South Lake

 

Hooded Merganser at South Lake

It was cold and windy and about time for lunch, so I wasn't going to stop, but when I glanced over at South Lake as I was riding past it I spotted a female hooded merganser and couldn't resist checking her out. No male ever showed up, and the female kept quite busy diving for food and catching at least one fish while I was there.

At one point I was watching the merganser through my zoom lens when I must have somehow spotted movement with my peripheral vision. I turned to look, and four raccoons were checking out some disturbed ground where a heavy motor vehicle of some kind had dug it up. For a split second I thought they were pigs rooting up the earth. Finding nothing of interest, they tried to cross MLK Drive but were stymied by a concrete lane divider which they could not climb over, but they soon figured out how to go around it. 

I got another chance to photograph a common yellowthroat, but I still haven't gotten a clean shot, so I guess I'll be stopping by there again soon to keep trying.

A great blue heron joins a black-crowned night heron in the same tree at North Lake.

Composite of a kingfisher perching and diving toward the lake.

The South Lake environment provided some excellent water reflections.

This lady didn't seem to react at all to a family of raccoons crossing her path.

They finally got across MLK Drive and headed into the brush between MLK and Lincoln Way. I was hoping they were going to bed down in the brush and not attempt to cross four busy lanes of traffic on Lincoln.

She caught this small fish at one point and made several attempts to position it just right before she could swallow it.

Still trying to get a clean shot....

Several yellow-rumped warblers were hawking from tree branches around the lake.

The yellowthroat, quite far away and heavily cropped.

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Lake & Ocean

 

Another Day of Big Surf and Offshore Winds at Ocean Beach

Sitting quietly on the edge of Elk Glen Lake, waiting to see if a pair of hooded mergansers would show themselves, I experienced the unanticipated treat of watching a ruby-crowned kinglet take a little splash bath, followed by a pygmy nuthatch who had his own separate bathing spot. The nuthatch was soon frightened away by a fluffy sparrow who'd come down to the water's edge to peck for seeds.

Later on, Ocean Beach surprised me with waves as big or bigger than yesterday's. A lot more surfers were in the chilly 54-degree water, and I'm sure a few epic rides are now etched in their memories. For others, it might be an epic wipe-out, or even a near-miss -- an uh-oh moment that didn't kill them after all -- that will never be forgotten. 

Kinglet Having A Splash In The Lake

Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Elk Glen Lake

At least two of the hooded mergansers are still around after first being spotted at Lloyd Lake a month or so ago.

Pygmy Nuthatch at its Bathing Branch

A young white-crowned sparrow finds a seed.

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Night Herons

 

Black-crowned Night Heron, Golden Gate Park

I was surprised to walk down to the beach this morning and see such nice waves with only one surfer in the water. The waves were pretty huge, but the offshore wind sculpted them into apparently ridable waves (easy for me to say since I'm not the one paddling out). Later in the day and farther north, I saw more surfers out and stopped to snap a couple photos.

The day's walk started with a small garden patch full of picturesque flushes of honey mushrooms, and ended with inky caps on my bike ride home. I didn't make it to the Mycological Society of San Francisco's Fungus Fair yesterday. It was held in South San Francisco, and I'm just spoiled by the days when it was held at the San Francisco Botanical Garden and I could just walk to it.

For whatever reason, the Chain of Lakes in Golden Gate Park seems to be attracting black-crowned night herons. I don't know if they come every year, but today I noticed several at North Lake and a couple of juveniles at South Lake (I didn't check Middle Lake).

The Say's phoebe was still hanging out in the Balboa Natural Area, and the yellow-rumped warbler was still at the Cliff House. A flock of black turnstones was feeding on the tidepool rock at the base of the cliff until being spooked by a big wave and noisily flying out to Seal Rocks together.

The honey mushrooms were bunched up against this old trunk in a narrow patch of garden between two driveways on 14th Avenue.

This patch was a little further along in its fruiting.

All the night herons at North Lake had congregated at the northern end, either in the tules or in the trees. Last week I noticed just one heron there, but today I noticed four or five.

It seemed like the Balboa phoebe was starting to get a little bit used to my presence. It flew away when I stopped, but it didn't go far (until I pushed my luck).

At first glance from the Cliff House, I thought the young lady was meditating at Sutro Baths while a fisherman was casting a line right next to her....

