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| Juvenile Black-Crowned Night Heron, Metson Lake |
After covering a fair amount of ground on my bike this morning, I was surprised to see that it was only 9:30 when I got home. My wife's Lyft driver had picked her up at 4 a.m. to catch an early flight, so I was up and ready to head out the door at 7 o'clock. After dropping down our steep hill through cold, dense fog (glad to have put on a long-john top beneath my windbreaker), I crossed Golden Gate Park and the Richmond District to try to find the coyotes that recently led to the closing of a small dog park near Mountain Lake in the Presidio.
No luck on the coyotes, but it was interesting to explore the area around the incredibly verdant Presidio Golf Course. After checking out Mountain Lake I continued west until I crossed Highway 1, right where cars enter the MacArthur Tunnel. Above the tunnel was a whole other world of manicured greens and fairways with tall, fog-shrouded pines -- a very peaceful contrast to the speeding traffic below.
I continued riding through the Presidio to the coast at Lincoln Boulevard, then down past Baker Beach and Lobos Dunes, through Sea Cliff and the newly renovated China Beach, then past the Legion of Honor Museum to Land's End, where I hoped to scan the ocean for migrating gray whales (many have recently been spotted off the coast at Pacifica). Unfortunately, visibility in the Golden Gate was still poor due to the fog, and both fog and choppy seas made sightings all but impossible from above Sutro Baths.
Riding home I checked the Metson Lake treefall for herons, as usual. There's a juvenile black-crowned night heron that I've seen several times recently, but it's usually too well-concealed among the cacophony of branches to be able to photograph it. This time it was right out in the open.
I haven't seen a great blue heron anywhere in the park in quite a while. I guess they all move on after nesting season, adults and juveniles alike.
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