The Real Wilson's Warbler

 

Wilson's Warbler, Golden Gate Park

After my recent quandary over a false Wilson's warbler that turned out to be a yellow warbler with a dark patch of dried eucalyptus sap on its head, it was good to see the real Mr. Wilson foraging today near Elk Glen Lake. It caught my eye just after I'd been drawn in by my first brown creeper of the season.

Down by the Cliff House I stopped to check out a red-tailed hawk that was perched on a light pole near the totem pole, but by the time I got my kickstand down the hawk had flown away. I looked for it across the street in case it had pounced on something, and there it was (although the pounce was a miss). It flew back across the street and passed just a few feet in front of me to land on a nearby rock. I noticed its leg band and wondered if it was Marlon Bando, now in adult plumage.

A few drops of rain spattered the road while I was out walking and biking, and eventually enough drops fell that I decided to call it my first fall rain. Hopefully there will be plenty more to come. This was not the kind of rain that gets the porcini popping.

I stopped by Metson Lake (soon to be blocked off for the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass concert) to watch a young great blue heron hunting along the lake's edge. A larger adult soon flew in and chased off the youngster, but the youngster didn't go far. In a little while I spotted him sneaking around to enter the lake at a different spot, but once again the adult spotted him and chased him out for good.

Hawk Feather, Sunset Parkway

I was surprised when I first noticed water striders in Metson Lake back in April, and today I saw several in Mallard Lake. Sometimes they're around, and sometimes they aren't. In cold climates they hibernate. One of the weirdest things I ever captured on my trail cams was a bunch of water striders migrating down Cataract Creek one night on Mt. Tamalpais.

Brown Creeper Near Elk Glen Lake

Brown Creeper in Profile

The Wilson's warbler was hunting on the ground, and I wondered if it was feeding on seeds until I saw it catch this crane fly.

Wilson came out of the undergrowth just long enough to let me snap a couple of frames.

Bando (?) in adult plumage after a failed pounce from across the Great Highway.

Here he's perched near the Cliff House, with Seal Rocks in the background.

A second hawk was perched on a light pole farther up the road. I figure these are the same two resident red-tails I often saw before my Midwest Interlude.

Actual rain clouds, not just fog.

This is the adult heron that chased off the younger one.

Here, the younger one sneaks around the lake on foot.

It enters the lake but it soon gets frightened and flies up onto the root mass of the tree that fell in the lake during a storm in February 2023.

Note the reddish feathers on the full adult. It didn't want the youngster hanging around at all and chased it off the root mass. I didn't see either bird make a strike  on any fish during this whole episode.

A Little Bliss: First Fall Rain

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