Black Turnstones at the Cliff House

The Yellow-rumped Warbler Who Calls the Cliff House Home

Late Morning at Ocean Beach

Views from the Esplanade

A very laid-back night heron, caught napping.

Ruby-crowned Kinglet at South Lake

After the kinglet flew away, a song sparrow leaped up in its place, apparently having just taken a drink of water from the lake below.

Great Egret, South Lake

The Sleeping Heron Awakens

The common yellowthroat, one of my favorite birds, just had to look away from the camera before I could snap a photo.... It did not stick around to give me a second shot.

Already turning inky, a group of Coprinus mushrooms had sprouted along Overlook Drive (above Hellman Hollow).

* * *

 

Red-Shouldered Hawk, San Francisco Botanical Garden

I almost let the smog keep me indoors today, but then I figured "no one lives forever," and I might as well get out there. At least there's no wildfire smoke.

Things have cooled down quite a bit in the botanical garden. Not much in bloom, not many birds around, and even the spiders have packed up their snares. There weren't many people either, although I did run into a guy proposing to his girlfriend at the Moon Viewing Garden. The guy had a couple of friends and a photographer staked out nearby, and when she said yes, they all came out in surprise.

A large ginkgo was putting on a great show of golden fall color, so I made my way over there, and the first people I saw happened to be my landlords, Russell and Melissa, and Melissa whipped out her phone to show me photos, taken a few days ago, of two red-tailed hawks in the same bird bath I saw one in. All of us are more than 20 years older than when my wife and I moved in. I still remember back when we were looking the place over, Russell said people tended to live here for a very short time or a very long time. Guess which one we turned out to be. I can still hardly believe I've been in one place so long.

On my way out of the garden I spotted a pair of coots feeding on land, so I went over there and photographed their feet so I could update an old post regarding the "coot-foot tree."

There were quite a few of these large Agaricus mushrooms busting out of the wood chips.

Today was red-shouldered hawk day.

I was surprised that a 1/1000th sec. exposure was still a tad too slow.

I followed the hawk to where it landed, only to see a second hawk nearby. I decided to give the first one a break and focus on this one.

Unfortunately, it chose to flee in the wrong direction.

Meanwhile, the other hawk had flown into a nearby eucalyptus tree.

It faced one way, switched to face the other way, then switched again. I wanted to get a shot of him taking off, but my arms kept getting tired, although I was able to hold the little FZ-80 for long stretches at a time.

It looked like I was going to get a take-off, but this one turned out to be a false alarm. The hawk didn't leave the branch.

When it finally did take off, I happened to be giving my arms a rest, but the hawk flew into another nearby tree. When I got over there I could see that it had caught a mouse. Mice are speedy, furtive little creatures, so it's kind of amazing that the hawk was able to fly down from a fair distance away and still manage to catch one unawares.

Another wrong-way take-off....

* * *

Say's Phoebe

 

Say's Phoebe on Fence at Balboa Natural Area

I saw the phoebe on the fence as I was biking past the Balboa Natural Area, just south of Sutro Heights, on my way to the Cliff House. I haven't seen this bird there before, so maybe it's a newly arrived winter migrant. It was very shy and kept flying away from me before I could get as close as I'd have liked. Following it into the natural area didn't make the bird any less shy, so I left and continued up to the Cliff House. The Seal Rocks were just about bare of birds again, but there were a few more surf scoters bobbing offshore than the two pair I saw the last time.

I saw the phoebe on the fence again on the way back past the natural area, and the bird dutifully flew away as soon as I pulled my bike up to the Bay Wheels bike-share rack. Instead of giving pursuit I just stayed put and waited, soaking up the sun on a beautiful day, to see if it would come back. Eventually it did, giving me the photo above.

Heading home through Golden Gate Park, I glanced over at South Lake as I rode up MLK Drive and was surprised to see a pair of raccoons foraging among the aquatic plants surrounding the base of the small island that supports a couple of coast redwoods. They'd moved out of sight by the time I could turn around, but from the other side of the lake I watched one of them walk/swim across the water away from the island before eventually returning to it and climbing into the trees with the other two. I almost missed spotting a very well-camouflaged and back-lit black-crowned night heron that was perched in a eucalyptus tree that had fallen into the lake.

Say's Phoebe Inside the Balboa Natural Area

Black-crowned Night Heron at South Lake

Raccoon Heading Back to the Island

Pair of Bandits High in a Tree

The raccoons were climbing around quite a bit, but I finally left when it looked like they were settling down for an afternoon nap.

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