Spring Things

 

Nesting Great Blue Herons at Blue Heron Lake

I loved the exuberance of the scene above so much that I'm going to overlook the soft-focus of the (presumably) female's outstretched neck (despite a 1/2000th sec. exposure). She seems jubilant at the arrival of her nestmate with his lowly sprig of eucalyptus. Interestingly, out of all the kinds of sprigs the heron could have chosen, he picked one with medicinal properties.

Humans also do things that are innate, the result of an unconscious life force that we call "instinct." Whatever it is, instinct does not deserve to play second fiddle to consciousness. Instinct drives our autonomic nervous system, our circulatory system, our endocrine system, our immune system, and even the microbiome of life-supporting species with genomes of their own that live inside our bodies.

Consciousness is overrated, probably because we're the ones in charge of the rating system. Scientists are only just beginning to concede that consciousness exists in the minds of at least some other beings. And yet, here we have a whole world of living beings, evolving innately for billions of years -- with or without whatever we think consciousness actually is.

Typical San Francisco Neighborhood

I took a walk this morning through the San Francisco Botanical Garden, and this was my first stop, the wild center of an ornamental peony.

Anna's Hummingbird, California Garden

Western Azalea

Another Anna's hummingbird, fluffing his feathers...

...and preparing for lift-off.

I always think of this beautiful old buckeye (just beginning to flower) as the heart of the California garden.

These Puya chilensis plants weren't blooming last week.

The only common name I see for P. chilensis is "sheep-eating plant." The BBC even reported this as a literal fact: "In the Andes it uses its sharp spines to snare and trap sheep and other animals, which slowly starve to death. The animals then decay at the base of the plant, acting as fertiliser."

But a song sparrow and a Townsend's warbler actually fed on the plant's bountiful nectar with apparent impunity and relish, and this Allen's hummingbird has been perching on one or another of these large, terrestrial bromeliads since they recently flew into town.

A Townsend's warbler swallows the sweet nectar of the dreaded sheep-eating plant.

You know how they have all those signs warning about coyotes? Maybe they should make sure people leave their sheep at home too. (Note the waning moon in the lower left side of the frame.)

Allen's Hummingbird, Children's Garden
(There were native twinberry honeysuckle and hummingbird sage in the area, but I didn't see this or any other hummer going for them.)

Allen's Hummingbird & Twinberry Honeysuckle, Humboldt County, June 2008

California Poppy in Children's Garden

I was homing in on some pretty birdsong to see who it was, and I loved that it turned out to be a Townsend's warbler. Instead of perching on a branch to tweet away, it sang while it foraged. This was in an alder tree around the small pond in the Children's Garden.

Townsend's Warbler Foraging and Singing

I left the SFBG to continue my walk by circumnavigating Blue Heron Lake and was surprised to see this adult black-crowned night heron relaxing on a branch very near the edge of the lake, where a lady was tossing shelled peanuts to a bunch of ravens who were catching them in their beaks.

This robin appeared to be preening after bathing along the lake's edge.

I set the FZ80D on "burst mode" in anticipation of the heron taking off to collect more twigs for the nest.

As I was walking away, the heron surprised me by returning very soon with another twig. I was quite a bit farther away from the nest tree by then, but I couldn't resist snapping one last shot.

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Reflective Bushtit

 

Bushtit on Van Window, The Haight-Ashbury

After seeing another report of a special bird in the Haight this morning, I figured I'd try to find it one more time. The description of where it has been seen was precise to two particular tree species -- ficus in front of a particular address on Waller Street, and a pair of Metrosideros on Clayton. I tell you I looked and looked, but struck out yet again. I think this was the fourth or fifth time I've tried to find it. Maybe the special bird, the Swinhoe's white-eye, is not a morning bird.

[UPDATE: I finally saw two of them on April 18. It looked like an adult might have been feeding a hungry fledgeling, since one bird flew back and forth a few times from a tree on the southeast corner of Waller & Clayton streets, to another tree just like it on the northeast corner. Then they both flew to a different tree along the north side of Waller, whereupon one of them flew down to pick off an apparent insect (I never saw what it was after) no more than 15-20 feet from me. Unfortunately, my camera was unable to focus on the bird in the dim light (it looked right at me, giving me an excellent view), and it quickly flew back up into the densely branched tree, never to be seen again.]

My hopes rose when I heard some bushtits around Waller and Ashbury, since birds of a feather really do flock together, at least sometimes. But it was just a pair of bushtits -- strange enough in itself, for how often have you ever seen just two bushtits? One of the two, however, was behaving as if there were three, and the third one was most definitely not invited. The interloper, of course, was its own reflection.

The Bushtit Attacks!

After pecking at the intruder in the window for a bit, the bushie would flit back to the branches of a sidewalk tree next to the van, only to resume his attack a moment later.

Bushtit vs. Reflection

I was surprised to see this red-tailed hawk swoop across the intersection of Lawton Street and 7th Avenue to land on a house gable (kitty-corner from the Garden for the Environment). I don't think it liked the busy intersection, or the shutterbug across the street. I snapped this shot just as it was about to fly away.

Clayton Street Architecture

Squirrel, Prepared to Flee at a Moment's Notice

As I was trying to get closer to the flicker, a boy and his dog (no, it wasn't Don Johnson) walked down the trail and spooked it away.

Varied Thrush in the Oak Woodlands

Hairy Woodpecker in the Oak Woodlands

Echium (a.k.a. Pride of Madeira) has been starting to bloom around the city.

Crime Scene, 10th Avenue

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Spring Roundup

 

Anna's Hummingbird, Grandview Park

I had things to do this morning that pre-empted my usual Thursday schedule, so I took a quick trip over to nearby Grandview Park to see what's on offer on this beautiful day of Spring Equinox. With light and darkness in harmonious union, now's our chance to experience Carl Jung's transcendent function. 

Although I titled this post "Spring Roundup," I made no attempt to do a comprehensive bioblitz. I just wanted to poke around and see what I might find, and also to collect a few plant specimens to photograph back at home. 

Black Phoebe

Anna's Hummingbird

Pipevine Swallowtail & Yellow Woodsorrel

California Poppy & Bumblebee

San Francisco Wallflower

This other Anna's hummingbird was hanging out on the south-facing slope of the park, whereas the previous one was on the east-facing slope. I wonder how this one's bill ended up looking so unusual.

White-crowned Sparrow & Lupine

Black and Orange Plant Bug & Ice Plant
(The bug might be Largus californicus.)

I was hoping the bumblebee was only sleeping in this ice plant, but I didn't want to disturb it to find out.

Footsteps of Spring

Silver-bush Lupine

Wild Cucumber

Mt. Shasta Spring Sunrise

Another screenshot of Mt. Shasta from a little later in the morning. I checked the web cam just now (close to 2:30 p.m.), and the valley is all fogged up.

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