On The Rocks

 

Surfbirds and Black Turnstones Foraging Together at Ocean Beach

I've been thinking about changing the name of the blog for a while since I've been doing almost exclusively San Francisco nature photography these days. The blog was originally called John Wall's Natural California, back in 2007. Then in 2013 it became the Mt. Tam Journal (or maybe A Circumannuation of Mt. Tamalpais) which was to be a one-year photography project on Mt. Tam. I deleted all the posts back to the beginning at that time, and although I don't fully regret doing that, I won't be deleting anything with this change of name and focus.

I'll continue to put most of my energy into this San Francisco nature notebook, but I'll also continue to wander farther afield on occasion. When I came out with my self-published book Revealing the Landscape: Mt. Tamalpais, I had it in mind to do other "Revealing the Landscape" titles on different places, figuring Pt. Reyes would be my next project. There's nothing like delving deeply into a particular place. From there I would expand to more far-flung parts of California. 

That could still happen, but what I've always wished for would be to find other photographers who would enjoy doing something similar by picking their own landscape and sharing their explorations. I'd love to have something like that happen with a sort-of photography club that would be a series of "Nature Where I Live" blogs from wherever folks happen to be.

Surfbird Exploring the Geologic Record

In addition to the surbirds and black turnstones foraging just below the Cliff House, a handful of willets was foraging in the sand nearby. Just offshore, several surf scoters were diving for fish, often coming right up to the beach where they appeared be getting pummelled in the shorebreak, yet they always popped back up looking nonchalant about it.

Red-tailed Hawk & Pine Cones
(I saw this hawk swoop into the tree and stopped my bike to check it out. It hopped from branch to branch until it got to the other side of the tree, where it appeared to be looking for prey. At least, it didn't do any serious preening. I watched for a while to see if it would pounce on something but left when I started getting a stiff neck from looking straight up for too long.)

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Big & Small

 

Ruby-crowned Kinglet, San Francisco Botanical Gardens

I hadn't been in the SF Botanical Gardens in a while and hoped I'd witness something new and interesting after the rain let up. The first highlight of the morning was an encounter with a pair of Pacific wrens that I soon realized were foraging for nesting material. It got even better when I was able to follow them to their nest, where I hope they have a successful hatch that I'll get to see in the future. 

The second highlight was a mating pair of red-shouldered hawks. The female was resting on a high eucalyptus branch, with a small group of birdwatchers gathered below, viewing and photographing the hawk, as I emerged from the redwood grove. I continued past the group and made a circuit of the Children's Garden, and the hawk was still on the same branch when I circled back.

In the same general area I got after a couple different birds that eluded me in a thicket of aloe plants before a more cooperative Allen's hummingbird perched nearby. As I was taking pictures of the hummer, another red-shouldered hawk flew around the area making a lot of noise, to which the one in the tree responded with calls of her own. She soon flew onto another branch that was practically right above me, and that's when the male hawk swooped in to mate with her. It was over very quickly, but I managed to fire off a few frames.

Pink Magnolia

King Protea

I had the shutter speed set too high for the low light in the redwood grove, but I was able salvage the shot by boosting the exposure 1.75 stops in Lightroom, then running Denoise on the ISO 3200 exposure.

Pacific Wren with Nesting Material

The camera's autofocus had a little trouble in the low light.

Here's one of the wrens on a redwood branch just outside the nest.

Aloe Tentacles

Allen's Hummingbird on Yucca Stalk

I walked around to the other side to get closer, but I had to give up the better lighting.

A little junco popped up from the ground and landed close by.

Mating Red-shouldered Hawks

The male (on the left) hung around for maybe a minute before flying away, perhaps to go find a juicy meal to bring back to the female, who stayed put.

I was going after a chestnut-backed chickadee who eluded me, when this ruby-crowned kinglet popped onto the scene.

Hermit Thrush in the California Garden

Apulca Pine

Grooming Mallard

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