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| Mountain Pool |
There's a nondescript pool of water along the Mill Valley-Sausalito Pathway. It's not attractive in any way, not even to the birds, but I always figured it would catch a reflection of Mt. Tam. It's one of those scenes you know is always going to be there, so you tell yourself, "Maybe next time." Well, once again yesterday I was pedaling at cruising speed, closing in on my turn-off to Coyote Creek, and thinking "maybe next time," when I hit the brakes and pulled off the path to get it done. Procrastinating until the return trip doesn't work because the wind always comes up and ruffles the mirrored surface.
Having shot one reflection of the mountain, I was in the mood to collect another when I saw three black-necked stilts resting on the far edge of Coyote Creek, which was pretty close to its 4.9-foot high tide mark for the day.
It was another beautiful day for a ride on the mountain, sunny and warm, almost spring-like. Even a patch of western azalea along Panoramic Highway thought so. It's interesting to see these flowers blooming in October since they usually bloom around May or June on Mt. Tam. Farther up the mountain, and more seasonally correct, the scarlet blossoms of California fuchsia are still going strong, and in the woods I found a large dyer's polypore.
The camera trap pool looked pitifully small again, and to make it even worse its surface was covered with a powdery substance called "powder down" that indicated band-tailed pigeons had been bathing in the pool. A quick review of the first few images captured on the camera revealed pigeons and also numerous virtually empty frames that likely had been tripped by dragonflies whizzing by. It was all just a little too disappointing, so I decided to move the cam to a new location. I also brought the new GardePro cam and set it out as well.
I was scouting new locations when I surprised a gray squirrel that, instead of immediately bounding away, actually moved a little closer to see what manner of intruder was infringing on his turf. I almost never get a chance to photograph squirrels on Mt. Tam because they tend to keep their distance from humans. But maybe they are slightly more territorial now that it's acorn-collecting season.
A couple of tiny downy feathers lying on top of the forest duff caught my attention, and I'm going to guess they came from a band-tailed pigeon. Some red-breasted nuthatches were calling to each other as they searched for insects in the trees. They were too quick to catch with the FZ80, so I settled for a dark-eyed junco. The junco initially fluttered up from the ground to the far side of the tree trunk, but I had a feeling he would eventually make his way up to the mossy look-out and reveal himself.
There were a few trucks parked at Rock Spring, getting ready for the Sound Summit on Saturday. The music festival was called the Mt. Tam Jam when it started back in June 2013 (but had to be changed after some legal scrimmaging). I had just deleted all my blog posts going back to 2007 in order to start a one-year project exploring the mountain, thinking I would quit the blog after that year. We went to the Tam Jam in that first month of the "new" blog. The festival was the first on Mt. Tam since 1967, when bands like The Doors and the Steve Miller Band played. Another band at that festival was called Moby Grape, which I mention in part because I love the name, but also because its lead guitar player has a daughter who's having a baby with one of my nephews next month. Yay!
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| Black-Necked Stilts on Coyote Creek |
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| October Azaleas On Panoramic Highway |
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| Dyer's Polypore |
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| Video Screen-Captures of Band-Tailed Pigeons |
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| Feisty Gray Squirrel |
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| Downy Feathers |
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| Junco on the Look-out |
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| The lower branches of dead these trees near Rock Spring were preened for wildfire protection not too long ago, but I'm guessing the yellow ribbons tied around the old fir trees have marked them for removal. |
Camera Trap Clips
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