Red-Shouldered Hawk

 

On the Lookout

Golden Gate Park is a little bit of a mess for bicyclists these days, as construction around the Outside Lands concert creates detours and lots of truck and van traffic. One of the detours took me past beautiful Mallard Lake, which I might check out the next time I ride by. It's situated right next to the detour that takes cyclists off of MLK Drive and up to Middle Drive via a newly paved path (which used to be dirt). Just as I started up that path I noticed this red-shouldered hawk swoop onto a nearby tree branch.

It looked like he was about to pounce, but whatever he saw must not have stayed in the open very long because he didn't go for it.

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Smoke in the Air

 

This Morning's Mt. Tam Webcam View
(Note what appears to be smoke above the fog.)

It looks like wildfire smoke is drifting into the Bay Area, triggering air quality alerts. It's hard to tell anything's going on from my home's vantage point beneath that thick blanket of fog seen in the webcam shot above. We certainly don't smell smoke yet, and hopefully it won't get much worse. Even the brief smoke exposure I experienced up around Sequoia/King's Canyon (aka, SEKI) gave me a little chest congestion that I didn't really notice until the day after I got home. 

I've been monitoring the wildfire cams up around the Park Fire for a few days and include a few of the images I snipped below. 

Colby Mountain Cam on 7/26

Colby Mountain Cam on 7/28

Colby Mountain Cam on 8/6

Grizzly Peak Cam on 7/28

Platte Mountain Cam on 7/26

Stover Mountain Cam on 8/3

Stover Mountain Cam on 8/8

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Giant Sequoias

 

Yellow coneflowers at the feet of giants.
(As always, you can click the image to view it larger.)

I've been looking for a chance to re-visit the giant trees in Sequoia National park this summer, but fires and heat waves have kept me away. Since a small window between heat waves just opened up, and because there are no big wildfires in the general area, I went ahead and made the pilgrimage. 

Even though I've been there before, I felt no sense of recognition on the approach. What had been a forest back then has become a heavily charred landscape that will not be a forest again in my lifetime. But as soon as I got to one of the first groves of giant sequoias I did recognize those trees as old friends. Of course, they are the kind of friends who were special to me, but who don't even remember my name.

After all, they've been visited by so many other beings, all of whom live and die in the blink of a sequoia's eye, who could blame them?

Roadside Giants

I ignored the twinge of guilt I felt about climbing up here since it was obvious that many others have gone before me. Without something to give the trees a human scale, it's impossible to appreciate their size.

It was 47 degrees when I arrived early in the morning, and on my way home I drove through 100-degree heat in Fresno -- a difference of 53 degrees in a very short span of time and space.

A Gathering of Giants

Giants in the Grant Grove

Unfortunately, I had nothing good at hand to include for scale, so these giant sequoia cones look a lot like the much smaller cones of coast redwoods.

I was glad to find this meadow again, since I also photographed it back late July 2009.

Spikes of Hedge Nettle

Giant Sequoia Meadow

California Coneflower
(Rudbeckia californica)

Some of the burned areas had lots of bracken fern covering the forest floor.

Burned forest on the approach to the giant sequoia groves. I'd wanted to visit Crystal Cave, but it's going to remain closed all year in the wake of fires in 2021 and a tough winter in 2023. By the way, Lassen Volcanic National Park has been closed due to the Park Fire.

Although there aren't any big wildfires in the area, there was still quite a bit of smoke in the atmosphere.

The smoke was thick enough to be able to smell it.

Awesome landscape around King's Canyon.

* * *

Beach Day

 

Sea Lions Resting on Seal Rocks

Someone on a local birding list reported seeing harbor seals at Seal Rocks, so I brought along my binoculars today to see if I could find them. On the farthest of the Seal Rocks I did see the sea lions shown above, but no harbor seals. If the report was a case of mistaken identity, I'm still grateful to the reporter for coaxing me to bring the binoculars, as I'm not sure I'd have noticed the sea lions without them.

Since I was down there anyway, I fired off a few frames from the Cliff House overlook.

A Windy Sunday at the Beach

Brown Pelican Drifting Into The Wind

Western Gull Fly-by

The waves were kind of terrible, but this guy was making the most of what was available.

This Western gull was hanging in the wind, and only very slowly dropping down to finally land on top of the Cliff House.

Different Wave, Same Surfer

A young Heermann's gull flies by.

I thought it would be easy to look up the identity of this caterpillar, but I was stumped. I'll update with an ID if I find out what it is. It was munching a small plant growing out of the sidewalk between Grandview Park and the Rocky Outcrop at 14th & Ortega. [UPDATE: The iNaturalist folks put it in the Arctiini tribe of tiger moths.]

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Return of the Whimbrels

 

Whimbrel Tussle

Not the greatest pix, but I couldn't resist posting shots of a flock of whimbrels that was feeding and tussling on the beach near Sutro Baths late yesterday morning. 

I only recently started including the Cliff House on my daily bike ride, and when I started I figured there would be very little change from day to day. So far I've been pleasantly surprised by nuances in pelican numbers, sun vs. fog, surfable waves or just choppy surf, the coming and going of surf fishermen (both on the beach and in boats close to shore), sea stars invading the mussel beds on Seal Rocks, and now the return of the whimbrels. [UPDATE: The next day there were no birds of any kind on the same stretch of beach.]

In other local news, Heckle and Jeckle (as I call them) weren't resting on the Murphy Windmill as they often do (either singly or together), nor were they sitting together in a tree. This time they were resting like a pair of chimney gargoyles on the Millwright Cottage next to the windmill. They both appeared to be quite damp and were busy preening their feathers. Their tail feathers are finally turning red.

