Acorn Woodpeckers

 

Long-billed Curlew, Crissy Marsh

I drove home from an early dentist appointment this morning and immediately changed clothes to bike over to Lafayette Park to look for Acorn Woodpeckers. I've had people tell me they see them all the time in Golden Gate Park, even though I'm pretty sure they were seeing Hairy Woodpeckers, or maybe Downy or Nuttall's. Anything with a red head.

The other day I used iNaturalist to look up photos of acorn woodpeckers to see where people had really seen them and had the photographic evidence to back up their claim. Every one of them was in the same place -- Lafayette Park. I'd never quite believed these iconic birds truly lived in the city until I saw them for myself today.

Although other parts of the city have plenty of oak trees bristling with acorns -- think about the Oak Woodlands in Golden Gate Park -- what Lafayette Park seems to have that other areas don't is decent granary trees. The woodpeckers might also find the park's heights to be a boon as well. The park is surrounded by urban landscape, but the city bustle is down the hill at a remove from the relatively quiet summit.

After visiting Lafayette Park, I figured I might as well check out El Polin Spring and Crissy Marsh since I was sort of close by. It was a beautiful day to be out and about in that part of town.

Nope, it's not Mt. Tam. Acorn woodpeckers are doing their thing right here in the city.

Maybe having decent granary trees is what allows them to make a home in Lafayette Park but not in other urban oak groves.

These guys were using a hole in a eucalyptus, apparently to stash acorns. The hole looked potentially big enough for a nest also. 

In any case, the woodpeckers must have to ward off squirrels and other interlopers from time to time.

Flight feathers (composite photo).

I've been hearing their sweet and interesting calls for a few days, but today I finally got to see one of our newly returned Golden-crowned Sparrows.

A Red-breasted Nuthatch was zipping all over the trunk of a palm tree, making itself very hard to photograph.

Park visitors check out the view from the summit.

The birds suddenly became very quiet around El Polin Spring when this Red-shouldered Hawk showed up, chasing off a Northern Flicker that had been clinging to the snag lower down.

After the hawk flew away, it didn't take long for the flicker to return. It's partner soon showed up, and they flew away together. This is a composite photo of the one bird, though.

The bridge was barely visible through incoming fog at Crissy Marsh.

The marsh itself was still in the sun, and a Long-billed Curlew was busy snagging little crustaceans out of the sand.

Here's a closer crop showing one of the prey items. I'd like to know what the heck that is. They seem to be a very common catch for the curlew(s) at Crissy Marsh.

A Double-crested Cormorant came in for a landing to do some hunting in the shallows.

The ballerina-bird, a Snowy Egret, floats down with the aid of brisk headwinds.

The Kingfisher was very far away, and this image is severely cropped, but all those Z8 megapixels still recorded significant detail.

Wind-ruffled tail feathers on the curlew.

The water was shallow enough that you could see the cormorant hunting underwater. I followed this one through the camera lens and fired away when it surfaced with a little minnow.

A small flock of sandpipers flew over to the marsh from Quartermaster Reach, trying to do some hunting in the sand before the tide overtook the little island.

Sandpipers landing near a Killdeer on the disappearing island.

The Great Egret is quite a bit bigger than a Snowy Egret, and it also has black feet instead of golden yellow.

Long-billed curlew comes in for a landing.

The cormorant snagged a little bit bigger fish this time.

A Black-bellied Plover seemed very concerned about my presence and kept its distance by staying out on the little dry headland of the disappearing island. It's such a striking bird that I wished it would have come closer.

Curlew Num-nums.

The plover decided this was close enough, then began to mosey back the other way.

A single White Pelican rested with cormorants and gulls, even as their island had already gone underwater. A group of Least Terns had been out there earlier but they all flew out over the bay while I was hanging with the curlew and plover.

Getting Mooned: 

It's a rare treat to actually be able to see the moon in my foggy neck of the woods. Since I've been carrying my compact camera around on my walks again I couldn't resist snapping a few pictures.

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