Friday Roundup

 

Canada Gosling, Blue Heron Lake

Life feeds on life, but seeing the destroyed grebelet nest still felt like a punch in the guts. There was a raccoon-sized hole in the dense foliage on the edge of the lake that led directly to the second nest. I wondered if the raccoons had heard the grebelets' cheeping. The nest itself was obliterated, and willow branches had been snapped. It probably happened last night. All was quiet now, with no cheeping to be heard....

As I looked out over the lake I soon saw one of the adults paddling back from the opposite side of the lake with a branch in its beak. Holy cow, I thought. What resilience. It's going to build a new nest and try again to have chicks.

I wandered over toward the new nest location but couldn't see it through the dense foliage. Once I got past the bushes and had a clear view of the lake again, I saw the two grebelets paddling around! I was glad to see they'd both eluded the raccoons.

As I entered the San Francisco Botanical Garden I heard a robin squawking nearby and looked up to see this red-shouldered hawk preening its feathers. I wondered if it had been bathing in the small water fountain next to the garden's library. A young woman saw me watching the hawk and thanked me for tipping her off. She turned away too quickly for me to voice my response that she should thank the robin who tipped me off.

The hawk flew off its previous perch to land in this tree above the lily pond.

Iris Leaves at the Lily Pond

Hummer Ablutions

California Towhee Fledgling

The one on the right had just fed a morsel to the one on the left.

The pipevine swallowtail caterpillars had grown a bit since I last saw them in this location. At another location there were just a few very small ones.

The Matilija poppies are blooming.

Adult Brown-headed Cowbird

Juvenile Brown-headed Cowbird

Backlit Hummer

A few house finches were eating the foliage of the wild radish since the seeds aren't ripe yet.

Mouse Feet

The red-shouldered hawk didn't appreciate being photographed with its quarry and soon carried it far away.

Ladybug on Poison Hemlock

Allen's Hummingbird in the Children's Garden

Woodland Skipper on Milk Thistle

Red-shouldered Hawk in Children's Garden

Crowding the Frame

A blue-eyed darner graciously hovers long enough to be photographed flying over Blue Heron Lake.

Both adult pied-billed grebes gathered materials for their new nest.

I was just starting to head home after admiring the grebes when I spotted a pair of adult Canada geese watching over a half-dozen goslings.

The cute goslings were real crowd-pleasers, but one lady was going on at length  about them with a friend on the phone while holding a small dog on a leash. The adult geese were hissing at the dog, but the woman didn't appear to notice. The dog paid the geese no attention whatsoever, and the geese finally stopped hissing and went back to cropping grass.

Video clips of a red-shouldered hawk, a pipevine swallowtail caterpillar munching leaves (while a ladybug ambles by in the background), a grebe swimming with nest material, and goslings.

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Finding Balance

 

Anna's Hummingbird Sticks the Landing, Grandview Park

I often find myself caught between the desire to explore nature beyond the city, and the desire to just appreciate what I've got within walking and biking distance. I've gotten so far out of the car habit that it seems onerous to get back into it. I know there's a balance to strike in there somewhere, and eventually that balance will probably reveal itself.

The container ship YM Ubiquity heads out the Golden Gate on its way to Taiwan.

A resident hummingbird keeps his eyes peeled for interlopers.

Video clips with a white-crowned sparrow and a hummingbird.

Junco With a Beak Full of Bugs

I wasn't seeing brown creepers at all, and now I'm seeing them every day. However, it's still rare to see one in the sun.

This one, above the Fuchsia Dell in Golden Gate Park, even stopped in the sun's warmth to preen its feathers.

California Poppies on the Edge of Metson Lake

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Growing Grebelets

 

The pied-billed grebe chicks are still staying close to the nest, and to mama, at Blue Heron Lake.

You hear them before you see them. The tell-tale high-pitched cheeping of the grebe chicks, that is. I'm glad they're no longer hanging out in their nests. The nest they were born in is virtually invisible from shore, now that the willow has thoroughly leafed out. In fact, I wonder if leaf intrusion is why the grebes built a second nest closer to the edge of the willow's drip line.

I arrived at the lake at around 10:30, earlier than usual, and the blue heron nests in front of the boat house were noisy with begging nestlings. Usually all is quiet when I arrive, and for a while I've been wondering if the nestlings had fledged. I was probably a little too late for the actual feeding time, as I soon watched several herons fly out of the nests, heading southwest. I wondered whether they were all adults, or if some were fledglings following along to be shown how to hunt. 

Testing the Wings on the Boat House Island

One of the grebelets was more aggressively begging than its sibling.

It tried to induce feeding a few times, to no avail.

I suspect this is the same nestling spreading its wings as the one who was showing off the last time I photographed this nest east of Strawberry Hill.

Speed Goose

Water Off A Goose's Back

The great blue herons aren't the only big nestlings yet to fledge. (The black oystercatchers at Seal Rocks are still sitting on eggs, by the way.)

Incoming!

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Ruckus of Robins

 

American Robin Gathering Blackberries Near Mallard Lake

I encountered a family of robins making a ruckus as I approached Mallard Lake from the west, with adults gathering ripening blackberries to feed to their young progeny. Most of the fledglings remained hidden behind a thick canopy of California buckeye leaves. The adults would dart in with a berry, then dart right back out to get more. Eventually the fledglings came out into the open, and the whole group kept moving west in their tireless search for sustenance.

Lefty was out in his hunting area again this morning. Something in the nearby foliage got his attention a few times, but he never pounced. I'd thought the snipped left ear was due to a fight with another animal, but apparently it's what vets do after they catch a feral cat, which they sterilize and vaccinate before returning it to the wild. The clipped ear serves notice that the cat doesn't need to be caught again.

Anna's Hummingbird Nectaring On Karo Flowers

Bumblebee Napping on Wild Radish

Allen's Hummingbird Nectaring on Wild Radish

Song Sparrow in Wild Radish Patch

Every time I see a hummingbird in the mustards and radishes, it's an Allen's.

American Robin With Blackberry for Junior

Junior, The Fledgling Robin

Allen's Hummingbird Ruffling Its Feathers

Here she is unruffled, but still looking a bit ruffled anyway.

I had a little better luck with a brown creeper today.

Brown Creeper, Golden Gate Park

Brown Creeper With Caterpillar

I haven't been seeing black-crowned night herons very much lately at North Lake, and I've been pleasantly surprised each rare time I do see one or two.

I wondered if they are actually there almost all the time, but tucked away in more concealed locations.

Looking out my bedroom window, I spotted a pair of fledgling crows hanging out on my neighbor's roof (the same neighbor with the chickadee nest box). The crows were born in a small pine tree that I can see from our back yard.

They were very relaxed as long as I was behind a window, but they flew away as soon as I actually stepped outside.

While I was out there I stopped to check out the red-masked parakeets in my neighbor's oak tree.

Some brilliant eruptions going on at Kilauea the other day....

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