Of Tattlers and Pokeweeds

Wandering Tattler Below the Cliff House

Ever since the recent flash mob of whimbrels, I've been thinking it's been a long time since I've seen any surfbirds [UPDATE: I've been seeing wandering tattlers, not surfbirds!] or black turnstones foraging on the rocks down by Sutro Baths. Today I saw both. The one-and-only turnstone shot away like a bullet toward Seal Rocks as soon as it saw me, so it's safe to say they are not yet acclimated to human proximity. After the turnstone fiasco I was more careful with the wandering tattler and managed not to frighten it away. 

I began my walk today in ridiculously windy, foggy, and chilly conditions. What makes it especially weird is knowing that Yosemite Valley is forecast to reach 101 degrees today. Meanwhile it's 58 degrees outside my door this afternoon, and that's without the chilling wind.

After seeing the photography gear being used by many of the other birders looking for the slate-throated redstart the other day (apparently seen for the first time ever in California), my gear envy kicked in. When I got home I window-shopped a whole new mirrorless system to replace my DSLR. I'm still on the fence about actually making the switch, though, and will have to think about it some more. Meanwhile, I recall the wise words of an old friend who used to say that the "best" camera was the one you have with you. And for now, the little FZ80 is the one I can have with me pretty much all the time.

I keep forgetting what this plant is called. It's native to the eastern United States, and I first identified it (with an app) in Chicago, where it's common. It's called pokeweed, a name likely derived from the Algonquin puccoon. The berries are apparently good for making ink, but bad for eating, at least for humans. [UPDATE on pokeweed-pickin' below.]

Collecting pokeweed to make ink.

Drawing made with pokeweed ink.

Rooftops in the Fog

Waymos at Rest
(I'm not sure why autonomous electric vehicles need to rest, but I often see them doing so in and around the neighborhood. They are not charging. They're just occupying curbside parking spaces for their own inscrutable reasons.)

It's pretty rare to see a mouse out in the open like this. The poor guy was on the sidewalk, trying to get out of the way as I approached....

The cute little fella had apparently been poisoned, or at least that's how it looked to me as it wobbled and practically tipped over while trying to take a few steps. It  practically fell off the curb in order to take refuge under a parked car. I didn't see any hawks around, and hopefully the mouse, assuming it has been poisoned, will not be eaten by one.

Unliked poisonous pokeweed and a poisoned mouse, these little apples look good enough to eat.

These pink amaryllis flowers (Amaryllis belladonna), aka Jersey Lilies (not to be confused with Lillie Langtry), remind me of late summer, when the grasses have all turned brown and the heavy fog comes in. I usually first notice them along Panoramic Highway on my way to Mt. Tamalpais, but this time I noticed them in the neighborhood. It's native to South Africa, but I always appreciate its exotic exuberance when most other flowers have finished blooming.

The bison were out and about today, along with a surprising number of people enjoying Golden Gate Park despite the chilly weather.

Peaceful Beast

Wandering Tattler on the Hunt

Tattler Above the Surf

There were lots of pelicans and cormorants winging it along the coast this morning.

The surface of the water just offshore was unusually choppy and chaotic. There must have been some interesting cross-currents going on to make it toss about in such a strange way. The channel of the Golden Gate was placid in comparison.

* * *

Seeking the Slate-Throated Redstart

 

Slate-Throated Redstart at Pine Lake Park, San Francisco

An email group for local birders has been blowing up the past couple of days with sightings of a bird that's common in the tropics, but not so much in San Francisco: the slate-throated redstart. I don't often try to photograph these special sightings, but this time I thought the bird was not only too cool-looking to pass up, but had the added bonus of being fairly close to where I live.

I envied the other birders who had larger-format cameras, with more acute autofocus and higher ISO capabilities than my little FZ80. The redstart was energetic in its movements, zipping from branch to branch in the blink of an eye. After snapping a shot, the FZ80's viewfinder has to pause for half an eternity while the image is written to the SD card. Meanwhile, the bird has flitted off to another branch. Now I have to find the bird again, then point the camera in its general direction, find it in the viewfinder, get it in focus, and if the bird is still there after all that, I can finally fire off another shot. 

Yeah, yeah. Excuses, excuses. Although I didn't get anything great, I'm grateful to have gotten anything at all!

When I first arrived, the redstart had recently been seen but was currently out of sight, so I zeroed in on some of the other bird life in the vicinity. I liked that the hummingbird was on a branch of such a classic hummer-flower as this fuchsia.

This Wilson's warbler was also very hard to photograph as it furiously flitted from branch to branch in search of insects to feed its noisily cheeping youngster.

Here's the youngster.

Another youngster was this pied-billed grebe, which was cheeping incessantly and is seen here trying to get its mother to chuck up a beakful of Pine Lake chowder.

