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| Mini Cooper, Maxi Hunger |
I've been hearing the breathy screeching of juvenile cooper's hawks in various parts of Golden Gate Park the last few weeks, most recently adjacent to the Polo Fields where my wife and I got a good luck at one of them. I'd thought about going back down there with my camera, but before I could do it the area was taken over by construction crews setting up for Outside Lands. I thought I'd missed my chance until I heard their calls yesterday near the National AIDS Memorial Grove (where I last photographed a juvenile in April 2025).
This morning I biked down there and found not one, but three juvenile cooper's hawks hanging out close together in some acorn-festooned oaks between the memorial grove and Lily Lake. A nervous squirrel scuttled haltingly on branches high above the hawks, and I wondered if he would get his acorns or end up becoming a meal himself.
A red-shouldered hawk screeched a few times from a tree on the other side of Lily Lake. The cooper's hawks seemed to respond with calls of their own, but they sounded almost like whispered screeches compared to the sharper, louder call of the red-shouldered hawk. Once heard, that unusual cooper's hawk screech won't soon be forgotten.
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| After the hawks flew away, a raven landed nearby to pluck berries from an Autumn Olive bush. |
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| Busy Bushtit, SF Botanical Garden |
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| I was surprised to see two pipevine swallowtail caterpillars still trying to make the most of what little pipevine leaves are still left. Luckily, the plants will regrow from rhizomes the caterpillars can't reach. |
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| There was an interesting little bee inside a huge squash flower in the Children's Garden. Apparently, squash bees are a thing. |
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| Chirping Hummer |
On another note, if you're looking for some good summer reading, check out A Walk In The Park, by Kevin Fedarko. After seeing the paperback in a bookstore I borrowed the ebook from the library, then ended up buying his hiking partner's book of photography from the trip (The Grand Canyon: Between River and Rim, by Pete McBride).
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| Grand Canyon Visit, 2004 |
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