Grandview Clearing

 

Sun on the City

Well, that was fun. Hearing the sound of light rain against our bedroom windows last night and this morning. Knowing the garden plants are imbibing their first real drink of the season, courtesy of Mother Nature's Sky Water Saloon. Enjoying a rare Monday morning breakfast with my wife, who's off today.

As soon as the rain had passed, I took a stroll over to Grandview Park to catch the view, soak in the atmosphere, and breathe in the air -- freshly cleansed of an orange-brown haze of smog that had settled in lately. 

Walking home, I spotted a Townsend's warbler glowing yellow against the green branches of a long-needled pine next to someone's house. I kept my camera trained on the tree, waiting for the bird to show itself again. Footsteps approached along the sidewalk, but I kept my eye glued to the viewfinder. Probably someone walking their dog. The warbler finally showed itself but flew away before I could zero in, flying right over the head of the sidewalk person, who turned out to be my wife.

Scudding Clouds

Clearing from the Southwest

Yep, the Farallon Islands are still visible.... The surf still looked pretty good at Ocean Beach, but I didn't see any surfers out yet. I was sorry to have missed the action yesterday, which saw the first large, clean swell of the season.

Once the sun came out, a lone white-crowned sparrow soaked in the warmth and tweeted unanswered companion-calls from the top of this coyote brush.

We first saw these two from the other side, making them strongly backlit by the sun. I wondered if it was a hawk and raven, but soon realized it was a pair of red-shouldered hawks. (I can see this street lamp from our living room window, and they have since moved on.)

This one seemed to be waiting patiently for its partner to dry out.

Ordinarily there would be a fair amount of birds calling in this general area, but it was quiet as a tomb while these two perched so brazenly out in the open.

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Yellowstone

 

Bison in Golden Gate Park

I read this morning that the second half of Season 5 of Yellowstone, the television series, will come out on Sunday. I've been enjoying the series but can't remember which season I last saw, and I'm kind of notorious for not knowing if I've already seen something until I actually start watching it. I'm pretty sure I've seen Seasons 1-3, but not so sure about Season 4. On the bright side, whenever I do realize I've seen something before, I usually don't mind watching it again.

Anyway, I was glad I dropped by the bison paddock today since the huge beasts were out in a more photogenic grassy area than they often are. The NYT Guest Essay I was reading about Yellowstone was mainly about how the show has drawn a lot of new residents to the Yellowstone area, potentially imperiling the ecosystem. Large animals like bison, elk, bears, and pronghorn get cut off from their usual migration routes by new roads and fences. I often think, as I ride around the paddock, that it would be cool to see a coyote hunting gophers within the fenced area. Unfortunately, the fence doesn't appear to have any openings that even a coyote could squeeze through.

A pleasant surprise in the paddock was seeing a few meadowlarks patrolling for bugs in the grass near the bison. I'm not sure I've ever seen meadowlarks in the city before.

And speaking of television shows, there was a small film crew on Ocean Beach today. Whether it was for a photography class, a music video, or a prescription drug ad, I couldn't guess, although it looked pretty low budget, whatever it was.

Compare the scapular feathers of this Townsend's warbler...

...with this one! This guy looks like he just flew through a tunnel filled with yellow pollen.

Townsend's Warbler, Golden Gate Park

The scrub jay was too hungry to bury his acorn (like yesterday's Steller's jay), and carried this one off to a different branch to peck the meat out of its shell.

Squirrel on Alert in the Oak Woodland, Golden Gate Park

Meadowlarks in the Paddock

Makin' Movies

Life's a Beach

I haven't seen these two red-tails on the Murphy Windmill blade at the same time in quite a while, so it was nice to see they're still around. I wonder if they are the same dynamic duo as the pair I photographed on the Millwright Cottage back in July.

* * *

The End of Something

 

Black-necked Stilts Foraging in Saltgrass Marsh.

As I was getting ready to bike up to Mt. Tam this morning, ostensibly to retrieve my trail cameras and bring them home, I had this feeling of coming to the end of something. Not necessarily the "forever" end, but definitely an open-ended timeframe. The end of a cycle, maybe.

The cams haven't been all that interesting for several weeks, as my decision to place them where a pool of water used to be didn't pan out. The critters know there's no water there anymore, and they trundle through the scene so quickly that there's little time to witness any interesting behavior or personality. I've stubbornly stuck with the location for the last month because it's an easy hike from the trailhead where I leave my bike.... 

Nevertheless, one interesting recording occurred just a couple of days ago. The images aren't great, but an animal I have never caught on my cams before, and which I can't identify, passed through. Drop me an email if you can tell what it is.

The thing about taking the trail cams home is that it cuts another thread to my connection with Mt. Tam. That's where the "end of something" feeling really came from. When I worked five days a week in a cubicle in downtown San Francisco, my weekly nature explorations on the mountain were a much-needed compensation. Now, two-and-a-half years into retirement, I no longer need that, and I'm finding San Francisco itself to be an engaging place for nature explorations, with the bonus that I can explore every corner of it on foot or bicycle.

