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| Burt & Sally, Blue Heron Lake |
I was snapping shots of the blue heron nest when I took my eye away from the viewfinder and was surprised to see a raccoon walking past my feet. I immediately recognized them as the same youngsters I encountered a few Sundays ago, who I'm calling Burt and Sally (after Burt Reynolds and Sally Field in the movie Smokey and the Bandit).
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| Cole Valley |
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| Not a Polecat, but a Colecat. |
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| A couple of women walked past me here, and one said to the other, "I can't see what he's looking at," meaning me. The scene above is what I was looking at. Yellow flowers in the meadow below the giant solo eucalyptus at the head of Sharon Meadow, with the morning sun trying to break through the fog. |
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Bloom in Lily Lake
(But still no green heron.) |
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| I saw, but was unable to photograph, an evening grosbeak in the Oak Woodland. It flew away just before I could snap the shutter. I saw no other interesting birds during the rest of my walk through the Oak Woodland, the Fuchsia Dell, and Lily Lake, and thought I was going to be skunked today, until I came across this pygmy nuthatch in an oak tree on Whiskey Hill. |
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| The nuthatch nabbed a couple of small caterpillars. |
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| I was watching a chestnut-backed chickadee when I noticed this downy woodpecker moving through the branches of a small oak in the background. |
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| Downy Woodpecker, Whiskey Hill |
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| Downy Woodpecker with Oak Leaves & Flowers |
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| Cormorants, Pelicans, and Gulls at Seal Rocks |
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| Looks like by-the-wind sailors are still blowing ashore. |
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Low Tide View Below The Cliff House
(The pelicans and cormorants were on the sea stack in the upper right.) |
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| Snowy Egret in Wind-rippled Waters |
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| Great Blue Heron at Metson Lake |
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| Gopher at Metson lake |
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| Great Blue Heron & Gopher at Metson Lake |
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| Lucky for the gopher, a couple walking their dog chased off the heron. |
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| The heron was chased by the resident red-winged blackbird as it circled back over Metson Lake. |
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| Great Blue Heron at its Namesake Lake |
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| Raccoon Staredown, Blue Heron Lake |
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| Burt spent most of the time on land. |
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| Sally spent more time in the water. |
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| It's easy to tell Burt from Sally, but I have no idea of the actual gender of the two raccoons. |
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| Canada Geese Keep An Eye Out |
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| Both raccoons like to feel under rocks for submerged critters. |
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| Burt crossed the road to check out this tree stump, then re-crossed back to join Sally at the lake. |
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| I was glad to see there are still three juveniles in the nest. Last time I looked I only saw two. Again today, an adult dropped by to check in but didn't offer any food. |
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| I was surprised when Burt stuck his paws into the gopher hole. That would have been something to see if he'd caught one. |
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| Sally appeared to catch something a couple of times, but I couldn't make out what they were. |
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