Nature Where I Live: San Francisco: Do Ya Puya

Townsend's Warbler Visits Turquoise Puya Flowers, SF Botanical Garden

Last March I photographed yellow Puya chilensis flowers ("sheep-eating plant") blooming in the botanical garden. This turquoise flowered species might be Puya berteroniana. The plant takes anywhere from six to twenty or more years to bloom, and the flowering rosette dies after putting on its show and fruiting out. Like its relative the pineapple, the flowering part dies but new "pups" (clones that sprout from the base of the plant) can grow to eventually flower again. If you want to check them out (in the Succulent Garden behind the Redwood Grove), the bloom lasts 2-4 weeks according to Google's AI, and I don't know when they started.

I didn't go specifically to see the Puya in bloom, but just to spend more time getting a feel for my new Z8 and 180-600mm (w/ 1.4X teleconverter).

One of the beds in the California Garden was full of this cup fungus.

I've seen a couple of fox sparrows the last few weeks, but they've usually been kicking up the leaf litter way back in the dark shadows of brushy foliage. This is the first one I've been able to photograph this year.

Anna's Hummingbird at Red-flowering Currant

Pollen Beak

I don't usually see song sparrows that are chill enough to lounge around on one leg.

Allen's Hummingbird About To Fly

Scrub Jay With Nesting Material

This turkey tail fungus appears to have been parasitized by another fungus.

Hand-holding the heavy Z8 and lens combo, I wasn't sure I'd be able to dial in some overexposure to compensate for the backlit hummingbird without fumbling the camera. Although it wasn't as easy as the lightweight Lumix, it was doable.

California Scrub Jay on Silk Tassel Bush

Northern Flicker

I swear I didn't add one iota of vibrance or saturation to this shot. I've rarely seen such a fiery gorget.

Just a slight tilt of the head, and it changes.

California Towhee at Home in South American Plant

Towhee Toes

This Townsend's warbler was surprisingly mellow. At first it landed and hung out for a while on a rock retaining wall just a few feet away from me, then fluttered up to the nearby Puya where it continued to rest a while.

I didn't see where the Townie finally went because my attention was drawn to this newly arriving orange-crowned warbler.

The birds reached deep into the blossoms to get the nectar, a drop of which you can see on this one's beak.

Ruby-crowned Kinglet on the Move

And Away!

I finally got to see an Allen's hummingbird nectaring on some flowers.

It was a very short visit.

I like the way the gardeners have let the California pipevine twine into the red-flowering currant bushes.

I headed over to Blue Heron Lake after leaving the SFBG. This was one of several ring-necked ducks hanging out together.

A coot dropped by to preen a little.

I wanted to photograph the Canada goose as it was standing on a rock, but I was too close to get it all in the frame when it reared up to fan its beautiful feathers.