Lake Dwellers

 

Song Sparrow at Mallard Lake

One of the reasons I look forward to my weekly walk past Mallard Lake is the semi-wild ambiance of the place. Cattails and ducks, raccoon tracks in the mud, impenetrable foliage just off the trail, a little creek that birds like to bathe in. And if you skirt along its south side, the automobiles (almost all of which is thru-traffic heading up to 19th Ave./Crossover Drive) is on the other side of the lake. 

The bonus today was an encounter with cedar waxwings, which I thought had left the area already. They were darting into a tall Cotoneaster with very few (and fairly old) berries left on its branches. I was surprised they couldn't have found a better prize, but then again, maybe there's something about older berries that makes for a special treat.

Another bonus was seeing a very yellow, deliciously viscid, San Francisco banana slug. It had just about reached the base of a big pine tree, and I wondered how high up it had been. It curled up near the bottom and seemed to fall asleep.

Yet another bonus was catching a Pacific wren in the open. Instead of tweeting its usual territorial/mating song, it was belting out staccato bursts of chatter -- probably a warning to its kin that a human being was in the area.

As I walked past the back room of our flat toward sunset I noticed some interesting light coming through the windows, so I stepped in for a better look. At first there was just a mass of dark gray clouds behind a very well-lit Mt. Sutro, but then a rainbow began to form.

Whatever rainfall contributed to the rainbow must have come in at an angle, because we didn't get a drop. The bow was so huge I couldn't fit it all into the frame at even the camera's widest angle of 20mm.

This morning I finally stopped to see the neighborhood mourning dove on her nest. This opening is right next to the hand-rail on the front steps, and I can only wonder if the resident humans ever notice her. Some people go in and out through their garage almost exclusively, so there might not be much traffic on the steps. I snapped a single photo, then left her alone.

House Finch on a Red Tiled Roof

House sparrows often nest in the tile cavities in some neighborhoods, but I haven't noticed much of that around here.

This song sparrow emerged from nearby cattails to dip into the waters at Mallard Lake. I couldn't tell if it was getting a drink, or snagging tiny flotsam such as seeds or pollen. 

Song Sparrow and its Reflection

I'm pretty sure I've seen banana slugs in Golden Gate Park before, but I can't remember when. Almost certainly more times than I've seen western fence lizards (once, last May).

This Anna's hummingbird was having a post-bathing preening session above the little creek.

The Pacific wren was in the shadow of a tree about the same color as its own feathers, so I popped up the built-in flash and crossed my fingers.

It eventually calmed down and ceased its high-speed chatter, reducing to a series of double-cheeps at short intervals, then finally stopping altogether when it began to hear double-cheeps in response from another nearby wren.

Video of the Pacific Wren Chattering, Then Listening

Cedar Waxwing & Cotoneaster

A pair of hermit thrushes were chasing each other around and came to an abrupt stop in some nearby branches, where I couldn't resist tearing myself away from the waxwings for a moment.

I think this was the one being chased, but I can't tell male from female. I've been wondering why, with so many hermit thrushes in the city, I never hear one whistling its beautiful mating song. And if it's because they don't mate in the city, what is all the chasing about?

Cedar Waxwing with Berries

A tiny Townsend's warbler pauses briefly on a branch before leaping down to the stream for a quick splash.

Nearby, a somewhat bedraggled yellow-rumped warbler does likewise.

A few pygmy nuthatches were visiting the lower branches of this cypress, but they were moving fast and mostly keeping out of sight. Maybe they don't mellow out around humans until summer and fall.

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