were out for a walk in Golden Gate Park. 

The nestlings will probably be ready to fly as early as next week, or as late as the 25th. If I have any further updates on these nests, I'll post them here.

I could only see two chicks being fed for sure.

This is what we saw yesterday, and also what I found when I dropped by today -- what looks like an empty nest.

The mama hummer seemed to be hanging around the neighborhood, alternately feeding and resting.

I went around to the other side of the nest and saw that it does in fact hold what appeared to be two chicks.

It was very sunny on the nest, and I hope the babies all survive the coming heat wave.

This mama's nest was a lot more fuzzy than the Parkside nest. I like the addition of the little male pine cone. Probably a lot of the fuzz is horsehair.

Feeding Time

It was a short trip to the Bison Paddock where I spotted a tree swallow hauling a big clump of plant material into the nest box.

The hubbub around the nest boxes between the swallows and the bluebirds seemed to have stopped during the last couple of weeks, so I wondered if the birds were already brooding eggs, but it looks like they aren't quite there yet. 

* * *

Desert Spring, Pt. 4 of 4

 

Carrizo Plain Panorama, View Toward Caliente Range

I wasn't expecting Carrizo Plain to look so good this early in the month. It's not one of those "superbloom" years where the Temblor Range is draped in wildflower hues of yellow, blue, purple, pink, and orange, but the drive through was still very satisfying. I even managed to spot a small herd of pronghorn.

Lacy Phacelia (Phacelia tanacetifolia)

Phacelia & Fiddleneck

Sea of Fiddleneck & Temblor Range

I was most surprised by all the purple owl's clover (Castilleja exserta) blooming out there. I drove in from the south and wasn't sure if I should try to photograph it there since I had no idea what lay ahead to the north. I was glad I waited.

Every now and then I'd spot a white variant.

Layers of Color

Roadside View Toward Caliente Range

When I spotted the pronghorn I couldn't even make out what they were. Just whitish specks in the distant heat-shimmer. Only when I looked through the zoom lens could I tell for sure.

They appeared to be visiting a water tank, and I found and drove a ways down the "road" that led to it, then stopped at a respectful distance to get a closer view of these speedy, beautiful animals. Unable to turn around, I drove back to Soda Lake Road in reverse using the car's handy rear camera.

* * *

Desert Spring, Pt. 3 of 4

 

Fossil Falls, Inyo County

I've been looking for a chance to check out Fossil Falls ever since a friend visited there a few years back. I had never even heard of it. 

The day's plan was to drive from Joshua Tree to California City to look for desert candles in bloom, then detour up to "the falls" before heading on to my next stop at Carrizo Plain. However, I got to California City just as the sun was going down and was unable to find any desert candles, a plant I have only seen in gorgeous pictures from the mountains bordering Carrizo Plain. Since my car can't really access those mountains, I hoped to see some elsewhere. 

When I couldn't find a motel or any real reason to stick around California City, I continued my drive up to Fossil Falls. The moon still hadn't come up, so it was pitch dark when I arrived, and I put on my headlamp to get some dinner out of the cooler in the back of the car. That's when I noticed two bright, silvery spots under a nearby picnic table (that I could only barely make out). As I stared at the spots I wondered if someone had left their child's toy behind. Then the spots disappeared, and I wondered if I had been seeing things -- and then the bright orbs reappeared! That's a critter hunkered down under the picnic table.

The critter eventually got tired of me shining a bright headlamp in its direction and got up to walk back into the brush, revealing itself to be a bobcat! The cat stopped and turned its head once more to check up on me, then disappeared. Another unphotographable highlight of the trip.

Although there is a nearby campground, I didn't want to try to find a site in the dark, so I just slept in the car at the trailhead parking area. Later in the morning, after I got back from the falls and was having a breakfast of overnight oats, a guy pulled up and parked his pick-up truck, got out with its engine still running and music playing, looked over the interpretive display signs for a few minutes, then got back in his truck and drove away. 

Despite the fact that I was laid out all night in the reclined passenger seat of my small car, I actually overslept a little bit. This was the landscape that greeted my eyes.

It's a very short walk to the falls, but I still couldn't get there in time to photograph the color that briefly lit the sparse morning clouds. This is another view back toward the Eastern Sierra.

Fossil Falls with First Light on the Mountains

The crazy geological formations here did not disappoint.

With water pooled in many of the depressions in the rocks, I wondered if there is ever a time when Fossil Falls actually has a waterfall. The glacier-fed Owens River that carved the volcanic canyon dried up 10,000 years ago.

River-polished Basalt

Spring Greenery

The sun is coming up over the Coso Range to the east. Note that red cinder cone in the distance....

There is a rock quarry operating at the base of that cinder cone.

Wild Barley

Views from the parking lot...

...with the descending Moon over the Eastern Sierra.

* * *