Die Rotschulterstärling

 

Red-winged Blackbird, Elk Glen Lake

I'm not into opera at all really, although I enjoyed Götterdӓmmerung (The Ring Cycle), and I was surprised to learn that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's most famous opera, Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute), is about making animals happy ("Tamino plays his magic flute. Animals appear and dance, enraptured, to his music." -- Wikipedia). A lesser-known Mozart opera, Die Rotschulterstӓrling (The Red-winged Blackbird), is based on an occult Masonic Lodge drinking song in which the blackbird symbolizes enlightenment.

I stumbled onto a few of these small flies near Mallard Lake, and they reminded me of the March Flies I've seen on Mt. Tamalpais. Although this isn't the same critter, I believe it is a member of the Bibionidae, the March fly family.

The large yellow iris are finally blooming at the west end of Mallard Lake.

I caught this hummingbird gathering cattail fluff and managed to get off this one shot before it flew away.

At the other end of the lake I found this much more sedentary hummer who remained on his twig every time I scooted a little bit closer. This was about as close as I could get without stepping in the little creek.

Unfurling Cycad Frond

Apparently I was being rude by staring at this red-shouldered hawk. At first I thought it was setting down its second foot, which had been warmly tucked into its feathers, to get a better purchase on the branch in heavy winds. But then he turned his back to me.

There was some kind of frothy stuff being exuded by the big oak at Elk Glen Lake, and a honeybee buzzed close to it, so I thought it might be some kind of sweet sap. But then this yellow-rumped warbler swooped in, and I wondered if it had been going after the honeybee, or if it too was interested in the sap.

Red-winged Blackbird in Mating Display

While I was watching the blackbirds I spotted this Allen's hummingbird on a branch poking out of the top of a large twinberry bush, although the branch itself is not part of the twinberry. 

A female red-winged blackbird was gathering nesting material, and I watched her weaving the material into her nest (too deep in the rushes to get a good shot). She was wrapping some of the material around a stalk to which the nest was attached. Pretty clever work, and again I am left amazed by nature's innate intelligence.

Crane Fly Resting on California Lilac

Cloud Drama With Juniper Crown

The bumblebee was nectaring on the California lilac down by the bison paddock, and also hitting the California bee plant flowers (Scrophularia californica). I'd love to have photographed them on the bee plant, but the tiny flowers were shaking wildly in the strong winds.

I was on the south side of the paddock today, checking out the nest boxes, when I spotted this guy and wondered if it was Sunny Allen. This perch was much sturdier than the pokeberry on the other side of the field.

I saw this red-shouldered hawk swoop onto the branch as I was riding past North Lake and pulled my bike over to check it out. Another photographer (with a full-frame camera) saw me point my lens and asked if I'd seen something. I pointed out the hawk, who soon pounced on something on the ground below.

The ground cover of grasses and other greenery was so high that you couldn't see the hawk. You could only see grass shaking where he was. I hoped to photograph him when he popped out, but I missed it and only caught the photo above when he landed on a nearby branch. The guy with the better camera had better luck. Unfortunately for the hawk, it didn't catch whatever it had been interested in.

When I spotted this vehicle carrier steaming into the Golden Gate I figured it was full of some of the last non-tariff cars that'll becoming to town for a while. (Yesterday I saw a new-car license plate on a yellow Lamborghini, a $275,000 car....) The ship is the Liberian-flagged Delphinus Leader.

Snowy Egret Perched in a Redwood at South Lake

I'm pretty sure these puffballs weren't showing yesterday. I ride the same route pretty much every day, and these stood out too much to miss. I wished I had a knife to slice one in two to show the gleba, but my Clipper Card served well enough.

I finally caught an egg in the nest of the pied-billed grebe at Blue Heron Lake.

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