Raccoon Season

 

Tres Hombres, Golden Gate Park

It was still dark when I woke up this morning, and the hair on the back my neck prickled at the eerie noises coming from our back yard -- the kind of noises you don't want to hear when you're awakened in the wee hours in your sleeping bag, far out in the wilderness.... The snarling, hissing, and growling reminded of standoffs between raccoons and our cat, Coco, but of course Coco's been in Cat Heaven for close to a year. 

I shined a flashlight down there, angling the beam through the window screen, but I could only see one raccoon. At one point it sounded like the crazed animal was clawing at the door downstairs. What the heck?!

By the time I got down there in my bathrobe the whole thing was over. No raccoon(s). No claw marks on the door. No tufts of fur bitten off. Really, no sign at all that anything had happened. I gave it no further thought.

Later in the day, as I was riding down the JFK Promenade between Blue Heron Lake and the Heroes Grove of redwoods, a red-shouldered hawk screeched out from high in a tree. It was near the place I recently saw one trying to carry a large branch, presumably to its nest. I couldn't see the hawk as I passed, so I turned around to get a better look. That's when I saw several raccoons trotting across the road, leaving the lake behind and heading into the redwoods.

The hawk was on the very top of a tall redwood, not near a nest, so I couldn't resist going after the raccoons. There was a handy bike path nearby that led into the woods, where I parked and poked around on foot, looking for tracks and listening for any sign of them. No luck. 

Just as I was about to give up, one raccoon, then a second raccoon sauntered into view nearby. Both of them made a beeline to a redwood and climbed up its trunk to a deformed top that provided a nice flat spot. The animals were practically in darkness up there, and so concealed by leaves and branches, that I couldn't get a shot.

And that's when three more raccoons showed up. It was a treat to be able to observe them up close, but I don't think the feeling was mutual. Eventually the trio gave up on climbing the redwood to join their buddies and instead left the grove. By the time I got back up to the road, they were nowhere to be seen. I was going to ask about them when I saw a woman walking toward me on the pedestrian path, but she did not look like someone who had just enjoyed seeing a pack of raccoons, so I kept mum.

House Sparrow in the Black Sage, Sunset Parkway

Bushtit on the Go

Bushtit at Rest

Bashful Bushtit

The whole reason I stopped to try to photograph the bushtits, which were working their way through various trees and shrubs on 14th Avenue and up the Mount Lane steps, was to catch them alongside these African cornflag flowers (Chasmanthe floribunda).

I wondered what they were doing on them, and it looks like they were mainly interested in drinking the dewdrops.

Eye of the Bushtit

This fuzzy fellow thought he might scale the redwood from these thin branches but soon realized it was a futile endeavor.

Nope, there's no way up besides climbing the main trunk (but for whatever reason, only the first two went up).

This drain pipe looked like a good escape route for about ten seconds. I missed the shot where they were both in there, looking out at me.

This was a bit of a lucky shot, panning the camera along with the raccoon's movement. Interesting that its left front leg is raised out of sight while its left hind leg is also raised, in what they call a pacing gait.

Laughing? Snarling? Nope, just yawning.

Raccoons in the Garden of Eden

Seeing as we still had some cloud cover as I passed Blue Heron Lake, I stopped to photograph some bufflehead, which are just too gleaming white in the sunshine. But when this pied-billed grebe suddenly popped up like a cork much closer to me, I couldn't resist.

Bufflehead Drake with Hens

Since I'd already made one stop at the lake I decided to make another to photograph one of the ravens I often see perched in this tree. There are usually more ravens down below, hanging out on park benches and whatnot, waiting to gobble up some bird seed or whatever humans have put on the menu (despite all the signs warning against feeding the wildlife).

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Tam Hike

 

Morning View from Mt. Tam

It's been a long time since we actually went for a hike on the mountain. Circumstances have intervened, as they say. 

Dendrites

California Quail

Hound's Tongue

The only calypso orchid we saw all day, along the Matt Davis Trail.

Bolinas Ridge

View Toward the Town of Bolinas

The coyote was interested in something here, some noise in the grass, but as the trail brought us closer and closer to him, he figured whatever it was, wasn't worth letting a couple of humans get too close.

The coyote walked at his leisure up along the forest edge, then stopped here...

...for a little scritch-n-scratch.

Fetid Adder's Tongue

While I was taking my pictures, another nearby photographer had his camera on a tripod. I'd never seen anyone else photograph these interesting plants at that spot before.

Cataract Creek had been scoured by heavy flows in a few spots, but these horsetails were coming up right in the middle of the creek.

As we finished the hike, I made a little detour to pick up my trail cams, and in the process discovered a small pool with a few egg masses laid by chorus frogs (which can be heard in the background in some of the video clips below).

I didn't see this frog while it was on land, but he cleverly jumped into the pool to get away from me. Now I could see him with ease. He's lucky I wasn't a raven or something.

The gray fox appeared almost as often as the deer.

Buck With One Antler

Nicely Camouflaged Bobcat

Scent-marking Bobcat

Flying Deer

About a month's worth of video clips from the Tam Cams distilled to just over two minutes.

* * *

A Walk In The Park

 

Green Heron Fanning A Wing, Lily Pond

Today's walk took me through some nice enough areas, including Windsor Terrace, the Garden for the Environment, Parnassas Heights, Cole Valley, and the Haight, but I couldn't help looking forward to getting past all those urban treasures and into perhaps our greatest urban treasure, Golden Gate Park.

Scrub Jay with Acorn, Oak Woodland

Steller's Jay Collecting Acorns

Steller's Jay Loading Up

Bonanza of Miner's Lettuce

Dewy Goodness

The foxglove in this spot has been blooming for at least a couple of weeks, and today I finally stopped to photograph it, taking a knee to get a good angle, and leaving with a muddy trickle running down my shin.

There were mallards, ring-necked ducks, Canada geese, and a hooded merganser at one end of the Lily Pond. The green heron had the other side to itself.

Cresting its Crown Feathers While Scratching an Itch

When I saw it fan its right-wing feathers, I switched to vertical format in anticipation of it doing the same with its left wing, and after making me wait quite a while, it finally did oblige. The frame at the top of the post was my last shot of the bird for today.

Reflecting Curve

Preening Beauty

Screaming Beauty

Is Screaming Beauty Giving Me the Bird?

Townsend's Warbler with Malformed Beak

Brown Creeper Goes Upside-Down

Brown Creeper on Oak, Whiskey Hill

This seemed like a comparatively chubby squirrel. Chubby in a healthy way, that is.

A little farther up the Whiskey Hill trail: attitude. (My neighbor who was a long-time gardner in Golden Gate Park uses that name for the hill on the edge of the park between Lincoln Way and MLK Jr. Drive, just south of the park's Maintenance Yard.)

I saw my first monarch of the season just west of North Lake today. It was fluttering kind of far away from me, but I went looking for it anyway. I thought it was gone for good when it fluttered south, but hope was renewed when it turned around upon reaching a group of small children. It flew toward me in loops and circles, finally coming into camera range and landing on a branch to rest in the sun just long enough for me to fire off a single frame.

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