Kingfisher

 

Belted Kingfisher, South Lake

I veered off my usual walking route this morning to check out the Brocken spectre happening at Grandview Park. Then down along the Sunset Greenbelt, a first-of-season Devil's Coach Horse Beetle crossed my path. Later at Mallard Lake I saw my first-of-season Cedar Waxwing. A little farther along at Elk Glen Lake, I once again encountered the mangey-tailed Coyote that I saw on Friday in the Oak Woodlands near McLaren Lodge. 

Fast-forward to my bike ride when a hoot from the woods drew my attention to a snoozing Great Horned Owl west of Chain of Lakes. Finally, a chattering Kingfisher caught my attention as I passed South Lake on my way home.

In other words, another pretty good day of nature observation in San Francisco.

Brocken Spectre at Grandview Park

Raven & Brocken Spectre

Devil's Coach Horse Beetle

When I tried to move into a better position, the cedar waxwing (which appeared to be flying solo instead being with its flock) flew away.

While I was waiting to see if any cedar waxwings would return, I watched a tiny Anna's hummingbird nectaring nearby.

The coyote was on a mission, trotting right along, heading west.

I didn't notice the mangey tail until I saw the photo, and I doubt the coyote recognized me either.

Rounding Elk Glen Lake, a Great Blue Heron stood beside the trail and didn't fly away as I approached, so I couldn't resist snapping a photo.

When I got home I decided to take my full-frame camera with me on the bike ride. I'd seen robins feasting on Cotoneaster berries yesterday and hoped to find them joined today by cedar waxwings.

No waxies showed up, although I did hear a flock high in a eucalyptus tree on the west end of Middle Lake.

Why the robin made a difficult reach for a berry despite having easy ones right in front of its beak, I have no idea.

I'd just packed up after photographing the robins when a hoot from the woods got me to unpack it all over again.

Maybe its hoot was just its way of signing off for the day.

Kingfishers don't like being watched.

I was able to luck out with a few frames as it skedaddled to a new location.

Eventually, though, it returned.

Almost immediately it dove and caught a fish.

Either it was just toying with its food, or it took a bit of doing to get it in position to finally send the fish down the hatch.

Dahlia Dell

Bicycle Dell
(This was the scene at the west end of the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival on Sunday afternoon. The east end had probably ten-times more bike parking.)

Sunday Morning's Sunrise

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Feathers in the Sun

 

Northern Yellow Warbler, SF Botanical Garden

I figured the SFBG would be a good place to poke around with the camera today since I'd be able to find shade and water fountains. The heat definitely made a difference to me, and I had the sweat-soaked t-shirt to prove it, but the critters showed little evidence of heat stress. Little, but not none. Although I saw no birds bathing, I did see a Western Tanager panting in the monkey's hand tree. Nearby, a Townsend's warbler was sipping nectar from the few monkey's hand flowers remaining in bloom.

The highlights were photographing both a Hermit Thrush and a Swainson's Thrush in the same general area, a perched Twelve-spotted Skimmer, and a Pipevine Swallowtail butterfly. 

Anna's Hummingbird in the Garden of Fragrance

Steller's Jay

I was waiting for a hummer to nectar on the mallows but tried my luck with a Northern Yellow Warbler in the meantime. No hummer showed up before I finally had to leave and find some shade.

Twelve-Spotted Skimmer

There was just the one yellow warbler, but it got around to a few different plants. It always ended up back at the mallow, though.

The Pipevine Swallowtail seemed to be looking for some pipevine to land on (and maybe deposit eggs?), but there's little left beyond leafless stems at this point.

Western Tanager

Townsend's Warbler after dunking its head into the monkey's hand flower to pull up a beak full of nectar.

Lesser Goldfinch

I expected the guy to take off as I moved closer and closer, but the seeds must have been too good to give up for anything short of a hawk.

The Steller's Jay was eating some kind of nut, possibly an acorn (it's perched on an oak branch).

The tanager spread out its tail feathers, perhaps to help cool itself down.

It was moving around with its beak open, panting in the way that birds do.

The Hermit Thrush was very skittish, so a distant shot is all I could get before it flew away.

In and around the monkey's hand tree, a Swainson's Thrush also played hard to get.

This view shows a tiny bit more of its side.

It was just about time to head home when I ran into another photographer who pointed out the orb-weaving spider that had recently snagged a bee.

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Coyote in the Woods

 

Coyote, Oak Woodland, Golden Gate Park

Friday's morning walk turned up the second recent coyote sighting I've had in the Oak Woodlands. In both, the coyote was just ambling down the trail before spotting me and taking a detour into the trackless off-trail wilderness, where squirrels, jays, and crows scolded the furry hunter as it passed below.

I managed to tag along for a bit this time. The first dog-walker it encountered was on the trail in the Oak Woodland. That one turned around and walked back the way it came. The second dog was off-leash and headed straight for the coyote before being called back by its owner (an impressively obedient dog!).

The thing about trailing a coyote is that it will go around a bend or over a rise and be out of sight. If you rush to catch up, you might find it stopped just around the bend, and now (unless it's zeroed in on an active gopher hole) you'll spook it into a run. But if you slowly and quietly approach, the coyote could be long gone (or nearby, but extremely well concealed). I tend to go for the slow and quiet approach, but I can't say it's working out too well. 

Later in my walk, a Townsend's warbler landed on a tree branch very nearby and just a little above my head. Since I only had the compact camera I decided to leave it in the backpack and just observe. That turned out to be one of the sweetest observations I've ever had of one of my favorite passerines. It jumped from the tree into a very sparsely leaved bush, giving me fantastic views as it hunted practically within arm's reach. Once it knocked a grub to the ground, dropped down and ate it, then hopped back up and resumed its work.

Later, after biking past lots of folks lined up to get into the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival, I was riding out to Sloat Boulevard through Sunset Dunes Park (formerly the Upper Great Highway) when a red-tailed hawk glided across my path not too far over my head, then turned around in mid-air and returned to its perch on a nearby tree, passing so close that I could imagine reaching out to touch its feathers. The hawk had probably seen a critter of interest that disappeared before it could pounce.

Note the raggedy tail, partially hairless. Probably a touch of the mange.

Orb Weaver at the Lily Pond

I've been wondering about these berries for a while. They are also at the Lily Pond. A Plant ID app brought me to Berberis sp. The app gave me a 54% chance that it was Berberis japonica, but I wasn't buying it.

I squeezed one of the little fruits and was surprised by the bloody look of the juice that oozed out. I called them Halloween berries. I'm surprised birds don't go after them. An alkaloid named for this genus (berberine) is used for blood sugar control, cholesterol and heart health, weight management, and gut health. Berberine can also be toxic depending on the dose, but the fruit has only trace amounts of it. I'll try a nibble next time I pass by.

On my way out across Sunset Dunes Park I spotted a group of Elegant Terns arrayed in a circle around a much larger gull. Numerous other gulls were spread out in the same general area, between Noriega and Ortega.

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