On The Rocks

 

Surfbirds and Black Turnstones Foraging Together at Ocean Beach

I've been thinking about changing the name of the blog for a while since I've been doing almost exclusively San Francisco nature photography these days. The blog was originally called John Wall's Natural California, back in 2007. Then in 2013 it became the Mt. Tam Journal (or maybe A Circumannuation of Mt. Tamalpais) which was to be a one-year photography project on Mt. Tam. I deleted all the posts back to the beginning at that time, and although I don't fully regret doing that, I won't be deleting anything with this change of name and focus.

I'll continue to put most of my energy into this San Francisco nature notebook, but I'll also continue to wander farther afield on occasion. When I came out with my self-published book Revealing the Landscape: Mt. Tamalpais, I had it in mind to do other "Revealing the Landscape" titles on different places, figuring Pt. Reyes would be my next project. There's nothing like delving deeply into a particular place. From there I would expand to more far-flung parts of California. 

That could still happen, but what I've always wished for would be to find other photographers who would enjoy doing something similar by picking their own landscape and sharing their explorations. I'd love to have something like that happen with a sort-of photography club that would be a series of "Nature Where I Live" blogs from wherever folks happen to be.

Surfbird Exploring the Geologic Record

In addition to the surbirds and black turnstones foraging just below the Cliff House, a handful of willets was foraging in the sand nearby. Just offshore, several surf scoters were diving for fish, often coming right up to the beach where they appeared be getting pummelled in the shorebreak, yet they always popped back up looking nonchalant about it.

Red-tailed Hawk & Pine Cones
(I saw this hawk swoop into the tree and stopped my bike to check it out. It hopped from branch to branch until it got to the other side of the tree, where it appeared to be looking for prey. At least, it didn't do any serious preening. I watched for a while to see if it would pounce on something but left when I started getting a stiff neck from looking straight up for too long.)

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Big & Small

 

Ruby-crowned Kinglet, San Francisco Botanical Gardens

I hadn't been in the SF Botanical Gardens in a while and hoped I'd witness something new and interesting after the rain let up. The first highlight of the morning was an encounter with a pair of Pacific wrens that I soon realized were foraging for nesting material. It got even better when I was able to follow them to their nest, where I hope they have a successful hatch that I'll get to see in the future. 

The second highlight was a mating pair of red-shouldered hawks. The female was resting on a high eucalyptus branch, with a small group of birdwatchers gathered below, viewing and photographing the hawk, as I emerged from the redwood grove. I continued past the group and made a circuit of the Children's Garden, and the hawk was still on the same branch when I circled back.

In the same general area I got after a couple different birds that eluded me in a thicket of aloe plants before a more cooperative Allen's hummingbird perched nearby. As I was taking pictures of the hummer, another red-shouldered hawk flew around the area making a lot of noise, to which the one in the tree responded with calls of her own. She soon flew onto another branch that was practically right above me, and that's when the male hawk swooped in to mate with her. It was over very quickly, but I managed to fire off a few frames.

Pink Magnolia

King Protea

I had the shutter speed set too high for the low light in the redwood grove, but I was able salvage the shot by boosting the exposure 1.75 stops in Lightroom, then running Denoise on the ISO 3200 exposure.

Pacific Wren with Nesting Material

The camera's autofocus had a little trouble in the low light.

Here's one of the wrens on a redwood branch just outside the nest.

Aloe Tentacles

Allen's Hummingbird on Yucca Stalk

I walked around to the other side to get closer, but I had to give up the better lighting.

A little junco popped up from the ground and landed close by.

Mating Red-shouldered Hawks

The male (on the left) hung around for maybe a minute before flying away, perhaps to go find a juicy meal to bring back to the female, who stayed put.

I was going after a chestnut-backed chickadee who eluded me, when this ruby-crowned kinglet popped onto the scene.

Hermit Thrush in the California Garden

Apulca Pine

Grooming Mallard

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Battling Woodpeckers

Downy Woodpecker in Oak Tree Near Lily Pond

Three species of woodpecker seemed to be chasing each other through the trees around the Lily Pond this morning. There were downy, hairy, and Nuttall's, and it was hard to tell who was chasing whom. No one seemed able to feed in peace for very long before being chased into flight, or getting the irresistable urge to chase someone else into flight.

