Feathers in the Sun

 

Northern Yellow Warbler, SF Botanical Garden

I figured the SFBG would be a good place to poke around with the camera today since I'd be able to find shade and water fountains. The heat definitely made a difference to me, and I had the sweat-soaked t-shirt to prove it, but the critters showed little evidence of heat stress. Little, but not none. Although I saw no birds bathing, I did see a Western Tanager panting in the monkey's hand tree. Nearby, a Townsend's warbler was sipping nectar from the few monkey's hand flowers remaining in bloom.

The highlights were photographing both a Hermit Thrush and a Swainson's Thrush in the same general area, a perched Twelve-spotted Skimmer, and a Pipevine Swallowtail butterfly. 

Anna's Hummingbird in the Garden of Fragrance

Steller's Jay

I was waiting for a hummer to nectar on the mallows but tried my luck with a Northern Yellow Warbler in the meantime. No hummer showed up before I finally had to leave and find some shade.

Twelve-Spotted Skimmer

There was just the one yellow warbler, but it got around to a few different plants. It always ended up back at the mallow, though.

The Pipevine Swallowtail seemed to be looking for some pipevine to land on (and maybe deposit eggs?), but there's little left beyond leafless stems at this point.

Western Tanager

Townsend's Warbler after dunking its head into the monkey's hand flower to pull up a beak full of nectar.

Lesser Goldfinch

I expected the guy to take off as I moved closer and closer, but the seeds must have been too good to give up for anything short of a hawk.

The Steller's Jay was eating some kind of nut, possibly an acorn (it's perched on an oak branch).

The tanager spread out its tail feathers, perhaps to help cool itself down.

It was moving around with its beak open, panting in the way that birds do.

The Hermit Thrush was very skittish, so a distant shot is all I could get before it flew away.

In and around the monkey's hand tree, a Swainson's Thrush also played hard to get.

This view shows a tiny bit more of its side.

It was just about time to head home when I ran into another photographer who pointed out the orb-weaving spider that had recently snagged a bee.

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