Allen's Hummingbird

Allen's Hummingbird, Middle Lake

I've been wondering when I'd see my first Allen's hummingbird of the year, and today was the day. I believe all the green on its back confirms this as an Allen's as opposed to a rufous hummingbird. Last year it was late February before I started to see them in Golden Gate Park. 

I lucked into the sighting as I was looking for a way to photograph the buffleheads who were paddling around and diving in the lake. Their white feathers are too bright to photograph well in sunlight, so I thought today's cloud cover might give me a decent opportunity. On my way I was sidetracked by a particularly birdy area and spent a fair amount of time trying (unsuccessfully) to photograph a common yellowthroat and a few other birds. 

When I first arrived I'd seen the Allen's hummingbird nectaring off the plant above, but it buzzed away and didn't return for quite a while. I was glad I'd worn a longjohn top under my bike jacket today, but I eventually got cold even so. The buffleheads, who'd been close to shore when I first saw them from a distance, had moved farther away by the time the hummer buzzed off again, so I never did try to photograph them.

A tiny bird flew into a hole, and while I was waiting to see if it would come back out, this squirrel popped into the scene, right in front of the bird-hole, and almost immediately did a U-turn when he saw me. I never saw the mystery bird and finally figured it had absconded through a rear exit.

Kind of surprising to still be seeing flushes of honey mushrooms. This has been a great rain year for large fleshy fungi like these and jumbo gyms.

The sky was so uniform for most of the morning that I was intrigued by this leak of definition. The weather forecast includes sprinkles today, but I haven't noticed any yet.

The bison were close to the back fence today and looked too beautiful to pass up.

A couple of them were even grazing. And a couple of times the grazing ones trundled to a new spot. I kind of got a chill of awe watching these massive animals walk by so close at hand. They are a much more formidable and elegant beast when all that mass is in motion.

Only one of the Balboa Natural Area red-tailed hawks has been around lately. This one had pounced on something below its perch in the cypress tree, but came up empty.

RBS was at his favorite tree again today. The sapsucker holes are multiplying....

The hummingbird, common yellowthroat, bewick's wren, ruby-crowned kinglet, and Townsend's warbler were all playing hard to get, so I snapped another shot of a hermit thrush that was kind enough to be still for a moment.

Allen's hummingbird on a willow branch.

Flexing the gorget.

I couldn't resist taking another photo of the red-bellied sapsucker on my way out of the area. The little red berry in the background was a bonus. Interesting that it appears to be hanging upside-down. Probably a phenomenon akin to ytivarg.

Mt. Shasta yesterday and today.

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Grab Bag

 

Townsend's Warbler, Mallard Lake

I've been out with the camera the past few days but haven't really felt like posting anything. I think I've been fighting off a bug of some kind, and it's made me feel a little jaded about blogging. 

Many children at my wife's school have been staying home due to illness, and I know I'm not immune to everything that's out there despite getting flu, covid, and pneumonia jabs this fall. Still, I am feeling a little more perky today -- maybe due to the chill of walking and biking in today's brisk, 13-degree temperature drop (according to our indoor/outdoor thermometer). 

Longboarding at Ocean Beach

Sunset Dunes Park on Sunday

This neighborhood hummer was making a lot of alarm calls, so I stopped to see what she was upset about.

It was this guy, a scrub jay (and its pal; there were two of them on the prowl). I wonder how often jays and other corvids actually find and prey on hummingbird nests.

I was desperate to spend more time using the Z8 and 180-600mm, so I trundled it over to Grandview Park. There were almost no birds around, but I was surprised to find some early-season dragonflies (probably all variegated meadowhawks).

A visitor to the park saw me pointing my huge lens at something and asked what I was looking at. I told her it was this white-crowned sparrow in a bush right in front of us. I like that the lens can focus on close objects so well.

I saw the mangy coyote sort of trotting along the path at Middle Lake and got my camera ready just in time for it to come out from behind the foliage and pass in front of this woman on a park bench. I shot two frames as it passed and created this single composite image. I watched as the coyote kept up its nonchalant pace to cross a nearby 4-way intersection and head over to North Lake.

Meanwhile, a few golden-crowned sparrows were feeding right at my feet. This one was nibbling on cleavers (aka bedstraw, Galium aparine).

Golden-crowned Sparrow, Middle Lake

There were a few male and female hooded mergansers diving in Middle Lake, as well as several bufflehead and the usual mallards.

I was a little surprised to see a monarch butterfly fluttering in the warm and sunny woods near the Bison Paddock yesterday. When I passed that area again on today's chilly and hazy day I wondered where it might be holed up.

The Townsend's warbler was trying to ascertain the threat of a nearby human before ducking down into the creek at Mallard Lake to have a little bath. It decided not to risk it.

The hummingbird had just bathed in a different part of the creek.

Preening Hummer in Motion

I'm sure the handsome Townie was grateful when I finally left the area.

Down next to the lake, this hermit thrush popped up to pose on a blackberry branch.

The ruby-crowned kinglet was eating something on the flowers -- whether pollen or something else I couldn't tell. It would sometimes even flutter beneath the flower as if it were a not-very-graceful hummingbird.

Hermit in the Holly

Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Mallard Lake

Sometimes hummingbirds take a flower's nectar from the base of the blossom, cheating the flower of pollination services.

The yellow-rumped warbler was hiding its rump, but a field of yellow mustard flowers in the Bison Paddock took up its slack.

A white-crowned sparrow uses the Bison Paddock fence as a way station.

Great Egret, South Lake

Another yellow-rumper, this time with yellow lichen on a willow just coming back into bud at South Lake.

Yellow-rumped Warbler, South Lake

I spotted the red-breasted sapsucker on the same tree as last time, but this time it didn't fly away as I got off my bike and fished out my camera.

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Sunset in Frisco

 

Farallon Sunset from Grandview Park

I biked over to Grandview Park to catch the sunset which was happening right about the start of game time for the 49ers, only to come home and get the bad news about how good the Seahawks were playing. Oh well, at least my brother and sister-in-law, and my nephew, his wife, and my grandnephew were having a good night.

Also, we had Ben & Jerry around for solace.

Sunset Clouds Over Mt. Tam

Bob Weir Memorial at Haight & Masonic

Althea the Bus on Haight Street
(Named for a Grateful Dead song)

Sunday Sunrise

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Red-breasted Sapsucker

 

Red-breasted Sapsucker, South Lake

The sapsucker stopped me in my tracks when it landed on a tree right next to the bike path at South Lake. I played it cool, though. Got off my bike casual-like, guided the kickstand down with my foot so it wouldn't make any noise, and unzipped the trunk bag to get my camera out. I had my back to the bird/tree the whole time. Playing it cool, like I said. Then slowly I turned, step by step, inch by inch....

And of course by the time I turned to look, the bird was gone. It probably flew away as soon as I stopped.

But I figured it might still be around, and sure enough I soon spotted it high in another nearby tree.

Red-breasted Sapsucker (with bonus Townsend's Warbler)

This little ruby-crowned kinglet has something going on with the feathers at the base of its beak. I suppose it's just wear and tear, as I've seen that on other birds as well.

There are two greater white-fronted geese hanging out with the much larger (and more numerous) Canada geese at Metson Lake.

I wonder if these are the same two individuals I saw last year swimming with the Canadians in Blue Heron Lake. I didn't even recognize the same species when I saw them recently with thousands of snow geese at Colusa National Wildlife Refuge. Something about seeing them in the wild vs. in the park, or maybe because they looked bigger compared to snow geese (instead of Canadians).

The swell was still pretty big at Ocean Beach yesterday, with a continuing offshore wind.

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