Field Bison

 

Bison Hosting Brown-headed Cowbird, Golden Gate Park

With so many critters having babies, I wondered about the bison. I don't think I've ever seen bison calves out there, but apparently the park's bison do procreate. Five calves were introduced to the paddock in March 2020 for the park's sesquicentennial (150-year) celebration (and, as it happened, just in time for the worldwide Covid-19 pandemic).

I stopped by the paddock today to check up on the nesting tree swallows. It appears there are hatchlings now, but they are still too small to be poking their heads out for feeding, so the adults fly into the nest box with whatever bugs they've caught.

Bison Meadow

Traffic Jam

A tree swallow exits like a torpedo through the nest hole.

It was a beautiful, fog-free day for bug-hunting.

These might be the last two great blue heron nestlings at the lake, although I couldn't tell if there were more on the other side of the island (in front of the boat house). There was definitely one empty nest nearby, and the nest east of Strawberry Hill has been empty since Friday.

The baby eagle called Sunny has fledged, leaving her sister Gizmo behind. The adult here had brought a fish back to the nest, mostly for Gizmo.

Shortly after finishing off the fish, Gizmo stretched her wings in the wind and hopped a few times -- almost ready to commit. Her sister Sunny was in a nearby tree of her own.

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Wood Duck

 

Wood Duck at Blue Heron Lake

I felt like Friday's visit to Blue Heron Lake had gone really well, checking out the grebes' raccoon adventure and being surprised by a half-dozen golden goslings cropping grass under the protection of their hissing parents (and despite their protection, the six chicks of Friday had been reduced to five by Sunday). But when I got home and checked email I found out I'd missed a wood duck that had been reported that very day.

I was too busy to get down there yesterday when it was warm and sunny, but today I bundled up and biked down there in the wind and fog ("feels like" 49 degrees, according to my wife's weather app). Thankfully I found the duck almost immediately. However, it was preening itself while standing on a submerged branch behind a tangle of skinny branches. 

Eventually, a large Canada goose swam up with is entourage and forced a mallard off its perch on a submerged branch. The mallard then swam over and forced the wood duck off its perch, and I finally got to see it in the open.

Not for long, though, as it wasn't done preening. By this time I was practically shivering, so I took a ride around the lake to warm up, and when I circled back, the duck was out in the open again, and again just briefly.

The first time I ever saw a wood duck was at Blue Heron Lake (formerly Stow Lake), back in November 2009.

Wood Duck at Stow Lake, November 26, 2009

Wood Duck Video Clips

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Friday Roundup

 

Canada Gosling, Blue Heron Lake

Life feeds on life, but seeing the destroyed grebelet nest still felt like a punch in the guts. There was a raccoon-sized hole in the dense foliage on the edge of the lake that led directly to the second nest. I wondered if the raccoons had heard the grebelets' cheeping. The nest itself was obliterated, and willow branches had been snapped. It probably happened last night. All was quiet now, with no cheeping to be heard....

As I looked out over the lake I soon saw one of the adults paddling back from the opposite side of the lake with a branch in its beak. Holy cow, I thought. What resilience. It's going to build a new nest and try again to have chicks.

I wandered over toward the new nest location but couldn't see it through the dense foliage. Once I got past the bushes and had a clear view of the lake again, I saw the two grebelets paddling around! I was glad to see they'd both eluded the raccoons.

As I entered the San Francisco Botanical Garden I heard a robin squawking nearby and looked up to see this red-shouldered hawk preening its feathers. I wondered if it had been bathing in the small water fountain next to the garden's library. A young woman saw me watching the hawk and thanked me for tipping her off. She turned away too quickly for me to voice my response that she should thank the robin who tipped me off.

The hawk flew off its previous perch to land in this tree above the lily pond.

Iris Leaves at the Lily Pond

Hummer Ablutions

California Towhee Fledgling

The one on the right had just fed a morsel to the one on the left.

The pipevine swallowtail caterpillars had grown a bit since I last saw them in this location. At another location there were just a few very small ones.

The Matilija poppies are blooming.

Adult Brown-headed Cowbird

Juvenile Brown-headed Cowbird

Backlit Hummer

A few house finches were eating the foliage of the wild radish since the seeds aren't ripe yet.

Mouse Feet

The red-shouldered hawk didn't appreciate being photographed with its quarry and soon carried it far away.

Ladybug on Poison Hemlock

Allen's Hummingbird in the Children's Garden

Woodland Skipper on Milk Thistle

Red-shouldered Hawk in Children's Garden

Crowding the Frame

A blue-eyed darner graciously hovers long enough to be photographed flying over Blue Heron Lake.

Both adult pied-billed grebes gathered materials for their new nest.

I was just starting to head home after admiring the grebes when I spotted a pair of adult Canada geese watching over a half-dozen goslings.

The cute goslings were real crowd-pleasers, but one lady was going on at length  about them with a friend on the phone while holding a small dog on a leash. The adult geese were hissing at the dog, but the woman didn't appear to notice. The dog paid the geese no attention whatsoever, and the geese finally stopped hissing and went back to cropping grass.

Video clips of a red-shouldered hawk, a pipevine swallowtail caterpillar munching leaves (while a ladybug ambles by in the background), a grebe swimming with nest material, and goslings.

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Finding Balance

 

Anna's Hummingbird Sticks the Landing, Grandview Park

I often find myself caught between the desire to explore nature beyond the city, and the desire to just appreciate what I've got within walking and biking distance. I've gotten so far out of the car habit that it seems onerous to get back into it. I know there's a balance to strike in there somewhere, and eventually that balance will probably reveal itself.

The container ship YM Ubiquity heads out the Golden Gate on its way to Taiwan.

A resident hummingbird keeps his eyes peeled for interlopers.

Video clips with a white-crowned sparrow and a hummingbird.

Junco With a Beak Full of Bugs

I wasn't seeing brown creepers at all, and now I'm seeing them every day. However, it's still rare to see one in the sun.

This one, above the Fuchsia Dell in Golden Gate Park, even stopped in the sun's warmth to preen its feathers.

California Poppies on the Edge of Metson Lake

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Growing Grebelets

 

The pied-billed grebe chicks are still staying close to the nest, and to mama, at Blue Heron Lake.

You hear them before you see them. The tell-tale high-pitched cheeping of the grebe chicks, that is. I'm glad they're no longer hanging out in their nests. The nest they were born in is virtually invisible from shore, now that the willow has thoroughly leafed out. In fact, I wonder if leaf intrusion is why the grebes built a second nest closer to the edge of the willow's drip line.

I arrived at the lake at around 10:30, earlier than usual, and the blue heron nests in front of the boat house were noisy with begging nestlings. Usually all is quiet when I arrive, and for a while I've been wondering if the nestlings had fledged. I was probably a little too late for the actual feeding time, as I soon watched several herons fly out of the nests, heading southwest. I wondered whether they were all adults, or if some were fledglings following along to be shown how to hunt. 

Testing the Wings on the Boat House Island

One of the grebelets was more aggressively begging than its sibling.

It tried to induce feeding a few times, to no avail.

I suspect this is the same nestling spreading its wings as the one who was showing off the last time I photographed this nest east of Strawberry Hill.

Speed Goose

Water Off A Goose's Back

The great blue herons aren't the only big nestlings yet to fledge. (The black oystercatchers at Seal Rocks are still sitting on eggs, by the way.)

Incoming!

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