Insect Emergence

 

Anna's Hummingbird Stretching Her Wings in the Fuchsia Dell

The rear brake cable on my bike snapped yesterday and I can't get it into the shop until late Monday, so I took my time on today's walk, staying out for almost five hours. I hadn't expected to be out that long, but the time passed quickly, in part because of all the interesting insects I encountered (only some of which I was able to photograph). Also, I'm trying to fully appreciate every moment before having to set aside my San Francisco nature walks for the next several months.

This is probably the same red-tail I recently saw sunbathing at the Horseshoe Courts.

A lesser goldfinch was eating the seeds of miner's lettuce.

Some of the tiny black seeds were sticking to his beak.

I was interested to see a hummingbird nectaring on white ramping fumitory, a very common San Francisco weed.

It was also partaking of some nearby sage blossoms.

I'm pretty sure this is the same hummingbird taking a break.

Here she is a split-second before launching off the branch.

This is Acanthus mollis, or bear's breeches, one of the very first plants I learned the scientific name for when I moved to Santa Barbara back in the early '80s.

Great Blue Heron Above Lily Lake

Anise Swallowtail at Lily Lake

The chestnut-backed chickadee on the right is a fledgeling, begging for food from its parent in the San Francisco Botanical Garden.

I've been seeing cabbage white butterflies for a couple of weeks or so, but this was the first one that actually landed on something so I could photograph it.

Red Admiral on Wood Chips

Water Lilies

A small bee feeds on a purple aster

A few Ichneumonid wasps were flying close to the ground in a patch of hummingbird sage.

The one in the background stayed in that little leaf cave for quite a while. I left to go check out the pipevine swallowtail caterpillars, and it was still there a few minutes later when I came back the same way.

I was wondering where they eventually pupate, but I couldn't find any sign of a chrysalis nearby.

One of the two milkweed species in the California Garden (the other being narrowleaf milkweed). I've looked for monarch caterpillars in this patch for years without ever seeing one.

Pipevine Swallowtail Butterfly on Pozo Blue Sage

The first time I found a single scarlet pimpernel that was blue, I thought I'd made a big discovery, only to learn they are not that rare (although I have rarely seen one since). Today I found a whole bunch of blue ones.

The original pipevine patch west of the California Garden is now teeming with caterpillars.

West Coast Lady Butterfly on Blackberry Flowers

Bumblebee in Wild Rose

A scrub jay sips nectar from the Monkey's Hand Tree.

Robins were also getting in on the bounty.

Robin Happy Hour

Prickly Pear (Opuntia ficus-indica)

Who am I?

Aha. California tortoiseshell butterfly.

Hairy Woodpecker in a Willow Thicket

I was looking for any red-legged frog tadpoles with legs, but nothing yet.

Alder and Willow Leaves

A male fledgeling hairy woodpecker is fed a morsel by his mom.

A hummingbird seemed to be making alarm calls, so I tried to find the hummer and whatever was disturbing it. Given the backlight and dense pine needles I couldn't see the hummer, and I was about to give up when I noticed the hairy woodpecker clinging motionless to this tall dead stump.

It was so still that I almost thought it was an ornament. I thought it would fly away as soon as I raised my camera, but he couldn't have cared less. He even let me shoot some video.

There were a few squirrels chasing each other around the monkey's hand tree, but this one was busy eating fruit from a different tree nearby.

Pipevine Swallowtail Warming in the Sun in the Redwood Grove

One of the redwoods recently lost its top, whacking the nurse log, a metal interpretive sign, and much of the garden patch below it.

Pipevine Swallowtail Caterpillars and Hairy Woodpecker

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Funston Beach

 

Dune Wildflowers at Fort Funston

The plan was to find my way down from the Great Highway onto Funston Beach to check out the bank swallows I photographed many years ago, but the route I used back then was blown out and eroded away. Looking for a new route, I pedaled up into Fort Funston where I found some gorgeous dune wildflowers but nowhere to leave my bike while I trekked down to the beach. 

On the way up, I'd seen someone's ebike stashed on the cliff's edge, so I returned to the scene. There was a fisherman on the beach below the bike, so I figured it was a good spot and locked up my bike there as well. I clambered down the rip-rap of boulders to the beach, then walked south into the wind, looking forward to seeing the swallows with their nests dug into the side of the friable sandstone cliffs.

Disappointingly, I found no bank swallow nests at all along the stretch of beach they used to use, and only one potential nest hole that looked suspiciously man-made. I'd seen a few swallows flying around when I was up on the road, so I figure they've found somewhere else to nest. Assuming they still use Fort Funston (and it appears they do), they must be farther south.

The 42-year-old hopper dredger Essayons, recently down from Eureka, was sailing just off the coast this morning.

Funston Dunes

Down on the beach, a raven scavenged the remains of a cormorant.

I was the only person on the stretch of beach where the bank swallows used to be. Back in '09 there would be quite a few people walking here, mostly with their dogs, but that was before erosion took away much of that stretch of Great Highway. It's trickier to get here now.

Is this a real nest hole, or is that a Sears nest hole? (If the question seems obscure, check this reference.)

Lots of gelatinous blobs were washed up along with by-the-wind sailors. I find references to salps and moon jellies washing up, but I don't know if these are one or the other, or something else.

Recent arrival.

Sub-adult California Gull

A mixed flock of California and Western gulls was contentedly hanging out on the beach, facing into the wind, while a flock of whimbrels moved through rather quickly, and a pair of snowy egrets only stayed a little while before seeking better hunting grounds farther south.

Snowy Egret Flying South

Windy & Desolate Beach

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