Farther east on MLK Drive I was sorry to see that the wasp nest had been obliterated, and not by an accidental sprinkler incident, but by the intentional use of pesticides (prallethrin and deltamethrin, according to a sign at the kill site). I'd looked forward to monitoring the nest over its natural lifetime.

One Whimbrel
(Note all the peck marks in the sand where the flock had been probing for mole crabs.)

Two Whimbrels

Many Whimbrels

The cormorants don't usually pass by the Cliff House this close to shore.

Likewise for the black oystercatchers. It was interesting to see so much energetic bird activity on such a foggy and chilly summer day.

Heckle and Jeckle on the Millwright Cottage

Heckle

Jeckle

Wasp Nest Remainders
(A few scraps of the papery outer nest also littered the ground, but nowhere near enough to account for the whole thing.)

For what it's worth, I was able to watch the wasps from directly beneath the nest several times without stirring them to anger. I'm sorry to see that the park chose to eradicate these keen killers of aphids and other garden pests.

* * *

Big Sur

 

Big Sur Sunset

I spent the day in Big Sur from sunrise to sunset, reacquainting myself with this majestic stretch of coast. Even though you still can't drive all the way through due to ongoing major road repairs, you can still get far enough to enjoy some of California's beautiful, rugged coast -- and without the kind of dense fog we're socked in with farther north.

The road ends just south of McWay Falls and Esalen. I was disappointed that I couldn't get a look at any of the construction progress from where the closure blocks the route. One of the nice things about the closure is that traffic was much lighter than usual. I didn't really start seeing many other vehicles on the road until around 10:30 in the morning.

Even though it was a photo trip, I was unable to photograph one of the highlights of the day, which was seeing two different California condors. Both flew out of sight before I could find a place to pull off the road and get my camera out. 

I had a possible condor sighting while I was just hanging out at a small overlook where I was scanning the kelp beds for resting sea otters. I was excited when I thought I saw an otter surrounded by kelp, only to notice on closer examination that there was a vulture feeding on it! The carcass was more like the size of a harbor seal, and I was impressed that the vulture must have nailed the landing (assuming vultures can't land on water). Unfortunately, even with 10X binoculars I couldn't be sure the condor wasn't actually a turkey vulture.

Red Ice Plant and Setting Moon

It was built in the same style as the more well-known Bixby Creek Bridge, but this is actually the Granite Canyon Bridge.

Toothy Sea Rocks

I liked the color and texture of the coastal plants on this stretch of the road.

This is someone's private little cove (the house is outside the right side of the frame). Although there are several public parks in Big Sur (all of which charge an entry fee), some of the most inviting spots on the coast are on private property.

The rising sun was just cresting the mountains to the east in this shot of the Bixby Creek Bridge. Only one other person showed up while I was there, and he just took a quick phone snap and asked if I knew how far down the road closure was (I did, because I'd marked it on my map before going). Later on in the day, this same small pull-out was jammed with cars.

This is another view from farther south that also includes the Bixby Bridge. That layer of foggy haze never did completely burn off.

Coastal view with a yellow patch of lizard tail flowers.

I liked that the sun was shining on just that one sea stack.

The Historic Point Sur Naval Facility (with just the top of the light showing on the far right side of the frame).

Big Sur River

This was one of my favorite overlooks because I had it all to myself. I would return later to look for condors and enjoy the wildlife (quite a few sea lions, a lone harbor seal, a great blue heron, and the afore-mentioned vulture) down below. The only wildlife I didn't enjoy was a colony of tiny fire ants that I didn't notice until one of my toes felt like it was burning. I was wearing flip-flops and thought at first that I was getting sunburnt. Then I spotted the ant hill....

Coast Highway in Big Sur

Classic Big Sur Landscape

Small Falls with Five-Finger Ferns, Partington Creek

Coastal Color

The road winds just behind this crowd of redwoods rising from Partington Cove.

Sunny View up Partington Creek Canyon

If you look closely, you can make out the shape of a lone sea lion barking from its rocky perch.

A Gaggle of Sea Lions

That little spot of brightness on the kelp is a great blue heron.

I was a little surprised as I watched a lot of gulls fly right past the carcass that the vulture was feeding on -- until I realized they could get more bite-sized treats flung about by a couple of sea lions taking apart their prey (short video clip below).

Fully flowering Yucca whipplei on a steep hillside.

Big Sur Hangout

I'd thought all the barking was coming from the sea lions resting on the rock in the photo above until I finally noticed these nicely camouflaged guys on the beach.

So many cars were heading south toward the road closure as the sun was going down that I took pleasure in this unexpected opportunity to photograph McWay Falls. I figured the main viewing area would be packed with photographers.

Big Sur Ridges, Late in the Day

I ended up being pleasantly surprised to pull out at the classic McWay Falls viewpoint and have it all to myself. As a crazed photographer, I'd assumed everyone would want to be here. Nope!

I wasn't sure where I wanted to be for sunset (I believe it's the wrong time of year to try for the arch at Pfeiffer Beach), but I lucked into a pretty good pull-out. The main viewing area was angled south toward the rugged ridges, but the "unofficial" viewing area made for a great sunset spot. Soon after I set up my tripod and 300mm lens I found myself with lots of company, including a group that launched a drone.

The atmospheric hue deepened as the sun approached the sea.

Last Light in Big Sur

Sea Lions and Gulls

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