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| Say's Phoebe on Fence at Balboa Natural Area |
I saw the phoebe on the fence as I was biking past the Balboa Natural Area, just south of Sutro Heights, on my way to the Cliff House. I haven't seen this bird there before, so maybe it's a newly arrived winter migrant. It was very shy and kept flying away from me before I could get as close as I'd have liked. Following it into the natural area didn't make the bird any less shy, so I left and continued up to the Cliff House. The Seal Rocks were just about bare of birds again, but there were a few more surf scoters bobbing offshore than the two pair I saw the last time.
I saw the phoebe on the fence again on the way back past the natural area, and the bird dutifully flew away as soon as I pulled my bike up to the Bay Wheels bike-share rack. Instead of giving pursuit I just stayed put and waited, soaking up the sun on a beautiful day, to see if it would come back. Eventually it did, giving me the photo above.
Heading home through Golden Gate Park, I glanced over at South Lake as I rode up MLK Drive and was surprised to see a pair of raccoons foraging among the aquatic plants surrounding the base of the small island that supports a couple of coast redwoods. They'd moved out of sight by the time I could turn around, but from the other side of the lake I watched one of them walk/swim across the water away from the island before eventually returning to it and climbing into the trees with the other two. I almost missed spotting a very well-camouflaged and back-lit black-crowned night heron that was perched in a eucalyptus tree that had fallen into the lake.
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| Say's Phoebe Inside the Balboa Natural Area |
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| Black-crowned Night Heron at South Lake |
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| Raccoon Heading Back to the Island |
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| Pair of Bandits High in a Tree |
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| The raccoons were climbing around quite a bit, but I finally left when it looked like they were settling down for an afternoon nap. |
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