The morning started with a surprisingly brilliant sunrise, and my second surprise of the day was seeing a fox sparrow sing its song. I made a little recording of it that shows how much noise competition it faced. Ditto for a song sparrow later on. I'd never heard a fox sparrow's song before, and another interesting first for me this morning was hearing the song of a ruby-crowned kinglet. Unfortunately, it liked to sing while hopping around as madly as usual, so I never got a shot, much less a recording.

Down in Golden Gate Park's Fuchsia Dell, about a dozen squirrels were noisily chasing each other around and around the trunk of a redwood tree. 

I guess the spring-like weather is supposed to take a turn this weekend, and I'll be interested to see if the bird- and critter-action remains as dialed up as it has been the last few days. Hopefully it won't get too cold and wet for any newly hatched band-tailed pigeons in the Forest Hill nest. 

Big Sky, San Francisco

Sutro Tower & Twin Peaks

Nostalgic View of 1960s San Francisco Architecture

Quite a few of these old houses around the neighborhood have been sold and remodeled to look more modern. Others continue to be well-maintained by older folks who still have the money to keep them up. But elsewhere you'll see what I like to call the "ghost houses" that show their age to such a haunted-house degree that you wonder if anyone still lives there. (I don't say that to poke fun at anyone; these houses just show a remarkable contrast and are a good reminder that not every homeowner in San Francisco is wealthy.)

Singing Fox Sparrow, Windsor Terrace

The fox sparrow's song was soft and sweet, and not a great match against jet airplanes, passing cars, talking humans, or even white-crowned sparrows singing across the street.

This is probably the best patch of miner's lettuce I've seen yet.

Turkey Tails in the Oak Woodland

Ready to Launch if Necessary

Song Sparrow Between Songs

The song sparrow seemed to be waiting for a chance to be heard.

Hairy Woodpecker

Red-flowering Currant

Black Phoebe

Nuttall's Woodpecker

Downy Woodpecker

Nuttall's Woodpecker

Raven Collecting a Branch for its Nest

Bermuda Buttercups at Whiskey Hill

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Over The Bridge

 

American Avocet, Mill Valley

One of the funny things about being retired is knowing that you don't really have to do anything. You could just get up for breakfast and crawl back into bed after stuffing yourself with waffles smothered with butter and blueberries. But in nearly three years of retirement, I have yet to actually do that. I'm worried it would be habit-forming.

In lieu of waffles today, I decided to ride out over the bridge to check out the bird life along Richardson Bay, then continue on down to the beach at Tennessee Valley. The trip took about five hours as I stuffed myself with an all-natural smorgasbord of scenery and wildlife.

Wigeon in a Calm Pool Near High Tide

American Avocet Working on Its Breeding Plumage
(Both males and females have rust-colored breeding plumage.)

Several black-necked stilts were foraging in the salt grass.

Star Lily

Short Clip of Waves Washing Ashore

Feathering Beast

Making Sand

Making Sand II

There used to be hole-in-the-rock here.

Tennessee Cove Earth Portal Before Landslide, December 2007

Making Sand III

Edge of Tennessee Cove

Layers of Solidified Flows

Nature's Rock Tumbler

Erratic Chert
(If we have glacial erratics, can't we have ocean erratics?)

Obviously, I love watching the power of the ocean....

Spring Velvet

If Willets Could Talk

Snowy in the Salt Grass & Pickleweed
(There's an article about cultivating pickleweed and other salt-tolerant plants for food in the March 2025 Scientific American.)

The avocet had just raised its bill after a dip, and the surface tension of the water was still holding between the upper and lower parts.

American Avocet in a Moment of Reflection

Greater Yellowlegs

There were about a dozen of them foraging along Richardson bay.

The daring ones came pretty close despite my incandescent windbreaker.

Not tucking that foot all the way in, just in case....

Reflecting Killdeer

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