Bayou Buteo

 

Red-shouldered Hawk Eating Crawdad, Mallard Lake

The hawk reminded me of an old friend who'd grown up in Louisiana who talked about eating crawdads back home. The hawk seemed to relish the delicacy just as much as he did. (There used to be a popular crawdad joint down on 9th Avenue in the not-very-Cajun Inner Sunset.)

I left the house this morning with a plan to photograph a common yellowthroat at Mallard Lake. I'd seen one of the tiny but gorgeous birds there during my usual Tuesday walk. And although I haven't been bringing my compact camera along for a couple of months, I actually did bring it on Tuesday just for the heck of it, but I was unable to capture a photo of the yellowthroat as it darted in and out of the little creek in one of its darkest nooks. I brought the full-frame camera today, and the yellowthroat taunted me several times with its distinctive chittering, but never came in for a bath or a drink. I never did lay eyes on it, much less photograph it.

Checking e-mail this morning before I left, I saw a birding report from near the Lily Pond, in the exact spot where I recently photographed juvenile cooper's hawks, so I stopped by there first. I photographed a Bewick's wren, a Western warbling vireo, a black-headed grosbeak, western tanagers, and a couple of brown creepers that landed on a tree right next to me (the male, which I didn't see at first, was whistling its sweet, thin call, one of my favorites).

I've forgotten what species the other birders were hoping to see, but I enjoyed the more common ones I saw. The autumn olive bushes are still brimming with berries, and numerous robins (and a couple of western tanagers) were taking advantage. 

The Bewick's wren streaked through so quickly I wasn't sure I'd gotten a shot.

I believe this was a female or juvenile. It remained still after landing on the tree and appeared to be listening to the male's singing. Note the speck of tree resin on the tip of its beak.

I think this might be the male. It's hard to tell these birds apart, but there is no tree resin on this one's beak.

I was so happy to see this burly little black-headed grosbeak land nearby, and I couldn't believe my luck when it didn't immediately fly away after spotting me.

It even obliged me by turning around.

Note the little tidbit of autumn olive berry on the tip of the western tanager's beak.

There are two big autumn olive bushes nearby, but all the birds were focused on the one on the north side of the street, even though the other one was bigger and more laden with berries. It was, however, more exposed.

Western Warbling Vireo

The last time I saw one of these was at the Bristlecone Pines campground.

At one point, it landed on a branch right above me.

Eventually I headed down to Mallard Lake and set up along the little creek where I'd previously seen the yellowthroat. This time the tiny yellow critter that stopped by was a Wilson's warbler.

A brown creeper also stopped by to briefly sit in the water.

A Townsend's warbler also dropped in.

I was surprised that no hummingbirds were dropping by, but it turns out they were visiting a different section of the creek.

There were several hummers, and they sometimes jostled for their favorite drinking spot.

Three in one frame.

A dark-eyed junco dropped in to get a drink.

And another reached out for a bite of ripe blackberry.

I had my bike helmet on and my camera packed away, just about to leave, when I looked up in a tree toward a rasping noise that sounded like a squirrel munching on a pine cone.

First time I've seen a red-shouldered hawk eat a crayfish.

From Tuesday's walk:

Since I had the compact camera with me, I was able to photograph this raven who seemed in no hurry to eat the apparent mouse he'd caught.

This one flew over and landed on a branch above the one with the mouse and began hailing about as loud as I've ever heard a raven hail. Such excitement! 

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