Anyway, I'm sure I haven't reached the end of visits to Mt. Tam, anymore than I'll stop exploring nature all over this incredible state. But for now, San Francisco is where my heart is.

As I was riding home from the mountain this afternoon, I stopped to photograph another group of black-necked stilts and realized that another part of this feeling that it's the end of something is related to the election season having come to an end. We're going to be leaving familiar territory to embark on a weird adventure, but at least the next couple of months will be a good time to grab some R&R.

Buffleheads in Richardson Bay

I couldn't resist the mirror-like surface of this pool catching the reflection of Mt. Tamalpais. On my return trip I'd stop again at this spot to photograph a group of resting stilts, as well as a hunting great egret.

Double-Dive

Graceful Forager

Backlit Legs

Farallon Islands from Mt. Tam

San Francisco Skyline from Mt. Tam

I was sitting in the Rock Spring picnic area eating the croissant and apple I'd bought at The Good Earth on my way up, when first one deer, then several, wandered into view.

It was great to see some deer for a change. I don't expect we'll have a herd in San Francisco anytime soon.

After nibbling a little bit of grass, they wandered over to a large Douglas fir and ducked into its shade to bed down for a while.

This Steller's jay was taking its cue from the acorn woodpeckers, trying to hide its prize in a ready-made hole on a bay laurel tree. It tried a couple of times to push it into the hole, but was not satisfied and moved up the trunk where it tried to push the acorn under some moss, again to no avail. I'm not sure where the acorn finally ended up.

The acorn woodpeckers put up a commotion when this guy swooped into the area. I thought it was a cooper's hawk, but my Merlin app says it's a sharp-shinned. Just the other day I saw a sharp-shinned hawk up close in my San Francisco neighborhood when I was walking down some steep stairs past a small, bushy tree and heard a lot of rustling in the branches. I figured it was a squirrel, but when I stuck my head in the bush to look, a sharp-shinned hawk was staring at me, and it immediately bolted, leaving no time to try for a photo.

Red Admiral & Bay Leaves

Along with my "end of cycle" theme, I photographed this lizard -- the "last one" of the season -- because it was the only one I saw on my way to and from the trail cams.

These are the resting stilts on the edge of the reflecting pool mentioned above.

Great Egret

This is where the trail cams were set. One points down the ravine while the other points up it. I'd hoped to get better clips of animals coming and going, but it wasn't really happening (brief video below).

So this is a gray fox...

...and this is a what? A weasel? 

Brief clip of a fox coming and going.

* * *

Clearing the Air

 

Sun & Spindrift at Ocean Beach

The offshore winds finally arrived, rattling our doors all night, blowing leaves into our entryway, and so thoroughly clearing the air that I could see the Farallons today for the first time in a surprisingly long time. Despite having a lot of clear days recently, visibility far out at sea has been another matter. Maybe high winds out there were raising up a lot of sea spray.

West Portal this morning....

A couple of juncos and a song sparrow were bathing and drinking from the leaf-strewn water bowl, so I went down to fill it with fresh, clean water. 

The Farallon Islands

Ocean View from Golden Gate Heights

There was a pretty decent swell rolling in, but the best waves often seemed to go unridden.

There weren't that many people out, so it was less likely that someone would be in the right place at the right time.

* * *

One Shot

Red-Shouldered Hawk, Golden Gate Park

Camera in hand, I'd stopped walking along the sandy trail that runs parallel to noisy Lincoln Way to get a closer look at a bird that caught my attention just ahead of me. It was a goldie, a golden-crowned sparrow -- nice bird, but not much of a photo opportunity given the bird's surroundings. As I resumed my walk I caught a surprise off to my left -- a red-shouldered hawk in a nicely camouflaged perch on the stump of a tree branch. 

I'd pre-set my ISO to 1600, so all I had to do was swing my camera up and zoom in. I snapped the shutter to get the image above, and when the viewfinder came out of its post-click black-out period, the hawk was already gone. Sometimes one shot is all you get.

I wondered if the hawk had also had its eye on that little goldie, and whether my presence altered its fate. 

Trail East of Mallard Lake

Townie #1

Townie #2

This pygmy nuthatch was also a one-shot deal.

The Great Blue Heron of Elk Glen Lake

Hummer in Regalia

I was watching a gopher dart out of its hole to snag plants when this red-tailed hawk glided overhead and landed on a nearby branch.

I watched the hawk at a distance to see if it would pounce on anything, but instead it flew away to do its hunting elsewhere. Later, as I was climbing the 15th Avenue steps (which seem far steeper than the Hidden Garden Steps!), a red-tail glided overhead, and I figured it was possible, but unlikely, to be the same one I'd just seen near Elk Glen Lake.

Tree-cutting operations cut off my usual route, but my new route had this interesting surprise in store. Those are all large (maybe 12-inch diameter) chicken-of-the-woods mushrooms, growing on a huge burl-like growth midway up a living eucalyptus tree.

* * *