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| Wild Skies on Wednesday |
Scenes of crazy skies filled with clouds spilling sheets of rain were nice, as were the few occasional drops that landed on me, but best of all was hearing the boom of thunder as I stepped into the woods to check my trail camera. Not the kind of weather I would normally expect on a mid-August day, which made it a good day to bike up to Mt. Tam. I was prepared to deal with rain, but each time the skies darkened nearby I hoped I would be able to avoid getting soaked. My luck held, and I never felt more than a few drops.
There was a dense river of fog snaking through the Golden Gate, with storm clouds moving across the sky above it. It was such an unusual scene that I stopped at the visitor look-out on the north side to take it in and snap a photo with the FZ80. The rest of the ride was par for the course, although I stopped along Panoramic Highway to photograph a pair of panther amanitas growing beneath a pine in someone's front yard. I hadn't expected to see mushrooms in August either, but that spot probably gets a lot of fog drip. (Just this morning I found a puffball in my garden at home.)
There were quite a few California quail in the area around Rock Spring, and I was glad to see they'd also appeared on my trail camera (video below). I accidentally spooked them and raised a cacophony of excited quail chirping. Once that died down I noticed a constant high-pitched chirping of countless small birds too high in the trees to see. But on the way to the trail camera I saw them flying down to the Rock Spring water tank to drink from a small leak. After checking on the trail cam I returned to the tank to await their return. It was hot and muggy, and little flies harassed me as I tried to remain as still as possible. Finally, the birds returned to drink despite my presence. They were goldfinches, and there must have been dozens of them.
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| The Golden Gate Bridge Emerges From The Fog |
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| Panther Amanita Mushrooms Along Panoramic Highway |
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| Quail on the Lookout, With Ripening Acorns |
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| Quail Flushed Into Cover |
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| Goldfinches Drinking At Rock Spring Tank |
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| Goldfinches & Honeybees |
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| A Young Coyote With Big Ears Visits The Trail Camera |
Mt. Tam Cam, August 2022
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