Nature Where I Live: San Francisco: Nuts for Nuttall's

Nuttall's Woodpecker, SF Botanical Garden

I'm still trying to remember how to distinguish among the calls of the Nuttall's vs. downy or hairy woodpeckers. Like most birds, all three are more often heard than seen, but today I got to hear Nuttall's and downy woodpeckers in the same place, one after the other, and it was easy to tell which was which. The Nuttall's voice was stronger. Of course, it might not be so for the hairy woodpecker.

Anyway, it's nice to have a garden with so many yardbirds. The garden attached to our duplex is tiny but adequate when I want to be outdoors for 15-20 minutes, but if I want to be out for a few hours I can always drop down the hill to the SF Botanical Garden.

I brought my camera without any expectation of actually using it, but I soon got pulled into bird photography mode by a little Hutton's vireo that was challenging to capture as it darted about, high in a leafy tree canopy. I was about to head home for lunch after spending a pleasant couple of hours walking around and observing mostly hummingbirds, when a Nuttall's woodpecker flew into a nearby tree. I was able to follow it around the southeast corner of the garden for about an hour before I finally did head home.

Hutton's Vireo With Prize

The central part of the California Garden is very colorful right now.

I watched this junior male Anna's hummingbird for quite a while, hoping he would drop into the sticky monkey flowers right below him. He was in no rush to go anywhere, though, and then he began a long process of preening his feathers. When he finally did take off, he rocketed over the monkey flowers and clear out of sight.

I'd hoped to photograph an Allen's hummingbird that I saw in this tree with red pea-family flowers (weeping boer-bean, Schotia brachypetala), but the boss Anna's chased off all interlopers.

I finally did photograph an Allen's hummingbird, getting off a short burst that netted just one good frame before it zipped away.

Several pygmy nuthatches dropped by the little pond in the Children's Garden.

I thought they were going to bathe or come down for a drink, but only one of them did so.

It's not easy because the water is deep. This guy appeared to have a little bit of difficulty getting back out of the water.

And he looked a lot wetter than a typical bather.

I was glad to find a couple of red-legged frogs in the pond. Last time I came by I couldn't spot any.

It must be pygmy nuthatch season. It seems like I'll see them all the time for a short while before they become scarce again.

I didn't see a single butterfly of any kind. Too foggy maybe? There were still a few pipevine swallowtails eating the dregs of pipevine plants near the reservoir.

I loved the eyebrows on this junior house finch.

There were plenty of adults around too.

Male Nuttall's Woodpecker

Male Downy Woodpecker

Nuttall's using his tongue.

I couldn't tell what this big guy was. It was about the size of a California towhee. Turns out it's a brown-headed cowbird. I still remember the first time I saw a fledgling cowbird that dwarfed the dark-eyed junco that was feeding it. Cowbirds are nest parasites.