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| A nicely shaped fly agaric in an urban garden. |
I was behind the Cliff House with my bike, standing in the cold wind and admiring the large waves, the daring surf scoters swimming in the churning ocean, the chattering black oystercatchers flying around Seal Rocks, and the hawking Cliff Warbler (still here!), when a ray of sunshine broke through the fog and brushed me with its warmth. Wow, did that feel good -- all the more so because it almost instantly disappeared.
There hadn't been a bit of sunshine on my earlier walk to the beach, but there was a nice compensation in a flush of Amanita muscaria in the same garden I've found it in before. I anticipated finding the bright red mushrooms with the white spots as I approached the known spot in someone's narrow garden strip. I wonder how they happened to get their soil inoculated with the spores. Did they get a lucky batch of this "winter wildflower" from a garden supply store? Or did they come in by some more natural means? Next time I pass by, I'll collect a specimen to try to inoculate my own garden soil....
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| The Star of December's Garden |
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| House Pet |
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| I saw a couple of Townsend's warblers on my walk but didn't have my camera ready to take any pictures. Instead I just enjoyed watching them for as long as I could, appreciating their beauty and their ability to survive the storms. Nearing home, I decided to pull out my camera when I saw the guy above near the Rocky Outcrop on 14th Avenue. Unfortunately I got only one (not very sharp) frame off before it flew away. |
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| Rocky Outcrop |
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| Even closer to home I watched this ruby-crowned kinglet stalking its prey in an ice-plant-jungle median strip. |
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| You can just make out its ruby crown feathers.... |
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| Numerous trees lay on their sides in Golden Gate Park after the recent windy storm (which knocked our power out for 12 hours), especially around the Bison Paddock. The small woodland between the paddock and Spreckels Lake had a whole wave of trees knocked down. This large eucalyptus was down near the intersection of JFK and Chain of Lakes drives. |
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| I heard Cliff Warbler's sharp cheep several times before I actually saw him. |
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| Yellow-rumped warbler hiding its yellow rump. |
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| You can't see any surf scoters in this picture of Sutro Rock getting whacked by waves, but those amazing little sea-ducks were right at home in that turbulent water. |
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