Little Angels

 

Killdeer, Richardson Bay

As I pedaled through Sausalito I could hear terns screeching, and I even saw one make a dive for fish, so I hoped I'd see even more bird life when I got past town and out onto the Mill Valley Sausalito Pathway. Nope! I got all the way to the other side, near the float plane company, before I saw any birdlife at all: a snowy egret and two killdeer. I guess whatever the terns were going after was concentrated in a small area on the Sausalito waterfront.

I did see a group of black-necked stilts working a shallow pond in the marshy area along the north side of Coyote Creek. They were out of photography range, but I was glad to see them still in the area. What a shame that wildlife is so rare these days. If I could ever go back in time, it would be back to "indigenous time," before the arrival of Europeans, to see this part of the world when it was still teeming with wildlife.

I love the killdeers' orange eye-ring.

Hazy Atmosphere, View from Mt. Tamalpais

There was a large hawk on a bare tree where I've never seen a hawk before. My first impression from seeing its back was that it was a red-shouldered hawk, but it flew away before I could get my camera on it. These mourning doves were on a nearby branch and were probably glad to see it leave the area.

As were a group of California quail hiding in the shade of a nearby tree next to the little arroyo between the Cataract and Simmons trails.

Most of the leather root growing near the trail cams has been browsed to oblivion by deer, but a plant growing among a bunch of chain ferns appeared to be out of reach. These are its seed heads.

I guess half an acorn is better than none. The acorn woodpeckers were very busy today.

I'm surprised this little branch was viewed as a good place to stash an acorn.

This hummer showed up while I was watching the woodpeckers, and I couldn't resist snapping a shot of the handsome little angel.

This guy's got the goods.

Acorn Woodpecker Pantry in Douglas Fir Snag

I heard a familiar tweet and was excited to see a yellow-rumped warbler nearby.

The woodpeckers gathered acorns directly from the oak trees, despite numerous acorns already lying on the ground. The Steller's and scrub jays also stuck to plucking acorns directly from the tree.

Woodpecker Flyaway

While I was watching the woodpeckers from beneath the big oak next to the interpretive signs in the Rock Spring parking lot, this gopher was busy snagging morsels of food to drag back into its hole. Every now and then, it would dare to exit its hole almost entirely.

Luckily the coast was clear of hawks, coyotes, and bobcats.

Mountain Fur

Some of the haze in the air looked like smoke. Signs placed on the side of the road indicated there were prescribed burns going on.

A variegated meadowhawk soaks up the sun.

It was clinging to a grass stalk on a hillside, in a position that was impossible for me to get the whole dragonfly in focus, from head to tail.

Watching TV

The Hong Kong-flagged container ship Seaspan Rio de Janeiro, recently arrived from Fraser River, Canada, was heading to the Port of Oakland. It steamed directly toward Angel Island before turning to starboard and heading for port. The strange heading probably had something to do with...

...these guys, the Blue Angeles getting in a practice session.

The first time the jet blasted over our heads as we stood next to the breakwater adjacent to the Warming Hut, a nearby child broke out in tears. The three our four times after that, he didn't even flinch.

The Brown Angels

The YM Upsurgence, flagged in Taiwan, sails beneath the Golden Gate Bridge on its way to the Port of Oakland. A woman standing with her family next to me commented that it was probably full of the stuff they get at Costco....

Tower & Power

A flock of gulls descends on a sea lion that was thrashing its prey down to pieces small enough to swallow.

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Black-Throated Gray Warbler

 

Black-throated Gray Warbler, Forest Hill

When I first saw it foraging among the leaves of a street tree I was excited because I thought it might be a mountain chickadee. When I got a better look and saw that it was a GBGB bird, I prayed ISO 800 would be enough to get a sharp image of it. Out of the eight frames I was able to get before it flew into someone's back yard, only the one above was decent. However, I'm not above posting "indecent" shots too, so there's one more shot below.

The fog finally rolled back in last night. I could hear the trees dripping outside. Note the wet feathers on the bird above, after foraging among wet leaves.

Ripening Figs

Haunted Fire Alarm

Haunted Forest

I'd tried and failed to get a shot of a hermit thrush during my walk through Golden Gate Heights Park, but I saw one bathing in our back yard when I got home. A smaller junco was perched nearby, waiting for the hermit to finish.

The World's Most Laid-back Bison

Bathing Finches

The Giant Camera was open during those sunny days, but I don't think it got much action even with the warm weather. Makes me wonder how long it will remain in this spot.

Pelicans outnumbered surfers about a thousand-to-one today....

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Elk Glen Lake

 

Yellow-rumped Warbler, Elk Glen Lake

I did my new walk through the park today without seeing any coyotes in the general area of where I saw a male and a female last week. I was a little disappointed, but I figure I'm unlikely to see them every week. At 25th Avenue I walked over to Elk Glen Lake to see what birds might be around, and I soon saw a black phoebe tangle with a yellow-rumped warbler that might have been going after the same moth.

Once I got the camera out, I ended up spending more than an hour observing birds, and I even got a quick coyote encounter. 

The heat wave seems to have passed, and it was a beautiful day to be out and about.

Yellow-rumper on a rush stalk.

Reflections on Elk Glen Lake

Pygmy nuthatches are one of the more ubiquitous birds I encounter in the park. They tend to travel in noisy groups, almost like bushtits, and they are not as afraid of people as many other common birds like sparrows and finches.

Which isn't to say they love having camera lenses pointed right at them.... 

I wondered if this was the same GBH who caught the mouse last week.

Lots of red-winged blackbirds have been signing around the lakes lately. Most of the birds were lost in the tules, but this one had taken up a perch at the top of a bare tree, the better to broadcast his song.

A Townsend's warbler with a freshly caught moth.

The bottoms of oak leaves seemed to be a good place to find insects to eat.

At first I thought she was someone's dog ambling along the trail.

She made a quick, short pounce but came up empty.

She also decided to get off the trail right about here.

Yellow warbler with oak leaves.

Townie

Yeller Feller

Townie in brighter light.

I was excited to spot a brown creeper working its way up the oak tree.

They tend to be in the shade, and well-camouflaged.

I was a block from home when I stopped to watch another group of pygmy nuthatches. This one appears to have a seed in its beak, but earlier I watched one of the nuthatches use a pine needle to probe into crevices of tree bark, presumably hoping to dislodge insects.

Looking out back before getting on my bike, I spotted two of our neighborhood squirrels hanging out together on my neighbor's lilly pilly tree. The vines are from a fuchsia that he's got climbing around his yard (some of which I've also planted in mine since hummers like the flowers).

Lots of bird action on and around Seal Rocks today.

A few pelicans were even diving for fish, but I wasn't able to catch one in the act. Groups of gulls would surround each diving pelican, hoping to get a morsel for themselves.

Dog Walkers

* * *

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.

* * *

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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