A Tern for the Better

 

Elegant Terns at Ocean Beach
(I wonder if that chocolate-brown gull is some kind of dark-morph Western gull.)

There were lots of brown pelicans lounging on the edge of Sutro Baths this morning, something I don't see very often. I was tempted to go down there, but it didn't really seem worth it without Sutro Sam. 

From the overwatch behind the Cliff House I was surprised to see yet another young pelican drifting south across the surf zone. It didn't appear to be injured, but evidently it could not fly. I kept my eye on it, and sure enough it was sucked over the falls by a wave and was eventually pushed in to the beach, almost as if it were body-surfing. Once it was ashore, it proceeded to trundle all the way up to the sea wall before finally turning back toward the ocean. Another onlooker had called the city's Animal Care & Control folks, but I left before they arrived.

The wind wasn't blowing too hard, so I took another ride out through Sunset Dunes and stopped when I heard the calls of a small flock of elegant terns near Pacheco Street. Instead of flying away when someone passed near them, they lifted off and circled back to their original spot, so I figured I'd take a chance and go down there, leaving my ebike up on the sea wall. The terns weren't bothered by my presence, and I was surprised toward the end when they circled through the air and landed even closer to me.

This is either a female or immature western bluebird at Golden Gate Heights Park. I was going to try to photograph a much more blue male nearby, but both birds were frightened away by an offleash dog.

Lounging in the Bison Paddock

Meditative Bison

Brown Pelicans at Sutro Baths

A Pelican's Adventure

I saw rain falling in the distance a few times this morning but didn't actually get rained on until I started to head home at about noon. I pulled a rain jacket out of my saddlebag, but it wasn't particularly cold out, so I left the rain pants in the bag.

The pelican seemed like it couldn't get far enough away from the ocean, but it was stymied by the sea wall. I wondered if it would climb the stairs to the esplanade, but it wasn't feeling sociable toward us humans.

After walking along the sea wall a ways, the pelican began walking back toward the beach.

Elegant Terns & Sanderlings

Terns in Flight

Beach Wrack Denizens

We don't often get a lot of bull kelp washed up on Ocean Beach. I was glad to know there's actually a kelp bed or two offshore (given their plight), although I do wonder if this bunch drifted down from up north somewhere.

Elegant Terns Facing the Wind

Young Elegant Terns

A Birdy Day at the Beach

Flock o' Terns

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