Morning Light

 

Hot Sky Morning

When's the last time it was cool enough to sleep under the bed covers? I like warmth, but 85 degrees in the house is too much of a good thing. As this morning's dawn brought another beautiful sky, the "cool" night air had only brought us down to 80 degrees. 

Until the last couple of years, I could always count on the fog to come in after a maximum of three really hot days. Hot air inland would suck the fog in, almost as if it were a law of physics. So what happened?! I know the laws of physics didn't change, and I can only wonder if warmer ocean temperatures are to blame.

As I was eating lunch a little while ago, trying to decide whether I should close the west-facing windows before the sun started beating down on them, the curtains suddenly caught a breeze. They haven't budged in days, so I can only hope things are finally about to change for the cooler.

Out for my walk this morning I was surprised by a pair of woodpeckers who flew into a lone tree way down in the Avenues on Noriega Street. One quickly flew across the street, but I managed to grab a couple shots of the other one, first in the tree, then on a nearby telephone pole. I've seen the same species a couple of times recently but haven't been able to find a match for it online. So I went old-school and looked in one of our field guides (Northern California Birds by Herbert Clarke). Bingo! 

Hot Feathers

Just up from Los Angeles, the HMM Emerald heads for the Port of Oakland. I liked that someone had put chairs down on the beach. They look like the chairs that have popped up in parts of Golden Gate Park.

I was surprised to see a foil surfer this morning. I'm not sure I've seen one at Ocean Beach before.

Starling on Noriega Street

Nuttall's Woodpecker

Nuttall's climbing a telephone pole.

Fast-moving mystery warbler.

I stopped to watch a large group of bushtits that flew into a tree at North Lake, then noticed their frequent followers, the chickadees and Townsend's warblers, as well as some other tiny warbler(s) I couldn't identify.  

This red-shouldered hawk caught my attention as it flew low across JFK Drive in Golden Gate Park, then landed on a low pine branch. It finally turned its head enough for me to get a catch-light in its eye, then flew to a new branch.

As I prepared to get back on my bike, a visitor asked me if that had been a hawk or a falcon. I told him what it was, and that they were fairly common in the park, and that he might hear one scream. I hoped one would oblige me at that exact moment, but no such luck. Less than a minute later, though, another one screamed beautifully, and I could only wonder if the visitor had heard it too.

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Garden Bodhisattva

 

Fallen Hazel Leaves

Looks like the hot, dry weather is hastening the leaf-drop in our backyard hazel tree. Normally there wouldn't be so much leaf litter until November.

I was hoping to head up to Lake Tahoe to check out the kokanee salmon spawning in Taylor Creek this coming week, but apparently there is a sandbar preventing the fish from going up, and the bar will only be washed away by a water release from Fallen Leaf Lake.

From what I gather online, fall color has been going off nicely in the mountains above Bishop, and even as far north as Conway Summit. It's also cooler in the mountains, and downright chilly at night, and that sounds pretty good right now, as it's 80.9 degrees here at my computer desk. 

Besides the heat, I'm also feeling nagged by this Official Ballot sitting in front of me which I kind of dread having to fill out. So many decisions have to be made based on very imperfect information, making it an unappealing duty (as, I suppose, many duties are). 

Which reminds me that I just read Yuval Noah Harari's excellent book Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI. It's a great reminder that "information" isn't necessarily true, and that information networks mold the way we see and experience the world.

Hazel Leaves & Growing Catkins

Faded Bouquet

Object of Contemplation

Subject of Contemplation

Enlightenment

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Ten-Four, Good Buddy

 

Sunrise with Sutro Tower & Twin Peaks, 10/4/2024

The sky was looking so good this morning that I couldn't resist grabbing the camera and heading up the street a little bit to capture a view that wasn't criss-crossed with a web of power lines and telephone poles. Later, as I headed out the door for my UCSF/Cole Valley/Haight Ashbury/GG Park/Inner Sunset walk, I turned around to grab a light jacket to stuff into my knapsack. The fog was rolling in, and I might need it.

By around 9:30, though, the fog had not just rolled back but had simply evaporated. Lucky for everyone heading to the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival, there's still a cool breeze.

Heading into the Oak Woodland this morning I spotted a Townsend's warbler and gave chase. The little guy eventually flew away before I was sure I'd even gotten a shot of him. They move so fast through such dense foliage that I almost always feel like I've just missed my chance as they flit out of the frame.

A little while later I heard a bird chirping and was surprised to see it was some kind of little wren. It was like trying to focus on a kernel of popping popcorn, with branches and leaves getting in the way. At one point I had him so lined up and in focus, when a jogger scared him off before I could release the shutter.

There's skill involved with photographing songbirds, and also luck, and some kind of law of averages. Later on, the red-tailed hawks I encountered down by Ocean Beach were another matter: pure luck.

City Dawn from Golden Gate Heights

A river of fog drifted over Golden Gate Park (that's the Kezar Stadium entrance down below) at around 9 a.m., but soon disappeared.

The robins were still going after those Autumn Olive berries. Many berries remain on the bush, but it's probably easier to just snag them off the ground. I tried one myself and found the juice to be sweet and just slightly astringent, but I spit out both the pit and the skin.

No more river of fog.

Townie in the Oaks

Going Up!

