Now & Then

 

The difference ninety minutes can make....

I was feeling a little groggy this morning as I stepped out the door for my morning walk, and I couldn't figure out why. So I blamed the fog. I mean, they don't call this month Fogust for nothing. I texted the first photo to my wife as I headed out (she's visiting her parents out of state), saying I wouldn't mind having a sunny day for a change.

This particular walk heads toward the beach before circling back, and the circuit takes about an hour-and-a-half. So I was heading out into heavy fog and chilly headwinds, but I was stoked to see clearing skies on my return trip.

This is Middle Lake's "then and now." The top photo is from October 2023, and the bottom shot is from today. (Although it's still sunny at home, it's still foggy near the beach, even now at nearly 2 p.m.) 

I was interested to see that all the sea lions on the northernmost Seal Rocks appeared to have recently come out of the water. When their fur dries it tends to become more golden. 

While their pals were napping on the rocks, these two porpoising sea lions seemed to be rushing toward an appointment. They were heading toward the southernmost Seal Rocks when my attention was diverted by pelicans and cormorants flying on a collision course, and I lost track of the sea lions.

Heavy Traffic Near Seal Rocks
(There were several surfbirds probing the sandy beach in front of Cliff House again today, but I accidentally scared them off in the same way I scared off the black turnstone the other day -- by popping up in my fluorescent-yellow cycling windbreaker.) 

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Tamalpais Dreams

 

Dream Landscape, Mt. Tamalpais

I'd hoped the fog would be floating much higher on the mountain than it was this morning. The web cams looked promising, but a strong and dry, smoke-scented wind out of the northwest seemed to have pushed the fog to a lower elevation early in the morning. Interestingly, Windy.com shows the wind circulating in from the northeast. As the map isn't the territory, neither are the weather models.

With no fog up high, I drove past the entrance across from the Pantoll Ranger Station (which, at 6:50 a.m., had yet to open anyway) to descend into the fog and redwoods. It was nice and quiet down there, with only two or three cars passing by the whole time I was there.

After enjoying the redwoods, I drove back up the hill to Rock Spring where a covey of California quail and two black-tailed jackrabbits eluded capture by my lens. I hiked a short ways to set out a couple of trail cameras, and from there continued on to see if the leopard lilies were still blooming in their usual spot. I figured it was going to be a bit late in the summer to find them, but even so, I was surprised to find no trace of them at all. Not even fruited-out stalks. I hope they haven't been permanently choked out of that particular location.

Hiking off-trail, I waded through the tallest grasses I've ever encountered anywhere on the mountain. Thankfully, tick season seems to have passed. However, there were still lots of resinous grass seeds that infiltrated my socks and even stuck to my legs. Nevertheless, the early morning light was gorgeous. 

Despite the beautiful light, I wasn't finding any subjects to pose in it. I was reminded of an artist interview I recently came across in which Edward Hopper said all he really wanted to do was paint the light on the sides of houses. I tried to take that to heart, but I still didn't find anything I wanted to photograph, so I drove down past Muir Woods to Frank's Valley and poked around Redwood Creek for awhile.

Panoramic Highway Descent Toward Stinson Beach

Sword Fern & Redwoods in the Fog

Lots of junior redwood sprouts were rising at mama's feet.

Redwood Road Trip

Morning Mists

Layers of Forest & Fog

I saw very few wildflowers up around Rock Spring, and even the rosinweed seemed to be winding down.

I got different answers when tried to get an ID on this tall grass from both PlantID and iNaturalist (even different genera), so I'll leave it un-named.

Whatever it is, the dark woods along Redwood Creek made a good backdrop for it.

I wasn't even thinking about banana slugs when I entered the woods to scurry down to the creek. And then I saw this longfellow cruising up an alder trunk. And then I saw more farther up the tree. And then I saw a half-dozen or so, little bitty slimers to full-sized mollusks, right around my feet....

I've never had to be so careful to not step on a slug, and thankfully I believe no slugs were harmed in the making of these pictures.

Alder Leaves in Redwood Creek

Color in the Crick

Panning for Gold

Reflections from Above

Hedge Nettle Intertwined With Horsetail

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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.

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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.

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