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| Foraging Black-necked Stilt, Coyote Creek, Mill Valley |
After checking up on my trail cams I was eager to poke around the woods a little bit. Thursday's light rain had softened the crunchiness of the forest floor, so it was possible to skulk without frightening every animal within half a mile. I saw my first newt of the season, and was surprised how fondly affected I felt from encountering deer and wild turkeys -- species not terribly common in San Francisco.
Some of the creeks below Rock Spring were flowing, but the headwaters of Cataract Creek were still just pools, and the creekbed where my cams are was just barely trickling. Nevertheless, the slight change in the soil's water content seems to have been the signal for a winged termite hatch.
As the termites rose rose up from the ground, sort of spinning like a falling maple seed in reverse, juncos, ruby-crowned kinglets, and even spotted towhees were darting out like flycatchers to nab the little morsels. The termites seemed to rise up whenever the sun warmed the landscape, which was occasionally thrown into shade by passing clouds.
I eventually left when I began to feel tiny drops of rain on my exposed skin. I did not want to bike down the mountain in the rain, so I double-timed it back to my bike.
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| Coyote Creek & Marsh with Mt. Tam's East Peak |
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| Greater Yellowlegs on Coyote Creek |
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| Acorn Woodpecker Loading up the Larder |
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| Oak and Lone Cloud at Rock Spring |
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| Freshly Greened Mossy Boulders at Rock Spring |
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| Fresh Moss |
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| Wee Banana |
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| Chain Fern |
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| Fall Color in the Poison Oak |
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| The little termite foolishly shed its wings after I caught it in my hand. Its journey was not yet over.... |
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| If you look closely, you can see termite wings in the junco's beak. |
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| Junco About to Pounce |
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| I think the birds tried to eat the termite but spit out the wings.... |
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| Three or four spotted towhees were patrolling the area around the meadow where the termites were hatching. I couldn't tell if they were also going after the insects. |
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| They used to be called rufous-sided towhees. |
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| Ruby-crowned Kinglet & Lichen |
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| Winged Termites Before Liftoff |
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| Cloud Build-up Over Mt. Tamalpais |
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| Hunters on Richardson Bay Marsh |
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| Snowy in Flight |
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| Looking back from whence I came. |
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