Bokeh Bird

All kinds of acorn pieces and whatnot were raining down on me at one point, and this was the critter behind it all.

I hadn't expected to get a shot of the Bewick's wren. The intense backlight often made the lens hunt for something to focus on, and the unprocessed image here was basically a silhouette. I was impressed to find so much detail captured in the jpeg.

This dark-eyed junco had just chased off a rival, puffing up its feathers to make it appear bigger. And it did appear bigger -- maybe twice the size of the one it scared off.

I got off my bike at the bottom of Golden Gate Park to photograph this red-tailed hawk on a light post, when a raven soon drifted over to keep an eye on him.

The (banded) hawk didn't care for the company and flew across the street to perch on a different light pole. I snapped a photo, and by the time the viewfinder black-out was over, the hawk was gone.

Incredibly, he was practically at my feet!

Where he had snagged a mouse in the ice plant, caught here with the nictitating membrane covering his eyes.

He's about to fly away with the mouse. I guess the show's over.

Nope! He hopped up to a nearby fence post.

Determining the coast was clear, with no other hawks or feathered fiends to annoy him, he consumed the mouse.

Just taking care of business, right there next to the bike/pedestrian path, with vehicle traffic just a few feet away.

The overall scene....

I like the guy in the convertible snapping pictures of something else from the car.

I was surprised to find a second red-tail on the cliffs below the Giant Camera (which has been open the last few days, and juding by the total lack of customers I would guess the word is not out yet).

This one was double-banded.

This was the first day in a long time that I could see Mt. Tamalpais from head to toe.

When I entered the park here at 9th & Lincoln on today's bike ride, there was still a lot of construction activity as they finished paving the street. By the time I headed home, it was all done. All the fencing and construction machinery are gone. 

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Botanicals

 

Ginkgo Leaves, San Francisco Botanical Garden

It was refreshingly cool and breezy down in Golden Gate Park this morning. Our apartment is only at about 700 feet in elevation, but it's quite a bit warmer up here. The temperature dropped deliciously as I biked down the hill. The National Weather Service reported the Sunset District was 61 degrees this morning, but it was 75 here at home, and that was as cool as it got all night. 

I don't love it, but I'm not complaining. I know we still have it easy compared to just about everywhere else in the state.

As I passed the entrance to the Botanical Garden I encountered a group of photographers with long lenses trained on the small fountain next to the library building. No birds had shown up yet, and the fountain was still in shade. I kept going, following a line of raccoon tracks in the gravel.

Back at the Children's Garden I didn't see any sign of the ground squirrels. I wondered if it was already too hot or something, but then as I was looking for birds I spotted a coyote. Another bird photographer had already been watching it, and the coyote gave us the slip. I checked a couple of ground squirrel burrow entrances, and they didn't appear to have been discovered by the coyote. I thought it was interesting that another animal was already in there so soon after park authorities had the previous residents shot [see the Coyote Lady's 9/7 update].

A Tangle of Woven Webs

Snare Repair, No. 1

Snare Repair, No. 2

I go back and forth between yellow warbler and orange-crowned warbler, and today I'm going with yellow warbler. [UPDATE: Wrong! It's an orange-crowned warbler.]

Cooper's Hawk

The Steller's jay was looking for somewhere to hide its peanut, maybe figuring it would be camouflaged among cypress cones.

Red-shouldered Hawk

Fall Colors

These speedy little yellow-rumpers are much easier to see than to photograph.

My first hermit thrush in a while.

Orange-crowned warbler feeding on South African Schotia brachypetala flowers (in the pea family).

Once again while trying to get shots of the warblers I accidentally turned on exposure-bracketing, but at least this time I found it much easier to turn off. If you press the wheel to dial in some exposure compensation, but press the cursor instead of turning the wheel, you end up in bracketing mode.

One other note, I wish the Panasonic FZ80D would let you set shutter priority at 1/500th sec. (for example) and have the camera automatically increase ISO after the widest aperture is reached. Currently the viewfinder just goes black unless you increase ISO manually.

* * *

Parrots in the Apple Tree

 

Apple Muncher, Golden Gate Heights

It's heading back toward 80 degrees in our livingroom already, and the sun isn't even striking the front (west-facing) windows yet. A cool and mild sea breeze faked me out this morning, and I began my West Portal/Forest Hill walk in good spirits, figuring the breeze would most likely pick up and cool things down even more.

Nope. The breeze gave out less than half-way through the walk. Later on I was down by the ocean on my bike and casting fond looks out to the hazy, foggy horizon. But still no breeze to bring it in.

I was just a block from home when I saw that a small flock of parrots had landed in someone's apple tree. As I was getting my camera out I had to pick up the pace when I saw the homeowner come outside. I just got off a couple of frames before he hosed water at the parrots and sent them on their way, chattering in their cacophonous parrot language.

Wary Parrot

Lemon Sipper
(The hummer was visiting the lemon trees in the same yard as the apple trees. I'd passed some lemon flowers earlier on my walk and inhaled a snootful of their wonderful scent.)

The pusher tug Barry Silverton and articulated tug barge Dr Robert J Beall, en route to Ferndale, Washington (according to VesselFinder), presumably via the Nooksack River, which is currently less than five feet deep at Ferndale. 

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