Hooded Warbler

 

Hooded Warbler, Laguna Honda Open Space

I'd just finished working on my blog, then comparing a couple of ebikes I'm interested in, and was just about to turn off the computer when I decided to check my Yahoo email to see if any of the folks from Bug Guide had ID'd any of my recently photographed insects. I also noticed an email from the birding group that reported a hooded warbler in the woods near Laguna Honda Hospital.

I looked up the bird online and saw that it was both cool-looking and way out of its usual range. I knew where the trailhead was, having noticed it on the first of March while on my way to Glen Canyon, so I figured this was a good reason to finally check out the trail. I had very low hopes of actually spotting the bird.

As soon as I got there and whipped out my Merlin app to pick out the area's birdsong, I was shocked to see among several of the usual suspects in the ID read-out, the hooded warbler! I soon found some other birders there who confirmed it was singing and had been seen just recently. I soon had a chance to photograph it from quite a distance, but I was stoked anyway.

Oops, nope. Lesser goldfinch.

Just because she was there, I couldn't resist an Allen's hummingbird.

This is what it looks like in there.

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Tiger Swallowtail

 

Tiger Swallowtail & Wild Radish

I've been passing this joyful wild radish patch between the Bison Paddock and North Lake for weeks without seeing any butterfly action, so I was glad to hit the brakes this morning when I spotted a tiger swallowtail feeding on them (and picking up a nice dusting of pollen). If you ever wondered how a butterfly sucks nectar all the way up that long, unfurled proboscis, they do it partly by capillary action and also with a muscular pump inside their head.

Although the butterflies are happy to imbibe wild radish nectar, they do not lay their eggs on these plants, using various tree species instead. I can empathize, as I personally consider the peppery taste of wild radish to be an acquired taste (that I have not acquired). The plants defend themselves against caterpillar herbivory by producing bristly trichomes and toxic mustard oil, and doing so by epigenetic means just as they are being attacked. As a side effect, plants that have been attacked by caterpillars are more likely to produce pink or purple flowers.

Tiger Swallowtail With Unfurled Proboscis

All those blue wrack lines of by-the-wind sailors are gone now, but you can still see a few of the little cnidarians floating around. I watched this group of whimbrels for any sign that they were eating the sailors. They ignored them completely, even when they floated right past the birds.

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TNT to PNP

 

California Towhee in Salvia Patch

This was one of those days where I started out like TNT (cue the AC/DC song) but ended up PNP seven hours later. Pretty Near Pooped. Although I ran into a group of birders looking for a local rarity at Elk Glen Lake, I didn't get to see it myself and was content to watch and photograph a lot of the more usual suspects.

I forgot to post these awesome dreds a couple days ago.

Pork Truck on Noriega Street

A large flock of cedar waxwings was winging it around the Sunset Parkway this morning. A good bunch flew out of this tree as I approached. Just below it was a small, berry-clad cotoneaster bush. I waited in vain for them to come back. This guy was one of a handful of newcomers that only stopped by for a moment.

Hardly any yellow on this young Lesser Goldfinch, but he's singing his heart out just the same (video below).

Preening Allen's Hummingbird Near Mallard Lake

While I was watching the hummingbird, a red-shouldered hawk flew by with a gopher in its talons, looking for a good perch to consume it on. Dissatisfied with this one and the next one, it finally absconded into the tall branches of a eucalyptus.

Still watching the hummingbird to see if it would start feeding on some nearby purple flowers, one of the two singing Wilson's Warblers around the lake popped onto this branch and let loose (video below).

This is the hummingbird I was watching, and when it finally did return to feeding on the purple flowers, it chose a group of them beyond my field of view.

I don't often see female Allen's hummingbirds.

At Elk Glen Lake I contented myself with the likes of red-winged blackbirds while several birders were more single-mindedly seeking a Yellow-throated Warbler that is way out of its usual range.

Here's another Anna's hummingbird working a patch of white ramping fumitory.

I photographed a few mourning doves at Elk Glen Lake, but I liked this one best because of the lichen-crusted branch.

The resident purple finch was devouring seeds at the Salvia patch.

No "nectar robbery" here....

I saw this red-tail as I was biking past Lindley Meadow (near Spreckels Lake in Golden Gate Park) and wondered what it was doing until I noticed the wet feathers (video below).

Pygmy Nuthatch in Bison Paddock

The wasp nest was attacked yet again, leaving little for the remaining hornets to work with.

There was a nice patch of yellow-staining agarics beneath some redwoods at North Lake.

Mama and Papa Bookending the Goslings

I stopped carrying my camera microphone because I almost never actually use it. Today I shot three videos (a lesser goldfinch and Wilson's warbler singing, and a bathing red-tail) and wished I'd had it. 

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Another Velella Stranding

 

Beautiful Morning at Ocean Beach

It was a joy and a relief to wake up to sun and clouds this morning instead of another day of heavy fog. I couldn't believe it was already 64 degrees when I headed out the door at 8:30.

As I visually scouted the shoreline at Ocean Beach I didn't see any shorebirds to capture my interest, nor did I see any sign of another stranding of by-the-wind sailors. Only when I later biked down to the Cliff House was I sort of shocked to see the long, sinuous wrack lines of countless dead animals. 

Apparently May and June are peak times for Velella strandings, especially when El Niño conditions are brewing. When they're in their element, floating in the open oceans of tropical and subtropical waters, Velella eat plankton and are in turn eaten by sea snails and sea slugs (and occasionally by gulls).

Looks like the wasp nest was attacked again. Despite the repeated attacks, the wasps diligently keep on truckin'.

Bison Enjoying the Sun

I was surprised to see a raven feeding on a dead gopher on the west side of North Lake. I wondered how the raven managed to take possession of it. Did a hawk drop it while being mobbed by crows and/or ravens? Did it simply die in the open? Or could a raven could actually catch and kill a gopher on its own?

Wrack Lines of By-the-Wind Sailors

Another odd bit of feeding behavior that I saw recently was in the neighbor's oak tree -- a squirrel stripping and eating tree bark.

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Insect Life

 

Stiletto Fly on Blackberry Leaf, San Francisco Presidio

I've been thinking about photographing the diversity of grasses I find around the city, but I quickly realized when I tried to get started this morning that it was virtually impossible to get good shots in the field. When I last photographed grasses (from Mt. Tam), I collected them and set them up at home where I could have better controls. Luckily, I've also been thinking about photographing insects, so that's what I ended up doing today.

It didn't seem like I was seeing many insects -- and then a light rain started, sending me under some trees for cover -- but I came home with a decent assortment, all shot around the Andrew Goldsworthy Spire and across the street between Inspiration Point and El Polin Spring. Much of the latter area is fenced off, so I was only hunting along the edges of the trail (which is bike-legal).

It's been a long time since I photographed insects, and I ended up using an aperture of f/11 which serves well for tidepools. Now I see that I really should have used an even smaller aperture to increase depth of field for these tiny subjects. Next time.

I uploaded these to iNaturalist and got some preliminary IDs, but too preliminary to post here.

Brown Lacewing

Fungus-eating Fly (Suillia variegata)

Variable Duskyface Fly (Melanostoma mellinum)

Western Aphid Eater (Eupeodes fumipennis)

Shield-backed Katydid

Gray Buckeye (Junonia grisea)

Variable Checkerspot (Euphydryas chalcedona)

Western Fence Lizard (Sceloporus occidentalis)

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