Seeking the Slate-Throated Redstart at Pine Lake Park

Peek-a-Boo

Foraging in the Foliage

Since I'd only photographed a black-throated gray warbler once before, I wasn't totally sure that's what this was until I got confirmation from the other birders.

I stopped by Grandview Park on my way to Pine Lake, hoping I might find Grandview Gus still in residence. This young red-tailed hawk flew in and landed on a street lamp just as I arrived near Gus's burrow, so it's probably just as well that Gus wasn't out and about. That bit of hair stuck to the hawk's beak might have come from a recent meal. The hawk tried to scrape it off on its metal perch, but without success.

I didn't have to wait long for it to take flight once again on this windy day. This shot is a composite of two frames.

I saw this black oystercatcher from the Cliff House on Wednesday. It was foraging on the big rock closest to Sutro Baths, where I'd never seen one before.

Turns out the Kitty Kat, which I've seen before from my Cliff House aerie, is a whale-watching vessel.

I hadn't noticed this old-school fishing boat out there before, and it didn't show up on my VesselFinder app, but its name, KVINS, was easy enough to read. According to this Facebook page, you can pre-order fish to pick up fresh from the boat at Pier 45 along Fisherman's Wharf.

* * *

Red-Shouldered Hawk

 

On the Lookout

Golden Gate Park is a little bit of a mess for bicyclists these days, as construction around the Outside Lands concert creates detours and lots of truck and van traffic. One of the detours took me past beautiful Mallard Lake, which I might check out the next time I ride by. It's situated right next to the detour that takes cyclists off of MLK Drive and up to Middle Drive via a newly paved path (which used to be dirt). Just as I started up that path I noticed this red-shouldered hawk swoop onto a nearby tree branch.

It looked like he was about to pounce, but whatever he saw must not have stayed in the open very long because he didn't go for it.

* * *

Smoke in the Air

 

This Morning's Mt. Tam Webcam View
(Note what appears to be smoke above the fog.)

It looks like wildfire smoke is drifting into the Bay Area, triggering air quality alerts. It's hard to tell anything's going on from my home's vantage point beneath that thick blanket of fog seen in the webcam shot above. We certainly don't smell smoke yet, and hopefully it won't get much worse. Even the brief smoke exposure I experienced up around Sequoia/King's Canyon (aka, SEKI) gave me a little chest congestion that I didn't really notice until the day after I got home. 

I've been monitoring the wildfire cams up around the Park Fire for a few days and include a few of the images I snipped below. 

Colby Mountain Cam on 7/26

Colby Mountain Cam on 7/28

Colby Mountain Cam on 8/6

Grizzly Peak Cam on 7/28

Platte Mountain Cam on 7/26

Stover Mountain Cam on 8/3

Stover Mountain Cam on 8/8

* * *

Giant Sequoias

 

Yellow coneflowers at the feet of giants.
(As always, you can click the image to view it larger.)

I've been looking for a chance to re-visit the giant trees in Sequoia National park this summer, but fires and heat waves have kept me away. Since a small window between heat waves just opened up, and because there are no big wildfires in the general area, I went ahead and made the pilgrimage. 

Even though I've been there before, I felt no sense of recognition on the approach. What had been a forest back then has become a heavily charred landscape that will not be a forest again in my lifetime. But as soon as I got to one of the first groves of giant sequoias I did recognize those trees as old friends. Of course, they are the kind of friends who were special to me, but who don't even remember my name.

After all, they've been visited by so many other beings, all of whom live and die in the blink of a sequoia's eye, who could blame them?

Roadside Giants

I ignored the twinge of guilt I felt about climbing up here since it was obvious that many others have gone before me. Without something to give the trees a human scale, it's impossible to appreciate their size.

It was 47 degrees when I arrived early in the morning, and on my way home I drove through 100-degree heat in Fresno -- a difference of 53 degrees in a very short span of time and space.

A Gathering of Giants

Giants in the Grant Grove

Unfortunately, I had nothing good at hand to include for scale, so these giant sequoia cones look a lot like the much smaller cones of coast redwoods.

I was glad to find this meadow again, since I also photographed it back late July 2009.

Spikes of Hedge Nettle

Giant Sequoia Meadow

California Coneflower
(Rudbeckia californica)

Some of the burned areas had lots of bracken fern covering the forest floor.

Burned forest on the approach to the giant sequoia groves. I'd wanted to visit Crystal Cave, but it's going to remain closed all year in the wake of fires in 2021 and a tough winter in 2023. By the way, Lassen Volcanic National Park has been closed due to the Park Fire.

Although there aren't any big wildfires in the area, there was still quite a bit of smoke in the atmosphere.

The smoke was thick enough to be able to smell it.

Awesome landscape around King's Canyon.

* * *