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| Yellow Warbler Dining on Blackberries, North Lake |
It's the second day of fall, and it finally feels like summer here in western San Francisco. What little fog there was last night quickly burned off this morning. While out on my bike I snapped a few photos around North Lake and Metson Lake in Golden Gate Park.
The kingfisher and great blue heron were absent from Metson, but I was lured toward some cattails there by the distinctive chitting of a common yellowthroat. The yellowthroat eventually showed itself, but too briefly and too deeply in the cattails to get a shot.
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| I'm starting to give up trying to identify all these yellow birds. |
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| This one was grooming itself on a sunny branch after having a bath. |
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| Still looking a little damp, but ready to go. |
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| I thought this bird (Merlin ID = hooded oriole) was also going to go after some blackberries... |
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| ...but it picked off a little insect instead. |
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| Not too far away from the insectivorous bird (still at North Lake), this orb-weaver was busily doing her thing right out in the open. |
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| I never got a good look at this dragonfly's body (now at Metson Lake), but I'd guess it's a red saddlebags (Tramea onusta). |
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This is probably my favorite shot of the day. The one skipper was feeding on nectar while the other one kept flying around it, occasionally landing next to it, and sometimes knocking right into it.
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| A blue-eyed darner landed just long enough to pose for a picture. |
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| Today was the first time I've noticed a meadowhawk at Metson Lake. |
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| In typical meadowhawk fashion, it wasn't the least bit perturbed by having a camera lens pointed at it. |
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| The backlight was so strong I popped the flash, dialing in one stop of underexposure, which is a pretty cool feature for a point-and-shoot to be able to do. |
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