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| Red-shouldered Hawk, Sunset Parkway |
I'd just been watching a flock of sparrows feeding along the Sunset Parkway, well-camouflaged little brown sprites in the grass, wood chips, and sand. They would dart into the air and lose themselves in nearby bushes as I passed, even though I wasn't the one they should have been worried about. A few steps farther along I noticed the red-shouldered hawk on a branch overlooking the sparrows. The hawk appeared to be finishing off whatever it had recently caught and soon flew across the highway to avoid my stare.
Later, I'd just rounded Elk Glen Lake and was ready to head back up the hill when I spotted a Townsend's warbler about to bathe in a small puddle. It, too, flew away at my approach, so I sat down with a pine tree at my back to wait for it to come back. It finally did come back, but it did a touch-and-go at the puddle as soon as it saw that I was still in the neighborhood. In consolation, a ruby-crowned kinglet was kind enough to drop by and use the puddle a couple of times despite my presence.
As I was biking out to the Cliff House later on, I saw a large road-killed bird in the distance along the Great Highway and my heart sank. It looked like Bando or one of the other local red-tailed hawks. When I got right on top of it, though, I saw that it was a juvenile gull. I was relieved it wasn't one of the hawks I've been watching since before they grew out their adult plumage. Unfortunately, the gull was too squashed for me to move it out of the road for the safety of scavengers.
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| Honey Mushrooms, Golden Gate Park |
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