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Lesser Goldfinch on its Singing Branch |
Another red-tailed hawk made a swooping play for a pair of squirrels high in a cypress tree at Golden Gate Heights Park this morning, just as I was passing through. I'd love to have gotten a photo of the striking moment when the hawk flaired its wings and tail feathers as it overshot its mark. You could almost hear the screaching sound of brakes as in an old Roadrunner cartoon.
One of the squirrels ran down the tree while the other ran up. Only the one that ran down began its alarm call when the hawk found a perch on some lower branches. I wondered if the other one, still high in the tree, preferred not to give away its location. In any event, the hawk soon realized that, without the advantage of surprise, the squirrels would be far too nimble to catch.
It was another windy and overcast day here on the city's west side, and Seal Rocks looked especially forlorn with very few birds resting on them. Even the ever-present cormorants were in short supply. I was glad to at least see a few wandering tattlers on the rocks below the Cliff House. They're so well-camouflaged from above that I might have missed them if one hadn't been bobbing its tail.
On the way home through the park I braked for a pair of lesser goldfinches and got lucky with an unusually bold one who tolerated my presence while swirling out its song from some brush along the side of the road.
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Black-crowned Night Heron Resting in a Willow at North Lake |
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A few pelicans glided over the guano-covered sea stacks but continued flying south, leaving Seal Rocks about as bare of birds as I've seen it. |
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A couple days later (4/25/25) |
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Wandering Tattler |
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Lesser Goldfinch |
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