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| Black-crowned Night Heron, Golden Gate Park |
I was surprised to walk down to the beach this morning and see such nice waves with only one surfer in the water. The waves were pretty huge, but the offshore wind sculpted them into apparently ridable waves (easy for me to say since I'm not the one paddling out). Later in the day and farther north, I saw more surfers out and stopped to snap a couple photos.
The day's walk started with a small garden patch full of picturesque flushes of honey mushrooms, and ended with inky caps on my bike ride home. I didn't make it to the Mycological Society of San Francisco's Fungus Fair yesterday. It was held in South San Francisco, and I'm just spoiled by the days when it was held at the San Francisco Botanical Garden and I could just walk to it.
For whatever reason, the Chain of Lakes in Golden Gate Park seems to be attracting black-crowned night herons. I don't know if they come every year, but today I noticed several at North Lake and a couple of juveniles at South Lake (I didn't check Middle Lake).
The Say's phoebe was still hanging out in the Balboa Natural Area, and the yellow-rumped warbler was still at the Cliff House. A flock of black turnstones was feeding on the tidepool rock at the base of the cliff until being spooked by a big wave and noisily flying out to Seal Rocks together.
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| The honey mushrooms were bunched up against this old trunk in a narrow patch of garden between two driveways on 14th Avenue. |
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| This patch was a little further along in its fruiting. |
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| All the night herons at North Lake had congregated at the northern end, either in the tules or in the trees. Last week I noticed just one heron there, but today I noticed four or five. |
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| It seemed like the Balboa phoebe was starting to get a little bit used to my presence. It flew away when I stopped, but it didn't go far (until I pushed my luck). |
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| At first glance from the Cliff House, I thought the young lady was meditating at Sutro Baths while a fisherman was casting a line right next to her.... |
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| Black Turnstones at the Cliff House |
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| The Yellow-rumped Warbler Who Calls the Cliff House Home |
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| Late Morning at Ocean Beach |
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| Views from the Esplanade |
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| A very laid-back night heron, caught napping. |
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| Ruby-crowned Kinglet at South Lake |
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| After the kinglet flew away, a song sparrow leaped up in its place, apparently having just taken a drink of water from the lake below. |
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| Great Egret, South Lake |
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| The Sleeping Heron Awakens |
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| The common yellowthroat, one of my favorite birds, just had to look away from the camera before I could snap a photo.... It did not stick around to give me a second shot. |
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| Already turning inky, a group of Coprinus mushrooms had sprouted along Overlook Drive (above Hellman Hollow). |
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