Bird Life

 

Great Blue Heron, Mallard Lake

When the big heron wanted to fly across the pond to a new hunting spot, it took little notice of the young black-crowned night heron that stood in its path. The smaller heron saw what was coming, and for a moment the two birds seemed to collide in a confusion of ruffled feathers as the smaller heron figured out how to get out of the way before returning to its perch among the turtles sunning themselves on the edge of the little island at Mallard Lake.

I'd gone down there after spending some time at the SF Botanical Garden to check up on the nesting downy woodpeckers. All was quiet beneath the nest tree, though. The baby birds had fledged. Earlier in the week I'd watched a Nuttall's woodpecker being followed by its hungry fledgling at Elk Glen Lake. (Minutes earlier I'd spooked a coyote who kept an eye on me as it trotted through tall dry grass toward the cover of nearby brush; a red-shouldered hawk swooped down from a eucalyptus branch to hurry the coyote on its way.)

It's been an interesting week without bringing the compact camera along on my walks and rides. There's a little bit of withdrawal pang there, but I look forward to using my full-frame cameras more exclusively. I don't know if the difference comes across in these blog posts, but it's the richness of detail recorded by the larger sensors that keeps me in love with nature photography.

Black Phoebe, SF Botanical Garden

A little yellow Wilson's warbler darted into the tree in front of me and quickly sprang through the branches before continuing its southward trajectory.

Singing House Finch
(I've been hearing lots of singing purple finches too, lately.)

Hummer in the Nasturtium Patch

Exiting the Patch

Check out the scrub jay's hooked beak.

West Coast Lady Butterfly

Pygmy nuthatches were busy feeding their fledglings in the back of the Children's Garden.

Hummer in the monkey's hand tree (Chiranthodendron sp.).

Allen's Hummingbird at Rest

Buckeye on the Buckwheat

Pinpoint Flying for Manzanita Nectar

A young black-crowned night heron moves to a more comfortable perch.

An adult night heron flies to a new perch.

Full Landing Gear

Graceful Landing

Licking its Chops

Great blue heron moves to a new hunting spot.

A mallard mama takes her kids out for a paddle in the sun.

Another young night heron.

The adult was doing all the hunting, here catching one of several minnows it would nab over the next few minutes.

A blue-eyed darner hovers briefly along the pond's edge.

Preparing to Strike
(Note the young night heron in the background.)

Like the night heron, the blue heron was catching tiny minnows.

A guy I talked with at the botanical garden said a wood duck was still around at Blue Heron Lake, so I dropped by on my way home to look for it. It appears to be a sub-adult, not yet fully feathered out yet in its future wood-duck glory.

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