Coyote in the Garden

 

Black-crowned Night Heron (Composite), SF Botanical Garden

Yesterday's report of a red-breasted grosbeak in the botanical garden gave me the excuse I needed to go down there this morning. Being the first Sunday of the month, there were at least three birding groups in attendance, and I hope someone got to see the grosbeak. I did not.

I paused on my way to the area where the bird had been seen, curious about many, many crows cawing in apparent alarm. As soon as I turned toward the commotion of corvids I saw a good-looking coyote just standing in the sun. The crows continued to hound the coyote for quite a while. Later on, I was over near the edge of the garden near Lincoln Avenue, looking for the grosbeak, when all the crows finally quit and flew away to the south, passing over my head in two large waves.

I wondered why crows would pester a coyote, being an extremely unlikely nest-robber. But later in the morning as I was heading out to bike home, I was drawn into the relative darkness of the Mesoamerican Cloud Forest by a singing Pacific wren. Almost immediately I encountered a "crime scene" of crow feathers scattered on the dark forest floor. Apparently coyotes will happily catch and eat a crow when the opportunity presents itself.

I was torn between trying to follow the coyote and trying to find the grosbeak. The coyote was in no mood to be followed, though, making my decision easier.

Red-shouldered Hawk

This was a little later and might be the same one, though on a different tree. There were two adults and what sounded like a begging fledgling which I was unable to lay eyes on.

I heard the Wilson's warbler singing as I neared the little pond in the Children's Garden area.

He obliged me by belting out his tune a couple more times before moving on.

The red-legged frogs are out again.

Pipevine Swallowtail

I finally found a pipevine swallowtail chrysalis, but it had already hatched.

I'm not sure what little blue butterfly this is. It never opened its wings to give me a better look.

The west coast lady never opened its wings either, but it's a little easier to identify.

I'd hoped to find the grosbeak joining other birds going after nectar in the monkey's hand tree, but I settled for a Steller's jay.

Note the splash of nectar droplets as the jay pulls its head out of the blossom.

I was surprised to see a pair of black-crowned night herons interested in the stagnant pool next to the new plant nursery. They soon realized their mistake and took wing.

I had to dial down my camera's shutter speed to 1/50th sec. (at ISO 12,800) and was pleasantly surprised to get any decent images of the Pacific wren with my heavy Z8 and no tripod.

I set a trail camera in the back yard to find out who's been digging around in one of my planters. I even stuck some aluminum tent stakes in the dirt, pointy-side up, to deter the miscreants. 

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Bird Life

 

Great Blue Heron, Mallard Lake

When the big heron wanted to fly across the pond to a new hunting spot, it took little notice of the young black-crowned night heron that stood in its path. The smaller heron saw what was coming, and for a moment the two birds seemed to collide in a confusion of ruffled feathers as the smaller heron figured out how to get out of the way before returning to its perch among the turtles sunning themselves on the edge of the little island at Mallard Lake.

I'd gone down there after spending some time at the SF Botanical Garden to check up on the nesting downy woodpeckers. All was quiet beneath the nest tree, though. The baby birds had fledged. Earlier in the week I'd watched a Nuttall's woodpecker being followed by its hungry fledgling at Elk Glen Lake. (Minutes earlier I'd spooked a coyote who kept an eye on me as it trotted through tall dry grass toward the cover of nearby brush; a red-shouldered hawk swooped down from a eucalyptus branch to hurry the coyote on its way.)

It's been an interesting week without bringing the compact camera along on my walks and rides. There's a little bit of withdrawal pang there, but I look forward to using my full-frame cameras more exclusively. I don't know if the difference comes across in these blog posts, but it's the richness of detail recorded by the larger sensors that keeps me in love with nature photography.

Black Phoebe, SF Botanical Garden

A little yellow Wilson's warbler darted into the tree in front of me and quickly sprang through the branches before continuing its southward trajectory.

Singing House Finch
(I've been hearing lots of singing purple finches too, lately.)

Hummer in the Nasturtium Patch

Exiting the Patch

Check out the scrub jay's hooked beak.

West Coast Lady Butterfly

Pygmy nuthatches were busy feeding their fledglings in the back of the Children's Garden.

Hummer in the monkey's hand tree (Chiranthodendron sp.).

Allen's Hummingbird at Rest

Buckeye on the Buckwheat

Pinpoint Flying for Manzanita Nectar

A young black-crowned night heron moves to a more comfortable perch.

An adult night heron flies to a new perch.

Full Landing Gear

Graceful Landing

Licking its Chops

Great blue heron moves to a new hunting spot.

A mallard mama takes her kids out for a paddle in the sun.

Another young night heron.

The adult was doing all the hunting, here catching one of several minnows it would nab over the next few minutes.

A blue-eyed darner hovers briefly along the pond's edge.

Preparing to Strike
(Note the young night heron in the background.)

Like the night heron, the blue heron was catching tiny minnows.

A guy I talked with at the botanical garden said a wood duck was still around at Blue Heron Lake, so I dropped by on my way home to look for it. It appears to be a sub-adult, not yet fully feathered out yet in its future wood-duck glory. Certainly not as handsome as last year's model.

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